Tag Archives: erasmus

International Conference – “Inclusion in action: a holistic approach to inclusion in schools” – 17 May 23 – Brussels

Learning environments News - 27th April 2023

LLLP, the British Council, Interactive UK, CESIE, ESHA, and the University of Granada invite policymakers, practitioners, teachers, school leaders, and civil society representatives for the international conference, “Inclusion in action: a holistic approach to inclusion in schools”, on May 17th, 2023, in Brussels.

The conference will delve into a fishbowl discussion on European and national policy measures on inclusive education across the EU and will have workshops on inclusive education practices.

In addition, the conference aims to be a networking space for education stakeholders from different EU countries. After the conference, all participants are invited to join in for a networking lunch in the same venue.

What are inclusive schools?

Inclusive schools are schools where each pupil is involved in the learning process, and where talents and inclinations are noticed and valued. Student teachers, teachers, and school leaders support their students throughout.

The Inclusive Schools II project has built on the above-mentioned notions by creating both face-to-face and digital training experiences that support student teachers, teachers, and school leaders in creating an inclusive educational context where no one is left behind.

To register for the conference, follow this link.

To find out more stay tuned on LLLP’s social media through  Facebook; Instagram; Linkedin; Twitter.

Learn more about Inclusion at school

The conference is part of the Inclusive Schools II project .

The project aims to enable teachers – both serving and in their student years – to develop and implement inclusive education practices with confidence.
The project intends for teachers and school leaders to take part in the project to become role models for others, influencing practice and policy at local, regional, and national levels.

We know that inclusive education is essential in changing minds and breaking down barriers in schools. Teachers who join the project will be equipped to make this change happen in their setting.

Browse the project’s website to:

  • Get inspired by the teachers role models working on ways to support inclusion in their teaching.
  • Download the project free to access resources and tools.
  • Visit the MOOC for student teachers and in-service teachers on diverse settings to integrate inclusive practices in teaching!

 

 

LEAD! – PROJECT PILOTING PHASE

EU Projects News - 29th March 2022

The project Specific Learning Disorder no more! (LEAD!) is well underway, ready to launch the pilot program. 

With training materials in English, Romanian and Italian, the pilot testing will take place in Italy and Romania. The process of reviewing educational resources will be conducted both internally and externally.

The internal pilot test leader, IC2 Policoro (“ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO2 “GIOVANNI PAOLO II“), will carry out, through March-April 2022, a pilot test within the consortium where at least 2 people from each project partner, who were not directly involved in the development of the training material, will participate in testing the functionality of the platform.

The piloting with Schools (external pilots) will be implemented through a Challenge Jam, where pupils, schools, and associated partners will be invited to the testing phase of the project’s training material.

The Challenge Jam is characterised by a series of events organised in the classrooms where students with and without SLD (Specific Learning Disorders), under the guidance of their teachers, will have to solve a problem related to a challenge that a young SLD faces every day at school*. This methodology allows an effective comparison of experiences between different realities, without pushing for competition.  Through May-June 2022, each partner will be responsible for involving 5 classes (of 20 people) for a total of 500 people.

The pilot program seeks to engage the entire classroom, thus gaining the transversal function of raising awareness on SLD. Through implementing this pilot program, not only do we aim to increase standards of education for those with SLDs, we are also committed to promoting diversity and greater social inclusion. This avoids separating classes and accentuating the feeling of “diversity” experienced by children with SLD,

The pilot test will also serve the classmates of students with SLD by raising awareness on the topic and allowing students to step into “the shoes” of a child with SLD, thus increasing empathy and involvement.

All the feedback that the partners will receive during the pilot phases will be analysed and then updated in the project platform.

The LEAD! Project partners will meet in Iasi (Romania) this 29th and 30th of March to discuss the next steps: the train the trainers programme, as well as the #MySkills platform design.

* More specifically, a ‘jam’ can be understood as team-based, loosely structured exercises conducted in a face-to-face environment designed to bring out participants’ creativity for developing innovative solutions to complex problems (Morrison, 2009).

Morrison, K (2009). Outcomes Report: CCi Mainstreaming and RHD Jams. Cultural Science Journal, 2 (1).  

 
   

garageErasmus – Call for Ambassadors4EUFuture!

From the network - 11th May 2021

How can we ensure that voice of the European Youth is to be heard in the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE)? The extent to which this voice is heard and represented is without doubt an important hurdle to overcome if the initiative is to prove a success. What is to be done?

garagERASMUS foundation  provide one answer to the question raised above. Through their new project: EUth Pages for Europe, they are aiming to increase the opportunity for young people to get engaged with EU decision making. Offered through a creative process – it is anticipated that the project will raise awareness and build knowledge on the role of the European Parliament, European values and rights and shaping the future of Europe.

The CoFoE will provide a point of reference from which this aim can be targeted – the idea being to develop a series of activities geared towards affording young people the capacity to have an impact on the direction of the initiative.

Co-funded by the European Parliament, the project will develop a series of local & EU-wide activities to ensure that the Erasmus Generation have an impact on the CoFoE. garagErasmus will assist young people (Ambassadors4EUFuture) from all over Europe to organise local debates to collect their opinions  and expectations for the European Union in a publication, the EUth Pages for Europe, addressed to EU policy-makers.

For a full overview of the project see – here.

Application no later than 24 May 2021.

Next EU Budget: Lack of political ambition leads to cut on social Europe

Erasmus+ Investing in education News - 22nd July 2020

On Tuesday, July 21st, and after over four days of intense negotiations, European leaders finally reached an agreement over the next seven-year EU Budget and closely-related Recovery Fund. 

To any external observer, it was clear that the EU own budget would have fallen victim to the economic needs of the Recovery Fund (called ‘Next Generation EU’), which prompted bitter disputes between Member States. The Multiannual Financial Framework for the next cycle (2021-2027) is 1.074 trillion euros, plus the extraordinary 750 billion euros that will feed the Next Generation EU: an impressive agreement per se, especially in consideration of the difficulties along the way. 

In this context, the total budget for the next Erasmus+ programme is set at 21.208 billion euros, which is the same budget proposed by the Council itself in February before the COVID crisis. This amount openly defies the European Parliament’s concerns and leaves civil society’s cries unheard, including our Erasmus+ Coalition statement. Moreover, this figure represents a 5.2 billion cut (almost -20%) from the original European Commission proposal and a staggering 23.8 billion cut (-53%) from what the European Parliament deemed necessary. 

Other programmes that transversally touch upon education and training such as Horizon+ (80.9 billion euros, with a total reduction of 13.5 billion euros from previous Commission’s proposals) and Justice, Rights and Values (841 million euros, against the 1.83 billion euros demanded by CSOs and the European Parliament) have suffered cuts in funding. Overall, it is surprising to realise that cuts mostly affect the Heading 7 of the budget, ‘Investing in People, Social Cohesion and Values’: this alone says a lot about the European Council’s priorities.

Addressing the unprecedented consequences of the health crisis in education and training requires serious investments and political commitment. In this very particular moment, Europe cannot afford to leave behind vulnerable learners by failing to adequately inject much-needed investments into the social sphere. While the Next Generation EU rightfully focuses on the immediate recovery of the economy, European leaders do not seem to share the view that a democratic, sustainable and socially cohesive Union, in the long-term, cannot be built on industry and infrastructure alone but shall rise from values, solidarity and competences of its people. Ensuring employment and economic prosperity will not be enough to overcome the consequences of an ongoing traumatic experience for all citizens: this is a short-sighted action.

Furthermore, the agreed budget falls short on Europe’s own ambitions. We can’t help but notice a profound disconnection between political declarations to invest in education, training, research and youth, and the outcomes of decision-making processes. President von der Leyen herself, at the beginning of her mandate, claimed to support the tripling of the Erasmus+ budget; instead, for the next cycle, the Erasmus+ will see a mere +50% increase over the 2014-2020 budget. We regret to acknowledge that European leaders overlooked a great opportunity for upscaling education and training transversally in Europe. This envelope is not enough to deliver on the ambitious (and much-needed) goals of the future programme for learning mobility, cooperation between organisations and support for policy reform across all sectors, not to mention its sought contribution to implementing the European Education Area, EU Youth Strategy and the European Green Deal, among other priorities. 

Make no mistakes: this agreement is a shaky message to European citizens and an earthquake to European ambitions in education and training and other sectors alike. 

Erasmus+ Coalition joint statement on the revised proposal for EU Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027

Erasmus+ Investing in education News - 26th June 2020

The European Commission’s revised proposal for the next long-term EU budget (2021-2027) brings both hope and disappointment. The strong commitment to European cooperation and public investment demonstrated by its proposed allocation of 1.1 trillion euros, along with 750 billion euros for recovery instrument NextGenerationEU, is a positive sign for the future of Europe. Addressing the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the green and digital transitions, certainly requires ambitious public investment. In this regard, Europe cannot afford to leave people behind by failing to adequately channel such investment into funding programmes which have a tangible and positive impact on their lives while also helping to tackle the above challenges and contribute to the EU’s recovery. However, compared to the Commission’s original proposal from 2018, the revision surprisingly reduces the allocation to such programmes.

Read the full statement here

The revised EU budget: is it enough to build a learning Europe?

Erasmus+ Investing in education News - 29th May 2020

On 27 May, the European Commission published its revised proposal for the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027) along with the new financial instrument Next Generation EU aimed at helping EU Member States recover from the crisis provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Together these amount to a total of 1.85 trillion euros for the next seven-year period. 

We welcome this ambitious financial package as a clear demonstration of the added value that European cooperation brings in such challenging times. Nevertheless, while increases to many funding programmes including Erasmus+ compared to the current MFF are a welcome development, we are concerned that the key role of education, training and lifelong learning in the recovery and overall future of Europe have not been recognised. Indeed, the proposed budget for Erasmus+, which at 24.6 billion euros in 2018 prices amounts to less than the doubling put forward that year, falls short of the ambition expressed by the European Parliament and Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen herself.

As drivers of social cohesion, economic prosperity and innovation, education, training and lifelong learning remain vital for the personal and professional development of all people across Europe, as well as their well-being. They are key for empowering citizens in their daily lives. Hence, we stress that they should be a cross-cutting priority across the next generation of EU funding programmes. Erasmus+, for instance, has repeatedly proven its immense value in promoting skills development across various fields, fostering a sense of European belonging and solidarity and supporting cross-border cooperation among learners, educators, civil society organisations and policymakers. In light of the far-reaching impact of the pandemic on our education and training systems, including the investment gap in digital solutions that it has brought to light, we need this now more than ever. 

Synergies between the future Erasmus+ and other programmes touching on social welfare, skills and employment (European Social Fund Plus, 86 billion euros), digitalisation (Digital Europe, 8.2 billion euros), social infrastructure (InvestEU, 31.6 billion euros) and research and innovation (Horizon Europe, 94.4 billion euros) also have vast potential for supporting Europe’s path to recovery. After all, education, training and lifelong learning are not just means to an end, or for meeting short-term demands on the labour market, but serve as a vehicle for promoting creativity, adaptability,  entrepreneurial spirit and innovative solutions. These will all be crucial in dealing with Europe’s common challenges in the months and years to come. 

We call on the Member States to back an ambitious budget for education, training and lifelong learning – in all their shapes and forms – in the next MFF and as part of the EU recovery plan. As we navigate our way out of this crisis, they will be fundamental for empowering people, supporting their well-being and active participation in society, and ensuring our readiness to solve the challenges that lie ahead.

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The Lifelong Learning Platform (European Civil Society for Education) is an umbrella that gathers more than 40 European organisations active in the field of education, training and youth. Currently these networks represent more than 50 000 educational institutions and associations covering all sectors of formal, non-formal and informal learning. Their members reach out to several millions of beneficiaries.

Contact: policy@lllplatform.eu – Rue de l’Industrie, 10 – 1000 Bruxelles – 02 893 25 15

Keep In Pact project – Kick-Off Partners’ Meeting

News - 25th September 2019

On the 23rd and 24th of September the LLLP was in Paris, for the kick-off partners’ meeting of the Keep In Pact project, focused on promoting multi-partnership cooperation in lifelong career guidance. The project is coordinated by the Cités des métiers International Network (RICDM), Associate Member of the LLLP, together with Universcience from Paris, Learningdigital from Italy, the Municipality of Porto (Portugal), the Croatian Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE) and the Lifelong Learning Platform. The project aims to gather a few case studies of multi-partnerships for career guidance across EU countries; to prepare a toolkit for mutual learning and training activities; to identify key competences for the lifelong career guidance professionals, describe them and create a guidance for their assessment; to build a first ever European Community of experts on lifelong career guidance. LLLP being a great example of cross-sectoral and multi-level partnerships, will play a key role in the project for the upcoming two years.

During the meeting, partners were introduced to the “Cité des métiers” label, visiting the premises of Cité des métiers in Paris; they had a general overview on the main aspects of the projects, discussing the methodological approach of the planned activities, agreeing on the next steps and on the internal management.

Cités des Métiers, as integrated model of lifelong career guidance centres, and Keep In Pact project will be presented during the LLL Week, as an example of how to empower citizens through lifelong career guidance centres, so if you are interested in such an interesting topic, stay tuned!

CULT Committee adopts report on Erasmus: strong call for LLL approach

Erasmus+ Investing in education News - 21st February 2019

In the context of the MFF negotiations, the LLLPlatform is happy to share yet another milestone achievement! The European Parliament’s CULT Committee adopted its report on the 2021-2027 Erasmus+ programme!

This report, pending the final adoption in the Plenary on 25 March, outlines the Parliament’s position ahead of the “trilogue” negotiations with the European Commission and Council of the EU for the definition of the new Erasmus+ programme.

The Lifelong Learning Platform is particularly happy because we see our advocacy efforts, as fostered in the framework of the Erasmus+ Coalition, reflected in the adopted document. So, what did we achieve?

Among other elements, the report:

  • calls for triple budget for the 2021-2027 period (against ‘only’ the double, as in the Commission’s proposal);
  • addresses the needs of people with fewer opportunities by foreseeing language training, administrative support or e-learning opportunities before and during mobility;
  • defines a more cross-sector lifelong learning approach than the EC’s original proposal by including it as a clear and specific objective;
  • envisions that all project applications by EU-wide networks should be managed at centralised level (rather than nationally in Belgium, etc.);
  • calls upon the EC to develop an inclusion strategy for the programme to act as a framework to be adapted and implemented by the National Agencies;
  • promotes more co-funding and synergies with other European programmes, as our Erasmus+ Implementation Survey Report highlighted.

The consolidated text will be available here in the coming weeks. The vote in favour of the Erasmus+ report was transversal, in that all major political groups have expressed their satisfaction with the text and its ambitious objectives. The LLLPlatform will keep on advocating for equity and social cohesion in education and training, and will continue to do so with the strength of its membership, without whom none of this would have been possible!