Module 9: Learning from the experience of policy-making Dima course content

www.dima-project.eu
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication]
and all its content reflect the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein. Project Number: 2015-1-CY01-KA204-011850
Module 9: Learning from the
experience of policy-making
Examples of policies and strategies
The Content of the following presentation was prepared
jointly by the ERASMUS+ DIMA Project consortium partners
working collaboratively – Voice overs added for the purposes
of the Irish partner by Michael Kenny, Department of Adult &
Community Education, Maynooth University.
(See partner list following …)

DIMA Consortium
The consortium consists of 6 partners, from 5 European
countries which cover a wide range of expertise related
to the aims of the project
 Cyprus: Ministry of Education and Culture
 Cyprus: Centre for Advancement of Research and Development in
Education Technology Ltd – Cardet
 Ireland: Department of Adult & Community Education, Maynooth
University
 Slovenia: Slovenian Institute for Adult Education
 Slovakia: National Institute of Lifelong Learning
 Belgium: European Association for the Education
of Adults

Introduction
This module aims to guide learners through a range of
example adult education policies in Europe.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this Module learners will be able to:
• Critically discuss adult education policy examples and
describe how they correspond to selected policy
recommendations.
Learning Outcomes

Module Description
The module is divided into six sections. Each includes:
• a brief description of the policy area
• policy recommendations emanating from different
sources
• concrete examples of policies
Six areas covered in this module:
1. Outreach
2. Active citizenship
3. Quality and transparency
4. Financing adult education
5. Policy dialogue
6. Policy coherence
Introduction

1. What is Outreach?
Currently, the word “outreach” is often used
interchangeably with other terms such as "widening
participation" and "combating exclusion“. Outreach has
become strongly connected with the notion of the
disadvantaged.
"{Educational} Outreach is a process whereby people who would not
normally use adult education are contacted in non-institutional settings and
become involved in attending and eventually in jointly planning and
controlling activities, schemes and courses relevant to their circumstances
and needs.”
(Kevin Ward, Replan Review 1, August 1986 See eaea )

Project outcomes
Outreach – Empowerment – Diversity recommendations
(OED 2014) (eaea)
1. Outreach: Policy recommendations from EU projects
The OED best practice collection shows
many innovative ways how to reach out.
Non-formal adult learning can be much
more flexible in responding to learners’
needs and interests than other forms of
education.

The New Skills Agenda for Europe (2016)
(ec.europa)
• Make better use of the skills
available;
• Equip people with the new skills
needed;
• Help people find quality jobs
/improve life chances.
The upskilling pathways initiative (2016)
(ec.europa)
• Help low-skilled adults progress to
an upper secondary qualification.
1. Outreach: Concrete examples – European policies

Reaching out to the unemployed and low-
skilled: Initiative Erwachsenenbildung in
Austria providing second-chance education
Austria 2009
Strong points:
• Free courses/funded
• central, standardised accreditation system
• standardized teachers’ training
• monitoring process and an external
evaluation
• cross-organisational collaboration and
cooperation
• policy borrowing
• counselling and guidance
Reaching out to newly arrived migrants:
Swedish integration policy
Sweden 2008
Strong points:
• Faster introduction for new arrivals
• Employment, and self-employment
• Better and more equal schools
• Increased language skills/more adult
education opportunities
• Anti-discrimination measures
• Support to social excluded
• Common basic values
1. Outreach: Concrete examples – European policies

2. Active Citizenship; European Declaration
“Strengthening the key contribution which education makes to personal
development, social inclusion and participation, promot[ing] citizenship and
teach[ing] (…) to understand and to accept differences of opinion.”
(Declaration adopted by European Ministers of Education in March 2015 See ec.europa)

2. Active Citizenship: Policy cycle for Education on Democratic Citizenship
Policy Formation
• Definition of
EDC
• Raising
awareness
• Making legislation
• Closing “impleme-
ntation gaps”
Policy Implementation
• Strategic supports
• EDC implications
• Tackling
training needs
• Democratic
governance
• Building partnerships
and networks
• Monitoring and
evaluation
Key actors
Decision makers
Stakeholders
Practitioners
• Developing
review measures
• Reliable evidence
base
• Sharing
outcomes
• Acting on
outcomes
Policy Review and
sustainability
• Ensuring
active
participation
• Developing
learner
assessment

2. Active Citizenship: Concrete examples of policies
Promoting innovative experiences
Disseminating examples of good practice
Providing financial support
Developing quality assurance procedures
Supporting institutional agreements in adult education;
Developing co-operation among key actors at member state, regional and local level
Increasing provision of educational services & training (general education, vocational
training, higher and adult education)
Support for Active Citizenship is enhanced by:

ES (Spain): The development of democratic
citizenship … the key objectives of adult
education “develop capacities to participate
in social, cultural and economic life and put
into practice the right to democratic
citizenship”.
Read Chapter IX of the document in the
Organic Law of Education (2006).
IE (Ireland): the White Paper on Adult
Education (2000) lists citizenship as one of
the six priority areas of adult education …
“influence the social contexts in which they
live” and “its promotion of participative
society”.
Read the full paper.
2. Active Citizenship: Concrete examples of policies

3. Quality and Transparency Attributes
Defining / achieving standards
Implementing appropriate quality assurance procedures
Measuring / comparing performance
Self-monitoring quality / identifying improvement areas
External monitoring through audit & inspection
Developing a culture of ‘continuous improvement’
Obtaining or achieving ‘quality’ involves key processes:

3. Quality and Transparency: European Quality Mark (EQM)
3. Assessment process out by
an authorized assessor within
2 months. Either the EQM is
awarded (for a period of 4
years) or support is offered to
develop provider practice. If
so, the provider is reassessed.
4. Provider does an annual
self-assessment using the EQM
Assessment Form and submits
it to the National EQM
Authority.
EQM
PROCESS
7. Every 4 years the process is
repeated.
5. Assessor visits the provider
during the 4 year EQM period
to verify that practice
corresponds to the quality set
by the EQM. The visit will be
announced 3 weeks ahead.
The EQM helps organisations to identify what they do well and the opportunity to make an action plan for
improvement. (http://www.europeanqualitymark.org/home/index.html)
2. Self-assessment process
using the EQM Assessment
Form. Submit completed EQM
Assessmnet Form with
evidence to the National EQM
Authority within 6 months.
1. Apply to the National EQM
Authority on the web:
www.europeanqualitymark.org
Fill out the EQM Application
Form and send to your
National EQM Authority.
6. Dissemination of good
practices as well as European
standardization and validation
of EQM criteria every 4 years.

Adult Education Act Iceland (2010)
The Adult Education Act
• Evaluation and quality control
(Article 12) to ensure that the
rights of individuals are respected
• Accreditation of education and
training providers (Article 7)
3. Quality and Transparency: Concrete examples of policies

Adult Education Act Serbia (2013)
Parties Ensuring and Improving the Quality (Article 10):
Establishes clear conditions for education delivery in a
language of a national minority.
Inspection and Expert Pedagogical Supervision (Article 62):
The inspection and expert pedagogical supervision shall be
performed by the Ministry.
Quality Assurance of Operation (Article 63):
External quality assessment of operation shall be
performed by the Ministry and the Institute for Education
Quality and Evaluation.
3. Quality and Transparency: Concrete examples of policies

4. Financing Adult Education
The European Agenda for Adult Learning (2011)
calls for
“Ensuring a viable and transparent system for
the funding of adult learning, based on shared
responsibility with a high level of public
commitment to the sector and support for those
who cannot pay, balanced distribution of funds
across the lifelong-learning continuum,
appropriate contribution to funding from all
stakeholders and the exploration of innovative
means for more effective and efficient
financing.”

The EC Working Group on Financing Adult Learning:
• Used an Open Method of Coordination framework
• Included AL stakeholders from across Europe
• Analysed specific AL stakeholders investment in AL
• Looked at common funding instruments
advantages & disadvantages
• Developed indicators for successful funding policies
& instruments
4. Financing Adult Education

Instruments
• Funding formula
• Programme funding
• Project funding
• Direct grants
• Tax incentives
• Levy grant
• Training leave
• Vouchers/ILA
• Loans
4. Funding instruments and indicators
Criteria of indicators:
1. Level of investment
2. Efficiency of
investment
3. Effectiveness of
investment
4. Sustainability of
investment
5. Scope of funding
system
6. System development

EE: The Development Plan for Adult Education
2009-2013 includes a large section on “ensuring
sustainable financing of AE”, looking at some of
the funding instruments mentioned on the
previous slides.
Read about measure 5.1 and the financial plan at
the end of the document (Go Online). One of the
funding instruments, the right to study leave, is
described in the more recent Adult Education Act
(Go Online) (2015) in Chapter 4.
4. Financing Adult Education: Examples of policies

Policy dialogue allows a diverse mix of public
participants with a range of views and values to:
• learn from written information and experts
• listen to each other, and share and develop
their views
• reach carefully considered conclusions
• communicate those conclusions directly to
inform Government’s decision making
5. Policy dialogue Attributes

Good policy dialogue can help policy
makers and Government to:
• make better, more robust decisions that
reflect public values and societal
implications
• increase legitimacy for tough decisions
• demonstrate accountability in public
investment
• overcome entrenched positions to enable
policy to move forward
• gain a rich understanding of public
aspirations and concerns that goes
beyond media headlines or focus groups
Policy dialogue does not:
• remove Government responsibility
for decision making
• rely only on surveys or opinion polls
to gather public views
• seek endorsement of decisions that
have already been made
• replace other public information or
consultation processes
5. Policy dialogue Attributes Cont/d

REgional NetWorking for Adult Learning in Europe
RENEWAL
• Involve civil society / practitioners to improve
communication & initiate a real dialogue
• Foster an inter-sectorial cooperation among stakeholders
for bottom-up approaches and collaborative actions
Action Plan for Validation and Adult Education in
Europe AVA
• Structured and cross sectorial dialogue between
validation stakeholders to increase reliability and trust for
the validation results
• Provide a stakeholders’ cooperation framework to enable
a common understanding of need and benefits for each
5. Policy dialogue: Examples of policies

IE (Ireland): The establishment of
a forum for adult learners.. To…
influence policy decisions. Their
experiences… inform national
policy. For full text of the strategy
Visit https://www.aontas.com/.
FI (Finalnd): The “Liberal Adult Education
Cooperation Group/Body” (includes:
Ministry of education and Culture, National
Board of Education, Association of Finnish
local and regional Authorities and Finnish
Adult Education) meets a regularly to discuss
issues in mutual interest. (See unesco )
5. Policy dialogue: Examples of policies

6. Policy coherence: Definition
“Policy Coherence is defined by the OECD as the systematic promotion of
mutually reinforcing policy actions across government departments and
agencies creating synergies towards achieving the agreed objectives. Within
national governments, policy coherence issues arise between different types of
public policies, between different levels of government, between different
stakeholders and at an international level.”

6. Policy coherence
“Good governance facilitates the implementation of adult learning and
education policy in ways which are effective, transparent, accountable and
equitable. Representation and participation by all stakeholders are
indispensable for responsiveness to the needs of all learners, in particular the
least powerful. To these ends, we commit ourselves to (…) promoting and
supporting intersectoral and inter-ministerial cooperation.”
Source: Harnessing the power and potential of adult
learning and education for a viable future. Belém
Framework for Action 2009

Success factors:
• The number of partners involved
• Adult learning policies made attractive not only for
learners, but also for potential policy partners
• Evidence … potential gains clearly demonstrated
Challenges:
“Joined-up policy-making is difficult. For example, if an adult
learning policy has educational, employment, health related
and social welfare aspects and outcomes, which policy
partner drives the agenda? How are funding commitments
distributed?”
6. Policy coherence: Success factors

NL: The Tel mee met Taal (Count on
Skills) action programme:
• A joint policy response of 3 different
ministries
• Aims to prevent people with limited
literacy skills from marginalization
The action programme… coherent
both vertically – involving different
ministries – and horizontally,
promoting the role of “labour market
regions and their constituent
municipalities”.
This document outlines initiators
and partners of the programme and
what are their roles.
6. Policy coherence: Examples of policies

www.dima-project.eu
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication]
and all its content reflect the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein. Project Number: 2015-1-CY01-KA204-011850
End of Module 9 of 9
End of Course
Thank you
i
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http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/10121/
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Module 9: Learning from the experience of policy-making Dima course content

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