The Council Recommendation on validation of non-formal and informal learning defines informal learning as experience "resulting from daily activities related to work, family or leisure which is not organised or structured in terms of objectives, time or learning support". Very often it is the most valuable work-related experience which people in mobility have. Still this is the type of learning most difficult to document in order to demonstrate its relevance for a new job abroad.The need to support people in mobility in this respect is fully acknowledged in European policy statements. Our project follows recent European guidelines of December 2015 for validating non-formal and informal learning which encourage a wide range of stakeholders, including education providers and voluntary organisations, to engage in the process. We propose an approach to facilitate the first two essential phases of validation which relate to identification and documentation of knowledge, skills and competences acquired outside formal education.
The MILE project engages with European mobility of people with low formal qualifications but valuable informal experience which can become their biggest asset in successful integration in the country in which they want to settle. Our aim is to support them in making their knowledge, skills and competences recognised and thus raise their chances of finding satisfactory employment. To this end we will develop Guide for educators working with people in mobility facilitating the process of recognition of informal learning experience in a range of contexts exemplified by the different environments in which the project partners work. Pilot learning activities to develop and test learning paths proposed in the MILE Guide for educators will involve participants sharing certain characteristics which make our initiative focus on concrete, well defined needs:- They are all people in mobility, i.e. those who move from one country to another in search for better living and working conditions. The reasons for migration are different but they all face a challenge of adaptation. Their work-related skills and experience condition their prospects for employment in the country where they want to settle.- They have the right to work in Europe, either as citizens of an EU country, refugees or migrants granted a work permit, still unable to find employment because of difficulties to prove their competences in diplomas, certificates, etc. Our aim is to help them document and communicate their experience in a convincing way.Project objectives directly refer to the following call priorities:- Inclusive education, training and youth- Improving and extending the offer of high quality learning opportunities that are tailored to individual adult learners’ needs, including through innovative ways of validation, guidance and delivery to groups most in need- Designing and implementing effective provision for enhancing the basic skills and key competences of specific adult target groups that are currently not well servedThe main outcomes of the project- MILE Guide: open educational resource for educators supporting people in mobility to document and present their informal learning experience- MILE Platform: providing necessary tools for collaborative development of the resources and their use by stakeholdersImpact on participants of learning activities designed in the MILE Guide- new skills in documenting their valuable experience acquired outside formal education- learning how to communicate it effectively to potential employers in a new cultural environment
- improvement of their language and digital skills through building their portfolios with the use of online materials and tools
- better adaptation to a new cultural and work environment in EuropeImpact on adult educators using the MILE Guide to support people in mobility
- access to a practical resource of educational scenarios validated in practice
- their effective use in work with different groups of people in mobility
- benefit from the social learning opportunities on the MILE online platform
Impact on policy makers in the field of recognition of knowledge, skills and competences acquired outside formal education- further evidence of the challenges faced by people with lower levels of qualifications and literacy when they want to document and present their experience as well as evidence of validated approaches to addressing this challenge
- new research data for further developments of the instruments at system levelWe will run extensive dissemination and exploitation campaign throughout Europe to ensure the above impact.