STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS Strategy To Raise Awareness and Improve, Generalize and Help Tackling European Needs for BASIC SKILLS Improving the accessibility of learning opportunities for adults, especially for low qualified employees and long term unemployed, with a view to training needs of workplace basic skills is one of the core areas of the European education policy. In the past a lot of projects in the EU Lifelong Learning Programme have developed different kinds of instruments and material encouraging the definition and implementation of new courses and curricula, teacher training and educational material for promoting approaches to employers and employees. Nevertheless there is a lack of full and systematic implementation. From these researches initiated in recent years, partners have learnt from the importance of the combination of factors in order to properly develop basic skills training. They are convinced that only the interaction of some influencing, successful factors could result into real improvements in basic skills for work. The innovative approach of the STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS project will be the systemic view of all these successful indicators. Only taking into account many different aspects to strengthen basic skills trainings for adults will be successful and sustainable: What are successful environments, legal conditions, something like “vocational training cultures”, supportive collective agreements or agreements between the social partners etc. to provide work related basic skills trainings and make it acceptable or profitable for employers to join in those measures. But those enabling framework are not automatically successful without considering other indicators like the special pedagogical and educational training concepts, the access pathways to employers and employees, the professionalisation of counsellors and trainers, the quality assurance and evaluation of courses being offered, the involvement of all relevant actors in the field of work related basic education and the networking on regional and local level and so on. The STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS project offers a multiperspective view and pools the successful indicators in a comprehensive strategy to effectively promote work related basic skills training for adults. Based on these observations, 6 organizations from Austria, France, Germany, Norway, UK and Romania, gathered together in order to develop the concept and methodologies at stake, and do adapt this model in their countries, approaching it through implementation of 6 pilot projects focusing on 2 of the success indicators defined in previously. In order to realize this, the project can rely on a solid partnership made of organizations which are expert VET providers in the field of work-based training, large-scale lifelong learning promotion bodies, and academic institutions, which all focus on the developement of lifelong learning access to low-qualified adults. These partners have a very good knowledge of the topics and target beneficiaries involved and can rely on their long experience in European cooperation to successfully develop their common proposition. The STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS project expects the following results: 1) STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS Set of indicators (success indicators for implementing work related basic skills training for low qualified workers and unemployed) (IO1) 2) STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS Synthesis of Country reports (IO2) 3) STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS Experimental phase / country pilots (IO3) 4) STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS European roadmap (IO4), Policy recommendations/guidelines STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS project intends to have a large impact especially considering the strong interest shared by the consortium members and their abilities to reach a large audience, either at level of education and training actors, policy makers and final beneficiaries which can be educational training entities, decision makers and financers, companies, intermediaries or trade unions. The project work program strongly supports the large impact on beneficiaries: - Awareness raising to the situations of low-access and dangerous low-mastering ofbasic skills in EU and highlinght of the success indicators developed; - Development of STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS adapted pilots in 6 countries; - Valorization of the win-win STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS methodologies to efficiently and successfuly implement basic skills training activities; - Creation of a large strong network of STRAIGHTEN BASIC SKILLS promoters at EU level.