TRAIN – Profesionalisation of Literacy and Basic Education – Basic Modules for Teacher Training

The TRAIN studied the status of the normative regulation of adult literacy programmes, professional qualifications and the offer of education for teachers in literacy and basic education programmes. A collection of papers was published to present the state-of-affairs in EU countries, which included the following in addition to the project participants: the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the UK (England, Wales and Scotland) and Liechtenstein.

The central task set for themselves by the participating members was to create international basic training for teachers in literacy and basic education programmes. Each country prepared one module bringing the total to five programmes, i.e.:

  • Social Marketing and the Promotion of Participation in Literacy Programmes;
  • How Adults Learn in Literacy and Basic Education Programmes;
  • Project Learning in Literacy and Basic Education Programmes;
  • Independent Learning and ICT Skills in Adult Literacy and Basic Education Programmes;
  • Counselling in Learning within the Scope of Literacy and Basic Education Programmes.

Each country implemented one module and performed an evaluation. Based on this, each country prepared a module programme and a guidebook for the implementation of the module.

The project ended with an international conference on adult literacy with a special emphasis on the role of the teacher in this process, i.e. on 2 September 2008 in Bonn.

Other tasks in the project were associated with the dissemination of project results and the presentation of its content in the environment. A project website was designed for this purpose and meetings were accompanied by open gatherings in Slovenia and Switzerland; and the interested professional public was invited to take part.

Project tasks

Project content was closely tied to or expressed through the project tasks. The group met in one of the participating countries for each larger task. Three meetings were held in accordance with the project plan. The first was the founding meeting Ljubljana, Slovenia in December 2006 and was intended mainly for the partners to get to know one another and harmonise their expectations about the objectives and the aim of the project as well as to concretely define the project tasks.

The second was an extraordinary meeting in Zurich, Switzerland in May 2007. The meeting was backed financially by SVEB. It was devoted to the harmonisation of reports on the state of literacy and teacher training, design of the questionnaire on the competences of teachers in literacy programmes as well as the planning of new tasks.

The third meeting was held in Waterford, Ireland in October 2007. The topic was the results obtained with the questionnaire on the competences of teachers in literacy programmes and the presentation of the drafts of the five modules.

In April 2008, a meeting was held in Lyon, France, while the last was held in parallel with the conference in Bonn in October 2008. The Lyon meeting was intended for the presentation of the results of the evaluation of module introduction and the planning of a handbook and the conference.

The major part of the communication between project partners took place via e-mail; however, it was found during the meetings that joint meetings are an excellent opportunity for exchange and reconciliation of the various views and understandings of phenomena. Countries and the institutions representing thus also get an opportunity to present themselves comprehensively to other partners.

Project results
  • Report on the state of adult literacy and the qualifications of teacher teaching in literacy and basic education programmes which was prepared in English and summaries of the report in the national languages of the participating countries.
  • A questionnaire (in the Slovenian language) was also prepared on the competences of teachers in literacy and basic education programmes which were filled in by at least 15 literacy experts in each country. The results were processed and the coordinator compared the results by individual countries.
  • Draft programmes were prepared for all five modules and contained the aim, objectives, module content, teaching methods, tools and resources used in the preparation.
  • A project website was prepared that presents the project to a wide audience of users and allows interaction. It also provides individual project results and products.
  • The website Newsletter published the news about important events associated with the project.

You can read more about the project here.

Project details

Timeframe: October 2006 – October 2008
Programme: Socrates, Grundtvig 1 (G1)
Coordinator: German Institute for Adult Education (Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung – DIE)
Partner countries: Cyprus (Cypriot Association for Adult Education – ΣYNΔEΣMOΣ EKPEDEFSIS ENHLIKΩΝ ΚΥΠΡΟΥ – CAEA), France (Agence nationale de lutte contre l’illetrisme – ANLCI), Ireland (Waterford Institute of Technology – WIT) and Slovenia (Slovenian Institute of Adult Education)
Associate partner: Switzerland (Schweizerischer Verband für Weiterbildung SVEB)
Project coordinator for Slovenia: Natalija Žalec, MAEd(UK)
Project associates at the ACS (Slovenian Institute of Adult Education): Estera Možina, MA