From 17.-19. December 2018, the kick-off meeting of the DivCap project was held under the lead of the Institute for Social Work. The project, which runs until April 2021, aims to support and promote inclusion and diversity in adult education.
Strengthening the personal skills of employees in dealing with diversity as well as the implementation of concrete measures in educational institutions are project goals. The partner organization in each country works with a second educational institution. The results of this pilot phase will be published in the form of case studies as well as tools and checklists. Based on this experience, guidelines and recommendations for various target groups such as educational staff, administrative staff and managers as well as a methodology for experimental learning settings are developed.
The slogan of the project is “Open Adult Education Institutions – Working and Learning in a diverse environment to promote equality”. The question pursued is which benefit learning and working in a diverse group can bring.
During the kick-off meeting from 17 – 19 December 2018 in Graz, the expectations of the project partners were exchanged and initial research results on the situation in the respective countries were presented. The next step is for project participants to work on the tools used to analyse adult education institutions in terms of diversity. In addition, theoretical and personal references to diversity were explored in an experimental learning setting.
“We plan to build support structures in adult education institutions so that they can successfully manage diversity in their organisation, their staff and learners. In doing so, we want to make a contribution to anti-discrimination and inclusion and promote equal access to adult education provision, “said project leader Helga Moser on the goals of the DivCap project.
Cooperation with educational institutions from seven European countries
“DiversityCapacities – Improving the Capabilities of Adult Education Institutions to Deal with Diversity (DivCap)” – this is the full title of the project. DivCap runs from November 2018 to April 2021 under the lead of FH JOANNEUM, Institute for Social Work, with educational institutions from seven European countries: Germany, Greece, Croatia, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria.
The project is funded by the Erasmus + Education National Agency (OeAD) as part of the EU Education Program Erasmus +, KA2 Adult Education Strategic Partnership – Innovation.
You can keep up to date on the next steps on the Facebook page of DivCap and on the associated FH JOANNEUM project page. At the end of January 2019, the official website of the project will also be published.
Further inquiry note:
Helga Moser (Projektleiterin DivCap)
FH JOANNEUM, Institut für Soziale Arbeit
Eggenberger Allee 11/2, 8020 Graz
T: +43 (0)316 5453-8714
E-Mail: helga.moser@fh-joanneum.at