The project BADGES has aimed at valorising the huge lifelong learning potential of European cultural and natural heritage sites.Nowadays the concept of lifelong learning is strictly connected with the validation of non-formal and informal learning and the relevance of recognizing the entire scope of knowledge and experience held by an individual, irrespective of the learning context is widely remarked. Despite the growing interest and the European institutions’ strong commitment to promote validation systems in different learning situations, there are contexts, such as the heritage and cultural sites, where concrete experiences of competence validation are rather few and scattered.BADGES developed a fully fledged methodology to support both cultural and natural heritage sites in offering learning enhancement experiences to their visitors, and the opportunity to have the new knowledge and skills acquired during the learning experience recognised and validated.BADGES developed:•a methodological frame for competence based informal and non-formal learning in cultural and natural heritage•a CPD Programme for cultural and natural heritage staff capacity for developing and organizing validated informal and non-formal learning at their sites•a European system for issuing electronic badges as a certificate for competence development•and eventually created a community of interest around this topic and support the creation of a ‘badging culture’ as part of an approach to personal and professional development and to employabilityThe main target groups of the project are:-Professionals working in museums, other heritage or cultural organisations, natural parks, archaeological sites that will be able to issue the badges linked to their mission.-People visiting cultural sites, nature parks, historical sites, etc. that can be invited to make the most of the experience by getting a badge.The project started with a research on:•Good practices in European cultural and natural heritage sites•Heritage professionals’ needs in terms of educational methodologies•Successful examples of electronic badges usageThe results of this study laid the basis for setting up the core components of the BADGES methodology.An inventory of relevant competences was identified, relating to transferable social, personal and organisational competences (SPOC) that may be acquired in the specific learning contexts and also field competences connected to the cultural and natural heritage topics. The description of the competences followed the LEVEL5 validation system, a well proven methodology to validate social and personal competences acquired in informal and non-formal learning. For each competence, a framework will be set up along the dimensions of knowledge, skills and attitudes. A validation system was set up considering the stages: Identification, Assessment and Documentation of competences and their Certification with Badges.The Badges issuing system is based on an open learning space (the LEVEL5 learning suite) consisting of different OER components Mahara (e-Portfolio and Moodle as open source Learning Management System. The system is connected to the LEVEL5 software which issues certificates as qualified badges since it is build on a specific taxonomy.The BADGES approach creates a transferrable learning system that connects the competence framework with individual learning pathways in heritage contexts.All the components of the BADGES methodology were transferred to a group of recruited professionals working in the field of cultural and natural heritage that will be invited to attend a European short-term course. After the course the participants designed and offered a competence based learning pathway to the visitors of their heritage sites. Though this activity was not funded anymore the application of the BADGES methodology in real-life cases gave important feedbacks to fine tune the products developed.The project main outputs were wrapped up in the BADGES Toolkit which is freely available. In order to maximise the impact of the project the partners put in place a structured valorisation strategy which is based on the coupling with the REVEAL network to ensure the continuity of the activities, the exploitation of the BADGES products. The valorization strategy includes the mission of the BADGES community, descriptions of the products and services and the network strategy and organisation. This way the qualified badging system and the whole CPD approach shall be valorised for cultural and natural heritage institutions throughout Europe in promoting the learning experience among their visitors.During numerous national and European events the project was highly recognized by heritage professionals and was widely disseminated to the European Community of professionals working at cultural heritage sites and those stakeholders who consider cultural heritage education as an enrichment of their adult education.

"The project started from the analysis of the different approaches to educational support for pupils with disabilities in the partner countries (IT, RO, ES, DE, BE) and their effects on the level of school and social inclusion and involved staff needs. ALL-INCLUSIVE SCHOOL aimed to strengthen the methodological and digital skills of teachers/educators to favour the inclusion of students with mild intellectual disabilities (DSM-5), aged between 12-19, through the creation of innovative and digital Outputs to be used by teachers to manage diversity and promote the inclusion in class. In this sense, the project focused on the 2030 Agenda objectives 4-Quality education and 10-Reduce inequalities. The partnership, strategic for the realization of the mission, gathered different actors creating a team of partners endowed with complementary skills but equally committed to promoting inclusion at school:- 2 secondary schools (ITS CALVI, Colegio Huerta Santa Ana)- 2 public bodies connected to school system (LandKreis Kassel, Vaslui County School Inspectorate)- 1 cooperative VET center (IRECOOP ER)- 1 Specialized Educational Center (CJRAE)- 1 educational and digital services cooperative (Archilabò)- 1 University specialized in Special and Inclusive Education (UCLL)Besides the partners staff, the project involved over 90 stakeholders in the Outputs development and dissemination stages: schools representative bodies, bodies that deal with teachers training, innovation and Open Educational Resources, educational services cooperatives, NGOs/associations that provide services to support disability.More specifically, over 200 teachers/educators participated in the data collection for the Outputs, in the framework of an evidence based approach. The teachers, direct target, were also involved in TESTING and PILOTING activities; the latter also involved students, including those with mild intellectual disabilities (indirect target). ALL-INCLUSIVE SCHOOL has created 3 transnational Outputs, available online in different languages ​​(IT, EN, DE; ES, RO, NL) and modalities:*ALL-IN IDENTIKIT: research-analysis for the development of the Inclusive European Teacher Identikit, starting from the ""Profile of inclusive teachers'' (EASNIE 2012). The research has mapped skills - in particular digital - teaching strategies and methodologies , pedagogical guidelines to encourage inclusion at school, with particular attention to cooperative approaches and the support of digital technologies.*ALL-IN TEACHER KIT: practical guide to the use of innovative cooperative teaching strategies and methodologies with ready-to-use tools, activities and examples, to support the work of teachers and educators in promoting inclusion. The guide, which can be downloaded or browsed online on the project website, is structured on the basis of the All-in Identikit and includes:26 practical activities and 18 methodologies related to the organization of learning20 methodologies and 5 examples of assessment activities of the ""learning to learn"" skillA focus on the methodology of the Social Books Creator, third Project Output*ALL-IN SOCIAL BOOK CREATOR: tool for the cooperative creation and sharing of open, inclusive and accessible digital contents (Social Books), which consists of:-SBC Editor, Web App for the cooperative creation of Social Books-SBC Cooperative Press, a collaborative repository of highly accessible digital texts and Social Books For the good outcome of the project, the following activities were realized: -6 TRANSNATIONAL MEETINGS, with frequent intermediate virtual meetings-5 MULTIPLIER EVENTS (1 for each partner country) for the final dissemination of the Outputs and the project as a whole. The quality and sustainability of the project were guaranteed by:-An articulated activities planning-strategies and tools aimed at implementing / monitoring / evaluating the actions-a wide communication and dissemination plan involving the transnational network of stakeholders-the partners commitment to stimulate the Outputs usability by making them available in different modalities and through different channels.All the tools and materials were in fact widely disseminated and promoted at local, national and European level throughout the project, also thanks to the use of eTwinning and School Education Gateway platforms, in order to reach and involve a large number of teachers and educators at European level and beyond.The impact is currently measurable in the short term, differently on partners, teachers, students and other stakeholders, from the local to the international level, primarily in terms of skills strengthening and improved digital technology use in favor of inclusion.In the medium-long term the project will have an impact in terms of cultural, methodological and technological change on school systems starting from the inclusive and digital teaching practices that teachers / educators will be able to implement."

An increasing number of European countries is implementing online civic and commercial services to enable easier, cheaper and faster administrative operations for citizens. The future trend is obvious: the demand of such services will increase significantly and so will the implementation by governments and businesses. Even though e-Government and e-Commerce offer a myriad of benefits, taking advantage of such services requires a certain amount of digital skills and know-how, which disadvantaged groups of people often lack.The objective of My e-Start is to equip disadvantaged groups of people with skills necessary for using the most common e-Government and e-Commerce services in their countries and ensuring a positive (first) e-experience as well as a sense of digital achievement. My e-Start is focusing on a group, which is particularly vulnerable to digital exclusion, namely the elderly, those with low levels of education and training and those with a migration background.The main output of the project is the development of an extremely simple online course and a user-friendly e-platform adapted to specific needs of the target group. Both the online course and the e-platform will put a particular emphasis on the use of ‘easy language’, simple instructions, clear visual elements and well-structured content to avoid confusion and overstress of the target group. The aim of the online course is to provide disadvantaged groups of people with very basic knowledge about common e-Government and e-Commerce services in their countries (e.g. e-banking, tax declaration, e-card) and how to use them. To ensure an implementation of the course in different contexts and environments, My e-Start will design and develop a comprehensive manual for adult educators and/or training providers working with the target group and intending to implement the online course into their curricula. The explicit aim of My e-Start is to contribute to digital inclusion of disadvantaged groups of people and address the increasing digital gap by designing, developing and promoting sustainable and tailored products, which are widely applicable and highly impactful. The project consortium consists of experts, who have vast experience in areas including adult education, digital competence and the inclusion of disadvantaged groups. During the whole duration of the project and beyond, partners will ensure an extensive dissemination and valorisation of the project through established national and international networks of key stakeholders to guarantee high visibility and a widespread effect.

The project THREE C has aimed at integrating the concept of the Circular Economy as an attractive new learning field in European school education.The “Circular Economy” refers to the concept of saving natural resources and to reuse and recycle them. It is a more profound approach than the solely technical (end-of pipe) concepts of waste management sector (like the German Kreislaufwirtschaft) and focuses on the active participation and capacity building of citizens.It is an increasingly relevant, popular and attractive theme that is being boosted by major economic, ecological and political stakeholders worldwide. Young people need to acquire skills to be able to contribute to and work in a circular economy.In the THREE C project 8 project partners from 7 EU member states collaborated in a multi-stakeholder partnership:The lead partner, Landkreis Kassel(1) is a regional authority which has been active in environmental protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation and in the circular economy since several decades.Q21 (2) has been developing full time qualifications in environmental and climate change management. It is member of REVEAL, the European network for promoting and validating informal learning and it’s unique competence oriented learning and validation system Tallinn University(3). Centre for Educational Technology (CET, established in 1998) is a department within TLU’s Institute of Informatics, being one of the leading R&D centres in the field of eLearning within Baltic countries. It is part of the EMMA (European Multiple MOOC Aggregator )project.Euneos (4)has been involved in European projects, organisation of KA1 courses and international networking since 2005.Fontys(5) is one of the leading teachers’ training institutes in the Netherlands and developed, together with Q21 the holistic didactic and validation approach Sint-Lambertus 4 (6) has experience with European projects since 2000: LLP Comenius and Vetpro. The school has general education, technical and vocational training.IES Las Indias (7)is very much oriented to international projects since 2010. The school has an extented network of companies for internships.Universidade portucalense infante d. henrique porto (8). This institution has a network of schools and companies and promoted the THREE C MOOC and post graduate course.Results and impact attainedTHREE C achieved the following results:•A framework of competences related to circular economy was set up. The competences were thoroughly described and converted in so called reference systems (3 competence dimensions (knowledge, skills and attitudes and 5 competence levels), based on the LEVEL5 holistic competence oriented learning and validation approach.•A didactical approach with teaching and assessment strategies was developed to enable teachers to teach their pupils skills in the context of a circular economy and to equip this approach with a inventories (growing catalogues) for informal learning and assessment methods)•A competence oriented assessment and validation approach was set up including a catalogue of suitable assessment methods and a link to a THREE C-validation tool.•An interactive and holistic learning environment for teachers that receive training on THREE C (on how to teach Circular Economy) was developed including practical projects on competence based learning in internships (guidelines) and links to the validation environment•Diverse learning resources for teachers and educational staff were developed includingoA MOOC on how to teach Circular Economy oA Training module for teachers (blended learning), which was piloted with 20 teachersoA KA1 Erasmus course concept was derived from the pilot course•An active conferencing format programme for teachers on circular economy was developed and delivered during the multiplier event.•A proposal of a post-graduation course with an academic degree (ECTS) on competences for a circular economy degree with teachers as target group was developed, approved by the scientific board of the PT UniversityLong term benefitsThe project team intensively disseminated and valorised the THREE C concept. The course has been officially accredited in the German state of Hesse which makes it an official CPD for teachers. The THREE approach has been introduced as officially accepted concept in 3 teacher training centres in the Netherlands. A master course will be developed in the FONTYS University in 2017. The THREE C community has become part of the European REVEAL network which cares for the maintenance of the connected learning technologies and supports the marketing and distribution of the project products such as the KA1 course and the Post Graduate Course.The availability of the project's materials beyond the project lifetime and the visibility for policy makers, other teachers and school managers is secured both by the project website (www.threec.eu) and the e-Learning platform (threec.my-VITA.eu).

The project aims at promoting and validating social, personal and organisational key competences such as entrepreneurship, civic competences and learning to learn with the help of an innovative, self-directed learning approach at the interface of higher education and business.Social and personal key competences are hardly to be acquired in lectures, frontal teaching and self-learning.The ideal learning contexts to develop these competences are informal/non-formal learning contexts such as learning in mobility and in traineeships.However, up to now only singular attempts have been made to assess these competences, to give evidence of their development in the learning activity, to connect them to existing certification systems and to offer a European wide validation approach.PROMOTE has developed and piloted an approach to tackle this issue based on a long term partnership of academia, business and educational partners from all over Europe.The traineeships involving learners from 15 institutions, including universities, businesses and public authorities has been piloted in different EU member-states. The innovative momentum of these internships was that they work along a project management structure; each trainee had to plan, develop and assess his or her project, which lead towards at least one of the key competences described above.In the framework of the project well-proven evaluation approaches (6 LEVEL5 projects, EDUCCKATE) were applied to assess and evidence informal learning in different mobility learning environments and traineeships.