|
|
| |
|
Reference
|
|
S28
|
|
last
modified
|
|
23.04.2003
|
|
Title
|
|
Joint
actions Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth programmes
|
|
JO/budget
line
|
|
(2003/C
94/05)
|
|
Directorate
|
|
DG
EAC No 15/03 ‘Joint actions’
|
|
General
objectives
|
CONTEXT
Joint actions offer a possibility provided for in the
decisions establishing the Socrates (education), Leonardo
da Vinci (vocational training) and Youth programmes to
implement joint projects in order to encourage synergy.
Overall, joint actions should focus on themes that by
their very nature do not belong to one single domain —
education, training or youth. They call on reinforced
cooperation between actors from different sectors and
fields of knowledge.
OBJECTIVES
With the general objective of promoting a Europe of knowledge
, joint actions aim to encourage the development of innovative
approaches in the analysis and solving of problems which
cut across several areas. This objective shall be attained
notably by:
- cooperation between different sectors (education, training,
youth, culture) at different levels,
- transnational networking of different types of actors,
- removing barriers between modes of intervention due
to the structure of individual programmes.
Joint actions should provide added value by comparison
with individual actions under the programmes. Notably,
the groups targeted by the different programmes will be
able to participate in actions from which they would be
excluded by the individual programmes and to pool their
resources, environments and ideas in contributing to a
shared goal. By definition, a joint action must be multidisciplinary,
at least partially, linking education, vocational training,
youth work or culture. The interests of the different
domains concerned must be taken into account in a balanced
manner.
The potential promoters of ‘joint action’ projects are
invited to develop networks. Wherever necessary the Directorate-General
for Education and Culture will invite tenderers to merge
their proposals in order to benefit from cooperation between
the different dimensions of a single theme.
THEMES
OF THIS CALL FOR PROPOSALS
This call for proposals covers three themes. These themes
reflect the common objectives of the three programmes
Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth and also support
the European Union's lifelong learning policy initiatives
as defined in:
- the communication from the Commission ‘Making a European
area of lifelong learning a reality’ ,
- the detailed work programme on the follow-up of the
objectives for the education and training systems ,
- the Commission's White Paper ‘A new impetus for European
youth’ ,
- the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003.
The proposed themes will allow experimentation with new
innovative approaches (laboratories) and cooperation between
the actors in the different domains concerned (networking).
1. Theme 1: Integration of people with disabilities
Context
Approximately 38 million people, one in 10 Europeans of
all ages, have a disability. Throughout the Union, people
with disabilities face barriers not only in finding and
keeping a job but also in finding accessible transportation,
physically accessing buildings and facilities or gaining
access to education and any training for active citizenship,
self-fulfilment and employability. In addition, they also
face barriers in gaining access to the technologies that
would help them to become more fully integrated.
The theme forms part of the 2003 European Year of people
with disabilities.
In continuation of the work on lifelong learning and social
inclusion of target groups, which was started in 2002,
it is proposed in 2003 to mobilise the actors in education,
training, youth and culture in support of people with
disabilities. The emphasis will be on apprenticeship and
the acquisition of competencies. In the context of this
theme, it is proposed that those active in the fields
of education (including schools, tertiary education and
adult education), training, youth and culture should be
asked to think about equal opportunities for disabled
people. It is a question of raising the awareness of disabled
people's rights and of the need to provide them with protection
against any form of discrimination.
Objective
The objective is to promote the complete integration of
young persons and adults with disabilities into society
and to develop actions encouraging lifelong access to
formal, non-formal and informal education and training
for them.
It is also to improve the skills and competencies of those
people, specifically young people, in initial vocational
training at all levels; this objective may be achieved
for example through work-linked vocational education and
training and apprenticeships with a view to enhancing
their basic skills and vocational competencies and promoting
employability.
In order to attain these objectives, a certain number
of laboratory projects will be carried out. These projects
will make possible the exchange of good practice and the
experimentation of workable strategies. They will bring
together all those with a part to play (schools, adult
education organisations, training centres, educators and
trainers, learning facilitators for all age groups, professional
guides and mentors from civil society, cultural operators,
family associations, governments, NGOs, youth organisations,
social and youth workers, local communities or learning
cities and regions, companies, the media, etc.). The cultural
and intercultural dimension of these projects will be
very important.
Considering how important it is to ensure integration
for young people with fewer opportunities (the disabled
being part of that group) into our society and into the
labour market, facilitating access and, subsequently,
recognition of non-formal and informal education play
a fundamental role for this specific group. For that reason,
projects aimed at and/or dealing with disabled youngsters
and projects involving this group will be prioritised.
Interesting learning projects for/with adults will therefore
not be excluded.
The projects can for example focus on or include mobility
actions, developing educators' and trainers' skills, and
raising the awareness of those working in educational
and career guidance or adult education, social and youth
workers and youth organisation leaders.
Possible content of proposals and expected outcome
This theme should encompass actions focusing on promoting
the integration of people (including young people) with
disabilities in vocational education and training, in
non-formal education, in society and in the labour market.
Projects should address clearly defined contexts of vocational
education and training and/or non-formal and informal
education, and focus on one or several of the following
issues:
- enhancing the competencies of people with disabilities,
- increasing the quality and availability of formal, non-formal
and informal education and training for people with disabilities
(and/or the persons caring for them),
- enhancing opportunities for and facilitating access
to vocational education and training for people with disabilities,
- improved guidance and counselling for people with disabilities,
- distance learning projects,
- innovative education and training methods for people
with special needs, developing innovative, pedagogical
instruments,
- training for teachers and trainers, social and youth
workers, adult educators, guides and counsellors, administrative
and management staff of education and training institutions,
- exchange and dissemination of good practice and effective
strategies devised at local, national and European levels
to integrate people with disabilities into formal, non-formal
and informal education and training,
- to make people aware of the diversity of people with
disabilities and of people with disabilities facing multiple
discrimination and to develop effective anti-discrimination
strategies in education and training, preferably by activities
planned and organised by persons with disabilities,
- facilitating mobility for people with disabilities,
- to increase awareness of the potentials and contributions
to society of young people with disabilities,
- to involve disabled young people (or parents with children
with disabilities) as project coordinators or partners
in education and training for anti-discrimination in the
work place and in civil society,
- to use sport as a means for the integration of disabled
people, especially disabled young people in formal, non-formal
and informal education.
2. Theme 2: Active citizenship of young people
Context
Active citizenship is one of the priority themes of the
Commission White Paper ‘A new impetus for European youth’
(1). According to the White Paper, citizenship and participation
of young people can be developed primarily at local level.
Promoting active citizenship is also one of the three
pillars in the future education and training policies
for Europe as described in the report on ‘Concrete Future
Objectives of Education and Training Systems’ (2).
Participation in the decision-making processes is the
basis of democratic society. Active participation of young
people is the key to the development of an active citizenship
of young people. Their participation in youth associations,
voluntary work or other social and political activities
facilitates the development of democratic values, active
citizenship, the acquisition of social and communication
skills and employability and, consequently, contributes
towards lifelong learning.
Objective
The idea is to pool the resources offered by education,
training and youth policy with a view to promoting active
citizenship.
A limited number of innovative (laboratory) projects should
be created at local level based on an interdisciplinary
and targeted approach on the topic of citizenship.
Content of the proposals and expected outcomes
This theme should develop actions to promote learning
for active citizenship on the part of young people at
local level, with a view to pooling experiences with other
local bodies in other countries. The local partnership
should involve several environments (education and training,
civil society, cultural institutions) and players (schools,
local authorities, associations, parents, cultural bodies,
etc.), or bring together young people as actors in the
partnership with the current decision-makers in all areas
of their life. New and innovative partnerships should
be created. It would be an asset to integrate young people
who are normally not represented in organised structures.
The projects should make it possible to develop several
of the following dimensions:
- Participation of young people in decision-making:
The idea is to get young people to participate in decisionmaking
at local, regional or national level, but also more widely
in the construction of Europe. This participation will
not be limited to the mechanisms of representative democracy
but may also cover new forms of participation. The focus
should be put on the quality of participation.
- Information of young people and persons in contact with
young people:
Information is an important prerequisite for participation.
The goal is to explain to young people in their own language
the policies which concern them at different levels, including
the European level, and to enhance the participation of
young people in the shaping of information.
- Education and training focusing on citizenship:
Education plays an essential role in the life of a young
person. Therefore, active citizenship should be promoted
in the frame of formal education, but also through non-formal
and informal education schemes. The idea is to open education
and formal, non-formal and informal learning to social
questions by focusing on the European society under construction.
- Intercultural learning and European citizenship:
The idea is to create a link between intercultural learning
and the fight against racism and xenophobia on the one
hand and the feeling of belonging to a Europe based on
the shared values of solidarity, equality and multiculturalism
on the other hand.
Potential promoters
Transnational partnerships of organisations with experience
in the field of citizenship and youth participation. The
partnerships must be also capable of undertaking multidisciplinary
and innovative work as described above and give learners
an active role in planning, organising and evaluating.
3. Theme 3: Valuing informal and non-formal learning
Context
The debate preceding and following the Commission's Memorandum
on Lifelong Learning has shown that the distinction between
formal, non-formal and informal learning is widely accepted
across Europe. It is recognised that young people and
adults spend more and more of their lives studying and
acquiring competencies not only in formal education institutions
such as schools, universities, vocational training centres,
etc., but also outside traditional structures in civil
society organisations, non-governmental organisations
and youth organisations, in the workplace, in companies
and in trade unions, during voluntary service, etc. However,
at the moment, non-formal and informal learning is not
always given sufficient recognition either formally or
socially. Therefore, ‘valuing learning’ was identified
as one of the priorities for action in the Communication
from the Commission Making a European Area of Lifelong
Learning a Reality (COM(2001) 678 final).
Objectives
The political objective, as formulated in the strategy
on lifelong learning, is to create framework conditions
making it possible for citizens, in particular young people,
to combine formal learning experiences with non-formal
and informal learning experiences.
With that global objective in view, this joint action
aims at developing innovative and illustrative practical
examples of identification, assessment and recognition
of non-formal and informal learning. In order to achieve
this, a limited number of pilot laboratory projects are
to be carried out which will bring together relevant actors
in the areas of formal, non-formal and informal learning.
Content of the proposals and expected outcomes
Laboratory projects will need to build on the experience
acquired in Europe in the field of identification, assessment
and recognition of learning, and take into account the
major results of research and projects either completed
or in progress, notably within the framework of European
programmes in the fields of education, training and youth.
More specifically, projects will make use of the results
achieved by three preceding joint action projects on the
theme of ‘valuing learning’ that will be completed by
July 2002.
On this basis, and building on the considerable body of
existing experience, projects are invited to develop and
test high-quality and cost-efficient approaches to identification,
assessment and/or recognition of non-formal and informal
learning.
Projects must address clearly defined contexts of learning
where assessment and recognition are of particular relevance
(this can range from learning taking place in relation
to educational advancement, specific work tasks, in industry
branches or sectors, in fields of voluntary work, in youth
organisations, in leisure time and family settings etc.).
Projects must bear in mind the need to transfer qualifications
and competencies between sectors, levels and institutions
and must therefore indicate how learning outcomes from
one chosen setting can be linked to and combined with
learning outcomes from other settings (for example formal
education and training, labour market, youth work). Projects
need to address one or several of the following issues:
- methodological options: opportunities and obstacles,
- what is the appropriate reference and/or standard for
the chosen methodology?
- quality assurance: how can high reliability and validity
be ensured?
- cost-efficiency: how can optimal quality be balanced
with acceptable costs?
- transferability: how can learning outcomes assessed
and recognised in one particular setting be combined with
learning outcomes from other settings?
The main expected results of the projects that will be
selected are:
- clear recommendations, based on analysis of already
existing experiences and practical testing, on how one
or more of the abovementioned issues can be met,
- these recommendations ought also to take into consideration
the question of how to develop and implement common European
solutions which are applicable locally but reasonably
compatible and transferable in a wider national and international
context.
Potential promoters
It is expected that, within transnational partnerships,
projects will bring together organisations with experience
in the fields of education, vocational training and youth
activities. These three sectors need to be represented
within the proposed partnerships. In addition, it will
be desirable to associate with projects representatives
from civil society, sector-based and company organisations,
social partners, etc. relevant to the specific nature
of the project. |
|
Target
group
|
Any
institution and/or organisation meeting the eligibility
criteria and working in the fields covered by this call
for proposals, that is to say education, training and
youth, may present themselves as applicant or coordinating/
promoting organisations.
Each proposal must be submitted to the Commission by a
single, coordinating/promoting institution/organisation
on behalf of a transnational partnership.
Only proposals submitted on the official application form,
completed in full, and received by the specified closing
date will be considered. Proposals must include the participation
of at least four of the countries, of which at least two
must be EU Member States. Proof of participation must
be provided in the form of participation letters from
the partner institutions (original signatures required).
The projects must be non profit-making.
The coordinating/promoting institution and/or other organisation
must possess a legal identity.
Applicants must certify that they are not in one of the
situations listed in Article 93 and 94 of the Financial
Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European
Communities . |
|
Geographical
area
|
| Both
the coordinating/promoting organisation and the partner
organisations must be established in one of the following
states: the 15 EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein,
Norway, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Malta,
Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Lithuania
and Romania. |
|
Finance
|
The
budget available for this call is EUR 3,3 million. On
the basis of this amount, the Directorate-General for
Education and Culture envisages supporting a limited number
of pilot projects, normally between EUR 200 000 and a
maximum of EUR 300 000.
Community grants are an incentive to carry out an action
which would not be able to be carried out without the
financial support of the Commission, and are based on
the principle of co-financing. They complement the applicant's
own financial contribution and/or national, regional or
local assistance that has been obtained elsewhere. The
subsidised project may not benefit from any other Community
funding for the same action. |
|
Duration
|
| Two
years. |
|
Deadline
|
| 15
June 2003 |
|
Contact/Address
|
|
|
|
|
|
