Taken from the adult education workshop held at the Erasmus+ UK 'My Story' Annual Conference 2015. Originally presented by Kevin Robinson, team leader for adult education at the Erasmus+ UK National Agency. This presentation provides beneficiaries and prospective applicants with different perspectives and new ideas on how to get the most from Erasmus+ projects. It includes practical programme information as well as input from current organisers working to extend the reach of their project.

1. Adult education
workshop
Annual conference
22 September 2015

2. Welcome!

3. • The current picture for adult education in Erasmus+
• Focussing on dissemination activities and practices
• Showcasing a current project
• Discussing and sharing ideas on dissemination
This session is all about…

4. • A space for different types of learning
• How has Adult education responded to changes in
the programme?
• Identifying the trends
• Looking beyond Europe
• Engaging with other fields of learning
The picture so far…

5. 2014 2015
Budget available (€) 4,359,768 4,353,446
No. of applications 134 126
No. of projects
supported
26 29
Success rate 19% 23%
Adult education - overview

6. • Sector Consultative Group for Adult education
• Transnational Cooperation Activities
• Eplatform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE)
• European Agenda for Adult Learning
• Working with key stakeholders
Complementary activities

7. • To encourage more and better quality dissemination
• To share approaches to dissemination and highlight
good practice
• To support organisations in dissemination activities
• To take advantage of an integrated programme in
disseminating results across fields
Improving impact through dissemination

8. Guest speaker presentation

9. VALMOPRIS
Dissemination
Kirsten Sams
Manager, Prisoner Learning and Skills

10. VALMOPRIS
• Validation of informal learning in a prison
context
• Training prison teaching staff in validation of
informal learning
• Produce a toolkit for validation of informal
learning
• Link to and build on other relevant initiatives
in field of recognition of informal learning

11. Dissemination Plan
Core element of the project
• Project sponsored by European Prison Education
Association
• Involves partners influential in their domestic
criminal justice settings
• Evaluation – key to communicating the message
• Involves end users – prison teaching staff
• Incorporates feedback from prison learners

12. Dissemination
Dissemination Models

13. Dissemination
Dissemination Models

14. Dissemination
Key Stages
• Target Audiences
• Articulation of Key Messages
• Objectives
• Dissemination Methods
• Resources and Funding Available
• Timeline
• Assignment of Tasks

15. Dissemination
• Audience
Who will find the project interesting/valuable?
Which organisations might be able to
incorporate the learning/practice into their
future policies or future research?
Who can take the learning and turn it into
practice?
What kind of reporting does each audience
require? How is it best to reach them?

16. Valmopris - Audiences
• EPEA members
• National Prison Services
• Policy makers
• Researchers
• Prison teachers
• Prisoners/Learners
• Other adult education organisations

17. VALMOPRIS Audiences
• EPEA – http://epea.org/
• Europris - http://www.europris.org/
• Prisoners Education Trust
• Prisoner Learning Alliance
• SPS
• SCCJR
• Journal of Prison Education and Re-entry
https://jper.uib.no/
• Inside Times/ STIR

18. Dissemination
• The User Voice
Since desistance is about discovering agency,
interventions need to encourage and respect
self-determination; this means working with
offenders not on them
(McCulloch, 2005; McNeill, 2006).

19. STIR

20. Learner Voice - STIR
High quality prison magazine
Challenges prisoners to stretch themselves – aim
high
Develops a range of skills – introduces “agency”
Makes public aware of positive work that happens
in prisons
Raises awareness among prisoners of arts projects
in the community/ supports transition
Encourages dialogue between prisoners and the
wider society

21. Dissemination
Participants’ wellbeing and behavior during
& after the intervention
Outcome (1): sustained or improved physical or
mental well-being
Generative skills (i.e. concentration, focus,
staying power)
Outcome (4): improved literacy skills and (5):
employability prospects increased
Confidence and self-esteem; also expressed
in resilience and self-control (the
enlightened self interest not responding to
negative triggers
Outcome (5): employability prospects increased
and (6): maintained or improved relationships
with family, peers and community
Communiation skills and willingness to
communicate; team skills
Outcomes (5): employability prospects in-
creased, and (6): maintained or improved
relationships with family, peers, and community
Empathy, as expressed in engagement with
other individuals and with the well-being of
the group
Outcomes (6): maintained or improved rela-
tionships with family, peers, and community, and
(9): improvements in the attitudes or behaviour
which lead to offending and greater acceptance
of responsibility

22. Dissemination
• Articulation of Key Messages
– Value of informal learning in prison settings
– Links with desistance theory
– Importance of creativity and the arts
– Importance of prisons as whole learning environments
– Prison culture – moral performance
– Pro-social identities/ asset based approach
– Need to build the professional profile for prison teachers

23. Dissemination
• Objectives - NCL
– To protect a varied prison curriculum
– To resist the drive towards accreditation of low
level skills as the focus for prison education
– To protect a tradition of a liberal arts education
with an emphasis on creativity and cross curricular
working
– To help develop skills of prison teachers
– To build prisoners self confidence and encourage
engagement in learning

24. Dissemination

25. Dissemination
• Objectives - Project
– To reach and influence the relevant audiences
– To promote good practice
– To influence policy
– To support prison teaching staff
– To raise awareness of prison education and its
importance
– To develop new approaches to assessing the
impact of prison education

26. Dissemination
• Dissemination Methods
– Website
– Twitter
– Policy Reports
– Academic Papers
– Workshops/Conferences
– Film/Animation
– Membership of Networks and Forums

27. Dissemination
• Resources and Funding Available
– Ensure sufficient attention is paid to this in
context of the project budget
– Look at potential to use already existing events
and networks to promote the project
– Concentrate on targeting organisations with the
greatest reach – influencers

28. Dissemination
• Timeline/Assignment of Tasks
Partner Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8
1 Project
Launch
Establish
Project
Website and
Twitter
Account
Article in
STIR
Article in
Scottish
Justice
Matters
Publication
of Final
Report
2
3 Article in
EuroPris
Newsletter
4
5 Article for
EPEA
Newsletter
6 EPEA
Conference

29. Dissemination
• Conclusions
– Important to consider at the outset
– Compile a list of target audiences
– Compile a list of events/conferences which will be
interested in the outcome of your project
– Target academic and policy publications with the
outcomes of your research
– Consider the potential for evaluation to impact on
dissemination – academic evaluator?

30. Breakout session

31. Conclusions

32. Thank you!
Enjoy the remainder
of the conference.