ESTEEM - Empowerment through study training enabling Education and Mentoring"

Duration: 24 months
Start: 01 November 2007 Finish: 31 October 2009
Leonardo da Vinci Programme

Project concept:

The idea of ESTEEM project is to return learners, people from minority ethnic groups, unemployed people and others who experience social and economic disadvantage. These people are often marginalised in their access to training and employment. And there is usually a mismatch between their needs and requirements and the provision of education and training for employment.

In this respect Lifelong learning provides opportunities for more people to obtain the skills and qualifications they need to enter the labour market. The key to successful engagement with this process is the ability to get into employment. However, certain groups are less able to do this, because of economic disadvantage, structural barriers to their participation, limited educational experience, ethnocentric attitudes and cultural insensitivity. The ESTEEM project is aimed at empowering these groups by helping them take more control of the development of their learning.

Aims:

The main goal of ESTEEM is to empower disadvantaged people, in developing their own learning and in identifying their employment and training potential. It will do this through a supported assessment process, and by giving learners direct involvement in programme development and delivery.

• To encourage the participation of disadvantaged people in Vocational Education & Training, particularly in social work and social care, and at pre-entry level and in volunteering.
• To enhance personal development, and encourage participation and contribution of disadvantaged people.
• To develop a user-friendly assessment process which will have value to learners, training providers and employers.
• To support learners in the acquisition and demonstration of knowledge, skills and competences, enabling them to enter the labour market.
• To use the ESTEEM project to promote partnership and co-operation across a wider range of training institutions, social partners, municipalities and regions, and providing greater opportunities for participation and training.

Target groups:

• Disabled people and people with learning difficulties whose access to employment is restricted to low paid, unqualified work, or no work at all;
• People from lower socio-economic groups who lack equal access to qualification;
• People excluded from training and the workforce because of cultural differences and ethnicity;
• People returning to learning, especially those with limited secondary school experience;
• People with mental health difficulties whose experience of training and employment may be disrupted.

Outcomes and products:

The ESTEEM project will use the Preparation for Social Work and Social Care programme developed in the APT project (Improving access for disabled people to professional training in social work and social care, through preparation, blended learning and mentoring support.), which was designed as a flexible approach for encouraging entry to further and higher education for disabled people and other disadvantaged groups. The new ESTEEM project will enhance learners’ experience of them by extending their applicability and their adaptability.

• The Preparation Programme will run in new sectors, in new regions, and with new service user groups, and will be promoted in new countries. It will be available in English, Bulgarian and Greek.
• The Programme will support students in developing a personal learning portfolio that they can carry into future training and employment.
• The acquisition of enhanced learner’s skills and abilities will be ensured by specially designed Learner Oriented Quality Assurance Process (LOQuAP). It helps to match learner needs with programme design and format. The individual quality assurance portfolios will be developed within the frame of LOQuAP.

Partnership:

De Montfort University, Leicester, UK - Beneficiary (coordinator) of the project;
Marie Curie Association, Bulgaria;
e-ISOTIS , Greece;
The University of Malta, Malta.