OED - Outreach Empowerment and Diversity Network
Outreach Empowerment and Diversity OED Research Network
The OED Research Network has a broad research focus on social inclusion and active citizenship, and more particularly on increasing the active participation of marginalised groups in lifelong learning, promotion of diversity in education and empowerment of the learner's voice. The EDC, along with the Turkish partner Hydra, will coordinate the evaluation of the project outcomes. The research has a three year time frame January 2012 to December 2014, and will include a conference scheduled to be held in Brussels in June 2014. The OED Partners include Greece, Germany, Estonia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Finland, England, Wales, France, Turkey, Spain and Ireland. The Irish partner will be conducting the evaluation of the research outputs in Year 3 of the project, commencing November, 2013.
IMPLEMENTING OUTREACH, EMPOWERMENT, DIVERSITY
DAFNI KEK in cooperation with Cafe Gefires – the social cooperative of people with mental health disabilities – organised an open week of information and a webinar to introduce the main concepts of outreach, empowerment and diversity to people working with the Roma, refugees, migrants and people with mental health issues as well as volunteers and educators working with disadvantaged groups. READ MORE
OUTREACH, EMPOWERMENT AND DIVERSITY OED IN ADULT EDUCATION: A GRUNDTVIG NETWORK RESEARCH PROJECT SELECTED AS A EUROPEAN COMMISSION ‘SUCCESS STORY’.
The Outreach, Empowerment and Diversity OED Grundtvig Network research project on adult education was selected as a "success story" by a panel of experts from the Directorate-General for Education and Culture DG-EAC of the European Commission. "Success stories" are completed projects that have distinguished themselves by their impact, contribution to policy-making, innovative results and/or creative approach and can be a source of inspiration for others.
The European Association for the Education of Adults EAEA as the project co-ordinators, and the project partners received a formal note of appreciation for their commitment, enthusiasm and high-quality work from Michal Krejza, Head of Unit at the DG-EAC of the European Commission.
Dr. Catherine Maunsell, Education Department, as Irish OED project co-ordinator and Valerie Mc Loughlin, Administrator of the Educational Disadvantage Centre (EDC), as the Irish partners to the OED network, were the lead partners in the evaluation of the product outcomes arising from the OED network activities which included inter alia OED Good Practice Examples from Adult Education (Kil et al, 2013); OED Guidelines for Trainers and Management Staff in Adult Education; OED Policy Recommendations.
The Educational Disadvantage Centre has been part of a successful consortium bid for EU funding for the follow-on OED II research project.
OED DOCUMENTS PUBLISHED
The OED Network has published two documents targeted at local, national and European policy-makers: 'OED Policy Recommendations' and 'OED Guidelines for Trainers and Managment Staff in Adult Education’.
The policy recommendations propose improvements in the integration of marginalised groups in and through adult education and in their active citizenship, empowerment and participation in lifelong learning. A successful development in the areas of social inclusion, active citizenship and adult education necessitates an appropriate legal framework. Click here to access the OED Policy Recommendations
The guidelines aim to support managers, course designers and practitioners in adult education institutions in their work with socially and educationally disadvantaged groups. It is based on examples of good practice collected from 14 European countries and reflects the experiences of adult educators working in the field. Click here to access the Methodology Guidelines
OED Network has developed a grid in order to analyse quantitative and qualitative data looking at enhancing and hindering indicators/factors for outreach as well as enhancing diversity and empowerment within adult education institutions. Click here to access the grid
The OED network has collected and analysed European good practice examples tackling the overlap of social inclusion and active citizenship. Projects and organisations were identified using a common grid (above). Outreach methods and approaches were analysed and main trends and success factors identified. The network therefore provides an overview of the field within a European context though looking at outreach strategies to marginalised groups. Click here to access the Good Practice Report
OED FINAL PARTNER MEETING AND CONFERENCE, BRUSSELS JUNE 2014
On June 16th and 17th, Dr Catherine Maunsell, Education Department, and Valerie McLoughlin, Administrator of the Educational Disadvantage Centre attended the final partner meeting of the Outreach Empowerment and Diversity (OED) Grundtvig Network research project and the OED conference in the Goethe Institute, Brussels. They were accompanied by Ms Liz Waters, CEO of An Cosán and President of AONTAS as An Cosán had facilitated the testing and analysis of the methodological guidelines produced by the network. These guidelines outline practical steps to be taken when engaging with hard to reach groups such as Roma and migrants.
The Education Disadvantage Centre (EDC) as Irish partners have responsibility for evaluation of the products arising from the OED network and at the partner meeting on the 16th, Dr Maunsell presented on the initial results from the online evaluation tool which she and Valerie had designed for that specific purpose and administered to the network in March.
The OED conference was held to present and discuss the outcomes of the OED network and to build a platform for networking and discussion between the network partners, adult education practitioners, AE organisations representatives, national and European policy makers and stakeholders in the lifelong learning sector. This conference had three discrete foci:
- An innovative ‘Gallery Walk’ where organisations showcased their particular expertise; the Irish partner, along with NIACE (UK) and DIE (Bonn) hosted the station regarding making initial contact with hard to reach groups. To veiw the presentations given by Liz Waters of An Cosán, Jennie Turner, Greenwich Community College and Gertrud Volkening, Agentur für Erwachsenen- und Weiterbildung Niedersachsen, just click on their name
- An in-depth Knowledge Café where the proposed policy recommendations were discussed; Catherine and Valerie moderated the discussion around a European quality framework/principles for adult education and the establishment of a European level institute for adult education
- Panel discussion; panellists included Gina Ebner, Secretary General European Association for Adult Education (EAEA) Ji-Eun Chung, policy analyst with the OECD; Joyce Black, UK National coordinator of NIACE and Paul Holdsworth, Head of Sector in the unit for VET, Adult Learning and Erasmus+ in the Directorate-General for Education and Culture, European Commission . Paul Holdsworth previously was attached to the European Commission unit dealing with Schools Policy, where he had specific responsibility for developing policies on Teacher Education. He is pictured with Catherine Maunsell and Valerie McLoughlin. Also pictured with Catherine and Valerie is Liz Waters, An Cosán
OED
The OED Research Network has a broad research focus on social inclusion and active citizenship, and more particularly on increasing the active participation of marginalised groups in lifelong learning, promotion of diversity in education and empowerment of the learner's voice. The EDC, along with the Turkish partner Hydra, will coordinate the evaluation of the project outcomes. The research has a three year time frame January 2012 to December 2014, and will include a conference scheduled to be held in Brussels in June 2014. The OED Partners include Greece, Germany, Estonia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Finland, England, Wales, France, Turkey, Spain and Ireland. The Irish partner will be conducting the evaluation of the research outputs in Year 3 of the project, commencing November, 2013
Dr Catherine Maunsell attended the 4th planning meeting of the Outreach, Empowerment and Diversity (OED) Grundtvig Network research project in Patras from 5th-8th February, 2014. The objectives of the meeting, hosted by the Greek partner DAFNI KEK, were on finalisation of the OED Guidelines for Trainers and Management Staff in Adult Education, development of OED recommendations for policy and planning for the OED Conference to be hosted by the OED network co-ordinators, European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) in Brussels in June 2014. The Education Disadvantage Centre (EDC) as Irish partners have responsibility for evaluation of the products arising from the OED network and Dr Maunsell presented on the online evaluation tool which she and Valerie Mc Loughlin, EDC Administrator had developed in association with the EAEA.
Dr Catherine Maunsell attended the Trainers' Workshop meeting in Malmo, Sweden in April 2013. She was accompanied by Deirdre Bannon from An Cosán, who has agreed to pilot the methodology guidelines that were discussed and agreed at this workshop.
Dr Catherine Maunsell and Valerie McLoughlin attended the 3rd planning meeting of the Outreach, Empowerment and Diversity (OED) Grundtvig Network research project in Vienna from 16th-18th January 2013. The focus of the meeting, hosted by the Austrian partner Die Weiner Volkshochschulen, was on the analysis and dissemination of the good practice examples collated by the research partners in the areas of outreach, empowerment and diversity in adult education. A report on the first phase of the research was written by the German Institute for Adult Education. The two models of Good Practice provided in the Irish context were Pavee Point and Fáilte Isteach /Third Age. Ms. McLoughlin was Group Rapporteur in the workshop on 'Learner Voice and Choice'.
Dr Catherine Maunsell attended the 2nd partner-meeting in Bonn, Germany where the examples of Good Practice from the member organisations were compiled and a methodology was discussed.
Dr Catherine Maunsell, Acting Director of the Educational Disadvantage Centre (EDC), St. Patrick's College and Valerie McLoughlin, Administrator, participated in the initial meeting of the Outreach, Empowerment, Diversity (OED) Research Network. The European Adult Education Association (EAEA), as coordinators of the network, hosted the initial meeting in Brussels on the 23rd and 24th January 2012. The meeting, chaired by Gina Ebner, Director of the EAEA, was attended by representatives of the 16 partner organisations.
