Definition of 'Adult Education'

For the purposes of the ETTAD project, adult education is defined as non vocational learning which may lead to enhanced employability but focuses on learning for personal, civic and social purposes. Adults are those aged 25 and over who have completed/left initial education and training.

Overview of the project

ETTAD (Enabling Teachers and Trainers to improve Accessibility of Adult Education) will enable teachers and trainers to help the integration of disabled people into adult education by removing unintended barriers to their entry and successful participation. Such improvements will open to disabled people a wider range of opportunities learning and personal development and so be a major step to reduce discrimination against them. Full accessibility for disabled people to adult education requires adjustments in teaching, learning and assessment: teachers and trainers are best positioned to do this, although they normally lack experience and expertise to do so. ETTAD will transfer to adult education, through a process of thorough review and adaptation a resource with a very successful track-record in tertiary education.

Targets (groups, sectors and end-users)

• Teachers and trainers in adult education
• Disabled people
• Disadvantaged people
• Course developers
• Adult education providers
• Policy makers
• Providers of training for teachers and trainers

Outcomes

The project will produce the following:

1. A report synthesising and presenting the operation and outcomes of the research programme from all partner countries
2. A comprehensive, online searchable resource in the UK, Bulgaria, Greece and Romania
3. A promotional resource in Turkey
4. A version of the ETTAD toolkit in participating countries
5. A Promotional Guide
6. A project website 

Aims

1. To enable teachers and trainers in adult education to meet the needs of their disabled students and help providers of adult education to open up opportunities for the participation of disabled people in adult education and improve the overall participation rate.
2. To conduct a programme of research into the needs of people with disabilities in each partner country to identify a list of core learning activities which is representative of adult education.
3. To develop, on the basis of this research, an online package (building on the SCIPS and Qatrain projects) that is adapted to meet the needs of participants in adult education.
4. To develop national websites with versions of this revised online resource, each fully translated and adapted to be culturally appropriate.
5. To develop a toolkit of resources concerned with supporting disabled students that is suitable for use in adult education which is then translated and adapted to create individual toolkits for each partner country.
6. To produce national promotional guides for users in each partner country.
7. To ensure that the outcomes of the project are maintained after the formal end of the project and that they continue to provide support for adult education after the funding period.