Learning outside the framework of institutional education is coming increasingly into the perspective of educational policy. How do young people learn in contexts not designed for learning? What do they learn and can these skills and competencies be made visible? Acknowledgement and recognition of informal learning can help awaken motivation and interest in formal educational processes and make them more successful.
Instruments & Materials
DVD & Internet streams
The DVD just as the internet video streams offer practical examples how to put ICOVET into practice.
Validation tool
The aim of the validation tool is to make visible and recognition of skills and competencies acquired outside institutional learning contexts.
Manual
The Manual comprises a general introduction to the validation process, requirements for successful practice and troubleshooting.
Good practice guide
The Best Practice Guide comprises a variety of issues related to methodology, ethics, social and cultural factors crucial to the ICOVET process.
Training module
Methods and techniques, with the help of which informal competencies of disadvantaged young people can be made visible.
Particularly those young people whose achievements in school are insufficient to guarantee a successful start in employment will benefit. Disadvantaged young people also acquire skills in non-formal and informal settings which are relevant for vocational education and training, but which cannot be used systematically because they are not readily apparent. Making use of these competencies requires that the learners themselves recognize these and that they can be made evident to third parties.
For this purpose the precursor project "Informal Competencies and their Validation (ICOVET)" developed an interview procedure for the validation of skills and competencies, a manual, and a programme for further training which are now to be developed further, and increasingly transferred into the support systems. ICONET is an innovation transfer project funded by the European Commission programme LEONARDO DA VINCI. It includes eleven partners from seven European countries.
How to rate downloads
Tuesday, 21 April 2009 11:21
administrator
For the rating of materials and documents available through this website you are offered a scale from 1 to 5 points, whereas 5 points mark the highest value possible.
European Inventory on Validation of Informal and Non-formal learning - Update 2007
Monday, 25 May 2009 14:47
administrator
The European Inventory is an ongoing project to periodically collect information on current practices in validation of informal and non-formal learning, with an emphasis on good practice, across Europe and to make this information available to a wide range of audiences. The European Inventory 2007 Update is the third Inventory report. For this version of the Inventory each country chapter has been revised to reflect developments in policies and practice for validation of informal and non-formal learning since 2005. Two additional countries, not previously included in the Inventory, have also been included: Croatia and Turkey ...
European Inventory on Validation of Informal and Non-formal Learning - Update 2007 (Details)
File Author:
ECOTEC
Your Vote:
Validating informal competences of young migrants
Thursday, 21 May 2009 18:46
administrator
The activities developed in the frame of ICONET project have in mind the Portuguese target group, i.e., the Immigrants. Essentially, the activities were directed to adapt the validation tool of the ICOVET approach. In the Portuguese case, the tool got the designation of Competence Self-Diagnosis Instrument. The Competence Self-Diagnosis Instrument has been applied to immigrants in order to help them to recognize and identify their non formal competences. That recognition will allow them to have a self-knowledge of what they are able to do and develop in the host country, which in this is Portugal.
UK project: Micro-reflection through digital cartoons
Wednesday, 22 April 2009 08:37
administrator
Cartoon Planet is part of Salford Young People’s University, which involves young learners in an exciting journey through theirs and their peers skills and help them realize of their own strengths and abilities in a rather relaxed and exiting way. The motto is to introduce pupils to the academic live by exposing them to a wide range of approaches. The aim is to motivate these young people to consider higher education and/or further education as a possible future learning path. It is also the purpose to convey the message that learning can be creative and fun, and that recognizing their skills can also be beneficial in the long run.
So above all, the purpose was to give students a good time while engaging in serious reflection. To achieve that we create a set of micro-activities (to better capture their focus) which we invite them to take part in – engaging them in group and peer work, and always providing support and devoting attention to the pupils needs and requests.
Report on "Microlearning through digital cartoons" (Details)
File Author:
Cristina Costa, Helen Keegan
Your Vote:
Austria: Informal Competencies of young people with cognitive handicap
Monday, 20 April 2009 12:05
Birgit Mahrle-Haas
The Austrian project is targeting at young people in vocational training, with cognitive impairment. The specific approach is characterized by the following factors:
Conditions: 1 The target group consists of adolescents and young adults with cognitive impairment, 2 the young people are engaged in vocational training activities over a longer period of time, 3 the complexity of the training process requires a tool that can easily be incorporated into everyday work.
Aims: 1 The aim is to provide a training for young people, which creates the conditions for continuous competency monitoring, starting with enrollment and lasting through the entire duration of the vocational training measures, 2 the competency monitoring is carried out through peer interviews, and self / external assessment, 3 following an intensive training of peer assessors ongoing survey of competency development shall be an integral part of all training operations.
Approach: The assessment tool was adapted according to these conditions and objectives. A training module of 10 units was developed, providing the participants with the necessary background information and skills to conduct competency monitoring.
Greece: Making visible informal competencies of long-term unemployed
Saturday, 18 April 2009 10:05
administrator
The Greek partner will implement the ICOVET instrument in order to make visible informal skills of long-term unemployed. The project takes place in Neo Ionia, an outer suburb of Athens. The district in the past has been the center of the Greek textile industry, but is currently experiencing a decline in the industry ie the closure and relocation of factories in low-wage countries. As a consequence, especially the unemployment of the migrant population has increased dramatically. Faced with this situation the Confederation of Industrial Trade Unions has set up a local unemployment initiative in Neo Ionia. The ICOVET method is specifically used to evaluate informal competencies with regard to job preparing and application.
The current work especially consists in questioning professionals working with underage offenders to build a project of intervention and to contribute to the self-understanding of the educational practice. The target groups are essentially social workers many of whom have difficulties offering true alternatives to accompany youngsters in difficulty.
Two axis of work will come out from these interviews: a training program and a guide which can give several keys to professionals to accompany underage offenders. Beyond the social workers, there are also other categories of professionals notably: The juvenile court judges, the staff of the institutions welcoming underage and adult youngsters in danger, the teachers of the institutions welcoming youngsters in difficulty, all the staff working with youngsters (mission locale, reception centre for young people, etc.) ...
Validating competences in a penitentiary context: report on ICONET pilot projects in Romania
Wednesday, 11 March 2009 12:07
magda
This report has been written by the research team of the Institute for Educational Sciences involved in the implementation of the Romanian ICONET project based on the piloting reports of specialists who work in penitentiaries and reeducation centers for minors. The piloting reports were drawn up after applying the ICONET tool in September-December 2008, on a number of 44 young men who were incarcerated or in reeducation centers.
The final report includes the main findings as the result of piloting the ICONET tool and is structured along the following dimensions: general information concerning the young men who were interviewed; the preparation and organization conditions for the interview; the benefits and limits of the ICONET tool in penitentiary context; the appropriateness of using the ICONET tool in penitentiaries and reeducation centers; proposals for the adaptation and use of the ICONET tool.
Making visible competences in vocational preparation: PHOTO STORY
Wednesday, 11 March 2009 04:34
Richter, Ulrike
We adapted the ICOVET procedure to suit the field of vocational preparation at school. Additionally we developed a teaching concept by means of which young people can reflect on their skills and abilities during vocational education. This concept is called 'Photo Story'. With the aid of a camera, the young people document their own learning process: the individual learning steps and their results.
The foundation year offers a course of vocational preparation at a vocational school. Over the course of a year young people acquire basic practical and theoretical knowledge in their chosen career area. We were able to integrate our ‘Photo Story' project into this context. We are accompanying the foundation year class over the course of one academic year, on the one hand testing the method, on the other implementing it over a sustained period.
Report Photo Story Hauptschule Leipzig DJI (Details)
File Author:
Ulrike Richter
Your Vote:
Informal learning with Web 2.0
Tuesday, 02 December 2008 17:23
In September 2008 the frontiers of "Connectivism" learning theory, Stephen Downes and George Siemens have started out a highly regarded learning experiment, with the aim of demonstrating the power of "connective" learning. The following video, which by the way is using a brilliant didactical concept, describes new opportunities in learning available through the connective learning approach.
Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!
European Initiative for the Promotion of Informal Learning
Sunday, 30 November 2008 16:51
The Leonardo da Vinci project EIPIL (European Initiative for the Promotion of Informal Learning) aims at the strategic use of informal learning in the framework of organisation and staff development. The project is promoted by MSR Consultancy Ltd., Yorkshire; including 8 partner organisations from 4 countries. Of particular interest might be the fact that informal learning is conceived a core element of quality assurance in the framework of organisational development.
Revised EU guidelines: Validation of informal learning
Thursday, 27 November 2008 17:19
CEDEFOP and European Commission this November released a revised version of the "European Guidelines for the Validation of Non-formal and Informal Learning". The new draft offers a more distinct definition of core terms, operational aims and strategic role of validation systems in relation to education and training. Furthermore the policy paper cites concrete criteria for the development of national validation systems in the light of EQF, ECTS, ECVET and CQAF.
Particularly those young people whose achievements in school are insufficient to guarantee a successful start in employment will benefit. Disadvantaged young people also acquire skills in non-formal and informal settings which are relevant for vocational education and training, but which cannot be used systematically because they are not readily apparent. Making use of these competencies requires that the learners themselves recognize these and that they can be made evident to third parties.
For the rating of materials and documents available through this website you are offered a scale from 1 to 5 points, whereas 5 points mark the highest value possible.
Download European Inventory on Validation of Informal and Non-formal Learning - Update 2007
The activities developed in the frame of ICONET project have in mind the Portuguese target group, i.e., the Immigrants. Essentially, the activities were directed to adapt the validation tool of the ICOVET approach. In the Portuguese case, the tool got the designation of Competence Self-Diagnosis Instrument. The Competence Self-Diagnosis Instrument has been applied to immigrants in order to help them to recognize and identify their non formal competences. That recognition will allow them to have a self-knowledge of what they are able to do and develop in the host country, which in this is Portugal.
We adapted the ICOVET procedure to suit the field of vocational preparation at school. Additionally we developed a teaching concept by means of which young people can reflect on their skills and abilities during vocational education. This concept is called 'Photo Story'. With the aid of a camera, the young people document their own learning process: the individual learning steps and their results.
CEDEFOP and European Commission this November released a revised version of the "European Guidelines for the Validation of Non-formal and Informal Learning". The new draft offers a more distinct definition of core terms, operational aims and strategic role of validation systems in relation to education and training. Furthermore the policy paper cites concrete criteria for the development of national validation systems in the light of EQF, ECTS, ECVET and CQAF.
Jun.09
randypreis
