Alphabetter - learning tools for preventing functional and secondary illiteracy

The issues of adult education, levelling deficits, and proper functioning in society have always been taken into account by both the project leader, AWSB and partners in everyday activities, both ...

We developed the methodology and educational materials addressed to people suffering from secondary or functional illiteracy. Their use by educators allowed for more attractive and more effective classes, which improved the quality of adult education. The materials we developed were included in the process of educating the staff of institutions participating in the project and added to the pedagogical studies program at AWSB. They became a tool used in everyday work with people experiencing educational deficits. The activities in the project itself became an opportunity to establish new and deepen existing contacts between partners, enabling the free flow of ideas, experiences, and ideas. Thanks to joint work, the synergy effect was achieved, and creative solutions and adaptations of solutions already used by individual partners were possible. We wanted international cooperation to contribute to closer cooperation within the EU and at the transatlantic level, thanks to the participation of a partner from the USA.

Alphabetter partners designed and implement a set of tools around the specific needs of their communities. These needs were identified through a community engagement process involving focus groups with members of the target populations identified; then, each team developed a unique set of tools to support the specific functional literacy needs identified. The selection and involvement of participants in the project activities were crucial to ensuring the success and effectiveness of the project. Several strategies were employed to identify, recruit, and engage participants at various stages of the project. Brief description of how participants were selected and involved in different activities: The project identified its target group as unemployed individuals over 30 years old who were experiencing functional illiteracy. This target group was selected based on the specific needs identified in the project's objectives and focus areas. The project collaborated with partner organizations such as ENAIP Veneto Employment Service Division and CPIAs (Provincial Centres for Adult Education) to reach out to potential participants. These organizations played a key role in identifying and referring individuals who met the project's criteria. Individual interviews and assessments were conducted to further evaluate the suitability of potential participants for the project. These assessments helped project organizers understand each individual's specific needs, challenges, and goals, ensuring that the project's services could be tailored to meet their needs effectively. Overall, the selection and involvement of participants in the project activities were carried out through a systematic and collaborative approach, ensuring that their voices were heard and their needs were addressed effectively. In order to reach our audience, two Operators in the Labour Market (OML) of ENAIPVeneto have been involved in the creation of the tool and in its exploitation to users. The sample has been selected on voluntary participation whithin the target group (population of ENAIP adult users who need to re-enter the labour market): the tool was proposed by their referring OML, who asked them to watch the videos for the next meeting, and then they delivered the feedback survey. In many cases, due to impairment with digital tools or language barriers, their participation was difficult in terms of content understanding. However, many participants (91) have succesfully completed the vision of digital tool (7 video tutorials), but for the feedback survey response only 20 of them participated in the online questionnaire. The selection and involvement of participants in the project activities were crucial to ensuring the success and effectiveness of the project. Several strategies were employed to identify, recruit, and engage participants at various stages of the project. Here's a brief description of how participants were selected and involved in different activities. The project identified its target group as unemployed individuals over 30 years old who were experiencing functional illiteracy. This target group was selected based on the specific needs identified in the project's objectives and focus areas. The project collaborated with partner organizations such as ENAIP Veneto Employment Service Division and CPIAs (Provincial Centres for Adult Education) to reach out to potential participants. These organizations played a key role in identifying and referring individuals who met the project's criteria. Individual interviews and assessments were conducted to further evaluate the suitability of potential participants for the project. These assessments helped project organizers understand each individual's specific needs, challenges, and goals, ensuring that the project's services could be tailored to meet their needs effectively. Overall, the selection and involvement of participants in the project activities were carried out through a systematic and collaborative approach, ensuring that their voices were heard and their needs were addressed effectively. In order to reach our audience, two Operators in the Labour Market (OML) of ENAIPVeneto have been involved in the creation of the tool and in its exploitation to users. The sample has been selected on voluntary participation whithin the target group (population of ENAIP adult users who need to re-enter the labour market): the tool was proposed by their referring OML, who asked them to watch the videos for the next meeting, and then they delivered the feedback survey. In many cases, due to impairment with digital tools or language barriers, their participation was difficult in terms of content understanding. However, many participants (91) have succesfully completed the vision of digital tool (7 video tutorials), but for the feedback survey response only 20 of them participated in the online questionnaire. The project partner MEPCO in Czech Republic identified its target group from 2 perspectives: 1. Functional illiterate target group perspective: clients of municipal office Brno-střed, who are experiencing functional illiteracy. Based on research, this group involves mainly economically disadvantaged persons, older adults (abpve 65), immigrants (especially illegal), persons with Czech as a second language, racial minorities, persons who graduated from high school early, the unemployed, former prisoners, persons in poor health due to chronic mental and physical problems, potential new employees within the office with lower ability to comprehend written texts. This target group is of broad scope, however the municipal office communicates and deals with specific situations with them on a daily basis. 2. „Teachers” target group perspective: employees of municipal office Brno-střed, who are able to improve illiterate group members above with the situation. These include municipal staff members- clerks- responsible for municipal methodologies, forms and communication activities towards clients. Individual interviews and assessments were conducted with selected municipal staff on how to approach the activities leading towards funcitional literacy improvements. 2 municipal processes were selected within the office- Birth certificate issuance process and Adaptation process of new employees, based on rate of misunderstandings and complications, when dealing with these processes in real life. Functional illiterate target group was involved and benefits from the project results by improved approaches towards municipality form and process simplification with respect to birth certificate issuance and adaptation for new employees. „Teachers” within municipal office were involved and will benefit by co-developed rules for simplified forms and relevant communication procedures, which should help the illeterate target group with the situation. Partners togheter prepared popular scientific press materials about the developed solutions and send them to the information portals cooperating with us. Information on the results of the project was included in the news websites of each of the institutions involved, on their social media profiles. As part of the dissemination of the results, there was a 1-day end-of-project conference for which they will stay invited project partners, representatives of educational organizations and institutions, local authorities and the media, which will further increase the range of dissemination.

The purpose of the Alphabetter project was to develop and test a set of tools to support the inclusion of adults who are functionally illiterate. An adult who is functionally illiterate has difficulty engaging engage in activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning in their community and/or is necessary for their own development (UNESCO, 1978). Because assessments of functional illiteracy are relative to the literacy demands of any given context, the Alphabetter project team adopted an expansive, multi-dimensional view of (il)literacy to include diverse forms of basic literacies, including civic, financial, professional, and legal. Just as literacy demands vary by context, so do does a community’s demographic makeup and literacy needs overall. Given these variations, each Alphabetter partner opted to design and implement a set of tools around the specific needs of their communities. These needs were identified through a community engagement process involving focus groups with members of the target populations identified; then, each team developed a unique set of tools to support the specific functional literacy needs identified. In Poland given recent war-related migration trends in the region, the team from WSB University developed a card game to support Ukrainian refugees’ acquisition of basic Polish as a means for learning about and incorporating into Polish life. Then, in Italy, ENAIP identified the need for to support the labor market literacies of adults over the age of 30 (and mostly over the age of 50) who have experienced long-term unemployment. As such, they designed seven short video clips to expose adults to job training organizations and websites and to illustrate effective written and oral communication skills in the job application process. Turning to Austria, the team from Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt noted that an increasing proportion of migrant families needed support to engaged in their children’s schooling. As such, they designed a set of tools to support parents’ information literacy that visually conveyed important school-related communication, such as what activities their children would be participating in, and what supplies they would need to bring. Finally, based on the difficulties that many adult employees and residents in the municipality had engaging in formal municipal processes, the team from MEPCO in the Czech Republic adapted a set of written forms into condensed and visually appealing documents to promote employment and legal literacies. Each team tested their tools with the community of interest and evaluated their effectiveness in supporting the specific literacy needs identified. Overall, each set of tools was deemed helpful by community members in promoting their engagement in the identified literacy practices. Across all contexts, users also suggested improvements to the tools, which each team plans to incorporate into future iterations. The team is very well-poised to have a profound impact on their respective communities as they engage in this and future international collaborations to support adults’ effective functioning and personal development.