New Pathways - Identifying and Promoting Best-Practice in Supporting Long-Term Unemployed Adults into Education Pathways

Our consortium consists of traditional and non-traditional Adult Education actors. We believed by bringing together service providers (P1), migrant-led NGOs (P2, P3) and educational NGOs (P4, P5), we could create space over 18-months and 280 days of mobility and exhcnage, for 'New Pathways' to emerge. While diverse in backgrounds, our partners shared the same values, and looked to act inequalities and barriers faced by migrant communities, especially long-term unemployed adults, in accessing quality education and employment opportunities. Drawing on decades of experience within our consortium, and informed by Eurostat data highlighting the employment disparities, our motivation stems from a need to bridge these gaps in accessibility and inclusivity. Our observations indicate significant challenges for migrants, particularly in language acquisition, recognition of diplomas, and cultural integration, which often culminate in socioeconomic marginalization. We looked to empower the consortium's NGOs, particularly those inexperienced in coordinating KA2 projects, by facilitating exchange of best practices, promoting inter-organizational learning, and enhancing capacities for more impactful interventions in our future work.

Inter-related objectives: S.O.1: Understanding Barriers: We aimed to comprehend the challenges and obstacles that long-term unemployed adults, especially migrants, confront when trying to access educational pathways leading to the labor market in IE, DE, CY, and to boost their ability and motivation to address and surmount the identified barriers, equipping them with tools and methodologies suited for diverse learners. S.O.2: Innovation and Sustainability, we looked to create and integrate pioneering and enduring practices and tools that cater specifically to migrants, ensuring their seamless transition into the labor market. This was supported by developing national and comparative indexes on innovative practices, we aimed to consolidate our findings and share them broadly for replication and adaptation. S.O.3: a transversal objective was Capacity Building. Through our diverse consortium we enabled the intensive capacity building via exchange and mobility of the five consortium partners, laying the groundwork for 'New Pathways' of work locally and transnationally.

Key Activities: A1: Study Visits. The flagship activity of our project, central to our exploratory approach were the study visits to IE, DE, and CY. These visits enabled our team to dive deep into the educational practices and structures of these countries, examining their unique approaches and identifying best practices that support migrants in accessing education and employment pathways. Over 18 months, our staff engaged in an extensive 280 days of mobility. This not only facilitated the study visits but also allowed them to immerse in diverse educational ecosystems, interact with various stakeholders, and gather firsthand insights. A2: Best Practices Exploration: Post-Mobiltiy, our five organisations reflected & documented methodologies that have proven effective in migrant integration into educational pathways. A3: Sharing: Our publication attempted to map our learning and provide a foundation for future use by our consortium as well as our wider sectors. This was supported by two multiplier events run in Germany. A4: Project Management: With many newcomers and diverse NGOs, we also supported our consortium through 18-months of complex coordination. Supported by a Kick-Off Meeting in M2.

R.1: Based on our explorations in IE, DE, and CY, we compiled a guide highlighting effective methodologies for migrant integration into education R.2: A network of non-traditional actors: Our interactions during the mobility days led to the establishment of an informal consortium network. This engagement encourages ongoing collaboration, knowledge exchange, and mutual support among stakeholders in the adult education sector and non-traditional actors representing key-target groups. R.3: New connections with service providers in DE, IE, CY. Through our study visits we have made connections with organisations relevant to our work, in a way that would have not been possible but for the mobilities and face-to-face exchange.