Learning for a better world

Ahead of Adult Learners’ Week 2013 which begins on Saturday, Grundtvig senior project manager, Ieva Mais, visited the NIACE Learning for a Better World Conference in Cardiff.

Learning for a better world

I attended the Learning for a Better World conference organised by NIACE in Cardiff on 28-29 April. It brought together practitioners, policy makers, researchers and adult learners from several European countries to discuss the UK’s contribution to the Agenda in three main areas:

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Making the most of your Individual Mobility

The Lifelong Learning Programme is drawing to a close; over the last 7 years it has funded countless organisations and individuals. Throughout the year, we are still funding opportunities through Grundtvig and Transversal: In-Service Training, Visits & Exchanges and Study Visits.

Breaking the ice

These three opportunities have their similarities: they all fund individuals to develop skills and exchange expertise with their peers. If you have recently been successful with your application, or are due to go on your Mobility shortly, there are things that you can do to ensure you are prepared and make the most out of your experience.  For example, Alison Walton-Robson of Headway Arts, before attending her In-Service Training course in Italy, not only read the required reading provided by the host organisation but also:

On my own initiative I looked at travel guides of the Bologna region. I also used iPad apps and other online language preparation/research such as ‘Easy Italian’, I wanted to be able to speak basic sentences.

Our opportunities are not only about enhancing your CV they are also the chance to add a European element to your training. Basic cultural preparation can make the difference in those first few minutes of meeting your host and fellow participants. At our Transversal Briefing Seminars one of our top tips is to find out about the group: Read the rest of this entry »


Read the latest edition of edUKation

The latest edition of edUKation is now available to download.  edUKation is our quarterly newsletter containing updates from the Leonardo, Grundtvig and Transversal programmes.

In this editioneduk21 (2)

In issue 21 you can read about how Borders College scooped the International Award at the 2012 Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) ceremony for their links and partnerships developed through mobility projects. You can also read about:

  • Enhancing skills and employability of UK Apprenticeships
  • Erasmus for All: moving closer to the new programme
  • 2013 European Year of Citizens

Download issue 21 of edUKation

Subscribe to edUKation

You can sign up to our mailing list to receive edUKation straight to your inbox.  You can also sign up for our monthly e-flashes for the Leonardo, Grundtvig and Transversal programmes: http://www.graphicmail.co.uk/rwcode/subscribe.aspx?SiteID=5307&SID=6&Email=

Previous editions

You can find previous editions of edUKation in our resource centre.


The green side of Grundtvig

With Spring in the air, our latest edition of edUKation explores some of the many green projects supported by the Grundtvig programme over the last seven years.

Dr Nick Owen MBE, Director of the Aspire Trust, who runs the Forests for All, All for Forests project, gives us an insight into how the project connects adult learners from  seven partner countries in the teaching of the environment, culture and volunteering, all with a focus on the local forests. Nick explains:

European forests have become for us and the wider partnership, a source of questions, surprises, and many powerful learning moments. Veteran forests, exterminating agents and the effect of coppicing have been a phenomena we have learnt about which act as a constant reminder of the power that forests have over our minds, bodies and psyches.

From the project’s recent partner meeting in Vilnius in Lithuania, the participants were inspired to produce a range of artistic products reflecting their visit including the following poem:

Artist Knowledge: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Knowledge of the first kind is the stats,

the dates, the measurements.

The what, the when, the where.

Knowledge of the second kind

is the interpretations,

the rational analysis of observable events.

The scientific, analytic, predictive.

The regulatory, the politic.

The how, the whether.

Artists knowledge is knowledge of the third kind.

Sensory and sensitive,

Intuitive and imaginative,

Magical and miraculous.

Generating meaning and stories

which bestow ownership of knowledge of the first kind

and give purpose to the knowledge of the second kind.

The what-if? The why? The If-not, then why-not?

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Connecting with you, connecting with us

Hearing the benefits, and impact, that Leonardo, Grundtvig and Transversal funding has on organisations, staff and learners is inspiring. During the 7 years of the Lifelong Learning Programme, we have funded thousands of partnerships and individuals, from large-scale 2 year Transfer of Innovation projects to a 1 day Visit & Exchange, we enjoy hearing the ins and outs of how each opportunity goes and your personal experiences. Connecting with you is important to us and with the recent addition of our Facebook Page you might be wondering how else can we connect? Read the rest of this entry »


Like us on Facebook and win a goodie bag!

We’ve recently launched our Facebook Page LLP UK Ecorys and are looking forward to seeing your project outcomes, results and testimonials that you share on Facebook.

To celebrate the launch we are giving away 5 Goodie Bags. To be in with a chance of winning one of our Goodie Bags simply Like us on Facebook by 10.00am (GMT) on the 1 March and we will pick 5 lucky winners:

Goodie Bag

Like us on Facebook to win this goodie bag!

Liking you on Facebook

Creating a Facebook Page is another way for us to see your successes. Share your Facebook Page with us so we can read the experiences of your Mobility participants or watch a video explaining the latest developments in your Transfer of Innovation project.

Not on Facebook? Don’t worry you can still get in touch with us on our blog, by tweeting @llpUKecorys or by submitting a case study to appear on our Projects around the UK map. Share your successes today!


Leonardo, Grundtvig and Transversal in 2012

Each year we produce a final report that highlights everything that we have achieved over the past year. Building on the success of the previous year, 2012 saw a rise in applications, an increase in funding across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as increased engagement on our social media channels.

This year we’ve produced an interactive map that showcases some of our key moments from 2012:


leonardo funding in scotland grundtvig online information days leonardo projects around the uk grundtvig funding in northern ireland inclusion initiative thematic networking, briefing papers llpukecorys blog llpukecorys youtube channel llpukecorys youtube channel llpukecorys on twitter Transversal Transversal funding in Wales

Looking to the future

2013 will see Leonardo, Grundtvig and Transversal draw to a close under the Lifelong Learning Programme and be replaced by the next funding programme, Erasmus for All. However, we will still be working hard in 2012 and will be sharing our, and our projects’, successes with you on our websites, our blog and Twitter as well as on our soon to be launched Facebook page.

If you have a statistic about your project that you would like to share with us why not leave a comment below or tweet @llpUKecorys? We’d love to hear, for example, how many participants you have been able to send abroad due to Leonardo Mobility funding or how many days you spent job shadowing thanks to Grundtvig Assistantship funding. Share your successes with us!


Looking at the lighter side of Active Ageing

Is laughter is the best medicine? It certainly seems to be for one of our projects. Health and Humour through the Arts for Seniors, or more often known by their snappy acronym, the HAHA project, looks at the lighter side of active ageing by focussing on humour techniques as a form of health education; using laughter as an antidote to stress and as an aid to promote relaxation and improve the self confidence and general well being of its participants. Recently I spoke to Norma Raynes from Intergen about the inspiration behind the laughter:

As the number of older Europeans increase, there is a need to find new ways of improving the quality of life of older learners and enhancing active ageing. The health benefits that laughter brings are well-known and I was interested in creating a project on this theme, whilst also finding out what promotes laughter in different cultures – so, the HAHA project was born.

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Supporting the UK…. part four

Each year we produce a series of publications showing how the Leonardo, Grundtvig and Transversal programmes provide funding for projects and activities all around the UK. These publications are sent directly to elected policymakers and key stakeholders to help raise their awareness of the good work done by the programmes in their country. This year, we would like to share them with you on our blog.

This is the final post of the series, looking this time at how programme funding is benefiting organisations in England.

Read our other posts on Supporting Wales, Supporting Scotland and Supporting Northern Ireland.

Supporting England

Since 2007, the Lifelong Learning Programme has awarded organisations and individuals in England over 90 million euro for projects and activities in the education and training sector. Read the rest of this entry »


Get active at any age

During January I think it is a fairly safe assumption to say that most of us are trying to reduce our calorie intake after Christmas excesses and are hitting the gym, pounding the pavement or walking those extra few steps to start being more active.  For a lot of our projects these good intentions continue throughout the year rather than flagging during February.

Changing lives, sporting excellence

One such project is a Leonardo Mobility at South Gloucestershire and Shroud College (formerly Filton college) where students on the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence have the opportunity to add value through a European work placement.  One of the apprentices that benefitted from this experience is Jack Bateson who is working towards the 2016 Olympics in Rio, he recently shared his story with us as part of our series of films on ‘Changing Lives’: Read the rest of this entry »


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