The QUALC project is an educational network aimed at assuring quality in European adult learning organizations, leveraging partnerships from eight countries. It promotes a continuous quality process that involves learners, organizations, and communities to enhance learning opportunities and community integration. The initiative emphasizes a flexible approach to quality assurance, recognizing diverse learning forms and fostering a culture of collaboration and improvement within adult learning centers.

1. Quality Assurance Network for Adult Learning Centres THE QUALC APPROACH Mariarosa Di Nubila -Scienter- WORKSHOP EFQUEL INNOVATION FORUM 2009 HELSINKI 23 rd 24 th 25 th September 2009

2. QUALC PROJECT is an educational network uniquely developed to assure the Quality to the European Adult Learning Organisations, their learners and communities.

3. QUALC PROJECT is a research and experimentation to design and provide the QUALC QUALITY ASSURANCE to determine the idea of quality and convey it to the ADULT LEARNING CENTRES in Europe

4. QUALC PROJECT is a learning opportunity for all actors involved in the project to add value to the QUALC QUALITY PROCESS in order to perform a QUALC QUALITY CERFICATION

5. QUALC PROJECT Has been drawn on the basis of the experiences of eight European Countries thanks to a Grundtvig Project of the Lifelong Learning Program. This partnership project consists of Sweden, Italy, Germany, Romania, U.K., Belgium, France.

6. This partners' project represents a range of organizations from the public and private sectors referring to Adult Education and LEARNING, local and national public authorities, high education institutions, not profit-making organizations, European quality assurance research foundation.

7. QUALC APPROACH which one? “ Quality” in learning opportunities means to facilitate the access to a lifelong learning process for all citizens. In line with the Lisbon Strategy, the access to learning opportunities and recognition of learning achievements is essential for all citizens for their daily and working life and their participation in the community.

8. How to obtain QUALC-Quality? From the experiences of all partners involved in the project and engaged in an exhaustive research upon the Quality Assurance carried out in the above- mentioned countries (for all results: www.qualityfoundation.org/qualc ) the QUALC team agreed on the following idea and approach:

9. Quality is a continuous process of sharing, participating, improving among all actors of Adult Learning Centers involved in the learning activities: Learner, Organisation, Community

10. It is not possible to delegate Quality The Learner, the Organisation, the Community are responsible for the Quality

11. QUALC QUALITY promotes this idea in order to create quality opportunities for a social and cultural integration of all European citizens

12. If the learner, the organization and the community have the possibility to share and compare - Experiences from no-formal and informal learning Backgrounds and Knowledge Ideas and Values Requirements and expectations Methods and Tools of learning processes Service management Resources Contexts

13. The Learner, the organization and the community will be able to create and improve the quality for: A wider range of experiences in no-formal and informal learning Deeper knowledge for different target groups and contexts Innovative and creative ideas Added values More specific context-referred methods and tools More flexible and sustainable learning processes More offers of learning activities More accessible lifelong learning opportunities.

14. Through the sharing of the know-how of their different learning experiences, The learner, the organization and the community generate a process of quality as a benefit for all: Quality of learning, working and living

15. In this way all actors involved in this process will get a benefit. Which one?

16. Benefits granted to ALOs Improvement of the quality management Improvement of the quality supply levels (e.g. organisational portfolio) and increase in the efficiency and operational effectiveness Increase in the ability to promote learning experience Evidence of quality supply for funding bodies Enhanced legitimacy and recognition through benchmarking and peer learning

17. Raise in the number of learners Offer of a variety of learning experiences Understanding and meeting customers and learners’ requirements Attitude to change Ability to learn from experience Learning based on the metha-learning and continuous improvement

18. Benefits granted to the Learners Improved learning Access to more comprehensive information concerning good opportunities to learn effectively Improved standards in individual learning Active involvement in the learning process and its on-going improvement Mastery of one’s learning experience and enhancement of the learners’ commitment and achievement

19. Appreciation and satisfaction got from the learning experience More opportunities Better employment and flexibility Equality of opportunities Improvement of the quality assurance

20. Benefits granted to the Community Increased confidence in the reliability and learning supply quality Improved availability of proper learning supply Increased availability of experts with appropriate skills Better community development through active ALOs contributors A greater sense of understanding towards individual and community requirements

21. The AIMS of the QUALC QUALIY APPROACH are to support ALOs in assessing how successful they are in providing learning experiences for adults in the community, support ALOs in assessing how successful they are in engaging stakeholders in the process of continuous quality improvement support ALOs in quality assuring-learning supply through in-formal and non-formal learning delivery. The Quality approach defined by the QUALC consortium is based on a number of key principles

22. Therefore, we can infer that the PRINCIPLES of QUALC Quality Approach are: 1. “Quality learning” is also “Quality as learning”. This QUALC QUALITY process needs to respect some conditions to obtain a high quality level and this principle is the base: Quality as a process of learning, sharing and improving with all people involved

23. 2. The ALC is considered to be more than just a place where people can carry out learning activities. The whole community is a place where people have opportunities to learn. The ALC is a place where the methalearning takes place and the participants in the learning process receive and give feedbacks.

24. 3. THE QUALC QUALITY recognises different forms of learning and it is based on the concept of evaluating in-formal and no-formal learning

25. 4. The QUALC QUALITY is a flexible process to be adopted in different ALCs to promote creativity and innovation

26. QUALC QUALITY MATRIX APPROACH On the basis of these principles we have drawn the QUALC Quality Matrix Approach useful to design the QUALC Quality Process for ALCs to achieve the QUALC Certification

27. QUALC APPROACH MATRIX Learners Organization Community Learning Contexts Learning Resources Learning Processes

28. QUALC APPROACH MATRIX and QUALC QUALITY CRITERIA Learners Organization Community Learning Contexts Meeting learner’s requirements Improvement of Individual Learning Evaluating the Learner as a Resource Flexibility of Learning Pathways Quality of the Learning Supply-Provision Learning Resources Commitment to Innovation Strategy & Vision Effective Tools for the “access & usage of resources” Competent tutors/centre- staff supporting learning environment Documented processes Transparent methods Documented results IPR management Learning Processes Meeting the Community Demands Different Stakeholders in the Community act as a resource for better learning Impact on local, regional and national community

29. The QUALC QUALITY PROCESS

30. The QUALITY is the base of self-esteem and self-esteem is the base of learning improvement

31. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Mariarosa Di Nubila Scienter – Italy [email_address]