This two-day conference presents the findings of the GOAL project (Guidance and Orientation for Adult Learners), in which educational guidance services for low-educated adults have been implemented and evaluated in six European countries.

Join the event and get answers to questions such as: How to develop a quality guidance service for low-educated adults? How to reach these adults? Which partnerships should guidance services develop and how? What are the implications of existing policy conditions on the development of guidance services? What recommendations can be made for future policy development?

Policy makers and practitioners across Europe can discover the lessons learnt from the GOAL project (Erasmus+ KA3 Policy Experimentation) and discuss the policy recommendations that emerged from the experimentation. The conference is of interest to policy makers, academics and practitioners active in the field of adult guidance.

Programme – NEW!

Day 1, 17 January 2018

9.00-9.30 – Registration and coffee

9.30-12.00 – Morning Sessions

• Opening and introduction
• Presentation: Lifelong learning in European policy perspective – Dana Bachmann, Head of Unit Vocational Training, Apprenticeships and Adult Education; DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission.
• Presentation: Lifelong guidance for adult learners in European Perspective – Raimo Vuorinen, Ph.D. Adjunct associate professor, Lifelong Guidance Research team, Finnish Institute for Educational Research; former coordinator of the European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network (ELPGN)

Coffee Break

• Video Testimonials and interactive intermezzo
• Presentation: Participation of low educated adults to lifelong learning – Ellen Boeren, Institute for Education, Community and Society (IECS), University of Edinburgh

12.00- 13.00 – Lunch Break

13.00-17.00 – Afternoon Sessions

• Introduction to project GOAL – Nadia Reynders, project coordinator GOAL, Department of Education and Training, Flemish Government
• Presentation of the GOAL evaluation results – JD Carpentieri, evaluation coordinator GOAL, UCL Institute of Education, London.

Coffee Break

Break-out sessions to choose from:

1. Policy Recommendations: this session concentrates on policy issues that have affected GOAL and are likely to affect similar future services as well as on the messages that derived from the GOAL experimentation for future policy development. We’ll focus on country specific examples.
2. A guidance service for low-educated adults: in this session we will highlight different aspects of the GOAL service and its outcomes: users, guidance approaches, guidance tools, counsellor competences and quality of guidance. Models and good ractices from GOAL countries are presented to show how a GOAL service or similar future programmes should be (further) developed.
3. Partnerships & Networks: participants of this session learn how partnerships and collaboration with organisations were established or strengthened to reach out to the target group of low educated adults. Questions will be answered such as: which partners are relevant and why? How to establish and maintain networks? Why are well functioning networks critical to the success of GOAL?

17.00-18.00 – Networking Reception (registered guests only)

Day 2, 18 January 2018

08.30-9.00 – Registration and Coffee

9.00-12.00 – Morning Sessions

• Opening and report from the parallel sessions on day 1
• Presentation: by John Holford, Robert Peers Professor of Adult Education, University of Nottingham and coordinator of the Horizon 2020 research project, ENLIVEN

Coffee Break

• Panel Debate: “The role of adult guidance in increasing participation of low educated adults in lifelong learning”
• John Holford, University of Nottingham
• Martina Ni Cheallaigh, Senior Expert – Skills, VET and Adult Learning policies, European Commission.
• Project GOAL guidance counsellor
• Public Employment Service (tbc)
• Ema Perme, Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport
• JD Carpentieri, UCL Institute of Education, project GOAL evaluator
• Closing Speech by Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility

12.00-13.00 – Networking lunch (registered guests only)

Registration and information – NEW!

Register to the event by filling this form. Participation is free of charge.

For updates about the event, follow the project on Twitter and the Project GOAL website.