DIVERSITY

Including Migrants through Organisational Development and Programme Planning in Adult Education

DIVERISTY CURRICULUM – A modularised training curriculum for Adult Education Providers

Adult Education as a field is ever evolving and the challenges of the last decade have shown societies’ adaptability and commitment to support cohesion and inclusion for people well-being, cultural integration and social development. The refugee crisis of the 2015/16 biennia showed both challenges and opportunities to the AE sector, in consideration of the (unprecedented) investments to enable the system in absorbing the influx of migrants with pressing needs for linguistic and cultural knowledge. As funding dries up, the structures built to accommodate the temporary demand may be dismantled, that poses a challenge for both migrants and AE organisations…. How do we create a learning environment attractive to migrants? How do we spread the word about courses and events? How do we incorporate diversity mind-set within the organisation?

The DIVERSITY Curriculum aims at empowering AE organisation (and staff) to harness the potential of migrants

TITLE	BRIEF SUMMARY
Developing a DIVERSITY-sensitive mind-set	This module will help organisations embed and inscribe the ‘diversity mind-set’ into their organisational identity and processes resulting in real changes. The module will comprise three steps: 1) learning about the concept of diversity and what it means for the workplace, 2) learning how to filter for hidden prejudices and limiting mechanisms 3) putting theory into practice, alleviating short-comings and making corrections.
Helping diverse learners navigate the support system	Administrative staff in AE organisation are often the first port-of-call for future learners. In this position, they can shape the experience learners have with the organisation early-on and have huge influence on how welcome and well-guided learners feel. The better this experience the more likely learners are to return for future learning experiences. The goal of this module is to guide organisations in the process of executing strategies to reduce barriers, both mental (e.g. filtering for prejudices) and practical (e.g. reducing information appropriately) to welcoming in diverse learners and to regarding administrative personnel as access-facilitators. They will learn how to filter for systemic obstacles and find suitable ways of helping learners navigate the structural framework and processes of the AE system. This approach centres around the question what do potential learners need to know to navigate the AE landscape and how can providers simplify or clarify their structures and processes to make them more accessible.
Staff Development: Diverse Workplaces	This module is designed for programme managers and training managers working in diverse contexts. The purpose of this module is to equip the participant with the knowledge, skills, and competencies to apply a range of advanced personal and interpersonal skills with staff operating in diverse professional, civic and vocational contexts.
Ensuring dialogue and collaborative sprit between learner and the organisation	The language and culture module is intended to introduce the concepts of preunderstanding & prejudice, culture, communication and learning styles. The three sessions of the module will each tackle a topic and give theoretic perspectives, a chance to analyse current situation and through practice get hands on experience or new methods. Participants will get and introduction into tackling own biases and understanding the importance of an individualised holistic approach to students. Through an introduction to communication in a cultural perspective, they will understand and be able to work with and remove language and cultural barriers at programme and course level in their organisation.
Guidance through coaching (pt.1 & 2)	The module Guidance through coaching I is going to prepare practitioners in theory and practice on how to guide migrants with different methods of coaching, particularly through a better understanding of their individual needs in a foreign environment. They will first learn in theory what makes a good coach, how to differentiate between different coaching styles, what are the basic needs of each person and what kind of challenges they can expect during their coaching sessions. The practical part is going to help participants with different methods and tools for understanding the needs of migrants through role play, case studies, presentations and one-on-one activities. Outcomes of the module are connected to better in depth communication, constructive feedback techniques, mentoring, setting up goals and objectives for each individual they encounter.
Nurturing a learner-focus approach	The present module focuses in facilitating Training Designers, be they trainers themselves or adult education specialists to design training programmes that can be implemented in mixed trainee groups, taking advantage of their diversity. The goal of this module is to facilitate the adult education community in designing programmes that are inclusive to all groups of the population the cater for, by offering their “mainstream” training menu containing courses that are suitable for the totality of adults.
Building a an embracing  community	The purpose of this module is to support the manager/administrator/learner to assess the knowledge, skills and competencies required to design, plan, and implement models of good practice in community building among diverse communities and groups
Marketing for AE organisations	Traditional marketing means seem to be poor of efficacy, and for the most, AE providers relies on non-ordinary marketing strategies – but often carried out outside a “structured framework”. This module has the intent to equip AE operators / organisations with robust and highly reliable means to diversify the communication of their offer; be more impactful; sustainable and effective. From another perspective, the objective of this module is to define a better structured framework upon communication and engagement strategies already carried out by the targets – allowing them to capitalise on notions and topics they are already familiar with.
Cooperation and Networking for AE organisations	This module is conceptually divided into two sections, highly complementary to each other:  1. Stakeholder Engagement – In the context of this training, Stakeholder Engagement should be conceived by teachers and learners as a strategic mean to widen the scope and visibility of AE provision: the fundamental assumption is that the synergies and the networked efforts of AE operators have greater echo than the mere sum of their actions (i.e. “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”) 2. Networking – By building (and nurturing) robust and reliable network of professionals, AE operators / organisation are able to capitalise and leverage on new knowledge and know-how (i.e. how to be more diverse) stimulated by the interaction with external parties. Networking sustains the emergence of unexplored opportunities and new possible ways of interpreting and implementing things: greater self-awareness, self-efficacy and communication proficiency are consequently perceived as learning outcomes.