ESTEEM (Empowerment Through Study Training Enabling Education and Mentoring)

March 26, 2008 - PRLog -- Several organisations from UK, Bulgaria, Malta, Greece and Turkey started an innovative project aiming to implement Learner-oriented Quality assurance process. This is planned within the frame of European project called ESTEEM (Empowerment Through Study Training Enabling Education and Mentoring). It is funded by Leonardo da Vinci programme of EC. The duration of the project is 24 months (01.10.2007 – 30.09.2009). Beneficiary and coordinator of the project is De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.
This project will upgrade the achievements of previous successfully held project “Access to Professional Training” (APT). Within the lifetime of ESTEEM training products developed within APT will be transferred to new countries, regions and among new target groups.
The general idea of ESTEEM project is to return learners, people from minority ethnic groups, unemployed people and others who experience social and economic disadvantage to the system of vocational training. These people are often marginalised in their access to training and employment.  And there is usually a mismatch between their needs and requirements and the provision of education and training for employment.
In this respect Lifelong learning provides opportunities for more people to obtain the skills and qualifications they need to enter the labour market. The key to successful engagement with this process is the ability to get into employment. However, certain groups are less able to do this, because of economic disadvantage, structural barriers to their participation, limited educational experience, ethnocentric attitudes and cultural insensitivity. The ESTEEM project is aimed at empowering these groups by helping them take more control of the development of their learning.
The ESTEEM project is targeted at:
•   Disabled people and people with learning difficulties whose access to employment is restricted to low paid, unqualified work, or no work at all;
•   People from lower socio-economic groups who lack equal access to qualification;
•   People excluded from training and the workforce because of cultural differences and ethnicity;
•   People returning to learning, especially those with limited secondary school experience;
•   People with mental health difficulties whose experience of training and employment may be disrupted.
The ESTEEM project will use the Preparation for Social Work and Social Care programme developed in the APT project, which was designed as a flexible approach for encouraging entry to further and higher education for disabled people and other disadvantaged groups.  The new ESTEEM project will enhance learners’ experience of them by extending their applicability and their adaptability.
•   The Programme will support students in developing a personal learning portfolio that they can carry into future training and employment.
•   The acquisition of enhanced learner’s skills and abilities will be ensured by specially designed Learner Oriented Quality Assurance Process (LOQuAP). It helps to match learner needs with programme design and format. The individual quality assurance portfolios will be developed within the frame of LOQuAP.  
Follow the progress of the project contacting project coordinator at:
De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
 Contact:
Dr. George Taylor
Head of Social Work & Health Studies
De Montfort University
Faculty of Health & Life Sciences
LEICESTER LE1 9BH
United Kingdom

+44 (0)116-207-8817,  gtaylor@dmu.ac.uk

Or project partner “Marie Curie” Association
Contact:
Tanya Lazarova
Project Assistant
Marie Curie Association
9a Magura Street
4000 Plovdiv
Bulgaria

+359 (0)32 62 88 90
tanya@marie-curie-bg.org

Website: www.marie-curie-bg.org