Taking EduPlan forward

Project achievements

The project was very interesting for Switzerland, because we were developing a new handbook for eduQua. eduQua ist the Swiss Label for Quality Assurance in Adult Education, and exists since 2000. One of the goals of eduplan was, to create a new questionnaire for Providers, Trainers and Learners. eduQua has the same target group, only more focused on Adult Education.

At the end, eduplan developed in corporation with eduQua a new questionnaire, which had it’s focus more on vocational training, based on the 6 criterias of eduQua which are

1. Cours offers: fulfilling the needs of the clients and the demand of the market
2. Information about the organisation (mission statement, organigram, infrastructure)
3. Successful Instruction / teaching (Target groups, learning methods, transfer)
4. Train the Trainer (teaching adults, being up-to-date to the need of the learners and within the teaching sector
5. Governance / Guidance
6. Qualtity assurance (further development within the own institution)

In additon, eduQua provides a self evaluation tool which has to be updated over the 3 years period of the eduQua-certificate, after 3 years, the certificate has to be renewed. Each year there is an interim-audit,

Eduplan will be the perfect match, but for small institutions WITHOUT an eduQua-Label, but with the intention to get one, or just to test the state of the art.

How did the experiences

The Partners were from a variety of organisations which was quite a high demand to put together all the ideas and sectors.

 Unanticipated benefits

It was a very good opportunity to learn from each other and to have new insights of community Learning (UK), Grassroots development (GE), Train the Trainer (FR), and to implement this insights into the questionnaire, to fulfill all the different needs of the partners.

Results of the project

The questionnaire was created with some imputs from eduQua (handbook 2013), which already took into accounts some additional inputs from ISO 29990 (new norm for further education), but does not consider the Train the Trainers. In eduQua the Trainers have to proof, that they fullfill the needs of the Learner and treat them as adults, they have to observe each other, and have a common ground to meet and to discuss. The also have to be up-to-date in their own sector. Their teaching has to be evaluated by the learners and the providers. In addition, in a course the Learners have to get what was in the description and achieve the goals, that were promised at the beginning.

How did your project implement the transfer of innovation from a sectorial, geographical....

Geographical: The questionnaire will be translated also in French and Italian.

Sectorial: The questionnaire has to take into account both sectors: vocational training and adult education.

Switzerland puts the focus on adult education, i.e. providers (and may be, trainers).

Comment on the suitability and success of your strategies

The questionnare will be used as a Pre-Evaluation or Teaser for providers. It will be the tool to find out, if it’s necessary to do a more in-depth analysis of an institution i.e. to apply for an eduQua-certification or if it is enough for the time being. Later, the adapted questionnaire could also be used for Trainers. So they can evaluate their teaching and in addition find out, how the relationship between Learner and Trainer is functioning.

The questionnaire will be published on our websites: www.eduqua.ch, www.alice.ch, www.weiterbildung.ch. And during workshops of the introduction of the new eduQua-Norm 2013, there will be a promotion of eduplan.

Describe the results and feedback received from stakeholders

The pilots of the questionnaire were tested by two eduQua-auditors, one expert and some providers, including trainers and learners.

Describe the aims of your dissemination activities and comment on the suitability and the success of these activities.

The questionnaire will help to improve the quality of providers. One target will bet he health, sport and dance sector. There are a lot of small institutions, which need an ameloration in their quality assurance. With this questionnaire, it will be possible to figure out the state of the art and then decide, how to go on. Either to stay with the questionnaire and analyse the different stages or to go for a certification.

We also have an other label „ModuQua“, which is looking not at the institutions, but at the different modules. The focus is, to find out if the modules are developed in the right way, that the described competences will be reached at the end of the course. Here eduplan could also help.

And last but not least it could help the trainers to evaluate their own teaching or the interaction between the learners and themselves.

Potential Sustainability

The questionnaires of eduplan will be the tools of the daily work and included in the different websites. The tool will be for free and will help to improve the quality assurance in the different sectors. It will be updated (if necessary), if the eduQua-Handbook will be changed or ModuQua will further developed.