Critical Reflection Academy: Developing a Long-Term Peer-to-Peer Mentoring Program for Educators & Counsellors in the fields of Migration and Employability
Start Date: 01/01/2023
End Date: 01/07/2024
Project Code: KA210-ADU-8CA094FF
Coordinator:
- Institut für Berufsbildung und Sozialmanagement gGmbH
Partners:
- Eurobug, International Youth Work Training and Collaboration Ltd. – Migrant-Led NGO
- Varėnos kultūros centras – Municipal public body managing 16 community centres
- CGE Erfurt e.V. – Migrant-led NGO
Adult education services are a source of immeasurable benefits to many migrants, particularly those with additional vulnerabilities. However, it is precisely these vulnerabilities that must be incorporated into the pedagogical design process of adult educators, to avoid triggering traumas, cultural conflict, or simply not engaging (or mis-engaging) an already marginalised community. As such, educators and adult education services have a responsibility to continue to critically reflect on the methods they use, in the context of the specific service users they engage with. Critical reflection of educators is therefore an essential competence of educators and the focus of this proposal.
If we take a closer look at the ETS Competence Models for trainers and counsellors, we will find that practitioners’ ability to reflect critically is embedded within this framework. Considering the relationship of trust between educators, counsellors and migrants using their services, it is essential that practitioners are able critically reflect on their methodologies and competences to both prevent harm and to deliver supports & services in the most meaningful manner. Acknowledging this, our project connects, for long-term cooperation and mutual learning, two adult education institutions, and two migrant-led education NGOs to deliver a long term program of critical reflection for educators and counsellors working within migration. We will also take this opportunity to undertake research and needs assessment regarding the critical reflection needs of educators and the specific methodological needs of migrants in our partners’ contexts. We will capture our research, learning and reflection processes within a toolkit, that can be adopted by adult education services in order to work with educators to support their critical reflection process.
To do so, the consortium will connect two adult education services and two migrant-led NGOs to:
1/ Develop a transferable methodology for the critical reflection of educators & counsellors working with migrants (via focus groups and a working group)
2/ Manage an advanced training course for 20 educators & counsellors on critical reflection methods
3/ Manage a program of critical reflection for 20 educators over 12 Weeks
An important element of our project, is the co-management of migrant-led NGOs and the co-delivery of our TC by educators with a migrant background.
