VINA Project

VINA stands for Validating Informal and Non formal Acquired Skills and it is a European Co-funded project about skills validation in Adult Education.

 The consortium of this project is coordinated by EURO, an Italian Research Centre, and the rest of the partner organizations are from UK (European Learning Network Ltd),Czech  Republic  (Evropská rozvojová agentura s.r.o.), Greece (e-Compass.) and Poland (Fundacja Instytut Rownowagi Spoleczno Ekonomicznej).

The importance to Europe of having citizens that are both skilled and knowledgeable does not start and end with formal education. It is also extended to informal and non formal learning. European citizens need to be able to demonstrate their skills and knowledge acquired from informal and non formal education and use it in their career and for further professional and personal development.

The first European principle for validating informal and non-formal learning put the individual at the center of the process. Still the process of bringing out the full range of skills and knowledge of the individual is carried out in such a way that it remains voluntary. Furthermore the results of validation remain the property of the individual.

An adult who wants to validate his competences acquired through non-formal and/or informal learning is confronted with problems related to the lack of access to appropriate tools.  However these tools exist but are very difficult to find and implement them.  Also some of the tools that are found by the individual do not guarantee recognition of results.

VINA project in order to approach this problem is aimed at the following groups:

Group A.

1. Followers, members, volunteers and staff from partner organizations
2. Trainers/teachers who support or accompany their students during Informal and /or Non formal learning.
3.   Adults in the process of planning validation of their competences acquired through Informal and /or Non formal learning.

Group B.

1. Organisations and institutions planning validation of Informal and /or Non formal learning.
2.  Educational entities and individuals involved in implementing validation of Informal and /or Non formal learning.
3.  Public educational institutions/ organisations involved in IFM / NFM process and/or validation

VINA project In order to provide solutions to the problem of validation of Informal and /or Non formal learning  through its’ consortium is developing:

• a database of Instruments for Validating Informal and Non- Formal Learning;
• a Recognition Opportunities Tendency Analyser (R.O.T.A.)

By involving external partners, adult colleges, assessors, lecturers, public sector institutions, trainers, teachers and the wider community, the 5 partners will, through thorough research, create a database and an easy-to-use online validation tool. Both will be available as an Open Resource

Vina Project Website

Notes:

Formal learning – This type of learning is intentional, organized and structured. Formal learning opportunities are usually arranged by institutions. Often this type of learning is guided by a curriculum or other type of formal program.

Non-formal learning – This type of learning may or may not be intentional or arranged by an institution, but is usually organized in some way, even if it is loosely organized. There are no formal credits granted in non-formal learning situations.

Informal learning – This type of learning is never organized. Rather than being guided by a rigid curriculum, it is often thought of experiential and spontaneous.