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Walk'n'Talk - Prevention and Communication Trainin..
Walk'n'Talk - Prevention and Communication Training for the Eldery aged 65+
Start date: Dec 1, 2016,
End date: Nov 30, 2018
PROJECT
FINISHED
Against the background of demographic changes in Europe and an aging European population, the elderly aged 65 and above and out of working age, are becoming an increasingly important group. For providers of adult education it will become a priority to focus on providing a suitable course offer for this target group. Empowering the target group to fully participate in society and remain active and independent in their different socio-economic circumstances requires physical and mental competences which is important to live an autonomous life even into old age. 7 organisations coming from 7 different European countries, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Romania, Italy, Spain, and Finland with a longtime experience in teaching senior citizens in general and adult education in particular, will develop, implement, disseminate and exploit in close collaboration this new, flexible and useful non-formal active aging training course targeted at senior citizens 65+. With the Walk’n’Talk project the partners intend to foster healthy habits (by walking) and lifelong learning (by talking) among seniors having left their professional working life. In a first step, the partners will develop a Research Toolkit which will focus on identifying the seniors’ needs and wishes with respect to motivation of participation in lifelong learning, attitude to active and healthy aging, and social participation and inclusion. The partners will then start elaborating and structuring the course curriculum and develop appropriate training materials: The course curriculum will give detailed information on the methodology in conducting the course, didactical guidelines and various methods, a clear structure, schedule and objectives of the course. The training material will strongly depend on the seniors’ needs and wishes so that the topic and content might vary from partner organization to partner organization. It might range from learning a new language, talking about traditions, discussing political topics, history, culture, to storytelling, etc. The partners will develop and collect relevant material and practical support such as flashcards, descriptions of the activities, worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, etc. which will be a resource for trainers/instructors that will deliver the Walk’n’Talk course to the seniors. In addition, the seniors participating in the course will have the chance to record their experience and knowledge in form of video, audio and text files which will be uploaded to a special web portal connected to the project homepage. The collection of these files will give added value to the project: On the one hand the seniors will be encouraged to use ICT tools which to many of them is still quite new; on the other hand, regarding the older generation with all their advance in knowledge in many areas as a mainstay of society, this knowledge will be a valuable asset to society and by means of recording this knowledge it will be preserved to posterity. The Guidelines for Stakeholder Managemet and Commuication will provide detailed information for stakeholders and potential actors, such as adult education providers, volunteering centres, community centres, etc., on how to establish Walk’n’Talk courses, how to involve the target group, and in addition it will contain various templates to advertise the Walk’n’Talk course.Due to the flexible approach of the Walk’n’Talk course, the content will allow for addressing any of the key competences for lifelong learning. It will give new and creative ideas to adult education providers and trainers/instructors and can easily be transferred to other fields of education, e.g. migrant education, basic and second chance education and can build a bridge to formal education.