Authors

• University of Tampere. School of Education
• Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (DVV International)
• Tallinn University
• The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
• University of Szeged
• Loughborough University London
• Social Sciences University of Ankara
• University College London

Keywords

adult education, adults, disadvantaged groups, equality between the sexes, immigrants, social exclusion, social problems, social skills, socio-economic indicators, socio-economic status, special needs education, teaching, vocational education

Abstract

This dataset includes interviews with educational personnel and policy-makers in the adult education sector in Romania working with vulnerable young adults. The interviews discuss contents of study programmes provided by the organisation, pedagogical approaches, gender equality, life management, social problems, socioeconomic status, and active participatory citizenship. The dataset is a ten-interview sample of the interviews collected in Romania for the Europe-wide EduMAP project (Adult Education as a Means to Active Participatory Citizenship). FSD's holdings also include data collected in the nine other EduMAP countries in their respective languages (the United Kingdom, Turkey, Spain, Hungary, Latvia, Greece, Germany, Finland and Estonia). The EduMAP project was funded by the European Commission's "Horizon 2020" research and innovation programme (ID: 693388).

Different interview schemes were used for interviews with educational personnel and educational authorities. In the interviews with educational personnel, the first questions concerned the interviewee's job responsibilities, practices in the organisation, and the types of vulnerable learners with whom the interviewee worked. Teaching practices were discussed as well as special education available at the organisation, the students' economic situation, and the concept of active participatory citizenship. Regarding the organisation's practices, the interviewees were asked about, for instance, the work processes for designing new educational programmes, pedagogical approaches, and learning/teaching methods that they had deemed particularly appropriate for vulnerable learners. Many facets of the organisation's practices were discussed in terms of gender, i.e. how possible gender differences were taken into consideration in teaching.

Pedagogical details of the programmes were discussed in more detail with regard to, for instance, learning and teaching methods, contents of lessons, teaching processes, and the students' possibility of giving and receiving feedback. The interviewees were also asked what types of competences educational professionals working with vulnerable learners possess or should possess.

Finally, the interviews examined the impact of the programmes from socioeconomic and sociocultural perspectives as well as the perspective of social activity and legal-political awareness. Attendance and graduation rates were also charted as well as suggestions for the improvement of the programmes. The final questions concerned collaboration and networking with other institutions.

The interviews with educational authorities and policy-makers focused more on the national influence in educational policy, i.e. developing and implementing policies and legislation regarding vulnerable groups. In addition, these interviews discussed e.g. consulting representatives of vulnerable groups in developing policies, achievements and shortcomings of current educational policies, and the most important issues faced by vulnerable groups that should be taken into consideration in developing policies.

Background information includes interview date, interviewee employment field and job description.

The dataset is only available in Romanian. Questionnaires and participant information sheets are only available in English. The data were organised into an HTML index at FSD.