COURAGE (eng)

In today's world, many European societies are characterized by an overall anonymousness, apathy and unreflected self-centeredness of their citizens, going along with a lack of values and sense of community, in particular the active awareness for certain human values, such as solidarity for others and attentiveness for the needs of people belonging to minorities or disadvantaged groups. Populist voices are becoming mainstream, suggesting negative connotations of "political correctness" and questioning a general consensus about respective democratic principles.

For adult education in Europe, these challenges have brought a need for more holistic and multidisciplinary approaches, especially in terms of basic skills provision, which is where the Courage project comes in: the project partnership addresses teachers, trainers, coaches, social workers, counsellors working with young adult learners (16-25) and wants to provide concrete approaches and results for their professional use. The project is based on the need to extend the conceptual and practical understanding of "basic skills" by civil courage awareness, skills and competences young people will require for active democratic participation as responsible and well-rounded citizens in times of societal changes. Respective professionalisation of adult educators (active at schools, training centers, career service organisations etc) will build on new (non-school) learning concepts, environments and activities, in order to enable educators to better reach their learners.