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Erasmus+

EU programme for education, training, youth and sport

Published:

Jim Sheehan

Adult education manager and Director of Social Health Education Project (SHEP).

Jim Sheehan
Country:

As an adult education NGO, we at SHEP welcome the benefits Erasmus brings. We have been enthusiastic participants for over seven years and, as our experience with Erasmus+ has grown, so too has our involvement.

In June 2022, we delivered Erasmus+ training abroad for the first time. Thanks to the programme, we’ve been able to send adult education staff and tutors to other EU countries for training courses. Our future intentions are to include adult learners in these events and use to job shadowing to support our tutors’ professional development.

Erasmus+ has also helped us to develop important connections with and learn from other adult education organisations through the creation of good practice partnerships across different sectors and EU countries.

Erasmus’s accessible programmes encourage you to build your confidence gradually. There is also lots of support available, and each country has its own national agency. Ours in Ireland, Léargas, was very helpful in getting started.

We feel privileged to be involved in Erasmus. My adult education colleagues and I have been personally and professionally enriched by this wonderful and important EU programme.

On a personal note, I value the opportunity to attend training in other EU countries and find new friends across Europe. These opportunities have been transformative to my work as an adult educator. I’m motivated by the positive impact that participating in the programme has had on my colleagues as we build a support network.

At an organisational level, Erasmus+ has brought in new learning opportunities, helped lift morale, and made us feel part of the European project. There is a spirit of cooperation, rather than competition and I would encourage more adult educators to get involved. Erasmus+ is a community that supports solidarity among adult educators, creating bonds of friendship and bringing us closer together as people and EU citizens. These experiences touch us, stay with us, and sometimes even transform us.