Supporting Families through the Dual Transition: Family Learning Model to Manage Carbon and Digital Footprints

The Family Footprints project partners came together to apply for this project as a response to pressing local needs and educational gaps identified within partner communities. The decision to apply for the project stemmed from partners identifying a need to support local communities to come to terms with European policies and strategies, which have been put in place to support the dual or twin transition of Europe to a more sustainable and digital society. Specifically, through the materials we developed in this project, we have linked to the European policies - European Green Deal, Europe Fit for a Digital Age and the DigComp Framework, to build the climate and digital literacies of whole families. We took a family learning approach because we saw the family unit as an ideal microcosm of our local communities, with so many different age groups in one family. As such, that through one high-quality, targeted family learning intervention, we have been able to reach parents (adult learners), grandparents (senior adult learners), and children, teenagers and young adults; and to support each of these European citizens to develop their digital and climate literacies, through high-quality curricula and age-appropriate digital resources.

Through the Family Footprints project, partners aimed to address the dual transition towards digitalisation and sustainability that were sweeping across Europe, by developing comprehensive educational resources tailored to the needs of families and adult learners. The implementation of the Family Footprints project was driven by a clear set of objectives aimed at achieving meaningful and sustainable outcomes for adult learners, families, and adult educators. At the commencement of the project, partners identified a pressing need to ensure that all members of society could upskill to avoid being left behind by the digital and sustainable transitions. Specifically, the project aimed to bridge the Family Digital Divide by ensuring that all family members, regardless of age, had basic digital competence to manage their digital footprint, and to support families and communities in embracing a more sustainable way of living to address the climate crisis. As such, what we aimed to achieve through this project was to empower families in our communities and across Europe to develop their digital and climate literacies, manage their digital and carbon footprints, and support the dual transition of Europe.

Over the 24-month project lifecycle, the Family Footprints partners engaged in research and consultation activities, curriculum development and translation, piloting, and promotional activities to ensure that our project results were developed to a high standard, and that they reached our intended audiences. At the commence of the project, all partners established Local Advisory Groups (LAGs), comprised of local parents, adult educators and advisors who would support our project work. By the end of the project, we engaged 46 individuals in these LAGs, surpassing the target of 28 foreseen at application stage. Through our curriculum development activities, partners collaborated to produce the Induction to Pedagogy Programme for Parents and the Dual Transition: Digital and Climate Literacy Programme for Parents. These programmes provide parents with essential skills to deliver family learning in their homes; and knowledge in digital literacy and sustainability, empowering them to make informed decisions and adopt sustainable behaviours within their families. Through our piloting activities, we reached 131 parents across the consortium. Partners also developed the Family Learning Toolkit, comprising age-appropriate resources for all family members - Comic Strips, Interactive Magazines, and Audio Books, to engage families in interactive and accessible learning. Through these activities we reached 107 families. Partners also developed and delivered in-service training for community and adult educators, supporting them with new skills to deliver family learning in their communities. Through national piloting, we reached 53 adult educators across our 7 countries, and a further 12 who participated in our transnational training event in Portugal in May 2023. Through our promotional activities, we reached 248 participants through our virtual multiplier event (31 participants) and our face-to-face events in each participating country; and a further 881 followers on our project Facebook page.

The Family Footprints project partners produced the following concrete project results: PR1 – Induction to Pedagogy Programme for Parents - This training for parents supports their role as facilitators of learning in a family learning model. The induction programme provides a series of practical workshops that support parents in their new role as facilitators of family learning on the topic of digital and climate literacy and supports parents to apply the Family Learning Toolkit by introducing them to the comic strips, magazine and audio books developed to address young children, teenagers and young adults and senior adult, respectively. These workshops also present approaches and guidance for applying these digital tools in a family learning environment. These workshops were delivered to 72 parents across the 7 partner countries. PR2 – The Dual Transition: Digital and Climate Literacy Programme for Parents - The content of the programme comprises 12 short modules and addresses two core subject areas: digital literacy, and climate literacy. Six modules support parents to develop their digital literacy and competence. These modules develop the skills and aptitudes of parents and will be benchmarked to the DIGCOMP 2.1 Framework for Citizens. A further six additional modules support parents to develop their climate literacy. These modules are in line with the most appropriate pillars of the European Green Deal. Both the digital and climate components of this curriculum begin with two introductory modules – each introductory module supports parents to learn the key terminology and concepts related to digital literacy and climate change. These modules were delivered to 74 parents across the consortium. PR3 – Family Learning Toolkit - Comic Strips, Interactive Magazines and Audio Books - This Toolkit provides age-appropriate learning materials for family members of different age groups. For children, there are 12 themed comic strips that introduce digital and climate literacy, for a young target group. The comics are themed, with the first 6 comics addressing issues related to online safety and our digital footprint, and the second 6 comics presenting scenarios related to climate change and our carbon footprint. For teenagers, the toolkit provides a series of short explainer videos, self-help resources, games, and puzzles, all presented through an interactive digital magazine. The set of 12 magazines addresses 6 themes – 3 aimed at developing digital and media literacy – as research shows that young adults require media literacy training to counter the spread of disinformation through social media, and 3 to raise awareness of climate change. For senior adult learners and grandparents in the family unit, there are 8 audiobooks that address 4 topics relating to digital competence and 4 which aim to raise climate and environmental awareness. 86 families were engaged in testing this curriculum across the consortium. PR4 – In-service Training Programme for Community and Adult Educators - This final project result comprises a bespoke in-service training programme to ensure that adult educators are fully trained to harness the potential of the educational resources developed in the family learning model. The in-service training begins by introducing the basic principles of digital and climate literacy before switching its attention to the family learning model developed and the different age-appropriate resources developed. The in-service training comprises 60 hours of instruction made up of 28-hours of hands-on workshop learning and 32 hours of online self-directed learning. 56 adult educators were reached through our national piloting of this curriculum, and a further 12 educators through the transnational training activity in Portugal. Partners also reached 248 participants through our multiplier events, and a further 881 followers through our promotion of the project through our Facebook page.