The main motivation of this project is the need to update Adult Education, to promote and improve the quality of life of adults who attend Adult Education Centres to improve their competences, mainly because the training offer is not adapted to their needs, due to its post-pandemic changing character, arising a training gap for 40% of the population in the province of Valladolid (INE, 2021).

Before the writing process of this project, the consortium carried out a study, verifying that the project was based on a realreed and that it would have an impact on European society.

Adult learning is an important aspect when it comes to digitalization and automation in the labor market. Employees need to adapt and, for example, learn new digital skills and in some cases reskill as some jobs will be eliminated due to technical development. Adult learning should improve employability, boost innovation, ensure social fairness, and close the digital skills gap.

Another main reason why this project is considered of vital importance is its potential to complement different plans and objectives in different fields:

-The Valladolid County Council is promoting adult education with the Lifelong Learning Plan, which is being implemented in 14 centres.

– The other partner organizations share the motivation to adapt their training structure to the current reality but do not have sufficient resources or information to do so.

– The European Commission in its “European Pillar of Social Right Action Plan” states that the importance of adult learning is reflected in the EU-level target that at least 60 % of all adults should be participating in training every year by 2030, although in Spain the figure is 15.3% which is higher than the EU average of 11.9 % (Eurostat, 2023).

Our main objective, the adaptation of adult education centres to the needs of the 21st century, has not received the necessary attention so far, generating an educational gap for a population that represents 45% of the total population in Europe.

In turn, XXIAdults aims to produce change in partner organisations and other stakeholders. Change in this sense can only be achieved if it happens at the organisational level, starting with the governance of the educational centre. For change to be meaningful and sustainable over time. School leaders need a plan, a roadmap that provides them with information on how to restructure the school.

XXIAdults will develop a comprehensive toolkit comprising a training guide, a platform, and an educational strategy. Theseresources will be utilized by adult education across Europe to enhance and align centers with the demands of the 21^st century. This is particularly crucial given the 50% digital disparity among adults, which escalates to 75% among seniors in numerous European contexts.

In today’s digital era, daily tasks like medical appointments and banking have shifted online, impacting the elderly as well. This necessitates an updated educational offering for adults, hindered by the evolving nature of their needs not always being met. Additionally, there’s insufficient adult participation in European programs, prompting the project to foster Europea nidentity

The project’s activities and work packages significantly contribute to the digital transformation priority as follows:

-In WP2, the use of Google Forms for questionnaire design and online distribution promotes digital transformation among consortium members by facilitating systematic data analysis.

-Research and classification of good practices in WP2 will primarily occur online, with the report available in digital formats on the project website.

-The information and education platform will offer digital content like videos, QR codes, and links to support materials to enhance education and foster digital skills among students, facilitating digital transformation in the classroom.

-Consideration will be given to integrating the DigComp framework into the platform to align with DigComp standards.