How and Why did the Learner Literacy Narratives: A Library of Life, Love and Loss project come about?

Professor Dina Soeiro from the Polytechnic University of Coimbra, Portugal, explains more in this recent article she has written for EPALE – Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe.

Dina Soeiro: Guided by curiosity and inspiration

If you share our enthusiasm, join us, and let’s make this a very special project with contributions from all corners of the world.

Short bio

I am Dina Soeiro, School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, a teacher passionate about adult education. I learn a lot from working with older adults who, having not been to school, know much about life. I know that educating older adults is an investment.

My story

A beautiful international adult education project was born because inspiration happened, generosity created the opportunity, and the will did the rest!

Beth John (Adult Learning Wales – ALW, UK) and I were in 2023 at the annual Conference of the European Association for the Education of Adults in Zagreb. We met there. EAEA is like that: a space for happy meetings! On the day we left, we visited the Museum of Broken Relationships. We left the Museum enchanted with the transformative power of those objects and the stories that give them shape, and that awakened deep emotions in us. Excited and inspired, we were at the hotel door. Beth had called a taxi for the trip to the airport and generously offered me a ride.
At the Museum, I bought a book that combines photos of the objects and their stories. I carried it in my hand because I couldn’t wait to discover it and thought that waiting until boarding was just what I needed to dive into the book’s richness. My curiosity didn’t even let me get to the airport. On the taxi ride, I started leafing through it. I told Beth that it was a resource with a lot of potential for working on literacy in the literacy workshops of the Letras Prá Vida project, a community education project promoting literacy among adults in Portugal. Participants could choose a vital object to discuss in their relationship and share their story! She immediately said we had to think of a project inspired by this book and the Museum. And so it was, with enormous enthusiasm and a lot of work, Beth mobilized a fantastic ALW team that moved forward with this idea and made it a reality. The online launch event was held on July 17th, and adult education professionals from more than 20 nationalities participated. The enthusiasm has been enormous since this project presentation, which already has a pilot phase, a video, and a page with an immersive 3D library developed by ALW.

Are you curious? If you want to know about this project, explore the page: https://lifeloveloss.digital/

If you share our enthusiasm, join us, and let’s make this a very special project with contributions from all corners of the world by registering here.

It is an extraordinary opportunity to share the power of literacy, stories, and the people who tell them, and of truly transformative adult education!

See you soon!