EU - Learning Partnership -
Grundtvig 2


The project "Curricular education for HCPs working in the field of epilepsy" is funded by the Socrates - Grundtvig 2 programme of the EU. This project involves the development of the pedagogical skills needed for both individual and organized learning and the promotion of strategies for change in this educational sphere of adult learning, which to date has been very fragmented. The main methods used were e-learning, elements of the moderation method, group work and Problem Based Learning. This also ensures that HCPs use and disseminate up-to-date teaching methodology.

EU admitted partners within this Learning Partnership are
In the first year of funding (2004 - 2005) three meetings with the participation of further international experts, HCPs, learners and people with epilepsy were held.

While the first year of the project was mainly dedicated to get an overview of already existing HCPs programmes, try out and evaluate teaching methods on their usability in different settings, within the second year (2005 - 2006) the first year results' were pulled together and related to the content being worked out by the ILAE/IBE Working Group.
In addition to web-based collaboration meetings have been organised in
  • January 2006 in Berlin - Germany
  • March 2006 in Budapest - Hungary and the final meeting again in
  • Malta in June 2006.

During the third year of funding, the partners concentrated more strongly trying out modules of the curriculum and to test the curriculum in various settings. A pilot workshop for over 100 participants was held at the Epilepsy and Society Conference in Copenhagen in August 2006 in which the results of the project were disseminated with a great deal of interest. It also served to obtain feedback from the other European countries about the project.

In January 2007, at its meeting in Bielefeld, Germany, the group drafted the outline of the curriculum in English, which was continued at its last meeting in Malta in April 2007.

As a result of the three years of Grundtvig 2 Learning Partnership, the modules of a basic curriculum for health care professionals working in the field of epilepsy are identified and outlined,  various didactic methods used in different settings and evaluated with regard to their appropriateness for the curriculum. However, within the framework of the Grundtvig 2 Learning Partnership, the basic curriculum could not be finalised.

Within the ILAE Commission on Education in place since December 2005, Margarete Pfäfflin, MSc. has been appointed as HCP representative to assure that this project will be brought onto the ILAE educational agenda and see further development.