A handbook aimed at consolidating the professional status of adult educators, described as a first in the EU, has been completed and will be presented to stakeholders next week.

Launched by the General Workers' Union and the University of Malta, the handbook contains standards, suggested requirements for adult educators and a set of tools that validate achieved competences through informal and formal education.

It is intended for teachers, trainers, tutors, counsellors, curriculum planners and programme developers and evaluators and is aimed at implementing quality innovation in the adult educational sector through various teaching tools and approaches.

The handbook was put together following a 24-month project, which ended in October and formed part of an EU Leonardo da Vinci Programme pilot project titled Vinepac.

It was fashioned with the cooperation of various European organisations, such as the University of Bucharest, the Romanian National Adult Training Board, the French National School of Higher Agronomy, the Spanish Centre for Research in Theories and Practices for Covering Inequalities and the Romanian and German institutes for adult education.

Union general secretary Tony Zarb said that, in order to safeguard the workers' best interests, the union strove to ensure they were educated and offered every possibility for training - only then would they enjoy worthwhile employment.

The deputy general secretary, Michael Parnis said he was convinced this handbook "will fill a void not only in Malta but also in the EU as a whole". This was an "innovation" the likes of which had not been seen in the EU, he added.

University representatives gave a detailed account of how the handbook was put together, recognising the educational value unions could give to the country.