In 2023, the LifeLong Learning team in Dublin South City Partnership secured accreditation with Erasmus+, as a Community Adult Education provider. This results in funding each year to promote learning opportunities for the various teams of people we work with.

Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe.
The programme places a strong focus on social inclusion, the green and digital transitions, and promoting young people’s participation in democratic life.
It supports priorities and activities set out in the European Education Area, Digital Education Action Plan and the European Skills Agenda. The programme also supports the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Having accreditation is providing us with the opportunity to widen our horizons, as learners and practitioners in adult education; to see how other countries and organisations work and what they do; and to share our experience both away and when we come back.

Two Dublin South City Partnership’s SICAP staff recently attended ‘Chat GPT and AI for teachers: Artificial Intelligence in schools and education’ training course which took place in Palermo, Italy from 31/08/2025 to 06/09/2025.

The training brought together participants from different parts of Europe and opened with an introduction to AI in education. Through group discussions, participants reflected on how artificial intelligence can transform the learning experience by tailoring content to individual needs, easing tutors’ workload through automation of routine tasks, and providing meaningful data-driven insights. Another important theme was the ethical use of AI in education especially algorithmic bias and data privacy.

A key part of the training highlighted the role of prompting when working with ChatGPT. Since the quality of AI-generated answers largely depends on how questions are formulated, mastering this skill is essential for educators. Participants practiced designing clear, specific, and contextually relevant prompts to make the most of ChatGPT as a supportive tool in the classroom.

The course also delved into integrating ICT tools with AI features, highlighting tools that enhance collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking among learners. Participants were encouraged to explore various ICT applications and consider how these can be augmented with AI capabilities to improve learning outcomes.