AONTAS STAR Awards

STAR AWARDS CATEGORIES

• Health and Wellbeing

  Sponsored by Mental Health Ireland, this category is open to adult learning initiatives that support increased health and wellbeing for participants, for example mental health, physical activity, recovery from addiction, nutrition and sporting projects.

• Third-level Access and Engagement

  This category is open to adult learning initiatives that support educational equality by providing access to adult learners from low income backgrounds/learners with disabilities into third-level programmes and/or initiatives that promote partnership between higher education providers and local communities

• Social Inclusion

  Sponsored by Open College Network Northern Ireland, this category is open to adult learning initiatives that support all participants to effectively engage with their local community and contribute to social and cultural life, examples may include initiatives that provide participants with access to information and communication technologies.

• Global Citizenship Education

  Sponsored by SAOLTA, this category is open to adult learning initiatives that support Global Citizenship Education by empowering learners to assume active roles to face and resolve global challenges and to become proactive contributors to a more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive and secure world.

• Learner Voice

  Sponsored by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), this category is open to adult learning initiatives that place the voice and experience of the adult learner at the heart of their work. This can be achieved through building capacity of learners to increase their confidence or public speaking skills, or using the personal, individual experiences articulated by learners to shape the organisation’s governance structures. Examples may include training learners in advocacy or governance skills, building effective Learner Voice processes into quality assurance standards, or demonstrating clear evidence of change that directly responds to the feedback from adult learners.

• The Open University's "Shooting Star" award

  Sponsored by the Open University Ireland, our new "Shooting Star" Award recognises an outstanding project in adult and community education from across the island of Ireland.

• Special Recognition Award for a European Social Fund (ESF) Initiative

  Sponsored by the European Social Fund, this special award recognises initiatives that support adult learning through working towards better education and training systems at all levels, equal access to quality education and training, and upskilling, reskilling and lifelong learning for all.