IDEAL is a method aiming at the empowerment and active participation of disadvantaged, non-western immigrant women without basic education experience.

The five modules include:

  1. Getting acquainted (creating safe and conducive learning conditions, creating awareness on one’s own needs)
  2. Gossip (creating awareness on the origins and effects of gossip, and developing mutual trust among the participants)
  3. Health (creating knowledge and awareness on preventive and curative health issues, including psychosomatic illnesses, awareness on health related attitudes)
  4. Caring for myself (enhancing self-esteem, self-confidence, awareness on active participation and on effective communication. Includes conflict prevention, esp. with husband and mother in law).
  5. Parenting (awareness on and change of attitudes towards modern and democratic parenting).

IDEAL offers a programme for participants without basic education experience. IDEALS goal is that women can listen and interact with reasonable ease on familiar topics in predictable everyday situations and short conversations (oral A2-level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, CEFR). However, for participants who start off at A0-level (written illiteracy in the native language), oral A1-level in the foreign language is the desired outcome. This implies that they are able to interact in a simple way, at a slower rate of speech, by rephrasing and correction, on familiar topics. From there on, participants may enter a language course on A2- or B1-level.

IDEAL is based on the participatory pedagogical method Themis, which is characterised by its use of creative sense-activating didactic tools, a semi-structured curriculum, and a mother-tongue-based dual language approach.

IDEAL can be adapted to different populations and target groups.