Abstract:

The article covers the evaluation of local authorities' employees lifelong learning as part of actions co-financed from the EU funds. The trainings were co-financed from the European Social Fund of the Human Capital Operational Program.

The primary objective of the paper has been to present the opinions of local authorities' employees on the trainings completed in terms of personal and professional career development and the applicability of the knowledge and skills acquired for the jobs held.
The introduction stresses the role of lifelong learning in personnel development in terms of Polish local authorities administration HR problems diagnosis. At the same time the need of training methodology adjustment to a specific nature of working adult education has been indicated.

Then the local authority projects executed in one of the counties of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province in 3 research periods: 2008-2010, 2010-2012 and 2012-2014 are described. In that part of the paper the scope of implementations and trainings is demonstrated for 8 local authorities and their 300 employees covered by the dedicated lifelong learning.

Further a thorough analysis refers to a specific nature of the trainings, namely the range of the topics, organization method and the teaching methods, means and tools applied.

Finally, the article presents the research of evaluation studies which involved 300 employees (training participants). The employees evaluated the trainings in terms of staff competence enhancement, professional career development and the training outcomes applicability for the job. Detailed questions concerned a collection of opinions on the applicability of the issues covered, number of hours, organization methods and the evaluation of the teaching methods, means and tools applied.

The article recapitulation provides conclusions and recommendations for lifelong learning of local-authorities' personnel. The guidelines can constitute good practices for designing of lifelong learning for the successive 2014-2020.program period.

Keywords:

Lifelong learning, training evaluation, local authorities' employee, EU funds, Human Capital Operational Program, personal development, professional career.