Congress (Day 3) Next Level Dialogue - Quality and Best Practice

Thursday 1st October 2026, 9:00am - 12:30pm
University of Strathclyde, Technology and Innovation Centre, 99 George St, Glasgow, G1 1RD

Workshop Title: Quality Evaluation in Intergenerational Practices: From Tested Indicators to Continuous Improvement Commitments.

Facilitator(s): Lorraine George, Intergenerational Learning and Development lead, Generations Working Together, Mariano Sánchez-Martínez, Head (Director) and Carolina Campos-Rueda, Researcher from Macrosad Chair in Intergenerational Studies at the University of Granada and Joana Portugal, Deputy Director from Aproximar.

Several organisations have collaborated to test quality indicators for intergenerational practices through the “Creating Intergenerational Communities” project. Over several months, we applied these indicators across different initiatives, from shared-site intergenerational centres to school-based programmes and technology-mediated intergenerational connections.

This session builds on our learning and aims to keep quality at the centre of intergenerational work. Participants will engage in a reflective, collaborative dialogue to identify practical actions that promote ongoing quality assessment and improvement. We will explore key questions such as:

• What does quality mean in intergenerational practice?
• How can we know that what we are doing is right?
• How can teams be motivated to prioritise evaluation and quality?

It is expected that by the end of the session participants will decide on some concrete commitments and strategies to support (through reciprocal collaboration) consistent quality evaluation and continuous improvement in intergenerational initiatives.

Following on from the Congress Participants would be given time to implement their commitments. We will then hold follow-up online meetings to catch up, address questions together, learn from each other’s experiences, and develop the committed pledges. The pledges will be developed into a digital resource and shared with participant feedback during Global Intergenerational Week 2027, possibly through a webinar. This webinar could include reports from participants who have tested their commitments over several months. 

Learning Outcomes

Participants gain or will be able to:

1. Reflect on what “quality” intergenerational work means in their own contexts. 
2. Share and compare evaluation approaches, learning from different models and experiences across diverse intergenerational initiatives. 
3. Agree on practical commitments and strategies to implement continuous quality assessment and improvement in their intergenerational practices.

Lead Presenter Biography

Lorraine George is the Intergenerational Learning & Development Lead for Generations Working Together (GWT).

Her expertise and interests focus on the following areas:

1.      From research to practice: The development of the Creating Intergenerational Communities (CIC) toolkit and programme to support quality improvement within intergenerational work, regardless of field.

2.      Building sustainable models of intergenerational practice between community partners.

3.      Applying an intergenerational approach to the workplace, enabling organisations to reap the benefits in moving from a multi-generational to an intergenerational workforce.

Lorraine is an experienced intergenerational trainer and consultant, creating content which supports organisations and practitioners in developing intergenerational programmes to reconnect generations. She is a 2017 Churchill Fellow, specialising in intergenerational shared sites and a published author on intergenerational activities. She led on the development of the CIC programme, based on a research paper from the Macrosad Chair of Granada University. She was recently recognised as the 2026 International Intergenerational Ambassador for the Macrosad Chair of Intergenerational Studies of the University of Granada.