COM_WORK. Exchanging practices for recognize and validate competences of social and educational professionals Erasmus Project

Project Title

COM_WORK. Exchanging practices for recognize and validate competences of social and educational professionals

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships addressing more than one field

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; Research and innovation

Project Summary

COMWORK. Exchanging practices for recognizing and validating competences of social and educational professionals was conceived from a network of seven actors from four European countries: Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Portugal.
The planned objectives were reached in social and educational domains as well as the valorization of non-formal and informal competencies of female and male workers. In each country, partners analysed needs and practices in the training of professionals involved in the services for the NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Social and educational workers are key figures for many inclusion and employability policies success, with a particular focus on those who are.
This working methodology was based on:
– improving the national systems for recognizing and validating non-formal and informal competencies aligning them with the EU indications and tools;
– acting directly on the training system (academic and vocational), identifying learning units for strategic competencies and related learning processes.
The applicant, University of Roma Tre (IT) involved the Direzione Formazione, Innovazione e Ricerca Regione Lazio (IT) that is currently working at two strategic objectives: enforcing D.L. 13/2013 and accomplishing the Repertorio Nazionale dei profili professionali (in accordance with the development of the Italian competences certification system); two VET Italian providers: the association Il Laboratorio and People Srl, both involved since many years in the operators training, project planning and management of services like Bilan de competences. This kind of partnership implemented the possibilities of COM_WORK to intervene with a systematic approach in the topic.
The purposes were to offer a more effective training proposal and to identify competencies that can activate the young users of the services.
For the same reasons Roma Tre involved three qualified and heterogeneous expertises:
• University of Vallaloid (ES), one of the best practice research and training agency in the competencies based approach;
• Znanie Association (BG), addressing since many years school drop-out, and giving them training opportunities by project planning, and integrating competencies and disciplines;
• Caixa de Mitos (P), an agency delivering innovative services for unoccupied young people, combining managerial approach with job orientation and competencies analysis.
CoMWork aimed to:
• disseminate the application of competence analysis model in social work field;
• share the model with policy makers and companies;
• promote the use of European tools to recognize competences;
• develop a guidance and training model to recognize and validate competences of social and educational professionals;
• produce learning units for informal and non-formal competences of socio-educational professionals dealing with NEETs.
The main outputs of the project were:
• a comparative report on strategic informal and non-formal competences of social and educational professionals;
• a guidance and training model;
• guidelines for trainers;
• three learning units.
Definition and common definition, comparative work, competences debate, sharing methodology facing NEET condition were the basis to conceive a subject centred learning program, based on training activities, which involve young people, promote their participation in the society, and enhance their self-management capacity.
The three main areas of strategic competence identified are:
1. The collective competences of a team and a network;
2. The motivational and empowerment competences;
3. The planning and change management competences.
In order to improve employment and mobility of European young people, the partnership included exchange of the practices. This is the core of the whole COMWORK process, that aimed not only to activate a process of co-building within the partnership, but also to involve different target groups to reach objectives that can be repeated and sustained in the long term.
COMWORK, using a participatory methodology of research, combined bottom-up and bottom-down approach, taking at the same time the responsibility to design policies and also to test and validate hypothesis through open discussion in both the real and the virtual communities.
The very differentiated expertise of partnership and the variety of the proposed activities was effective in order to involve people, organizations, institutions at all levels, during the different phases of the project and analyzing the positive reaction of people attending the Comwork events, it seems that Comwork activities can be fruitful also after the end of the project.
The products are suitable in order to bring a concrete appreciation of the informal and non-formal competencies, and to encourage and implement the use of European tools (Europass, EFQ) in the daily activities of socio-educational training (academic and vocational).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 294207 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI ROMA TRE & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Caixa de Mitos Lda
• People srl
• Il Laboratorio – Formazione e consulenze per il lavoro sociale
• REGIONE LAZIO
• Drujestvo Znanie
• UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID