Strategic cooperation in the field of elderly care vocational training, focusing on involvement of socio-economic actors Erasmus Project

Project Title

Strategic cooperation in the field of elderly care vocational training, focusing on involvement of socio-economic actors

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 for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Cooperation between educational institutions and business; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Through this transnational strategic partnership we wanted to support the innovation approach in the field of training in social care for the elderly, by bringing together the vision and practices of 4 European countries – Romania, Bulgaria, Italy and Spain. This was made possible by the cooperation between VET providers and other relevant private / public authorities, including employers interested in this growing field, from the 4 mentioned countries, during 18 months. The innovation consisted in the process of comparing, analyzing and exchanging practices regarding learning in this field and creating a common core of learning, which was processed within all intellectual outputs in this project.
The partnership also involved the production of new intellectual results, consisting of:
1) a common curricula for practice – integrating the specification of occupational standards in the 4 countries and new modules according to new IT technologies and trends;
2) a pedagogical support tool (an e-book with ISBN code that includes a careful selection of case studies, examples, legislation, comparative analysis, best practices of the mentioned topic (professional care of the elderly). includes the materials mentioned in the graphic volume and is translated into five languages (en + ro, bg, sp, it);
3) an online platform that represents a collaborative space where partners may create content, exchange ideas, a space to organize webinars for practitioners/trainees, a space to inform the practitioners of all new learning opportunities in social care around Europe etc.

In order to achieve our goals, we organized two types of activities, related to each other:
– 3 short-term joint training events with 33 participants (5 days, excluding travel days): one from each country, in which experts from each of the 5 participating organizations were trained in innovative adult care practices, through an interdisciplinary perspective (legislation, social assistance, innovative therapies, specific approaches to nurse training, etc.), with an emphasis on tools and methods for the professionalisation and professional development of VET trainers and staff (how to use images and videos in training and communication with final beneficiaries, how to create a case study, how to develop a joint curriculum / how to support carers to energize and activate the elderly to remain valuable assets of society, how to use ICT tools and devices in caring for the elderly, etc. ) the format of these events combined on-site visits to the relevant organization and the intensive training course; after the first meeting, some of the participants started to create a virtual collaboration workspace to build a learning platform that would benefit other practitioners / trainers in the field, practitioners who will follow a mixed mobility within this project; also, following these joint training events, the experts from the partner organizations started developing the curriculum and writing the learning support materials, most often using the virtual collaboration space;
– In the second stage of the project we tested the curricula by providing short courses, focused on practical training, to over 80 adult learners who want to become elderly caregivers or adults who are already working in the field and who want to train continuously . Also, another 24 adult learners (practitioners with a certain professional training) joined a combined mobility (6 days except for the trip) – combing the virtual training with physical mobility.
Before achieving physical mobility, there was a test of the effectiveness of the curriculum. After some training, they benefited from short-term physical mobility, focused on work-based learning at a potential employer (from another country).
Day centers / residential centers for the elderly from the three countries mentioned were involved: Santa Eulalia Residential Center, Domus Vi, Craiova Home for the Elderly, Mimos Day Center, Oleiros Day Center, Montserrat Residential Center, Home Hope Residential Center Sofia, Ramnicu Valcea Home for the Elderly, Targu Jiu Day Center, Residential Center Mitropolit Firmilian Craiova to encourage the connection between real practices, legislation and case studies presented. The role of the associated partners was to make pedagogical programs and tools more relevant and concrete for the national labor market in the European context.
The project will include 6 dissemination events and 2 multiplication events (Craiova and Barcelona), in order to transmit information about the progress of the project and to disseminate the concrete results to as many relevant actors in the field of training in the care of the elderly.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 176661 Eur

Project Coordinator

Asociatia Global Help & Country: RO

Project Partners

• Home Hope Ltd
• Caminul pentru Persoane Varstnice Craiova
• Associació Departament d’Estudis dels Medis Actuals
• Euroform RFS