FamilEU envisions developing a digital training toolkit for adult trainers and professionals who already work in the areas of family care for many years. The aim of the FamilEU is to equip the social workers and other relevant practitioners in areas of social welfare, provide training to family member, in order in their turn to provide a peer to peer support to members of their families who are in need, facilitate their (re) integration both in the society and in the market where appropriate. The escalating socio-economic transformations have affected in a profound manner the molecule of the EU society that is the family. The limited resources of the states, as well as of the families, demand a new approach in the provision of social welfare, where peer to peer support, through the acquisition of relevant lifelong skills by EU citizens is both in demand and in need. EU states are still in the conception phase of this approach, searching for successful models and tools to integrate in their upcoming initiatives. The FamilEU will provide the necessary practical, theoretical and pedagogical framework to train social work professionals, in order to educate EU families to meet the social, economic and professional challenges in an effective way. The FamilEU will be a toolkit, built on an online e-learning platform, which will host online training modules, social network applications, data bases, information material and manuals, for social work professionals on how to train adult members of EU families, in order to provide internal support to their family members in need. Additionally the FamilEU will be also available through a mobile platforms application. The proposed FamilEU training fields are: 1. Digital Literacy 2. Communication and Collaboration Skills 3. Social Orientation Support 4. Motivational and Guidance Skills 5. Labor Market Access, Employability and Entrepreneurship 6. Basic Social Work Principles The consortium of the FamilEU is consisted from 8 partner from 7 different EU countries; partner come from a wide range of backgrounds including training centres, family care centres, research and development centres, and SMEs. The FamilEU is in full alignment with the priorities, objectives and aims of the ERASMUS+ Strategic Partnerships call for Adults as it envisions in adults up-skilling and provision of transversal skills, provide access to Open Educational Resources based on ICT, link adult education with higher education (ECTS), carry awareness campaigns, and promote validation, accreditation and certification for adult training.
In the past decades, the philosophy of the European welfare state included the objective to help people in need, in which a common attitude was to take over responsibilities of people in need whenever they weren’t able to solve their problems themselves. The focus was not in the first place to increase the independence of people in need but to help them participate more adequate in society. Rendering help was paramount, in which the professional was the expert. The drawback of this development became apparent during the last few decades: A part of the welfare state cracked because of the expanding costs of professional support to families. Reducing the expenses of the state and making the welfare system more flexible became a necessity. The organization of the welfare state is being reviewed, and professionals have to render help in a different way with lower costs, with a stronger focus on strengthening families and training citizens to become less dependent of professional help. The FamilEU project aspires to integrate the potential of digitally-mediated social environments into the fostering of innovative learning communities for the EU Citizens. FamilEU is an online training package to build the capacity of adult member of families with socio-economic problems to act as social workers. It focuses on providing training to adult members of families with some social or economic problems and by doing this improving social inclusion and participation of citizens, as promoted in Horizon 2020. The core product of FamilEU is a digital training toolkit for adult trainers and professionals who work in the areas of family care, with the aim to provide training to family members, in order to enable them in their turn to provide a peer to peer support to members of their families who are in need, facilitate their (re) integration both in the society and in the labour market where appropriate. FamilEU is built on an online e-learning platform, which hosts online training modules, social network applications and information material in order to provide internal support to their family members in need. Additionally, FamilEU is also available through a mobile platforms application. The FamilEU Online Curriculum consists of eight modules that have been identified based on the Transnational FamilEU State of the Art and Gap Analysis Report. They cover the following areas: Basic Principles of Social Work Communication & Collaboration Family Issues Health Issues Migrants & Integration Labour Market & Entrepreneurship Financial Issues Digital Literacy The basic units of each module have been translated into all partner countries languages, while the subsequent units are available in English. The consortium of the FamilEU consists of eight partners from seven different EU countries. They come from a wide range of backgrounds including training centres, family care centres, research and development centres, and SMEs. The philosophy and the approach of the project is in the same direction of the EU policies and the Horizon 2020: an inclusive, innovative and secure society in which citizens experience social cohesion and possibilities for productivity and employment.