The VOLCANO Project aims to develop and test a learning pathway for the target groups of indigenous BME, migrants and refugee populations who are economically inactive, and who have second or additional language to the host country for entry into the social care sector within healthcare provision. The project has five main objectives: 1) To demonstrate that people with language levels of A2 to B1 can be sustainability employed in this sector. 2) To address the known and growing skills gap across Europe which exists in lower levels of social/healthcare (due to population decline and movements, increased professionalisation and traditional low status and low pay). 3) To take advantage of greater in work learning opportunities in the sector which has opened up a new route into employment in for people from overseas which means their lack of entry qualifications can be supplemented by in work learning allowing them to progress through the industry. 4) To provide a new workforce for the sector now essential due to the demand for new staff through the Working Time Directive and Directive on Professional Qualifications. 5) To provide a diverse labour force which more closely resembles the diverse nature of the elderly community in Europe accessing social and healthcare The project aims to provide preparation for entry into the sector at care assistant level both in residential homes and in home care. The project will cascade a strategy enhancing education and employability practice that meets objectives within the 2020 strategy, which has set a target of 75% employment rate in Europe. The Bruges communique, in this context, calls for VET to better respond to labour market needs. This requires and improved understanding of emerging and evolving sectors and their skills needs as well as better mechanisims to translate this understanding into corresponding training provision. The project will contribute to this by providing education and training leading to employment in the social care/health care sector by targeting BME’s furthest from the labour market not currently fully provided for within many EU employability strategies. A group with one of the highest unemployment rates and poorest educational standards of any specific group within EU labour market statistics. It will provide portable skills for the target group to enhance mobility in the European social care//healthcare market. The project will provide language level testing, skills and competencies audits which will match to the sector, combined with a vocational language courses, practical work experience and curricula for adult educationalists to exploit. The project will be based on some existing best practice and methodologies tested extensively in the UK and will add to that new innovations including competency and language benchmarking; an extensive materials resource, innovative employer engagement and work experience opportunities. It will provide a much needed standardised system for measurement of professional competences and language skills for entry level in the health care professions. The project will utilize VLE technology to allow distance learning for the adult eduction providers. It will further address the barriers faced by the target group entering employment generally. The five partners drawn from across Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe are experienced experts in the fields of adult education and can demonstrate exceptional links to and experience of working with the target groups and the sector of employment targeted in the project. They have many years experience of working transnationally and collaboratively. The project will impact favourably on 3 groups: 1) Trainers/teachers who will benefit from new and dynamic training materials with a proven track record and the transfer of these materials into another language and eventually onto other adult education providers. 2) Beneficiaries making them more job ready and providing them with a sustainable route into employment in a growth sector. 3) Employers by linking them to a sustainable and trained workforce which reflects the increasingly diverse user of social care services in Europe. In the longer term the impact of this project will have a cascading effect within the local areas, regions, nationally and also at a European level. Further impact of the programme on each geographical area in which it is piloted will be assessed using feedback from the Stakeholders Forums in each country. Impact in respect of employment outcomes and contribution towards local regeneration will also be considered.
The five main objectives in the VOLCANO project were: 1)To demonstrate that people with language levels of A2 to B1 can be sustainability employed in this sector. 2)To address the growing skills gap across Europe in lower levels of social/healthcare, due to population decline and movements, increased professionalisation and traditional low status and low pay. 3) To take advantage of greater in-work-learning opportunities in the sector which has opened up a new route into employment for migrants. 4)To provide a new workforce for the sector now essential due to the new demand for staff through the Working Time Directive and Directive on Professional Qualifications. 5)To provide a diverse labour force which more closely resembles the diverse nature of the elderly community in Europe accessing social and healthcare. The five partners were drawn from across Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe. * Folkeuniversitetet Øst (FUØ), Oslo, Norway, was lead partner. FUØ is Norway's oldest and largest independant and non profit study organisation for adult learning. FUØ's course programmes are covering a broad variety of topics and programmes of different lengths and intensity, some providing formal competency, others not. FUØ is especially strong in the fields of second and foreign language aquisition and educational programmes for work in the healthcare sector. * Bridges Programmes, Glasgow (UK), a specialist not for profit organisation working for the last 14 years with those for whom English is a second language including refugees, migrants and the settled BME communities, to develop and facilitate their economic and social integration through a variety of work based interventions. These include work placements, employer engagement to foster anti discrimination practices in the work place and awareness raising training and support. * Volkshochschule im Landkreis Cham e.V., Germany, is one of the largest adult education centres in Bavaria. With nearly 50 employees, 250 teachers, 30 sites and a special focus on adult education, it is the largest educational institution in the Cham region. The Gesundheitsakademie Ostbayern (GAO) is part of the VHS Cham and consists of a state approved vocational school for geriatric nursing and nursing aids and school of Physiotherapy. * The Associazione N.E.T., Ponte San Nicolo, Italy, is a not for profit association founded in 2001 by experts of the training and educational sector. It addresses above all disadvantaged people like migrants, women, long term unemployed, elderly, disabled people and single parents to support them from a social, training and employment point of view. The association is very active at local and regional level by collaborating with public organisations and institutions like regions, municipalities, local health units (ULSS), universities, and chambers of commerce. * Ustanova za obrazovanje odraslih Dante, Rijeka, Croatia, is a language school engaged in several different projects with different target groups, like university students and young employees.The partner runs individual classes in business language and specific vocational language. Dante organizes language courses for medical staff and is active in the local community to improve skills and learning infrastructure in general. The project was structured around 7 Intellectual Outputs, in addition to a 5 days train the trainers session. IO 1 Research and Mapping Report IO 2 Skills and Language Benchmarking and Profiling tool IO 3 Vocational Language Curriculum and Material Resource IO 4 Handbook for implementation of curriculum IO 5 Piloting the Curriculum IO 6 Green Paper IO 8 VLE and website All planned parts of the project were carried out in accordance with the application. The pilote courses had 179 beneficiaries.The courses were carried out in combination with the effort in providing internships/jobs for participants,in spite the lacking funding for his IO. The courses resulted in a significant number of work placements and jobs within the project period. At least 72 participants had a work placement thanks to project activities and the offer of a job position in some cases. Totally around 60 persons were employed with different contracts. The project documents produced in the project can be accessed through the website, http://volcano-europe.org/ Apart from Green Paper, all documents are available in all five partner languages. Meetings and activities were scheduled on the initial meeting in Oslo.There was one transnational meeting in each partner country, and a final meeting in connection with the final multiplier event in Oslo. Local multiplier events took place in all partner countries, where the project results were presented. The project results have been videly communicated through different medias and events on local, regional and national level. The VOLCANO project can be considered as a good practice under the point of view of the impact obtained on the end users.