BACKGROUND & CHALLENGESWith over 310 million adults & children, legally defined as refugees, asylum seekers and migrants on the move within EU territories on their way to a destination country, there is soaring demand for a relatively new kind of humanitarian professional: the Cultural Mediator. Due to the current and emerging refugee crisis in Europe, skills requirements are changing rapidly calling for up-to-date VET curricula, openly available to the Cultural Mediators professional community, as well as to organisations responsible for their vocational training. VET provision must be tailored to emerging skills needs, helping Cultural Mediators to a)respond immediately providing support in situ, in the ‘’hot spots’’, where big populations of refugees are gathered (e.g. ports, borders, islands), and b) assist in the long-term integration of refugees in the hosting EU countries. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop up-to-date VET curricula to upskill Cultural Mediators on emerging skills requirements as regards: a) crisis, conflict & risk management, b) new organisational & communication challenges, c) dealing with the psychological trauma often caused by war, displacement and hardship experiences in transit countries & dangerous travels, d) adapting to the changing national & EU regulation, d) assisting in the relocation & mobility of refugees, e) battling rumours that create confusion among refugees, and xenophobia in the hosting communities etc.AIMThe project aims to support the Vocational Education and Training for Cultural Mediators, developing a modular course by: a) identifying current and emerging training needs, b) producing Open Educational Resources that ensure simple and free access to on-line training resources, and c) promoting a framework towards the development of an EU qualification for Cultural Mediators.OBJECTIVESOBJ-1. Develop up-to date evidence based learning outcomes to support VET offerings for Cultural Mediators.OBJ-2. Enhance open access of Cultural Mediators to original curricula in the form of Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Massive Open On-line Course (MOOC).OBJ-3. Facilitate mutual recognition of the produced learning outcomes across the EU based on EQF and ECVET standards.THE ReCULM PARTNERSHIPThe National Center for Social Research – EKKE (EL), the UNIMORE University (IT), the ALMERIA University – UAL (ES) and the University of Glasgow – UGLA (UK) form a Strategic Partnership comprising field, academic and research expertise from 4 European countries in current issues related to migration, multiculturalism, and the needs of vulnerable groups, as well as the training of cultural mediators. ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY1. Development of up-to-date learning outcomes, based on evidence collected from VET providers, field experts and Cultural Mediators via field and desk research on skills requirements, leading to specific definitions of knowledge, skills and competences following EQF and ECVET. 2. Development of a modular course and VET guidelines for the integration of the developed learning outcomes in current & future training programmes.3. Involvement of education and field authorities for the future certification & accreditation of the developed curricula, through the promotion of a support statement and a strategic plan. 5. Sharing and validation of outputs with multiplier events, inviting target groups to test and uptake ReCULM results acting as further disseminators.RESULTS 1. Up-to-date, evidence-based learning outcomes to support VET provision for Cultural Mediators in refugee crisis skills needs.2. VET learning units and OERs 3. VET guidelines for the integration of the developed learning outcomes into existing programmes. 4. A ReCULM Massive Open Online Course.5. A Support Statement and a Strategic Plan for the valorisation of the ReCULM on an EU level.6. Four national workshops to promote results and validate learning materials.IMPACT AND POST-PROJECT SUSTAINABILITYThe ReCULM project is expected to have the following impact and longer term benefits:1. Promoting participation of a growing number of VET learners using the ReCULM OERs and MOOC via their availability and dissemination, exploitation and maintenance activities for three years after the project’s completion based on the partners own effort.2. Supporting at least 40 VET providers, NGOs and academic institutes across the EU on enhancing new training programs for Cultural Mediators by integrating the ReCULM outputs. 3. Further maturing of certification & accreditation policies, as a result of the developed by the project framework towards the development of an EU qualification for Cultural Mediators, and in particular via the dissemination and signing of the ReCULM support statement and strategic plan by relevant stakeholders.
CONTENT & BACKGROUND With thousands of adults & children, legally defined as refugees and asylum seekers on their way to a destination country within the EU, trying to integrate in a new host society, there is soaring demand for up-to-date training for an emerging group of humanitarian professionals: the Cultural Mediators that work in the field with refugees. Cultural mediators employed by NGOs and other private and/or public entities that provide humanitarian support, need up-to-date Vocational Education and Training (VET) curricula, openly available to their growing community, as well as to organisations responsible for their vocational training. They are in need of tailored, comprehensive, and open educational resources (OERs) to a) respond immediately providing support in situ, where big populations of refugees are gathered (e.g. ports, borders, islands, etc), and b) assist in the long-term social integration of refugees in the EU host societies promoting solidarity and well-being. The project respons to the challenge to address emerging skills requirements as regards: a) conflict management, b) communication challenges in a multicultural context, c) working with people who suffer from the psychological trauma often caused by war, displacement and hardship experiences in transit countries & dangerous travels, d) adapting to the continuously changing national & EU regulation regarding refugees, d) assisting in the relocation & mobility of refugees within Europe, e) battling rumors that create confusion, xenophobia and conflict in the hosting communities etc. OBJECTIVES ReCULM project formed a Strategic Partnership, with the objectives to: 1. Develop up-to-date VET curricula, grounded on original learning outcomes (Knowledge, skills and competences), to support NGOs, humanitarian organisations, academic VET providers, institutes & public services to train and up-skill Cultural Mediators and other humanitarian professionals, in order to face emerging everyday work challenges related to the refugees' integration needs in the EU host societies. 2. Support Cultural Mediators to address their self-paced learning and their self-training requirements related to the refugees’ needs, by developing easy to access Open Educational Resources (OERs) and a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). 3. Facilitate mutual recognition of the ReCULM learning outcomes and of the professional profile that these learning outcomes describe towards the development of national and EU accreditation for Cultural Mediators that work with refugees. PARTNER ORGANISATION Four partner institutions representing Education and Research related to the Cultural Mediators and the refugees' needs in Greece, Italy, Spain and the UK formed the ReCULM Strategic Partnership. In specific: the National Center for Social Research - EKKE (EL), the University of Modena and Regio Emilia - UNIMORE (IT), the University of Almeria - UAL/CEMYRI (ES) and the University of Glasgow - UGLA (UK) joined forces and expertise implementing all the project's activities, outputs and events. UNDERTAKEN ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY 1. Development of original learning outcomes and OERs based on skills needs data collected from field experts and Cultural Mediators. 2. Creating a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). 3. Establishing a support context involving education and field authorities for the future accreditation of Cultural Mediators based on the developed learning outcomes. 5. Disseminating and evaluating the developed course involving target group users in the process. RESULTS 1. Original learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences) to support VET provision for Cultural Mediators who work with refugees. 2. One modular course consisted of six learning units (five topics each), learning (624 slides) and assessment materials (40 case studies, 108 Q&As) provided as OERs. 4. A ReCULM Massive Open Online Course, pilot tested twice, followed by almost 4.000 international learners, and evaluated. 5. A Support Statement and a Strategic Plan for the valorisation of the ReCULM on an EU level. 6. Four national workshops to promote results and evaluate the course. IMPACT AND POST-PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY The ReCULM project achieved very high impact during its implementation period, since it produced a first international "pool" of Cultural Mediators attending & evaluating the MOOC during its two pilot sessions (nearly 4000 learners). However, the most important long term benefit is expected to come from the EU framework of Education, Accreditation and Migration EU authorities that expressed their support towards the development of formal recognition of the professional profile of the Cultural Mediator based on the ReCULM learning outcomes. Furthermore, the project's OERs will be adapted in the context of a new Erasmus+ project (which just started lasting 30 months), namely Inter4Ref, to synergistically support the needs of interpreters in Cultural Mediation.