Due to demographic change, our workforces will shrink, and it is extremely important to activate the unemployed group and convents people for the idea of lifelong learning, that would enable them acquire new skills and to be active on labor market.In this project we want to create a course what will help to activate 50+ women, with an experience in running the homes and rising children but without strong educational qualifications and work experience which could help them to come back to work. The best chance to reinstate women who are passive, afraid of changes and training, is to create a work environment which they know, and where they could feel fulfilled and needed. The main aim of the project is to create a model of the training course that would include 2 main sections: - A guidelines on personality and skills required to perform a role of professional child carer in all partner countries and recommended tools for recognition and validation of competences of potential child carers;- A scope of themes for the course modules, for example: dietetics and rules of proper nutrition for children, intellectual and emotional development of children, educational games, first aid course, etc. There will be six participants involved in the project, among them there are 2 non profit institutions form Czech republic and Ireland who are involved in helping people of 50+ in their activation and wellbeing, 2 private training companies from Bulgaria and Italy, with wide experience in creating new training courses, counselling and job predisposition assessment and 2 local government bodies involved in improving the labour market situation in the region of Silesia in Poland and Bekes County in Hungary. To achieve best possible model of the course We will use heuristics methods, literature and psychological test review, discussions and analysis of documentations, meetings and consultation with the experts to create high quality concept model.By promoting the project and dissemination of project results we will encourage various institutions on the local, regional and national levels to implement the project and increase the offer of vocational courses for dedicated to 50+ women. This will allow filling the gaps in the labour market for a quality child care and activate older workers. It long term it should improve overall employment rates at local and regional level and help to fight with social exclusion and poverty.
In connection with the progressing process of the aging of the EU society, initiatives are taken to activate professionally as well as socially adults and seniors. In a special situation on the labor market there are women whose statistical life expectancy is longer than men*, but the length of professional life is lower**. Many women whose children are grown up and become independent would like to start a professional career that will give them a sense of meaning. Unfortunately, returning to the labor market for many of them is a challenge because they often feel that their skills have become obsolete and they have nothing to offer to a potential employer. According to Eurostat data (access from 27/06/2018) regarding the employment rate in EU28 in 2017 – there is 58,9% professionally active women aged 50-64, while men, in the same age group - 71.1%. Project entitled "Universal model of professional course for new age child carers dedicated for women aged 50-64 years" responded to the need for professional activation of unemployed women and inactive people over 50, so that they could transform unique skills and knowledge related to bringing children into a professional career. In addition, access to the services of professionally trained child carers would also allow young parents to return to the labor market more quickly. The aim of the project was to exchange best practices and ideas for developing a universal model of a professional vocational course for future child carers, with particular emphasis on the training needs of women aged 50-64. As part of the consortium, the recommendations on personality characteristics and skills necessary for a child carer were developed, a self-assessment test was prepared as the first element to check the predispositions for working with children, tools and methods for verifying candidates for the profession were presented and a training program consisting of nine modules was prepared concerning different areas of knowledge related to childcare. Six partners from the following countries were involved in the project implementation: Poland, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. In order to best take into account the needs of women aged 50+ and the requirements of parents looking for a suitable child carer, among the institutions creating the course were Non-profit organizations (M'am'amloca, ProActivate Ireland) involved in activating older people and caring for their well-being, regional institutions dealing problems of the labor market (Voivodship Labor Office in Katowice and Government Office In Bekes County) and institutions leading and creating trainings (COOS and Bimec). Project activities were related to the implementation of international partner meetings (5 meetings during the project) and the development of project results: - creation of a project website containing the most important information about the project, project meetings and partnership results and its ongoing update; - carrying out two surveys concerning the personality traits of a guardian for children and the most important issues of the course conducted among parents and women aged 50+; - design and publication of a leaflet informing about the project; - preparation of a self-assessment test to test predispositions in the profession of a child carer; - evaluation of the test by professionals dealing with child care; - preparation of a model (program of a vocational course) containing 9 thematic modules, comprehensively preparing for the role of a child carer; - evaluation of the course by institutions involved in the creation of courses, professional activation and conducting training to confirm the high quality of the program and its minor modifications based on the analysis of suggestions received by the partners; - preparation and publication of a handbook showing the results of the project. The results will bring long-term benefits, especially for people interested in taking up a job as a child carer. The self-assessment test is one of the tools to assess the predisposition to work with children, based on test results, unemployed people or those wishing to change their career path may decide to take action to achieve this goal. The professional course model prepared by the partner group is comprehensive and flexible. It allows training institutions to choose all or the most important, from the point of view of the target group, modules and subjects in order to prepare professionally trained child carers. *Based on data from the Eurostat database, access from 27/06/2018, the difference in life expectancy of women and men in Ireland is 4.1 years, while in Poland it is 7.5 years. ** Statistically, men in EU28 work 38.1 years and women 33.1 years.