Health tourism (leisure and well-being) is becoming an upward trend in our globalized world. Health tourism can be simply defined as travelling of the individuals to seek medical care. The ‘Medical (thermal) Spa’ - a health, relaxation and rehabilitation centre which can help conditions from rheumatism, disc prolapsed, to circulatory and nervous system problems, has existed in Europe for well over a hundred years. European spas were developed to help visitors improve their health so historically the focus was on addressing a specific medical condition (such as allergies or pulmonary complaints) and a spa physician would recommend a regimen of tailor made treatments. The growing needs of prophylaxis, treatment and rehabilitation of the socially significant diseases of citizens as well as the mass diseases and the aging of the population in the European Union (the number of the pensioners in the EU is 17% of the total population and grows up with 40 million persons annually) orientates the debate towards the priority development of the Health and Medical Spa (domestic and international) tourism, to conduction of new long term and coordinated state policy. The process associated with the growing popularity of the environmentally friendly and healthy lifestyle for millions of domestic and foreign tourists. Traditional activities hydrotherapy initially therapeutic facing in recent years a decline in favor of activities related to well being. Large chains of thermals, spa centres and baths now communicate much more about their range "welfare" that initially on curative care at the origin of the creation of these institutions. This shift implies a change of the activities of professional behavior and inherent skills, they must respond to new needs and new expectations of users. The objective of "Occupational Competence Profile for Thermal Care Agents (OCP Therm)" project will address this problem by bringing a solution in vocational training to enable them to create and implement a Thermal Care Agent certification including an offer blended modular methodology to meet the needs identified by the professionals of hydrotherapy (thermal) sector and to study the possibility of including this new qualification in the repository of national certifications connected with EQF level 3. The project consortium consists of 7 organizations from 5 countries (Turkey, Bulgaria, Belgium, Slovenia and Portugal) with wide experience in EU projects and previous cooperation, local governmental body, blending VET institutions, university, vocational college, NGO of academicians, VET consultants and thermal & spa centres.Intellectual outputs of OCP Therm are connected to EQF level 3 and its National equivalents: IO1: Case study regarding the current requirements and trends of the competencies of Thermal Care AgentsIO2: Occupational competence profile of Thermal Care Agents for ECVET qualificationIO3: ECVET unique curriculum for Thermal Care Agents including offering of services for people with special needs (people with disabilities, pregnant woman and older people)IO4: Integrated e-training environmentIO5: Sign language video guidebook for thermal, spa, bath and healthcare branches on provision of services to clients with hearing impairmentsIO6: EQAVET control tool for assessment of the obtained knowledge, skills and competenciesIt should be emphasised that OCP Therm project is totally in line with the Lisbon objectives (in line with ECVET and EQAVET concepts) that clearly state education systems must be modernised to make Europe a world leader in the quality of its education & training systems. Business oriented ICT solutions which enabled the modernisation of the VET training into the digital era requires various skills whereby users are able to function & think in terms of business oriented outcomes & apply it effectively in different situations while servicing clients including those with special needs (people with disabilities, pregnant woman and older people).
Tourism is a key sector of the European economy. It comprises a wide variety of products and destinations and involves many different stakeholders, both public and private, with areas of competence very decentralised, often at regional and local levels. Tourism is certainly one of the sectors that can provide a valuable contribution to the achievement of the Europe 2020 objectives. It directly offers jobs to almost 9.7 million citizens, with a significant proportion of young people, and it provides a direct contribution of 5% to the EU GDP. When related sectors are taken into account, the estimated contribution of tourism to GDP creation is much higher: tourism indirectly generates more than 10% of the European Union’s GDP and provides about 12% of the labour force. Furthermore,it clearly registered a rate of employment growth sensitively more pronounced than in other economic sectors and it strongly contributed to economic recovery by good performance in terms of international tourist arrivals. Local and regional authorities can play a very important role towards strengthening Europe’s sustainable development and growth in the future. The project reached the following goals: - Improvement of the VET curricula for Thermal spa therapists in 5 countries (Turkey, Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal, Slovenia) - Development of a competence profile for the Thermal spa therapists based on ECVET learning outcomes - Validation of non-formal and informal learning through a specific EQAVET control tool for case based assessment of the obtained knowledge, skills and competencies. - Seeking accreditation of the new enhanced job profile in Turkey - Support establishment and accreditation of new occupational profile in Turkey - Improvement of the qualification level of the leisure and spa workforce in 5 countries (Turkey, Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal, Slovenia) - Improvement of the quality of the services in spa therapy objects towards all clients including those with special needs (people with disabilities, pregnant woman and older people). - Increase labour market relevance of learning provision and qualifications and reinforcing links between VET training with the world of work. - Increase of the employability of long term unemployed people who are seeking for a job in leisure and spa activities. - Foster transnational mobility of VET learners from tourism sector. - Strengthen dissemination and exploitation networks of key stakeholders on policy & practice and maximise exploitation of the project products. - Foster social cohesion and social inclusion to develop solidarity by learning activities which increased thermal spa therapists' tolerance towards disadvantaged groups in society and helped to reduce prejudice. - Improve the capacities of partners organisations active in the fields of VET training provision, notably in the areas of strategic development, organisational management, leadership, quality of learning provision, internationalisation, equity and inclusion, qualitative and targeted activities for specific groups (disabled people). All intellectual outputs of the project were successfully completed. OCP Therm project is ready for multiplication, exploitation and mainstreaming in the following areas: - All project intellectual outputs are customised according to local cultural characteristics in the beneficiaries countries (Turkey, Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal, Slovenia). - These results and tools created can be used as core material for VET centres and educational institutions who would like to introduce their own professional training courses for thermal spa therapists. - The added value of this project was creating a modular course architecture addressing thermal spa therapists and thus equipping training professionals and enrich the course of existing trainings in partner countries. This also included a transversal possibility that some of the modules (i.e. servicing clients with special needs) can be transferred to other job domains (e.g. tourism overall) where such competence is needed. The project facilitated the validation of non-formal and informal learning and its permeability with formal education pathways which is a priority of the annual Work Programme adopted by EC. Realised intellectual outputs of the project are: 1. A study of required competencies for thermal spa therapist in project partner countries 2. Occupational competence profile of Thermal Care Agents for ECVET qualification (all languages) 3. ECVET unique curriculum for Thermal Care Agents including offering of services for people with special needs (people with disabilities, pregnant woman and older people) (all languages) 4. Integrated e-training environment (all languages) 5. Sign language video guidebook for thermal, spa, bath and healthcare branches on provision of services to clients with hearing impairments (all languages) 6. EQAVET control tool for assessment of the obtained knowledge, skills and competencies (all languages)