Firefighters ranked as the most trustworthy profession across all global regions (source: Trust in professions. GFK Verein. Autumn 2015). Being aware of this, we, as the Fire and Rescue Services participating in this project started, a few years ago, to use our trustworthy position to promote social inclusion in several innovative ways with very successful results (please watch this video with an example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoTPcFWehiA). This proves that something is changing in the Fire and Rescue Services across the EU. We are more aware of our potential to do something more for our communities than firefighting. However, due to the lack of training opportunities available in this field, we feel that a lot more could be done if firefighters could access high quality training on how to promote social inclusion. In this context, in order to respond to the identified training needs of firefighters across the EU, the objective of the project is to develop the first open and multilingual online training course for firefighters on how to use their position as role models to promote social inclusion. The online training course will include content for 120 hours of learning and it will be divided in 4 units as follows: UNIT 1: Introduction to social inclusion and the power of role models in promoting social inclusion UNIT 2: Identifying and assessing the needs of individuals and groups suffering or at risk of social exclusion UNIT 3: Developing and implementing actions to promote social inclusion UNIT 4: Assessing the impact of the implemented actions, follow-up and dissemination of the results The four units will be hosted in an e-learning platform, accessible from computers, tablets and smartphones. The platform will be divided in 6 sections, each section in a different language (English, Danish, Spanish, Polish, Dutch and Romanian). In order to evaluate how effective is the online training course in delivering the target learning outcomes, a validation will be carried out in 5 pilots (Denmark, UK, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands). 5 firefighters will participate in each pilot so 25 firefighters in total. The firefighters will first complete the online training course and afterwards, will put in practice what they have learnt by developing and implementing at least 2 actions to promote social inclusion in each pilot. Using the results from the testing, the partners will define the necessary improvements to assure that the online training course delivers the target learning outcomes. Beyond the partners, the online training course have the potential to be exploited by a wide range of organisations and individuals across the EU. Thanks to its deployment as an OER under the Creative Commons licence “Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)", anyone will be allowed to, not only, use it, but also, to modify it. Therefore, the online training course will serve as the impulsion for future innovations and developments in the VET field across the EU.
Firefighters are ranked as one of the most trustworthy professions across all global regions (source: Trust in professions, GFK Verein, 2015). Therefore, firefighters have the potential to do something more for their communities than firefighting. Being aware of this, some firefighters have already used their trustworthy position to promote social inclusion with very successful results. As an example you can watch "The story of Zouhair" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoTPcFWehiA This proves that something is changing in the Fire and Rescue Services. Firefighters are more aware of their potential to do something more for their communities. However, a lot more could be done if firefighters could access high quality training on how to use their position as role models to promote social inclusion. In this context, the Firefighters Plus project aims at helping firefighters use their position as role models to promote social inclusion. To do so, five Fire and Rescue Services and two NGOs with wide experience in the field of social inclusion have developed the first online platform for firefighters on how to use their position as role models to promote social inclusion. The online platform is accessible from computers, tablets and smartphones in six languages (English, Danish, Spanish, Polish, Dutch and Romanian) at www.firefightersplus.eu and it has the following sections: GET INSPIRED with videos from actions to promote social inclusion implemented by firefighters from several EU countries during the project. ONLINE TRAINING on how firefighters can make the most of their position as role models to promote social inclusion. TOOLS to plan, implement, evaluate and disseminate the results of actions to promote social inclusion. GOOD PRACTICES where firefighters can submit their good practices to be shared with and inspire other firefighters. Once the first development of the online platform was completed, it was tested by firefighters from 5 countries. The firefighters first completed the online training course and afterwards, they put in practice what they had learnt by planning and implementing actions to promote social inclusion in each country. Based on the testers’ feedback, the project partners implemented additional improvements before the final publication of the Firefighters Plus online platform in September 2019. Beyond the partners, the Firefighters Plus online platform has the potential to be exploited by a wide range of organisations and individuals across the EU. Thanks to its publication as an OER (Open Educational Resource) under the Creative Commons license “Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)", anyone is allowed to use all the content for free as well as to build upon. Therefore, the Firefighters Plus online platform will serve as the impetus for future innovations and developments in the education and training sector across the EU. Within the next two months after the publication of the Firefighters Plus online platform, the impact is already well over initial expectations: - The Firefighters Plus online platform won the European Fire Safety Award 2019. - The Firefighters Plus online platform was presented as a good practice in the European Forum on Integration of Migrants and Refugees in Hamburg (Germany). - The Firefighters Plus online platform was presented as a good practice in the International Safety Education Seminar in Antwerp (Belgium). - In Poland, the National Chief Fire Officer has recommended all firefighters across the country use the Firefighters Plus online platform. - In the Netherlands, Firefighters Plus online platform was presented at the Dutch Fire Congress. The Firefighters Plus project is an initiative of Frederiksborg Fire & Rescue Service (Denmark) in collaboration with Northumberland Fire & Rescue Service (UK), Provincial Headquarters of State Fire Service in Poznan (Poland), The Institute for Safety (The Netherlands), Alcala de Guadaira Fire & Rescue Service (Spain), Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center (Romania) and WIOSNA Association (Poland). The Firefighters Plus project has been co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.