The European Directive 2010/63/EU, aiming at improving the welfare of animal kept for scientific purposes, establishes that Member States should ensure through authorisation or by other means that staff are adequately educated, trained and competent. Nonbinding guidelines at EU level on educational requirements would promote the free movement of personnel. The EU Platform for Education and Training in Laboratory Animal Science (ETPLAS), created ad hoc to support EU National Competent Authorities, states that for the welfare of animals and free movement of personnel, it is recommended that agreement at the European level on the minimal requirements of education and training (E&T) in Laboratory Animal Science (LAS) be sought. Since arrangements for LAS E&T is at MS discretion, there is the risk that different requirements for assuring the quality of E&T courses may arise. This could lead to different standards across EU. There is the need, therefore, to develop and agree common principles and information requirements for E&T on which MS can agree in order to achieve mutual recognition based upon confidence in the quality and assessment process, and relevant stakeholders can rely. The project Harmonisation & Recognition of LAS education and training in MEmber States (HERMES) contributes to the harmonisation and mutual recognition of LAS E&T across the EU, facilitating professional mobility of researchers and PhD students and increasing the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. It will test and validate a new model for LAS stakeholders in Europe, to develop and agree quality criteria for E&T (VET) initiatives, achieve consistency of contents and outcomes, and adopt a common certification based on innovative solutions for the recognition and validation of learning outcomes. HERMES is the first tentative cooperation among EU stakeholders to develop and test methods and tools to harmonise and mutually recognise E&T programmes in MS. The intellectual outputs will be entirely original and innovative in purpose, contents and dissemination. Innovation is referred to outputs, tools, target beneficiaries, end-users, and stakeholders never put together in a similar project and for a similar purpose. They will be delivered through a WEB platform at disposal of all the interested stakeholders, ETPLAS above all, for 3 years after the project closure. Complementary organisations and profiles were selected to contribute with high expertise in the field (accreditation body, research institutions, universities, education and training providers). They belong to 5 EU countries and their alliance represents a step forward to fulfil the requirements of Directive 2010/63/EU. A shared approach was agreed in adherence with the existing framework designed by the ETPLAS. Five Intellectual Outputs (IO) were designed. Balanced assignment of the project tasks is assured by the recognition of the partner specificities. IO 1 - LAS E&T quality standard - provides requirements, specifications, guidelines and characteristics to ensure that LAS education and training in Member States are fit for the Directive 2010/63/EU purpose. It will be led by ISS. IO2 - LAS E&T Assessment Manual - establishes benchmark qualitative and quantitative indicators for the comparison of the programmes, essential for the scope. It will be led by VETCEE. IO3 - Self-assessment tool for LAS E&T providers - offers the LAS E&T providers the possibility to assess internal resources, performances and services, and also to measure them towards ideal parameters, in order to guarantee consistency among this typology of business operators in Europe. It will be led by IZSAM. IO4 - Common pilot eLearning module on recognition of pain, suffering and distress in animals used for scientific purposes - designs, tests and evaluates an eLearning tool on one of the main critical aspects related to LAS. It will be led by SCAW/SLU. IO5 - Digital certificate generator - a common certification standard designed to complete the entire process. Its main aim is to provide a common method of assessing competences for the functions described by Art. 23 of the Directive 2010/63/EU. It will be led by IZSAM. A solid communication plan will pilot the communication, dissemination and exploitation strategy. Tested methodologies and innovative solutions will be combined to assure an original management, a balanced and collaborative contribution by all partners and goal achievement. Target audience will be analysed. Measurable indicators will facilitate its monitoring and risk management will help prevent or mitigate risk occurrence. A web site (with newsletters, fact sheets, event page), LinkedIn professional network, paper based products, multiplier events and webinars, and a final conference will be used as communication tools. The electronic Platform for adult learning in Europe (ePale) and the Erasmus+ Project results platform will maximise the communication efforts.
The Directive 2010/63/EU establishes that “Member States should ensure through authorisation or by other means that staff are adequately educated, trained and competent”. The minimum requirements regarding higher education or training for the acquisition, maintenance or improvement of vocational skills in LAS Education and Training (LAS E&T) are at discretion of the EU MS, generating different regulatory scenarios. This legislative fragmentation obstacles the mutual recognition of training competencies in LAS at EU level, and the risk that different requirements for assuring the quality of LAS E&T courses may arise is very concrete. Therefore, it is urgent to share common principles and quality requirements for LAS E&T in Europe, in order to fill the still persisting gaps. The HERMES Project sets a scheme for promoting quality in continuing education and training (C-VET) in LAS and contributing to the harmonisation of the approaches at EU level for the free circulation of movement of LAS professionals in the EU. HERMES is the first tentative cooperation between EU stakeholders to develop and test methods and tools to harmonise and mutually recognise E&T programmes in MS. HERMES adopts a multi-actor approach mirrored in the partnership composition. In fact, the consortium partners play different roles in LAS. They belong to five different EU countries and represent accreditation bodies, research institutions, universities, education and training providers. Such a unique alliance provided a robust architecture to fulfil the requirements of the Directive 2010/63/EU. HERMES tested and validated a new model to assess and increase quality in LAS E&T initiatives, achieve the consistency of learning contents and outcomes to the legislative framework, and adopt a common certification system based on innovative IT solutions for the mutual recognition of the learning achievements. Five intellectual outputs - original and innovative in scope, content and delivery method - have been designed, tested, validated (both internally and externally) and widely disseminated to the relevant target groups. IO1 - LAS E&T quality standard. It is a voluntary scheme, which may be used by LAS E&T providers to improve the quality of their education and training offer, increasing their effectiveness. IO1 intends to facilitate the functions and legal duties of the Animal Welfare Body and promotes modern teaching methods (e.g. eLearning) to encourage the development of deeper learning and critical thinking in scientific research. IO2 - LAS E&T Assessment Manual - This tool provides guidelines for evaluating on a common ground the different learning paths offered in MS for each function described in Art. 23 of the Directive 2010/63/EU. The guidelines are written as an advisory set of principles and procedures related to curriculum development, definition of the pedagogical approach, training methods and resources, or assessment. This tool represents the basis for mutual recognition of courses between EU Member States. IO3 - Self-assessment tool for LAS E&T providers – is a web-based platform that applies the principles of the Benchmarking Analysis and offers the LAS E&T providers the possibility to assess internal resources, performances and services, and to measure them towards ideal parameters, in order to enhance the quality of their services. IO4 is a pilot eLearning module on recognition of pain, suffering and distress in animals used for scientific purposes (focus on mice and rats). It offered the possibility to apply the HERMES approach to training while supporting capacity building in this field in EU and Non-EU countries. IO5 - Digital certificate generator – is the last cornerstone of the HERMES model, a multi-language web-based tool that certifies knowledge, skills and competencies provided by LAS E&T initiatives for the functions described by Art. 23 of the Directive 2010/63/EU. A solid communication plan has been implemented, since the very beginning, to inform relevant target groups and disseminate the project outcomes in each phase. HERMES facts and figures in a nutshell: - 15 Subject Matter Experts trained - 2 posters presented in national and international conferences - 1,496 beneficiaries of the pilot eLearning course - 7 multiplier events realised in 6 countries involving 371 participants representing all LAS relevant stakeholders. The impact of this project is very high. It stimulated the debate at all levels, involving policy and decision makers at the EU Commission and Member States and International Organisations, as well as LAS E&T providers and their associations (e.g. FELASA and ETPLAS). The five IOs – as whole – are at disposal of the LAS community of E&T providers in EU and Non-EU countries. Furthermore, the implemented tools are deeply scalable or reusable. In particular, IO4 can be further delivered to LAS professionals since its content is at very low risk of obsolescence and easily refreshable.