It is paramount to further strengthen key competences in VET in relation to health care. Especially since European healthcare systems show significant gaps in the provision of healthcare to children (Council of Europe, 2016) and there is a great need to ensure all children born with cleft lip and/or palate and other craniofacial conditions in Europe have access to equal provision of care. Hence it becomes important to design VET activities that act to comply with relevant international and European standards, including the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the European Social Charter (ETS no. 163) and the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (ETS no. 164). The need of continuing education and training (CVET) of health care professionals is highlighted in the Directive 2013/55/EU “Member States shall ensure, by encouraging continuous professional development, that health professionals are able to update their knowledge.. to maintain safe and effective practice”. The 2015 report of the European Committee for Standardisation - TR 16824 – Early Care Services for Babies Born with Cleft Lip and/or Palate clearly indicated that there is a skill shortage in provision of care for cleft. The fact that resources and support for children born with clefts is less than optimal in many instances across Europe was also acknowledged at the European Parliament meeting “The challenges of health inequalities in the treatment and prevention of birth defects in Europe” in Brussels (9/10/12) and again at the European Committee for Standardisation in Brussels ‘Impact of new guidelines on the early care of babies born with cleft lip and or palate’ (21/03/2016), which raised awareness about the inequalities in healthcare across Europe. The aim is to develop a training programme for health professionals working with families with clefts and other craniofacial conditions that will equip the participants with the necessary specialist skills to assess the infant, to determine whether there are any other associated anomalies needing specialised support and intervention, and formulate a treatment plan, that allows the infant to thrive normally. It will highlight the support needs of the child & family and provide the healthcare professional with the tools to address these needs through patient centred information and guidance. The availability of learning material online will be a great asset to communities that need to provide services for the increasing migrant population. By having a consortium of expert NGOs working in the specific arena of clefts, a training organisation comprising pedagogical experts in vocational training in accordance to the EQF, ECVET and EQAVET frameworks, together with hospitals will ensure that a functional training program can be delivered. The preparatory work by the consortium validates that this is a project that meets the focus of the European commission (European Commission Communication ‘European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe’, November 2010; European Commission Communication ‘Early Childhood Education and Care: Providing all our children with the best start for the world of tomorrow’, February 2011; European Commission Communication ‘The European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion’, December 2010) and that each partners is highly motivated to allocate resources since there is an established need and consequently implementation and sustainability of the project is assured. The training course will be in modular form and will be piloted on 80 – 120 health professionals in the following partners countries (BG, GR, LV, LT, RO) in order to ensure the effectiveness and cultural adaptation. The final product will be available free via the projects website. The impact will be the following: - Development of a functional, targetted and practical training program for health care professionals working with children with clefts and other craniofacial conditions - The material will incorporate recommendations from EQF, ECVET and EQAVET vocational educational frameworks - Health care organisations will have access to continuing education and training (CVET) that will update their health professionals’ knowledge in this area in order to maintain safe and effective practice. - Evidence based, effective care for children born with clefts from the point of diagnosis will mean that there will be less likelihood of abandonment and institutionalisation in those countries where lack of knowledge coupled with cultural prejudices leads to marginalisation and social exclusion - All the developed material is an open resource - Since the training course will be short, it will be economically viable to implement it on a broad scale across Europe.
VET context In this project it has been CVET (Continuing Vocational Education and Training) that has been in focus. The definition of CVET is (according to eqavet.eu) "Education or training after initial education and training – or after entry into working life aimed at helping individuals to: - improve or update their knowledge and/or skills; - acquire new skills for a career move or retraining; - continue their personal or professional development." This project directly corresponds to the aims of CVET This project has fostered excellence in the sense that healthcare professionals who have pursued high quality in their job with children born with clefts have had access to high quality work based learning giving them new tasks and competences, so as to allow them to do an even better job with those children born with cleft. EQAVET in the Netherlands have been approached by the project coordinator with a view to ensuring the training reaches, and is adopted by,relevant vocational training platforms in the Netherlands. However, because of the very specific medical nature of the project, the platforms are more likely to be in hospital environments than in training schools. Need for training programme There are around a million people in Europe born with a cleft. Many of these will not enjoy the same educational and employment opportunities as their peers as a result of being marginalised for looking or sounding different. If correct care is not offered in the first year of life, babies with clefts will fail to thrive and in some countries are abandoned in institutions. The 2015 report of the European Committee for Standardisation - TR 16824 – Early Care Services for Babies Born with Clefts indicated that there is a skill shortage in provision of care for cleft. This was also aknowleged at the European Parliament meeting “The challenges of health inequalities in the treatment and prevention of birth defects in Europe” in Brussels (9/10/12) and again at the European Committee for Standardisation in Brussels ‘Impact of new guidelines on the early care of babies born with cleft lip and or palate’ (21/03/2016)., Aims and objectives The aim of this project has been to develop a training programme for health professionals working with families with children with clefts that will equip the participants with the necessary skills to assess the infant, to determine whether there are any other associated anomalies needing specialised support and intervention, and formulate a treatment plan that allows the infant to thrive normally. It has highlighted the support needs of the child and family and provided the healthcare professionals with the tools to address these needs through patient-centred information and guidance. The developed course has 4 key modules – Understanding of cleft lip and palate; Early care focusing on diagnosis and feeding; Support and for families: Practical exercises and case histories. The course handbook spells out exactly how the course is delivered. Partners and participants By having a consortium including an expert NGO working in the specific arena of clefts, a training organisation comprising pedagogical experts in vocational training in accordance to the EQF, ECVET and EQAVET frameworks, and five hospitals routinely involved with the care of babies born with clefts (see partner organsiations, below) we have developed a functional training program.. The fact that these partners have come from diverse cultural areas has strengthened the project and made it adaptable for use in a variety of settings and contexts. The training course is in modular form and was piloted on, and promoted to, 300 health professionals and related professionals in the partners countries in order to ensure the effectiveness and cultural adaptation. In the original application we set a target of 180 to be reached by pilots and multiplier events but we well exceeded this. The modular course, handbook, national reports and promotional material are available as an open resource via the project website www.celftectp.com in 6 partner languages (BU,NL,EN, GR, LV LT and RO). Impact The course teaches effective care for children born with clefts from the point of diagnosis. We have been informed that the course material will now form the basis for cleft nursing education in the UK. . All partners in the project are drawing on key aspects of the programme to enrich training in their countries. Bulgaria has developed a cleft nurse network, training nurses with the material from this project. Slovenia has just let us know that they intend to use this material. We are keen to continue to promote the project and the resources we have developed. ECO Executive Director presented on the project at the US Cleft Lip and Craniofacial Congress in Arizona in April 2019 and again at the European Cleft and Craniofacial Congress in June 2019. Total audience reached by the project has been around 7500 individuals.