The theme of recognition and validation of competences from informal or non-formal settings is commonly understood as one of the most important challenges for educational and training sector nowadays. One of the most powerful informal learning contexts is represented by the volunteering sector, where young people of all education, cultural and social backgrounds, have the opportunity to experience different challenging situations, putting into practice their own skills and getting wide experience and new competences. Most of this new knowledge can represent an asset for volunteers in other areas of their life, as, for example, in professional career. Volunteering is an opportunity, not only to be socially active and to feel part of civil society, but it is also a way to gain skills and competences. Volunteering can be considered as a natural learning environment, especially for those that fall out of the formal educational sector or who find it difficult to re-enter the labour market. It is important to increase motivation for vulnerable target groups, such as NEETs (Young people not in employment, education or training) to approach the volunteering sector also as a way to re-engage in social life. Therefore, in order to improve their options, should they decide to re-enter the labour market, it is absolutely fundamental to properly validate those competences. Therefore, the overall objective of our strategic partnership is to provide an overview about projects, initiatives and methods for the validation of non-formal and informal learning, through volunteering, and to identify instruments, models, and schemes which validate and clearly identify the key competences that have been gained by volunteers. Providing this recognition could motivate volunteers to become either involved in additional learning activities or may also facilitate or improve their employability. In order to reach this overall objective, the specific objectives will be: 1) To implement an e-platform with an interactive database that gives access to initiatives and learning information materials that have been identified and collected in the course of the project, especially concerning successful models and best practice concepts for the validation of key competences acquired during volunteering and systems of recognition of competences acquired through non-formal and informal learning 2) To elaborate a “Catalogue for Recognition of Competences Acquired Through Volunteering” which will give an overview about the current situation of the specific project environment in the partners’ countries, and present the initiatives, projects and materials, in English and with explanations in all languages of the partnership; 3) To organise an online interactive Forum for exchange of experience and good practice that will promote networking and exchange activities not only among the partnership and youth organisations in their countries, but on a European level. We will highlight and link to the new translation services such as Skype’s real-time translation in ten spoken and 50 written languages. In this way, it will become possible to break down language barriers between users from different countries, and to support ideas, foster exchange and assist initiatives that contribute to the European society as a whole. The partnership comprises a multidisciplinary, proven and successful team of four partners from Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia who have already collaborated in labour market related themes in various LLP and Erasmus+ projects. The project fits into the common underlying strategy of the partners insofar that the identification and selection of initiatives, materials and approaches for intercultural communication is in line with their operational strategies; and it will provide solutions to the needs of the associated public sector partners. During the implementation of the project, we will regularly upload news about the project’s progress in EPALE. We will also present the outcomes of the project, especially the interactive database of best practices, initiatives and projects dealing with volunteering and validation of competences, at the European Youth Portal which covers 35 countries and is available in 28 languages.
The overall objective of our strategic partnership was to update the existing database from the 2016 Erasmus+ partnership Valcovol (www.valcovol.eu) and to provide an overview of recent projects, initiatives, and methods for the validation of non-formal and informal learning through volunteering, as well as to identify instruments, models, and schemes that validate and clearly identify the key competences gained by volunteers. This recognition could encourage volunteers to engage in further learning activities and may help facilitate or enhance their employability. Another important objective was to provide access to all information not only in English, or in the major languages German and Spanish, but also in Slovak and Slovene.
Recognition and validation of skills acquired in informal or non-formal contexts is often regarded as one of the greatest difficulties facing the education and training sector. Volunteering provides an effective learning environment, especially in times of a crisis, e.g. the recent Covid-19 pandemic. It is an opportunity to proactively combat limited employment and loss of income, to be socially active and to feel being part of civil society. Equally important, it is also a way to gain new soft skills like team spirit, critical abilities, communication skills, intercultural competence, stress management, discipline, and self-confidence. But how can a volunteer recognise these new skills? How can employers be made aware of these skills as an added value for teamwork, stress situations or intercultural tasks? We considered it important to give an overview about the most recent developments, both at national and at European level, in order to facilitate the access to the multitude of recognition and assessment tools.