To provide more comprehensive and coherent support for vulnerable youth, so-called one stop shops have been developed across Europe whereby multi-professional teams deliver integrated services to youth. By combining different professions and branches of the welfare system, "integrating all relevant services for young people, including social, health, family and housing services, makes support more accessible, more user-friendly, and more customer-focussed." (DG Employment 2018, Activation measures for young people in vulnerable situations). Yet despite large-scale efforts, multi-professional services across Europe continue to encounter considerable challenges relating to forming, managing and coordinating their teams and providing truly integrated services, due to a lack of the competencies among staff to navigate and coordinate these complex structures. This was has been underlined by the ESF Youth Employment Thematic Network Sharing Paper No. 1 March 2017, wherein the need for targeted measures to form and coordinate staff from different professional backgrounds was seen a key learning. The project addresses the need for a new Coordinator function able to fill the competence gaps, by identifying the competencies required to work in a multi-professional environment with integrated services for youth. These are key competencies that go beyond what professional staff have learnt in their previous training - specific to working in, coordinating, and offering services to clients through multi-professional co-localized teams. This need as defined by the project partners and other organizations exists across Europe but is most pressing in those member states that have achieved a high intensity of cross-sector collaboration and integration of services. Taken together this allows the project to develop a professional profile and concomitant curriculum responding to concrete needs and transferable across national contexts yet sensitive to local and national variations in institutional set-up and culture. The partner consortium consists of a number of key actors in the member states, and the macro-region ensuring an output of cross-border relevance, with high educational quality, addressing concrete local and national needs The lead partner, Norden association has an extensive network in the field of youth, education and labour market integration due to its dual role of platform manager for the Knowledge Platform Integrate NEETs, and as Policy Area Coordinator for the Policy Area Education in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region The partner consortium further consists of two VET providers, JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Finland and VIA University College in Aarhus, with extensive experience of professional education in the youth guidance field, and involvement in Erasmus+ projects relating to the development and professionalisation of integrated service delivery. Additionally, the partnership includes three guidance centres Alytus Karjeras (through UZT as its principal) Östersund Navigator, and Ohjaamo Jyväskylä, as well as Local Government Denmark which acts as national coordinator of youth guidance in Denmark. Participants in activities will be local and national stakeholders in the field of youth guidance. The training program test will involve guidance staff from social work, youth guidance, health care and employment office. The project is divided into four phases, each with the following result: Phase 1 - Inventory, Analysis and Profile description - Defining the profession of Coordinator in Multi-professional Youth Guidance Centres, and its key competencies Phase 2 - Curriculum - Developing a Coordinator Training programme curriculum, with ECVET validation, consisting of modules based on key competencies identified in phase 1 Phase 3 - Training program test run - Testing the curriculum through a one year training program (ECVET validated) Phase 4 - Evaluation, revision and dissemination - Presenting an evaluated and revised Coordinator competence profile and curiculum, and sharing it to relevant stakeholders The results of the project are - Defined and strengthened profession of Coordinator in multi-professional Youth Guidance Centres - Identified key competencies required for the Coordinator function - Developed a Coordinator Training program curriculum consisting of modules based on key competencies, with ECVET validation. - Have 20 trained Coordinators across the partner countries - Spread awareness of the curriculum to stakeholders in youth guidance in member state The project will contribute to enhance capacity to manage multi-institutional/multi-professional teams and to deliver quality services to youth in vulnerable situations, fostering transnational learning between the “Youth Guidance Centres”. Long term benefits include increased trust in public institutions among vulnerable youth, improved labour market transition in accordance with the Europe 2020 goals.
This project filled a specific need in the implementation of the EUSBSR Action Plan, the need to define the coordinator function in Youth Guidance Centres by identifying the competencies required to set up and manage multi-professional teams providing integrated services for youth. These are key competencies that go beyond what professional staff have learnt in their previous training - specific to working in, coordinating, and offering services to clients through multi-professional co-localized teams. Based on the competence profile develop a curriculum and test it in a training programme to enhance the competences needed. A programme that can be used both nationally and transnationally. The Youth Guidance Centres has proved to be an effective model to support vulnerable groups. In the Baltic Sea Region these Guidance Centres exists in Finland and Germany and to some extent similar structures exists also in Denmark, and Sweden. This project wanted to deliver a model for Youth Guidance Centres. The coordinator of those centres has a key role and therefor this project wanted to develop a competence profile, with a curriculum and a tailor-made training to enhance the capacity to establish, manage and further refine the centres.
This project is part of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). One of the 43 Actions in the Action Plan adopted by the EU Commission and the 8 member states in the region is addressing vulnerable youth, not in education, employment, or training (NEET). To provide more comprehensive and coherent support for this target group, so-called Youth Guidance Centres have been developed across Europe whereby multi-professional teams deliver integrated services. These Guidance Centres are not yet established in all countries in the Baltic Sea Region. EUSBSR is spreading best practice and co-create solutions in relation to Youth Guidance Centres. This project is contributing to this process. The reason behind this project was the identified need to strengthen the coordinator function for Youth Guidance Centres, to fill the competence gaps, by identifying the competencies required to manage a multi-professional environment with integrated services for youth. The project has developed a competence profile with a curriculum responding to the concrete needs. Furthermore, tested the curriculum in a one-year programme. The results are transferable across national contexts yet sensitive to local and national variations.