Our aim
The COMWORK project is funded through the Erasmus + Key Action 2 Strategic Partnership program. The two year project will run from on 1st September 2014 unti 31st August 2016. The project will end with a conference in ROME where THE RESULTS of the project will be presented. The project arises from a network of actors (University, Regional Authorities, social enterprise and VET providers), with the purpose of exchanging practices and implement the methodologies for the acknowledgement and validation of the formal and informal skills.
The main objective of the project is to define training and guidance solutions that serve to strengthen the skills of operators working with young people in NEET situation.
Our methodology
COM_WORK. is based on research actions, at national and European level, and on collective activities with operators and beneficiaries as exchanging practices, peer reviews and open audits. It is a participatory methodology with several actions ranging from documentary research to the direct involvement of social educators and NEET young people in the process of reflection and debate.
Outcomes
– a Comparative EU Report on Strategic informal and non formal competences for social and educational professionals
– a Guidance and Training COM_WORK Model
– a Learning Unit for competences of social and educational professionals
– Guidelines for Trainers on COM_WORK competences
. a COM_WORK Learning Unit for recognize and validate competences of social and educationals professionals
Description
COM_WORK. Exchanging practices for recognize and validate competences of social and educational professionals, arises from a network of actors (University, Regional Authorities, social enterprise and VET providers), with the purpose of exchanging practices and implement the methodologies for the acknowledgement and validation of the formal and informal skills.
The social and educational professions play a central role in the European society. As a consequence of this, they are strongly committed to represent a link between organizations and inclusion, although not always in a structured manner.
At the same time, the public social welfare services are subjected to deep changes and the private, the social organization and the cooperation, are becoming areas where young people with different educational backgrounds, sometimes still students, may be employed. The ability of this sector to attract youth employment is a further strong point of interest. The professions able to meet the needs of the different social actors are structuring itself as an interconnection of areas, communities and knowledge. COM-WORK starts from the exchange of experiences and methodological approach and aims to highlight this interconnections in order to bring out the key competences; these skill may be then transferred to the formal educational system with the scope of truly connecting jobs and training.
COM_WORK according to the competencies methodology and the International Standard Classification of Occupations – ISCO 2008, intends to improve the cross-sector cooperation to build bridges and share knowledge between different formal and informal E&T with the following aims:
– Improve the quality of education and of a segment of youth (and not only) employment;
– promote the recognition and the enhancement of the non-formal and informal competencies used by operator for their work in the formal training programs;
– improve the transparency of training programs and the transfer of competencies and learning;
– improve the promotion of the different European tools (e.g. Europass, ECVET)
– reinforce the process of inclusion (in particular for youth) by highlighting and enhancing the skills of operators, thus developing a process of empowerment for social professions workers.
To achieve this targets, COM_WORK will implement different activities and outputs, including:
– highlighting, within the active work of operators, the non-formal and informal competences which are really able to activate the planning skills of the final recipients, using Guidance and Trainers Model approach;
– transferring and making them available through the definition of a Learning Unit within the professional and formal training.
The “2013 Employment and Social Developments in Europe Review” report, focus on the skill composition and on the ability of governments to promote on one hand the investment on human resources and innovation to preserve competitiveness, and on the other hand to push the development of “social infrastructure”. The report highlights also the importance of encouraging the growth of social enterprise within a wider strategy for employment and social cohesion.
From this perspective, enhancing the skills of professionals means improving the efficacy of their work; with a particular attention to the NEET generation and to the strategies and services put in place to face the topic, COM_WORK is able to coordinate bottom up e bottom down policies, thanks to the partnership composition. To really facilitate the inclusion in its activities of all reference targets (professionals, policy makers, NEET people, trainers and counselors, stakeholders) COM_WORK will use the ICT functions, with informative web sessions and will ask to operators web communities from different countries to participate during the central phases.
Partner organizations in this way may give significant input to the validation process of non-formal and informal learning.
Considering the different situations, the exchange of ideas and experiences may analyse the current status and propose recommendations for validation in their countries.
The presence of Regione Lazio, involved during these months in the issue of the National Report of Professional Profiles in Italy, demonstrates the will of cooperation and reinforces the impact of COM_WORK on national policies towards of greater integration with the European guidelines.
The virtuous circle that may be started by the social enterprise in Europe (improvement of inclusion and employment) is mainly based on the capacity of its operators to activate efficient skills, that is the ability to activate each other skills, within the relationships; the COM_WORK proposal is, therefore, based on the ability to gather around it a network capable of doing research, innovation and implement its results in a long-term period.