<< Background >>During implementation of one of our national projects addressed to seniors (Senior in Action), we had the opportunity to establish contact with a fairly large group of seniors. During the talks with them, it turned out that in Poland there is quite a big problem with professionalism among people who care for seniors, both privately and in nursing homes. By professionalism, we understand soft skills, not specific hard skills. Seniors often emphasized that caregivers lack the appropriate approach, commitment, empathy, and the ability to communicate with an older person.We have consulted this topic with partners with whom we implement other projects. It turned out that the situation is also similar in many other countries.Many EU countries are aging and the process is progressing fairly quickly. This process goes hand in hand with the weakening of family ties, which unfortunately results in the younger generations being reluctant to take care of seniors.The demand for paid care for the elderly will therefore increase in importance in the coming years. Along with this demand, the requirements for people working as carers of seniors will also increase. Today's generations of seniors pay more and more attention to the way they are cared for and to the soft skills possessed by caregivers.We want our project to meet these issues.On the one hand, we want to make all interested parties aware of the importance of having appropriate soft skills for people who care for seniors. In our publication, we want to emphasize the importance of having appropriate soft skills on the professionalism of caregivers. On the other hand, we want to enable the caregivers and the people who train them to develop these competences, which are undoubtedly the most important in the carer's work.One of our results will also be a knowledge base containing basic information on the formal requirements and working conditions of senior caregivers in different countries. The database will be a response to another noticed problem - the lack of sufficient information for people who would like to work as a carer for seniors abroad. Our database will make it easier for them to obtain the information they need to choose the country in which these people would like to work.We hope that our project will contribute to the improvement of the situation on the market of care services for seniors<< Objectives >>The main goal of the project is to increase the knowledge and skills necessary to perform the profession of caregiver for seniors, as well as to increase the interest of young people in this profession, by developing a number of training and information materials targeted at young people in various EU countries.Detailed objectives:•Providing young people who want to work as a caregiver for seniors or who work in this profession with tools enabling them to improve skills useful at work as a carer for seniors•increasing the efficiency and attractiveness of educating caregivers of seniors by indicating good practices in the field of non-standard methods of education and training of carers of seniors•increasing the awareness of young people about the education path and formal requirements regarding work for a caregiver of seniors in various EU countries<< Implementation >>All our activities will be focused on the preparation of planned results. Of course, at the same time, we will carry out all activities related to project management, ensuring the appropriate quality of project activities and the developed results, as well as disseminating information about our work and materials that we will develop.Activities that we plan as part of the preparation of individual results:O1 –Publication. At the beginning of activities aimed at developing this result, the partners will jointly decide on the exact division of responsibilities - i.e. which expert will be responsible for the preparation of specific content. Each of the partners will appoint an expert who will be responsible for the work on a selected part of the publication (as well as for conducting research aimed at preparing the content), evaluating the content prepared by other experts, and translating the finished publication into their native language. At a later date, each partner will also be responsible for disseminating the publication to their respective target groups in their country.O 2 – online courses. The first step will be for the partners to develop a list of questions that will be included in the tests measuring the level of skills before and after the completion of the prepared courses. The package leader will, of course, supervise the work of the experts, however, it is important that all experts actively participate in the preparation of the tests. The lead expert will prepare the final version of the questions and a description of the results and feedback for the people who will use the tests.In the next step, the package leader will present the other experts with the template for the webinar scenario and the sample text for the course. Of course, other experts will also be actively involved in this stage.The partners will also divide the materials to be prepared. Each of the experts will develop the selected part, and the lead expert will be responsible for ensuring that the final shape of the materials is uniform and consistent.In the last step, each of the partners will organize a short testing of selected elements of materials (those prepared by their experts) among a selected group of 10 people. Based on this testing, the final version of the materials will be developed, which each partner will translate into their own language.O3 – Database. At the beginning of the activities leading to the development of materials under O2, the partners share the responsibilities so that each of them will be responsible for analyzing the situation in several countries and preparing some of the materials. After the first version of the materials has been developed, each of the partners will organize a short testing - send a link to the test version of the materials to friendly institutions and experts for evaluation of the prepared content. It is important that people outside the project team can make an independent assessment of the suitability, reliability, attractiveness and understandability of the materials that will be widely available.<< Results >>As part of the project activities, it is planned to develop 3 main intellectual outputs:•O1 – publication/report containing 3 main chapters. 1st one containing information about what soft skills a caregiver of seniors should have and why they are so important. 2nd chapter containing a specific list of soft skills that are most desirable in senior caregivers. 3rd chapter containing a set of good practices in the use of non-standard tools for the development of soft skills among people participating in courses preparing for the profession of caregiver for seniors. •O2 A set of training materials supporting the development of soft skills of people who want to work or work as carers of the elderly. The materials will consist of a series of thematic webinars on individual competences, as well as tests to check the knowledge of people participating in webinars (in the form of pre-tests and post-tests, both to be done by individual people, and to be carried out by training institution)•O3 - materials containing information on the path of education of carers of elderly people in various EU countries, as well as a list of formal requirements in individual EU countries that should be met by people who want to work as carers of the elderly peopleApart from the quantifiable results, we hope that the project will also contribute to:•Change attitudes both training institutions offering training for seniors’ caregivers as well as seniors’ caregivers themselves about importance of having high level of soft skills while working with seniors•increasing professionalism in the performance of professional duties by caregivers of seniors thanks to the possibility of improving their soft skills•increasing the professional mobility of caregivers of seniors by gaining access to information on the formal requirements and working conditions of a caregiver of seniors in various EU countries•increasing the standards of care for seniors thanks to the greater soft skills of the caregivers•making the training offer for carers of seniors more attractive was preceded by adding elements shaping soft competences

EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO DYNAMIC EPORTFOLIO CREATIONContext and aim: In competence-based higher education, the critical points of quality learning are assessment and guidance practices, which should be aligned with desired competences. Empowering Eportfolio Process (EEP) has identified a need to develop competence assessment towards student-centered direction by ensuring empowerment of students in learning process and by developing digital competences of students, teachers and HE institutes. In addition, there is a need to develop and strengthen the use of digital tools in assessment, to enhance participation of world of work in learning processes, thus, creating new kind of collaboration between employers and HE institutes. Eportfolios work as learning spaces and showcases in students’ competence development in education and world of work. EEP aimed to develop student-centered education by enhancing transparency of assessment practices and developing empowering, dynamic approach to ePortfolio process. This increases students’ motivation, and fosters employability, including social participation and digital competence. The aim was to develop students’ continuous engagement in assessment and steer their career management using ePortfolio by focusing on student’s learning process and teacher’s guidance. EEP sought innovative ways on how students can use eportfolios during studies by making informal/nonformal and real-life learning experiences transparent. The aim was to strengthen HE institutes’ operations and culture in recognition of prior learning and competences acquired outside formal education. During the improved ePortfolio process the incongruity between competences of students and needs of employers were decreased. The partners were HE institutes (6) from five countries representing multidisciplinary bachelor/master level education, teacher education and continuing education.Target groups: Direct target groups were students, teachers/study counsellors in HE, and the representatives of the world of work. Indirect target groups were managers in HE, ministries of education, other policy makers, teachers/staff in other school levels e.g. TVET. In total, appr. 1300 target group members took part in the multiplier and training events and pilot activities. In addition, other dissemination (newsletters/online platforms/meetings/seminars/conferences) reached at least double the amount of persons.Activities: - thematic workshops addressing different perspectives on assessment process and utilization of ePortfolios- experimental pilots in each partner HE institute- dissemination activities- multimedia library to share open access materials on ePortfolios- project management and quality assuranceMethodology:EEP utilized co-creation and cross-fertilization, which were organized around five thematic workshops during the project. Qualitative information was collected systematically in every workshop. Joint knowledge-creation processes were used to steer the progress of EEP.Main results: - Baseline study/publication “Collection of best practices in ePortfolio process”- Pilots improved ePortfolio process and increased empowerment of students and teachers for using digital tools in partner HE institutes. The pilots demonstrated examples from different educational contexts that others can benefit from when establishing their own ePortfolio processes.- 40 open access articles from students’, employers’ and teachers’/HE institutes’ perspectives (available at https://unlimited.hamk.fi/articles-in-english/) providing tips, guidelines and experiences on the benefits, creation and utilization of ePortfolios- 15 recommendations for the successful use of ePortfolios in Higher Education- establishment of professional learning network for developing ePortfolio processes internationally (“Empowering ePortfolio process in education” Facebook group) Impact: The main impact is improved assessment process in higher education in which digital tools are utilized in an efficient and inspiring way. Students get enlarged possibilities to use digital tools to reflect skills/competences to be more engaged in their career possibilities from the perspective of lifelong learning. Teachers’ competence in guiding student-centered and collaborative assessment process improved which affected the future education supporting lifelong learning. Employers gained new understanding about education and ePortfolio as a tool to identify future employees by giving insight to students on how to achieve and demonstrate relevant competences. HE institutes developed assessment process and quality learning, and student-centered organizational culture was strengthened creating sustainable foundation for new kinds of assessment practices incl. procedures for recognition of prior learning and adaptive creation of individual learning paths. In addition, long-term impacts are strongly related to human capital development of HE institutes.

(Recalled from project proposal)Early school leaving is the result of a mix of individual, educational and socio-economic factors. Many triggering effects make ESL a complex multisector phenomenon: school failure (disengagement, low achievement, transition between schools and school levels), pull effects from labor market, social and family situation. If it differs from country to country and from region to region, there are some recurrent features: children from vulnerable groups are more likely than others to leave the school system early. Boys are more affected than girls.Thanks to the constant work on drop out preventive and intervention measures carried out by all 2young2fail partners, the partnership has pinpointed the need to focus on a specific age framework (10-15 years– including both Middle school, and moments of transition between school levels) in 5 countries (IT, NL, ES, PT, UK), to tackle the issue, and potentially intervene when the problem starts arising. 2young2fail leading idea was that, if the causes of school failure and dropout can have roots in the pre-teen years, middle school - a potentially powerful learning time – becomes a critical “make or break” period.2young2fail identified 3 core needs and objectives and designed associated actions.Need 1 - to- provide a cross-sectorial platform of exchange of experiences and practices between partners with excellence initiatives in this area and of different backgrounds and missions, thus fostering a mutual learning process. - grant access to a wide menu of consolidated comprehensive and cross sectorial prevention and intervention strategies tailored on the specified age group (best practice collection – innovative feature). - promote focused research on the broad issue of relationship/ social capital (peer-to-peer relationship, school leadership and family engagement) and on its potential impact on drop out measures (innovative feature). Need 2The school cannot and must not address independently the broad range of social, emotional and personal needs that affect the academic performance of children. A process was needed for the school and community to avoid isolation, develop a common vision, and build long lasting commitment and collaboration from policy makers, society, family and other stakeholders.A first important step in building such cohesive vision was to provide institutions' leaders with the essential content knowledge and materials necessary to develop successful school/community collaborations (reliable, flexible, adaptable and appealing awareness raising /advocacy tools)Need 3Need for a continuous professional development and empowerment of teachers and school management, need for school staff to gain a deep understanding of ESL, enhance awareness on their own role in preventing it and to develop the skills to work with other professions and partners, in a “whole school approach” (design, development, testing and sharing of specific training modules and support multimedia tools)The two level focused on management/strategy (advocacy tools for school leadership) and education/ pedagogical tools (teachers/educators) represents an innovative feature.Another innovative element of the project was the type of partnership. All 9 partners had a sound regional experience in tackling early drop out. 2 had furthermore participated in ESL related EU projects. 2young2fail brings together players with different backgrounds, missions (4 schools, 1 municipality, 2 non-profit foundations, 1 employers association, 1 higher education body), geographic and social focus (IT, NL, ES, PT, UK). Moreover most partners had the means to share project outcomes with a significant number of local school communities, and stakeholders (e.g. public administrations, foundations/donors, education practitioners, academia and other stakeholders), well beyond the project boundaries.All 4 schools (IT, UK, PT, NL) had experience in dealing with drop-out preventive and intervention schemes and were involved at the time in relevant projects with very different social, geographical and cultural contexts (ranging from excellence situations to highly critical environments). All school projects addressed the identified relevant age bracket. 2y2f aim was for the schools to play a strategic role in the definition of research/ advocacy needs and topics, training priorities and multimedia tools design. The 2 non- profit foundations (IT, PT) the municipality (NL) and Politecnico (PT) had an extensive, sound experience in supporting complex educational projects in specific geographical school/educational contexts, in line with their overall mission of fostering the implementation of sustainable and innovative educational models.They associated with the teachers employers association (ES) to ensure great impact even beyond the project time/geographic boundaries and also in no strictly school related contexts.

Institutions of professional higher education (PHE) play more and more an important role in enhancing European competitiveness and innovation capacity, especially on the regional level where PHE institutions act as connectors and crucial links between the regional SMEs, regional organisations and the society. In addition to this role of PHE, the applied research activities play an important role in developing students' skills including their innovative thinking and enterpreneurship and contribute thus to further economic growth and jobs within the regions.Despite the wide benefits of PHE institutions activities within society and their region and the fact that in many regions they act as the connecting link between the regional actors (authorities, employers, organisations), their full potential is still to to be revealed. The wide range of activities falling within applied research, innovation and regional engagement and their relatively small scale make it relatively difficult to address them as a whole when it comes to support, assessment and recognition. Due to its practice-oriented approach and specific characters, the applied RDI and regional activities do not fit the same metric as the reaearch and activities done at the more traditional universities.Therefore there is a need to support further development and enhancement of the PHE institutions staff capacity to engage into applied research activities, link these to teaching and develop relevant ways for engagement of students in these activities.The main objective of the project is to strengthen the profile of applied RDI in PHE in Europe - both within the institutions, as well as towards the regions they operate within.Specifically, the project intends to- gain an insight into the scope and nature of applied RDI activities within PHE institutions in Europe- clearly distinguish the different competences required of applied researchers- assist researchers in RDI to enhance their capacities (also on involving students into applied RDI activities and cooperating with small businesses)- provide a clear future vision for applied RDI in Europe, together with a strategy on how to achieve it.From the research perspective, the project will produce an overview or RDI activitiesFrom a practice perspective, it will design a competence framework for researchers.The teaching component of the project will design a modular online course on applied research skills.The policy component of the project will concisely explain the distinct profile of RDI research, and use scenario-building methodologies to forecast possible futures for the areas, so as to make recommendations as how to strengthen the profile mof RDI within PHE institutions, through funding, training and regulations.The impact of RECAPHE will be most felt at local and regional levels via enhanced capacity of staff of concrete PHE institutions within the project or benefiting from the project outputs. EURASHE participation will give to the project European dimension (also through EURASHE RDI Work Group).

Background of the project:A clinical practice environment needs to meet the criteria of a powerful learning environment in order to maximize nursing students' learning outcomes. The traditional clinical education model were academic nursing faculty are typically seen as guests on health care units - possessing the clinical skills and knowledge of the curricula, while nursing clinicians are seen as immersed in the day-to-day care of patients and assisting students by demonstrating skills, is no longer sufficient in competencies based education. The literature and the perceptions of nurses and teachers notice that nursing graduates are not prepared to adequately assume their role in real practice. To improve practice education, for the benefit of students, staff and patient, new health care and academic collaboration models are needed. The proposed project commenced from the innovative Dedication Education Unit (DEU) model as introduced by the Flinders University of South Australia (Edgecombe et al., 1999) and further enrolled by the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA, 2004) and the American Associate of College of Nursing (AACN, 2012). A DEU is a clinical site in the hospital, home or long-term care that is developed into an optimal teaching and learning environment through the collaborative efforts of staff nurses, students and the higher education institute (HEI). In a DEU model, staff nurses provide education, coaching and mentoring of students and the HEI supports the staff nurses in that specific role. Moreover, the staff nurses are responsible for the clinical teaching of students and the HEI is responsible for guiding the staff nurses in the education practice. The many positive outcomes that have been published have primarily involved DEU implementation outside Europe. Despite the increasingly focus on these types of innovative educational opportunities in European care settings no projects exist specifically describing the modifications of this model to the European higher education framework, the cross-border cooperation between DEU and the specific training that is needed for nurses and teachers.Aim of the project:The DEU project will test and adapt a new model for practice-based learning. It will do so throughout various European contexts. Of primary interest are:1. quality improvement of the educational methods;2. entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education;3. innovative educational methods en training courses;4. strengthen quality through international cooperation and relations.Methods:In the first phase of the project a European DEU model and corresponding guideline, a mentorship train-the-trainer programme for nurses and teachers and related e-learning programme, and an evaluation system for DEU was developed. Secondly, the European DEU model was implemented and evaluated in five different EU countries within the consortium. A considerable amount of senior nursing students were placed at a DEU in their country. Finally, the experiences and recommendations of the implementation led to an improved state-of-the-art European DEU model with teaching modules that was disseminate to a broader network of national and international care and higher education institutions.Results:To meet the objectives of the project, we first established five partnerships between the HEI and the clinical training units of the hospitals: UC Leuven vzw with University Hospitals of Leuven, Belgium; UC Limburg vzw with Hospital Oost-Limburg, Belgium; University of Barcelona with University Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain; Polytechnic Institute of Setubal with Centro Hospitalar de Setubal, Portugal; Medical University of Warsaw with Warsaw's Holy Family Hospital, Poland and Ege University with Ege University Medical Faculty Hospital, Turkey. The key elements to success of a DEU were: providing high quality of care; no blame culture with open communication; more than eight weeks internship to meet students' learning objectives; one-on-one teaching (mentor and student) and weekly presence of a link teacher (academic staff). A DEU-team is characterised by four (new) roles: head nurse/midwife; clinical mentor; link teacher; and coordinator. During the implementation phase we were able to set up and run nine dedicated education units in the European consortium. As evaluation of the DEU implementation 13 focus group interviews were performed with 6 coordinators, 38 mentors, 10 head nurses/midwifes, 40 students and 10 link teachers at the end of the practice placement. The focus group interviews resulted in students and professionals DEU design and implementation experiences and opinions. In conclusion, we were able to improve the quality of the education method of the HEI for the nursing and midwifery programs in collaboration with the clinical practice places. The new concept of learning environment energizes every actor at the practice place and HEI to entrepreneurial learning and teaching.