The availability and the quality of early education and care (ECEC) in the European Union is a growing concern due to an increased understanding about the role played by early years in children’s development, and to the need to support parents work-life balance. However, childminding offer in Europe is still highly fragmented, and especially domiciliary childminding, which is often not or not enough regulated, neither in terms of labour conditions nor professionalisation despite its high demand. Indeed, there is a wide range of professional profiles covered by childminding, as the ESCO profile 5311 « Childcare worker » confirms it: babysitter, crèche and kindergarten professionals, family day care worker, nanny, out of school hours care worker, etc.). In addition, the training offer for those profiles is highly heterogeneous, especially as regards children with special needs, not addressed in separate and specifically developed modules, but integrated in general modules of care. This is the case for autism. Within this context, ChildIN aims to improve the well-being of autistic children and their families, as well as the professionalisation of childminders. This main goal required a complementary consortium, composed by 6 partners from 4 member states:• IPERIA, the French platform for the professionalisation of home employment, lead partner,• The Conseil départemental de la Nièvre, a regional public authority, France,• Cooperativa COMENIUS (VET provider), Portugal,• APPDA (Association for Developmental Disorders and Autism), Portugal,• TECHPAL (VET provider), Poland,• Autism Europe (international non-profit organisation representing autistic people), Belgium.In order to reach this double goal, 2 main objectives were defined:1. The development of a specific training programme in “blended format” (including both face-to-face and distance learning) for childminders taking care of children with autism,2. The elaboration of a policy brief to promote the professionalisation of childminding for autistic children. To do so, a competence framework and a learning architecture (intellectual output 1) for childminders taking care of children with autism was developed, with a 3 EQF level and a total length of 35 hours. The research carried out for this purpose made it possible to create a data base on autism (intellectual output 2), gathering more than 200 resources in 4 languages (English, French, Portuguese and Polish).On this double basis, a training programme and specific training materials were developed also in 4 languages (intellectual output 3): a training kit with learning contents for trainers and learning materials for trainees, including practical exercises, case studies, quiz and satisfaction questionnaires. Given the Covid-19 crisis, the training was practically delivered 100% on distance learning, as well as almost of the events planned for the launching and closure of the training. Despite these difficulties, a total of 53 childminders completed the training programme, from which 16 in France, 21 in Portugal and 16 in Poland (65% of the enrolled participants), with high satisfaction rate of 76%. In order to facilitate the replication and to ensure the sustainability of the training, practical guidelines (intellectual output 4) were developed, including concrete recommendations and suggestions.Lastly, a policy brief (intellectual output 5) for policy and decision makers was elaborated and presented during the final conference of the project, initially planned in Brussels, but organised online in April 2021 due to the pandemics. More than 150 participants attended it, among which different stakeholders, experts on autism and childminding, as well as representatives of the European Commission and members of the European Parliament.

"The principle of this project is to propose an innovative approach to learning, in particular towards the most fragile pupils, associating an experienced method in the framework of a Comenius Regio project, carried out from 2013 to 2015, and the use of New technologies (including the concept of Serious Game). This approach builds on culture and cultural support in general, thus revealing the cultural, social, ethnic, linguistic, etc. of the students. It allows to build a common heritage for the class, where each point of view is understood by the other and respected.From September 2013 to July 2015, various schools in France and Luxembourg have carried out concrete experiments, in close collaboration with cultural actors and/or specialized educators. These different experiments have come to check the relevance of such a method to students considered ""resistant to learning"", but not only. They also demonstrated the benefits to students in general.In the course of this year 2016/2017, a project team consisted of several partners: the Ministry of National Education, children and youth, the Northern High school and that of Bel-Val, as well as the Kulturfabrik Cultural Centre for the Luxembourg territory; The Colleges Albert Camus and Claude le Lorrain, the Departemental Council of Meurthe-et-Moselle through its specialized prevention team for the French territory. It met throughout the school year to share all the pedagogical developments made from the method of Serge Boimare in the various classes involved in the experiment. It brought together very different actors: cultural actors, teachers, educators.The partners were chosen according to their commitment and experience in relation to the method of Serge Boimare. Indeed, if these partners are obviously in the adventure since 2015, they have remained very committed to the process and continue today the practice of cultural feeding within their institutions. In order to be able to engage in the construction of the briefcase, one must still have a good knowledge of the method of Serge Boimare and have already practiced several times in the classroom. It also requires regular consultation with the educational team and/or external partners. So it is a dynamic that is part of the duration and requires a strong commitment.As early as June 2016, the team gathered around Serge Boimare to define the list of texts from which all the participating classes were going to work. Then we determined the expected productions for each establishment, based on pre-determined periods. A project manager has been appointed within each school and is responsible for collecting and/or producing all the necessary contributions for the construction of the teaching kit.The reader will be able to find in the Annex A summary table of all the activities implemented in the framework of the project (business planning).The continuation of the partnership through the Comenius Regio programme and then the Erasmus programme ""Culture for Success"" has allowed the project to be enlisted in the institutions. Today we can say that the actors are convinced of the process and integrate it into their daily practice.Students who participate in these actions (about 80) find a real interest in this practice and teachers have noticed a real progression from the point of view of school learning, but also more broadly. The most fragile students are mobilizing. This participation and interest, again for most of them, comes to alleviate behavioral problems and offer new openings to work the so-called transversal competencies. Gradually, there is a group cohesion that settles in the classroom. The associated knowledge, because they are connected with the cultural heritage brought by the nourishing, take strength and meaning.The establishment of the cultural feeding in the classroom facilitates the links between the professors, promotes the bridges between the disciplines, mobilizes the creativity of the teachers and thus leads another relationship with the class and with the other adults of the Educational Community (teachers and external actors). Finally, there is a general improvement in the pupils ' academic achievements: This year again, teachers report on the individual progresses of each."

"- Based on the experience that young people with impairments and chronic health conditions hesitate to apply for international learning mobilities, or their parents and care persons prevent them from doing so, because their special needs may not be met adequately and risk management plans do not exist, and - based on the experience that youth organizations hesitate to invite young people with impairments and chronic health conditions into their international learning mobilities, especially into mixed ability projects, because they consider this being an extra risk and feel that they are not prepared to meet such risks and deal with them adequately,we will develop guidelines and tools/methods for risk assessment, risk management and crisis intervention, especially in such youth mobility projects that include people with impairments and chronic illnesses. The result and long-term impact of this project will be a significant reduction of access barriers to international learning mobilities, especially under Erasmus+ and ESC, by supporting youth organizations to set up risk assessment and risk management plans and communicate them to the target group as means of improved safety in their projects. Thus we want to encourage both, young people and youth organizations to include more young people with impairments and chronic health conditions into international learning mobilities and contribute the the overall aim of an ""International Mobility for All"".This strategic partnership is formed by 8 organizations from 7 countries (Irelang, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Polen, Romania and Turkey), which cover a wide variety of working fields such as sports, non-formal education, arts and therapy, volunteering and more. It is based on the principle ""nothing about us without us"" and will include people with impairments and chronic health conditions into many of its activities (transnational projects meetings, training course), cooperate with self-organizations of people with impairments and chronic illnesses as well as with care centers for this target group. Results will be presented and kept in the SALTO toolbox as well as on our organizations websites for download through interested individuals or organizations.There will be no copyrights being implemented and no limitations for further use given. We express our wish that the material will be used by other organization for the benefit of equal access of young people with impairments and chronic illnesses to all forms of international learning mobilities."

"BACKGROUNDThis project picked up where the successful VETree project (2012-1-SE1-LEO0511641) left off. The VETree project was a European-wide project which ran from 2012 to 2014. It involved partners from the UK, Sweden, Belgium, Spain and Romania, and focused on the development of freely available training material in veteran tree management. Two short courses in veteran tree management were produced as well as a number of videos focusing on specific elements of veteran tree management. This led to an increased awareness of the value of veteran trees, but identified that there were no means for individuals to stand out from the crowd of tree work professionals. Thus, procurers of veteran tree services have struggled to identify suitable professional providers. The VETcert project sought to address this problem by developing a new pan-European certification scheme for veteran tree management. PARTNERS VETcert comprised ten partners from seven European countries representing all of the main target groups. These are from Sweden (Pro Natura - training organisation; SAF - practising and consulting arborists, STF - purchasers of services), UK (ATF - training organisation, AA - certification organisation and representing practising and consulting arborists), Belgium (Natuurinvest - training organisation), Spain (AEA- arboricultural association representing arborists), France (CD22 - a municipality representing purchasers of services and wider contact with tree training organisations) , Czech Republic (Safe Trees - consulting arborists and developers of standards in CZ) and the European Arboricultural Coucil (based in Germany) which are the European certifying organisation for European Tree Worker and Technician certifications. OBJECTIVESThe project objectives were:•Recognise skills and knowledge in veteran tree management;•Define minimum skills and knowledge at two operational levels: practising and consulting tree work professionals;•Increase the opportunities for tree work professionals across Europe;•Raise standards in veteran tree management across Europe.PROJECT DESCRIPTION, RESULTS AND IMPACTWorking with such a wide range of partners brings benefits such as a diversity of backgrounds, knowledge and experience, but it also brings challenges. The first item of work was to research existing certification schemes and establish what could be learnt from them. This fed into the next stage of the project which involved developing a veteran tree standard against which candidates will be assessed at two levels. This went through a thorough process of consultation within the partnership and beyond as well as being quality controlled by an external expert. The standards at two levels - practising and consulting - are available for download on the website www.vetcert.eu, in English, French, German, Spanish, Czech and Swedish. They cover topics ranging from ecology, cultural history, and pruning to safety issues, decay, and planning. Once the standards were set, new training materials were developed to supplement those produced as part of the VETree project to fill the gaps. These materials will ensure that candidates who put themselves forward for certification can meet the necessary standard. One example of the materials is a series of eight films covering the relationships between trees and fungi. The films were created with the help of Professor Lynne Boddy and cover topics such as the hollowing process and mycorrhizae. Three other films were also produced on unconventional pruning techniques, urban veteran trees and pole thinning. These are all freely available to download. A two day advanced course was also developed along with a range of fact sheets and case studies to help self-learning. At the same time, the examination and certification process, a key part of the project, was developed and thoroughly tested both on project partners and willing external ""guinea pigs"" that gave valuable feedback on the process. All of the examination and certification materials have been translated into SE, CZ, BE, ES, FR. Finally the long term sustainability of the system had to be established. This has been done via an agreement with the EAC, which will be the European managing body for VETcert from its launch on 1st September. Over 670 people have expressed an interest in taking the VETcert Certification within the next three years from a total of 12 countries, over and above the 7 partner countries, including the USA and New Zealand! This indicates the broad dissemination work and impact of the project both within and beyond the project partner countries. Already several organisations have written the VETcert certification as a requirement in their framework agreements i.e. that it needs to be achieved within 12 months. This also indicates that the project has reached both the contracting organisations as well as the end-users."