On 27 and 28 January, the Social Employers attended the DDSkills kick-off meeting in Athens. The meeting was hosted by the project coordinator To Ergastiri, a Greek non-profit organisation for the support, counselling and social integration of adults with learning disabilities.
The DDSKILLS project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union and consists of 12 partners from seven different countries. The project is a Sector Skills Alliance that aims to develop training courses for digital skills of professional caregivers so they can make better use of new and emerging technologies and support persons with disabilities in the usage of such technologies for their social integration.
The project will identify and evaluate existing courses for digital skill of professional caregivers and map current gaps and needs in training. This is followed by curriculum planning and courses development, in accordance with ECVET (The European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training) points and EQF level 5 (The European Qualifications Framework). Digital toolkits consisting of several digital devices are developed for the training courses.
For the validation of the curricula and training materials, national training pilots will be implemented in 6 countries (Greece, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Italy and Cyprus), targeting different care professionals. The curriculum will cover several different technological areas, such as assistive technologies and aids, robotic devices, smart homes and augmented and virtual reality.
Throughout the two-day meeting, partner organisations had the opportunity to introduce their respective organisations and discuss the project activities, tasks and responsibilities of each partner. Tasks in the project are allocated according to the expertise and objectives of each organisation involved.
The VET providers in the consortium (Ergastiri, MMC) and the partner Universities (FRA-UAS, NUIG) will design, organise and deliver the new training programmes for carers, with strong support of one hospital specialised in neuromotor rehabilitation, one social cooperative and organisations in the disability sector (Fondazione Santa Lucia, Tandem, Jaunuoliu dienos centras)
A certification company (CCC) will develop the certification scheme and two IT SMEs (SenseWorks and OmegaTechnology) will develop the toolkits and the e-learning tools. Two European-level organisations (EASPD, the Social Employers) will take on all tasks related to communication, dissemination and sustainability of the project, drawing from their Europe-wide networks and contacts to European stakeholders and policy makers.
For more details about the DDSkills project, click here.
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