Universal model of Professional course for new age child (PDF)

Universal model of Professional course for new age child carers for women aged 50-64 years - Handbook –  2 “Universal model of Professional course for New age child carers for women aged 50-64 years”. This project has been co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The Handbook as presented reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. The publication was created thanks to the establishment of a strategic partnership by the following organizations:  Voivodeship Labour Office in Katowice (Wojewódzki Urząd Pracy w Katowicach)  The Government Office for Békés County (Békés Megyei Kormányhivatal)  Bimec Ltd.  M´am´aloca o.p.s.  ProActivate Ireland Limited  Cooperativa Sociale COOSS Marche Onlus Società Cooperativa Per Azioni Free of charge publication  3 Table of content 1. Project overview............................................................................................ 4 2. Description of partnership organizations ...................................................... 5 3. Labour market situation of women over the age of 50 in the partners` countries ............................................................................................................... 8 4. An overview of legal frameworks regarding child career profession in the participating countries. ....................................................................................... 11 5. Survey results ............................................................................................. 12 6. Important personality attributes of the childcarer ....................................... 13 7. Tools and test for assessing career predispositions ................................. 13 8. Self assessment questionnaire................................................................... 15 9. Course framework....................................................................................... 20 I. Pedagogical approach ............................................................................ 21 II. Communication ....................................................................................... 23 III. Documentation..................................................................................... 25 IV. Cognitive and affective development .................................................. 27 V. Physical and psychomotor development ................................................ 29 VI. Management of education................................................................... 31 VII. Security................................................................................................ 33 VIII. Care, health and hygiene .................................................................... 35 IX. Internship ............................................................................................. 38 X. Sources and supporting literature........................................................... 41 10. Conclusions............................................................................................. 45 11. Project partner contact details ................................................................ 46  4 1. Project overview Owing to demographic change the workforce is shrinking, therefore it is extremely important to activate unemployed groups and convince people to pursue lifelong learning activities, which would enable them to acquire new skills and to be active in the labour market for longer. Women in the labor market are in a distinctive situation. Despite the fact that their life expectancy is greater than men, the duration of their working life is shorter. Furthermore many women between the ages of 50-64 remain inactive, which has an impact on their economic situation and level of pension, The Erasmus + partnership project “Universal model of professional course for new age childcarers dedicated for women aged 50-64 years” responded to the needs of women aged 50+. Organizations from 6 countries, including two non-profit organizations from the Czech Republic and Ireland who are involved in the activation and wellbeing of people aged 50+; two private training providers from Bulgaria and Italy with expertise in course creation, job coaching, and career counseling; and regional bodies involved in the labour market from Silesia in Poland and Békés County in Hungary, established a partnership in order to create the model of the course for women aged 50+ which would use the experience, knowledge and love of children as a basis for professional activation. During this project a model of the course was created, which will help in future to activate women aged 50+ who have experience as homemakers and caring for children but who do not have strong educational qualifications and work experience. The course would help them to use the skills they do have to return to work as professional childcarers. This publication is the result of two-years of cooperation. It presents the results of the partnership work accomplished during the partners‟ group meetings. In the handbook you will be provided with a description of the partnership organizations, the situation of women aged 50+ in the labour market, an overview of the legal framework of childcarers, results of the survey conducted among parents and women aged 50+, personality attributes of childcarers, tools and tests for assessing the carers‟ predispositions, a self-assessment test and the course framework. All of the results of this international cooperation including presentations, recommendations and the course model are available on the project‟s official website: http://50pluschildcarer.eu/  5 2. Description of partnership organizations Established in 2000, the Voivodeship Labour Office in Katowice is an organizational unit of the local authorities of the Silesian Voivodeship. Its responsibilities are concerned with developing labour market policy as well as initiating and supporting activities promoting and stimulating development of the labour market in the Silesian Voivodeship. The key mission of the Voivodeship Labour Office is to promote employment, reduce unemployment effects and stimulate job activation aiming to reach high rate of employment, human resources development, high quality of work as well as foster social inclusion. VLO tasks and objectives include, among others, the organization of employment placements abroad, provision of vocational guidance and vocational information, promotion of entrepreneurship, obtaining funds and pursuing EU programmes, development of a regional plan of action for employment, division of the Labour Fund recourses, implementation of European Social Fund whit the Silesian Voivodeshoip, as well as performing various analyses regarding the regional labour market. The Government Office of Békés County is made up of the organisational unit directly managed by the government commissioner, the core office, 9 district offices and 16 special public administration offices. The number of employees is 1461. The current project is to be realised by the Government Office of Békés County in cooperation with its Department of Social Security and Employment. The Department together with its divisions of employment play key roles in improving the labour-market situation in the county, enhancing employment, preventing and moderating unemployment, satisfying the demand of employers with a labour-force having the appropriate skills and qualifications. It offers services free of charge and operating employment programmes both for employers and job-seekers, provides career guidance and orientation counseling services for job-seekers and the young and adults before making a career choice or modification as well as organises career guidance fairs mainly for students. The Department has implemented a variety of projects in national and international cooperation.  6 Since 2007 the focus of Bimec has been on improving the competencies of adults. Our mission is by developing people to support the development of organizations and to contribute to a more sustainable and competitive European economy. Our trainers have experience in implementing up-to-date interactive training courses, while at the same time having substantial hands-on experience in the field of the training development. In the last 10 years we have trained 4000+ people in subjects related to business and soft skills development: Personal Development (Comminication skills; Presentation skills; Time and Stress Management; et al.); Custommer Service and Sales; Business Development; Management and Leadership. Since 2014 Bimec has started moderating innovative business development workshops for SMEs and entrepreneurship, like: Creating the Future Workshop; Value Proposition Design Workshop; Business Model Development Workshop. Since 2016 Bimec has been focusing more and more effort on special initiatives for empowering women. COOSS supports integration of disadvantaged people through the provision of social, assisting, care, educational and training services. COOSS proposes interventions to meet the different needs of the community in cooperation with PA throughout Marche Region, Italy. Founded in 1979, COOSS counts nowadays around 2900 members- employees and serves more than 8.800 users: minors, youngsters, elderly, disabled people, mentally impaired, drug addicted, migrants. COOSS R&T Department experiments with innovative solutions to emerging social needs participating to EU/national projects and organizing training courses for social professionals qualification. COOSS is a VET Agency and employment centre managing Youth Guarantee activities for training, education, employment and entrepreneurship. COOSS staff offer knowledge and expertise in different fields and is composed of psychologists, social workers, educators, careers, trainers, researchers, counsellors and vocational guidance operators, project managers and executives, administrative.  7 ProActivate Ireland is a non-profit NGO formed in order to promote community development by engaging in projects in the areas of unemployment activation, promotion of entrepreneurial education, active aging and intergenerational learning. ProActivate works closely with members of other non profits and charities in order to provide quality programmes, training and resources. Other activities include the operation of classes, teaching, the production of literature and audio-visual materials, and the organisation of conferences, workshops, training and other related activities. ProActivate has established links with a number of national agencies as well as NGOs throughout Ireland and Europe to promote projects and reach target groups. ProActivate has invested in the long term impact of projects and finding new ways to exploit products, networks and partnerships to facilitate greater community development. ProActivate‟s goal is to inspire change in the community; and on local, regional and national levels by adopting the expertise of European change leaders in Ireland. M´am´aloca o.p.s. is a non-profit organization with 14 years of experience in providing community development activities and education in sustainable development projects in the region of Central Bohemia. The aim of the organization is to provide quality services in the field of community style of living of individuals and society, to work with the environmental aspects of life and support development and active life of the region. During the past 8 years the professional approach of providing innovational and well known services for intergenerational cooperation with focus on e-literacy and e-inclusion has made the organization one of important key players in the field of active ageing in the region of Central Bohemia. Mamaloca runs two IT clubs for people aged 50+, two kindergartens, 1 cultural and environmental center including conference and event facilities for 30 participants. Mamaloca owns and runs a public oven for bread as a tool to support community living in Štolmíř. The organisation has 6 employees and cooperates with more than 100 specialists or part time experts and more than 20 other NGOs. As a major active ageing NGO in Central Bohemia Mamaloca participates as project leader or member in many consortiums (from 2 to 9 partners) on the regional or national level.  8 3. Labour market situation of women over the age of 50 in the partners` countries EU 28 BG CZ IR IT HU PL Population in 20171 In total 511 522 671 7 101 859 10 578 820 4 784 383 60 589 445 9 797 561 37 972 964 Female 50-64 52 795 022 747 929 1 029 099 410 582 6 546 304 1 028 336 4 029 586 Male 50-64 50 643 914 492 016 1 009 121 404 276 6 207 492 912 247 3 732 990 Estimated life expectancy – 20202 Female - 79,2 82,6 84,2 85,8 80,4 82,4 Male - 72,6 76,8 80,1 81,2 73,7 74,9 Duration of working life - 20163 Female 33,1 30,2 32,4 31,5 26,3 30,6 30,2 Male 38,1 33,1 38,7 39,2 35,9 35,9 35,6 Employment rate Female 25 - 49 73,8 75,3 77,5 72,4 59,0 76,5 75,5 1 According to Eurostat data http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=demo_pjan&lang=en (Accessed 27/06/2018) 2 According to Eurostat data http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=proj_15nalexp&lang=en (Accessed 27/06/2018) 3 According to Eurostat data http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=lfsi_dwl_a&lang=en (Accessed 27/06/2018)  9 of population (%) in 20174 Male 25 – 49 85,8 83,4 94,1 85,0 79,3 90,7 88,7 Female 50 – 64 58,9 61,7 65,2 56,7 48,6 53,9 49,3 Male 50 -64 71,1 68,1 78,7 72,1 70,3 70,3 64,6 Unemployment rate of population in 2017 (%)5 Female 25 - 49 7,9 5,8 3,6 5,7 13,4 4,1 4,4 Male 25 – 49 6,8 5,9 2,0 6,4 10,3 3,4 4,1 Female 50 – 64 5,7 5,4 2,9 4,9 6,3 4,1 3,5 Male 50 -64 5,9 6,2 2,2 5,6 6,7 3,3 4,0 Inactive population as a percentage of the total population in 2017 %6 Female 25-49 19,9 20,0 19,7 23,2 31,9 20,3 21,0 Female 50-64 37,6 34,8 32,9 40,3 48,1 43,8 48,9 Male 25-49 7,9 11,4 4,0 9,2 11,6 6,2 7,5 Male 50-64 24,4 27,4 19,5 23,6 24,6 27,3 32,8 Table. 1 Labour market situation of women age 50-64 in partners countries 4 According to Eurostat data http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=lfsa_ergan&lang=en (Accessed 27/06/2018) 5 According to Eurostat data http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=lfsa_urgan&lang=en (Accessed 27/06/2018) 6 According to Eurostat data http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=lfsa_ipga&lang=en (Accessed 27/06/2018)  10 The following table presents the most current available statistical data selected from the Eurostat database concerning the labour market situation of women 50 – 64 years old in participating countries. In summary in all countries women aged 50 – 64 represent around 10% of the total population. In Ireland that is 8.58% while in Italy 10.8%. Women live longer than men, according to the estimate for 2020, the average life expectancy of women in Italy will be 85.8 years, while in Bulgaria 79.2 The difference between women and men in life expectancy is the highest in Poland (7.5 years) and the smallest in Ireland (4.4 years). This information is especially important when we compare it with the duration of working life. Despite a longer life, women are remaining for shorter time active in the labour market. In the EU28 the difference in duration of working life between women and men is 5 years. In the partnership countries difference in duration of working life varies from 3.1 years in Bulgaria to 9.6 years in Italy. The average employment rate of women aged 50-64 in the EU28 stands at 58.9%. The Czech Republic has the highest percentage with 65.2%, and the lowest is Italy with 48,6%. Among the project partners‟ countries, the difference in the employment rate between women aged 25-49 and women aged 50-64 is higher in Poland (26.20%), and lowest in Italy (10.4%). Also comparing women aged 50-64 to men in the same age group it is shown that there are less women employed, the highest difference is in Italy 21.7%, and smallest in Bulgaria 6.4%. Unemployment rate of women aged 50-64 in EU28 stands for 5,7%, Czech Republic has the lowest rate 2.9% and Italy the highest 6.3%. Although the unemployment rate among women aged 50-64 is not high, the data related to the lack of activity are less optimistic. In the EU28 37.6% of inactive people are women aged 50-64 years, while men in the same age group stand at only 24.4%. These data clearly indicate the need for increasing the activity of women aged 50- 64 in the labour market. It is important not only to increase mental wellbeing but also to ensure better living conditions during the retirement. More information on the economic independence of women, gender pay, earrings and pension gaps can be found in the 2017 report on equality between women and men in EU (ISBN 978-92-79-65777-1) https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/2017_report_equality_women_men_in_the_ eu_en.pdf  11 4. An overview of legal frameworks regarding child career profession in the participating countries. In Ireland the definition of “Childminding service” means a pre-school service, which may include an overnight service, offered by a person who single-handedly takes care of pre-school children, including the childminder‟s own children, in the childminder‟s home for a total of more than 2 hours per day, except where the exemptions provided in Section 58 of the Child Care Act 1991 apply”. The legal basis for the childcare system is included in the Child Care Act of 1991. According to the Regulations of 2016 the core requirements and obligations concern four main areas:Suitability of the Person – being over 18 and good character, Wellbeing of the Child, Physical Environment – secure and happy premises and Health & Safety, which includes an obligation to register with the Child and Family Agency called Tusla. Further requirements require specialised insurance for childminding, a limit of 5 pre-school children including your own and no more than two children should be less than 15 months old. The future childminder is obliged to undertake First Aid training and have a minimum of FETAC Level 5 in Childcare. The course provides successful students with awareness of the history and current status of childcare provision in Ireland; the ability to recognise the importance of certain personal qualities and values for those working with children; and understanding of the entitlements and responsibilities of a childcare employee. It also helps to appreciate the need for continuing professional development in childcare, drawing on personal reflection and experience as well as the importance of working effectively with parents and as part of a childcare team. Lastly, it promotes equality of opportunity and respect for diversity in the childcare setting. In the other five partner countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and Poland) there are no regulations regarding the educational requirements for the private childcarer employed by parents. The law regulations applies only to employment in institutions such as kindergartens and nurseries.  12 5. Survey results During the project, the partnership group developed two questionnaires and undertook opinion polls among women aged 50+ and parents. The aim of the first survey was to identify the interest of women aged 50+ to take up employment as a childcarer as well as to assess their motivation to acquire new skills and qualifications. The second survey was dedicated to parents who might be interested in employing the childcarer for their children. The opinion polls were carried out between August and September 2017 in 6 countries. A total of 205 women and 161 parents participated in the survey. The analysis of the survey results showed that 93% of responders think that women aged 50+ could work as a professional childcarer. Moreover 74% of them answered that there are no difficulties that would hinder their work as a childcarer f. Concerns which were indicated by parents were health problems, generation gap and outdated qualifications. Nevertheless for parents most important is the personality of the childcarer. It is important that she or he have the right attitude, A childcarer should be calm, patient, able to manage in critical situations and also display qualities like honesty and trustworthiness which were considered essential. Most of the parents indicated that health and safety issues as well as the physical and emotional development of the child were most crucial in the training course for the profession of childcarer. Modules for those areas are included in the proposed course framework. The major survey findings from women aged 50+ were that most of them would be interested in taking a position as childcarer. 37,6% would like to work part time, while 27,8% as a full time job and 15,1% as an occasional job. 42% of women would be interested in attending a training course and 34,6% would consider it. As a reason for undertaking the training 39,5% women would like to gain new information and 37,1% would like to work with children. Also for the women health and safety issues, the physical and emotional development of child, hygiene and day care rules are important subjects. The results of the survey show that there is a need for a training which would enable women aged 50+ to systemize theirs skills and life experience as well as to gain new knowledge concerning professional care of children in order to provide professional services and have a fulfilling job.  13 6. Important personality attributes of the childcarer On the basis of the desk research implemented by the partners as well as on the basis of the survey results the partners agreed upon the following 6 groups of personal traits that are very important for a childcarer. 1. Integrity: be fair, honest, reliable, responsible, trustworthy, discrete; 2. Emotional stability: be calm, patient, able to manage critical situations; 3. Protective attitude: be caring, observant, attentive and careful; 4. Open-minded: be flexible, tolerant, respect and accept differences and different opinions; 5. Empathy: be kind, friendly, warm and affectionate; 6. Realistic self-assessment and willingness to learn. These are personal characteristics of the childcarer that have been summarized as a recommendation to potential employers and parents as a support in the process of choosing the right person for the job. The list can also be helpful to people (especially women 50+) in making a decision if the job of a childcarer would be right for them. The list can be use as a checklist for self-assessment. 7. Tools and test for assessing career predispositions As a part of the project, different tools and tests for assessing career predispositions used in partnership countries were described and discussed. The following table presents a summary of those methods for different target groups. In order to assess professional predispositions, it is worth getting the opinion of close relatives (360 degree feedback); and asking for the help of specialists such as vocational counselors or psychologists who are able to provide reliable analysis of professional potential.  14 Target group Tools and tests Potential candidates  Self – assessment test  360° feedback Career counselor  Interview  Predisposition tests  Competences tests  Vocational interests questionnaires  Multiperspective assessment of professional preferences Psychologist  Interview  Predisposition tests  Psychometric tests of personality:  The big five  Revised NEO  EIQ  ICAP  PESO  STRONG  MACH  CPI  Captain Online Test Coach/ teacher  Observation  Test of knowledge  Role plays  Kay studies Family  Interview  References  Observation Table 2. Tools and test available for assessing predisposition of a child carer.  15 8. Self assessment questionnaire One of the results of the partnership is the self-evaluation test. It is a questionnaire based on 20 statements regarding work with children, the carer's personality, the issue of discretion, obeying rules set by parents, empathy, etc. to which a person interested in working with children should respond. This questionnaire may be one of the first tools helpful in assessing the potential of people interested in working with children. In the test a 6-degree scale was used ranging from strictly agree to strongly disagree. This test has been completed in total by 55 people who take care of children professionally, such as teachers in kindergartens, employees in nurseries, and professional babysitters. The evaluation of the test was carried out in all partner countries during the period May - June 2018. The selection of an appropriate sample allowed us obtain a model of results which may indicate a predisposition to work in the profession of childcarer. The maximum number of points possible to obtain in the test is 100, while the average number of points from surveys received from people professionally involved in working with children was 84,80 points. After receiving positive feedback from the test, it is strongly recommended to engage in consultation with a vocational counselor and a psychologist who will conduct further research and will thus be able to determine an exact professional profile. The next step is to undertake formal education that enables appropriate professional qualifications to be acquired. It is important that during the course, participants receive feedback on their attitude and their actions aimed at consolidation of positive behaviors and further work on any indicated adjustments. The final stage is the assessment of ther work by the family employing the childcarer. It is important to specify the manner and frequency of the feedback depending on individual needs.