Care4Carers has been formed as a strategic partnership to strengthen the position of family carers on the labour market developing individually tailored supporting offers for the target group to:
- re-enter into the labour market
- reconcile caregiving and work
- develop new career perspectives
- get knowledge on the job market and develop job application techniques
- improve social, personal and professional competences.
The project wants to respond to the challenging situation of family carers who are often facing enormous difficulties to combine care responsibilities and professional life and/ or have problems returning to work after the care period.
The core element of the project is the development of a low-threshold and flexible counselling and qualification offer for caring relatives. With the provision of an innovative support programme, Care4Carers will offer family carers a set of tools and strategies to develop new career perspectives and strengthen their position in the labour market.
At the level of counsellors, the project aims to improve competences and coaching techniques of adult educators who work with this specific target group by developing counselling guidelines for adult educators.
The project brings together 7 partners from 7 European countries, whereby care was taken to ensure that the partners provide expertise in all relevant fields, i.e. adult education, counselling and vocational training on the one hand, and in social and health care sector on the other hand.
Objectives
The objectives this project wants to achieve are the following:
- Support the re-entry of family carers into the labour market after a career interruption due to care needs
- Improve their employability and increase their occupational mobility
- Strengthen personal, social and organisational skills
- Provide further qualification to counsellors working with this specific target group
- Through this transnational cooperation we’ll allow for the European exchange of experiences and therefore raise awareness for the issues family carers are facing.
Project Results
PR1 Stocktaking report on educational and labour market needs of family carers
The stocktaking report comprises the findings of a comprehensive desk research in all participating countries. It explores the status quo of the family carers’ situation and needs and serves as internal working document providing the base for the development of the C4C offers. It involves the following three elements:
- Collection of good practices (existing support schemes for family carers)
- 5+ qualitative interviews with family carers in each country
- 3+ qualitative interviews with professionals from family care supporting agencies in each country
PR2 Counselling guidelines for adult education professionals
The counselling guidelines aim at sensitising adult educators for the specific life situation of family carers applying a flexible methodology based on individual and small group counselling sessions. Following the approach of constructivist coaching it will include at least the following:
- Methodology to support family carers
- Self-diagnosis and situation analysis
- Psychological relief and general provision of support
- Creation of a career perspective
- Assessment of competences and skills
- Information on labour market and job application strategies
PR3 Training modules
Five training modules will be provided to family carers as a blended learning offer including 15 hours of online learning and additional face-to-face workshops or webinars. The training modules will build on interactive material (auditive, visual, text-based) and will cover the following elements:
- Competence analysis
- Expansion of personal and social competences
- Expansion of digital competence
- Job orientation
- Job application
PR4 Family Carers Online Hub
The Family Carers Online Hub serves as an interactive e-learning platform where family carers and adult educators can access relevant information, learning and training material and networking tools. The Moodle-based and open-source- platform contains two separate sections for family carers and counsellors.
The section for family carers will contain the following parts:
- All training modules with learning materials
- A wide range of information on family care, legal aspects, labour market integration, funding and support
- A networking area to share experiences with other family carers
The section for adult educators will contain the following components:
- The Counselling Guidelines
- Competence assessment tools
- Methodological guidance
- A networking area to share experiences with other adult educators
PR5 Publication on Employment Support of family carers
The publication addresses professionals in adult education and social institutions who work with family carers, managers of these institutions and policy-makers. It aims at sensitizing for the challenges family carers face with respect to the compatibility of care, employment and personal life and the barriers for reentering the labour market.
The approximately 30-page document comprises the following components:
- Demonstration of the need of educational and counselling support of family carers
- Information on the project’s approach
- Description of the structure, elements and content of the C4C programme
- Guidance on how the C4C programme can be implemented