In September 2013 the European Commission published a Communique on “Opening up Education: Innovative teaching and learning for all through new Technologies and Open Educational Resources”. This paper states, that “70% of teachers in the EU recognize the importance of training in digital-supported ways of teaching and learning” but “only 20-25% of students are taught by digitally confident and supportive teachers”. Furthermore, “70% of teachers in the EU would like to have professional development on ICT skills”. The Communique proposes actions to overcome the lack of ICT in education and SOLA is designed according to these: “helping learning institutions, teachers and learners to acquire digital skills and learning methods”. All 8 partners in this project are educational institutions (either VET providers, distance learning universities or e-learning providers) from 8 different European countries. We know for fact that most of our trainers hardly if at all have the technological, pedagogical or methodological skills to work with ICT and e-learning within their classes as ICT is not yet basic part of teachers´ training. To meet nowadays requirements of the job market and the learners as well as to make education within the EU globally competitive we have decided to start “SOLA – simple open learning advancement”. One of our partners is a German authoring tool provider and distance learning content producer. This partner introduced the other institutions and its trainers to its self-developed software to enable them to produce open content while collaborating online from their workplace. Additionally to the technological the partners AHE and UDIMA gave inputs to the trainers regarding didactical, methodological, pedagogical approaches in ICT-based learning. Other goals of this extensive training are the reduction of drop-outs in online courses as well as the establishment of a long-term European-wide cooperation of VET institutions regarding the production of open content. If all educational organisations would produce resources and share those openly the e-learning workload of content development per institution could be reduced while the quality and number of topics covered can be increased. That is why all outcomes of this project (including produced contents, handbooks and manuals for trainers) are published on the project´s platform but also on http://e-bfi-ooe.at (for opening SCORM packages; User: anonym; Password: anonym123! – Demokurse: SOLA Sustainable tourism), on http://www.sola-project.eu and on http://european-research-network.eu/index.php/Initiatives/Projects an open European research network. To support development and to enable a better availability of open educational resources trainers were instructed on how to create open content. As a result training courses regarding Sustainable Tourism Basics, Rural Sustainable Tourism and Customer Relationship Management in Sustainable Tourism were produced and made available for all interested stakeholders (e.g. institutions, trainers, learners). “Connecting classrooms and developing digital devices and content” – of course the produced digital contents were tested in the classroom training settings. The attending learners were connected to the institutional “Moodle” platforms and a common use of the learning management system was established between Austria and Poland. The other partners used other LMS than “Moodle”. In long-term the outcomes shall be used within the partner institutions, in other EU-VET institutions (those were invited via several networks to participate in online presentations at the end of the project), by learners (they can run through the online materials and are able to gain common certificates so their learning-efforts are recognized or instead they can attend blended learning courses and will gain ECVET credits depending on the VET institution). “Mobilizing all stakeholders (teachers, learners, families, economic and social partners) to change the role of digital technologies at education institutions” – through SOLA teachers and learners get used to using ICT not only for training and learning but also in everyday life and for the workplace. Long-term this will result in a cycle: employers need ICT-skilled employees -> VET providers are required to offer ICT-based training -> employers get ICT-skilled and educated employees.Through the project 95 Trainers (act as Multiplier) were trained on ICT in education and 50 learners (Multiplier) were got a chance to test and improve the pedagogical approaches and the open content. A long-term goal of “Simple Open Learning Advancement” is to enable trainers to produce and work with high quality open content adapted to regional needs (e.g. language and local differences) and to contribute to European OER initiatives in producing and sharing open resources. This should result in a wider and more flexible range of distance learning options for learners.

FEEL GOOD project originates from the emerging need of the social and healthcare sector to have professionals equipped with a baggage of relational competences capable of enhancing the “care” of patients through positive relationships. Nowadays, having good scientific knowledge and technical skills is not enough. Healthcare professionals should put the beneficiaries at the centre of their action, considering the uniqueness and dignity of each individual and be allowed to become emotionally involved. From this perspective, a paradigm shift is needed in the healthcare sector towards the approach of Medical Humanities (MH). This approach responds to a stronger and stronger trend in medicine to separate technical protocols from human events. The use of MH aims at training ad hoc attitudes and behaviors to realize the so‐called “humanistic medicine”, which deals with developing communicative and relational skills, empathic attitudes, interpretative skills and self‐care.The objective of the project is to improve the relationship competences of healthcare professionals when working with users of healthcare/patients. In particular, the project aims at: i) increasing healthcare professionals’ awareness about issues such as multiculturalism, empathy and active listening; ii) enhancing healthcare professionals’ knowledge regarding Medical Humanities and application of its principles in their daily practice, iii) assisting self-evaluation and self-reflection processes regarding soft skills of healthcare professionals and beneficiaries; iv) highlight the importance of hidden curriculum regarding health care professionals’ education. FEEL GOOD was implemented over a period of 30 months by a consortium of five partners led by Comunità Capodarco di Roma. The partnership brought together different views and areas of expertise. BFI OO is one of the biggest adult education centers in Austria and its longstanding experience in vocational training, its strong focus on the care of elderly, and its extensive network and participation to European projects was extremely helpful and enriching for the quality of the project results. IASIS, FDO and Comunità Capodarco also boast solid experience in social services in the broad sense and vocational training with vulnerable groups, especially people with disabilities, psychiatric diseases, and migrants. and minors neglected. People Aps. contributed substantially with its skills in the field of research, counselling, competence mapping and coaching paths for empowerment.The project involved a range of participants: from social and healthcare professionals to students of healthcare professions, from stakeholders in the sector (VET organizations, public health hospitals, private service providers, policy makers) to beneficiaries of healthcare services and their family members. This was facilitated by the connections and the daily work of partners with these groups. The project “physically” involved in FeelGood planned activities approximately 1000 people, and many more were reached through dissemination activities of the project’s objectives and outputs. FEEL GOOD implementation unfolded through four stages: the development of three intellectual outputs and one transversal phase dedicated to communication and dissemination throughout project lifetime. The first Intellectual Output (IO1) “Empowerment of European healthcare operators” is the product of the comparison of four national research undertaken with the aim of mapping the needs and areas of strategic competencies that can enhance the relationship between health and social care providers and users, as emerged from surveys with professionals and key actors of the sector. From another perspective, the aim of second Intellectual Output (IO2) “Social vision of healthcare professionals” was to collect information on the correct understanding of the needs of final beneficiaries, how to prevent inappropriate and harmful behavior of healthcare professionals and how to improve the organization of services in terms of cost-effectiveness. Building on IO1 and IO2 results, the partnership through a participatory approach of co-evaluation, piloting and peer-review, defined and finalized the structure and content of the third and last Intellectual Output (IO3) “Training Model relationship competences for healthcare professionals” composed by three Learning Units and seven Modules of 6 hours each. This training product addresses different targets and is transferable to many contexts as it can be used in a variety of educational situations: vocational training, higher education, lifelong education. It was officially presented at the Final Conference held in Rome at the regional-level authority Regione Lazio, and raised the interest of several stakeholders, including VET providers and healthcare facilities, who showed the desire to adopt the Training Model for their services or personnel.

VITALity for the Future aims to change the way vocational education in the health care sector regards personal well-being and positive health at a personal level, a professional level, from a teacher’s perspective and at a systemic level. In most European countries the population is ageing rapidly. There is unprecedented pressure on health services and community provision and on the supply of a well-qualified workforce. A paradigm shift from curative to preventative care is essential and this can only be achieved if healthcare staff have the knowledge to employ prevention skills, technology as part of care delivery, multidisciplinary working, and the skills to encourage and enable people to increasingly take control of their own care.The project will develop flexible learning materials to prepare new and present staff in the vitality sector for a new approach to healthy ageing, to be catalysts of change and to make working in this sector more attractive to young people. Through research in the 5 partner countries, learning materials will be developed based on the knowledge and competences this approach requires for young people in VET and staff in continuous training. The research and the learning materials will highlight best practice in positive health initiatives that are relevant to VET organisations.Four organisations in the VITALity partnership are VET providers in the vitality sector and deliver both initial and continuous VET courses. ROC Midden Nederland is a large provider of VET with 20000 students and 1700 employees offering over 300 different qualifications. BFI - Institute for vocational advancement is an Upper Austrian VET institution that is a market leader in re-entry into the job market and second chance education. AEVA is a large VET provider in Portugal, with a strong emphasis on work-based learning, offers a programme in Hygiene, Health, Safety and Security in the Workplace and Environment Care. SAMPO in Finland has a wide range of apprenticeship training programmes and qualifications in social services, health and sport, including a practical nurse programme.The partnership is also complemented by four specialist organisations. The Institute for Positive Health (iPH) in Utrecht is the driving force behind the Positive Health movement. The institute aims to stimulate, strengthen and accelerate the movement that has arisen around Positive Health. kent + mcgill is a consultancy that specialises in providing research, strategic development, quality management and evaluation expertise in the field of European further and higher education. Centrul Pentru Promovarea Invatarii Permanente (CPIP) is a Romanian NGO that works in the area of Lifelong Learning and is committed to mainstreaming the principle of equal opportunities. CPIP's main objective is to promote the lifelong learning through all relevant stakeholders. SRCV is the Romanian Society of Vascular Surgery, a professional organization that represents vascular surgeons as a professional body. The project is structured into 5 Intellectual Outputs. Following desk and field research, a research report detailing the state of play in positive health for VET and the skills needs for the future will be developed (IO1). This will lead to the project producing learning materials specifically for health sector students (IO2); modular materials for citizenship education (IO3); training workshop materials for the professional development of teachers(IO4); and examples of crossover profiles and initiatives(IO5).Learning materials will involve close collaboration with the world of work through the networks of local stakeholders and associate partner. These new learning materials on positive health, including one designed for citizenship education will be blended and flexible so that they can be implemented in different vocational education systems and working situations throughout the vitality sector.Short-term impact will be evidenced in partners’ VET programmes, on healthcare students and staff and through partner networks on local provision. Multiplier meetings in the mid-term will carry strong well-researched messages and tested materials to a wider regional audience. In the long term regional and national providers will have access to high quality learning materials they can adapt and update and influence vocational qualifications. The VITALity project will showcase its products at the Utrecht Health Hub’s Five Year Conference in 2022.In short, this project will prepare the present and future workforce in the vitality sector for a holistic approach to positive health and well-being; make young people in VET aware of the importance of positive health and their role in promoting its ideals and benefits; assist teachers in delivering a new positive health curriculum; and initiate future vitality developments in the VET health and social care sector.

Continuing Vocational and Educational Training (CVET) is one of the major instruments to meet the challenges of the European 2020 strategy. The Bruges Communiqué invited the States Members to improve the training of CVET educators and trainers through flexible trainings to enable them to manage the educational and training tasks which are increasingly broad and complex.The market of continuing vocational and education training in Europe has changed dramatically in the last 20 years, resulting in: - a generalization of calls of tenders (public and private markets), - a quality requirement improvement, resulting in the need of certifications for trainers, - a requirement of productivity and rationalization of training, which causes trainers to apply training engineering which takes into account the achievements of learners, creates individualized training paths and adapts theirs courses to validate and certify. - a demand for a competency-based approach in training to improve the efficiency of the training for the learners.To meet these challenges and meet the European CVET market requirements, the skills of adult trainers and particularly the teaching and pedagogical skills are becoming critical and have a direct impact on the quality of training.From these findings, the project ESCoT helps to develop and establish a core of teaching skills for adult trainers, shared and enriched base at European level. It aims at improving the development of these skills by the use of flexible online just-in-time trainings.The project ESCoT provides tools and solutions in order to: - facilitate the assessment and management of pedagogical skills of trainers by themselves and by training organizations, - develop the pedagogical skills of trainers using appropriate training, focusing on situations that trainers face and providing innovative and efficient practices and knowledge shared at the European level, - develop the accessibility of this training of trainers by blended learning flexible method using online resources that can be provided to support the development of teaching skills.The project ESCoT provides to trainers and training organizations: - teaching skills assessment and management tools for trainers in relation to various situations they encounter, providing them teaching skills profile, - online training modules of trainer training that can be used to implement flexible blended training to accompany the development of teaching skills of trainers in different situations - a guide of good practices for the development of teaching skills, which capitalizes the experiences of various CVET organizations and networks in Europe.

In the COMMUNICARE project, the main objective is to improve the communication skills of informal and non-formal caregivers in long-term care (LTC). Communication is a basic human need that enables personal and social interaction and is the main expression of human relationships. In the framework of LTC and elderly care, a successful communication has significant impact on three main aspects that characterize quality in LTC:a) The ageing well and best possible quality of life for both the care recipients and caregiversb) The effectiveness of the assumed treatment and care giving protocolc) The direct and efficient synergy (cooperation) between the caregiver and the care recipientFurthermore, negative notions like ageism, disdain, anger, neglect, or positive ones like compassion, affection, worry, can define the quality and the result of the communication and subsequently of the care giving procedure in LTC. Therefor a very important parameter for achieving the best possible quality in LTC depends on a well-based and smooth communication between the caregiver and the care recipient. Based on this COMMUNICARE aims to update the communication skills of informal and non-formal caregivers for achieving the best possible quality of life for their beneficiaries and themselves developing training content concerning:-Principles for effective communication in LTC for elderly-Basic principles and methods of communication in different chronic diseases and in reduced hearing-Communication in the new era of technological and medical advancements in LTCThe six participating organizations are:WW: Wohlfahrtswerk für Baden-Württemberg is one of the biggest care providers in the south of Germany offering all kinds of services for the elderly. Furthermore, WW has its own training centre and experience in adult learning and further training professional healthcare workers.FZ: Frontida is the most successful home care provider in Greece. FZ will bring its` know how on describing the needs and difficulties in communication of both direct and indirect target groups in home care environment.COOSS: Cooperativa Sociale main objective is to support the integration of disadvantaged people through the provision of social, assisting, social-care, educational and training services and to propose interventions to meet the different needs of the local community.BFI: Berufsförderinstut Oberösterreich is the largest educational institution for adult learners in Austria. They will use their expertise for the preparation and development of education and training materials for informal and non-formal caregivers in LTC, which is a rather diverse group of learners.DHBW: Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg brings more than 40 years of experience in providing high-quality education programmes that include practical training. With their academic background DHBW ensures that the materials are synchronous with current developments in social- and health care.UAEGEAN: Due to its capacity in developing multimedia content the University of the Aegean will provide the technological excellence in the field of ICT learning tools, and can make the project's training content not just easily accessible and comprehensive, but also fun and interactive. Planned methods and activities during the project are a baseline study including an education gap analysis, the development of training content, the development of the online training platform, pilot studies and the development of a sustainability plan.The envisioned impact and main result is raising awareness on the importance of communication as a useful tool on the hands of the caregivers, and achieving an effective and mutually beneficial relationship between the caregiver and the care recipient.Which lead to the following long-term benefits:1.Developing a meaningful and trustful relationship between the care giver and the care recipient.2.Improving quality of life for patients in LTC.3.Improving the quality of life for the caregivers4.Promotion of home based care and of person-centered approach in LTC.5.Upgrading the role of informal/non-formal caregivers in LTC.