The Project
EQUALvet is an Erasmus+ project funded by the European Union, which will promote inclusive education and training and foster the education of learners with intellectual disabilities by supporting teachers, and educators and leaders of educational institutions in dealing with diversity and reinforcing socio-economic diversity in the learning environment.Unemployment among people with intellectual disabilities is more than twice as high as for the general population, despite their ability, desire, and willingness to work in the community, because of the many barriers they face. EQUALvet targets the lack of opportunities for high quality post-secondary education such as vocational training, with the appropriate recognition of competence and certification of skills.Both the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Pillar of Social Rights promote rights relevant to the equal opportunities and access to the labour market and to the education, training and life-long learning. For that reason, EQUALvet based on CEDEFOP’s “European guidelines for validating non-formal and informal learning” will develop a training and certification scheme in three vocations and provide a policy recommendation report in order to start collaborating with national accreditation agencies.The project will run for three years, ending in 2022.EQUALvet will have 90 young adults with intellectual disabilities from Greece, Spain and Italy, who will participate in all the phases of the project.
Training & Certification in 3 Professions
Gardener Assistant
Cleaner
Cook Assistant
Activities
EQUALvet aims to offer:
Holistic evaluation to improve the deliverables!
Development and Implementation of Training and Certification Programs!
Policy Making and Dissemination with the National Accreditation Agencies!
The Deliverables
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Educational manuals in the three vocations for trainers, which will describe the training methodology, the curriculum and the tools used.
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Validation manual for the three vocations which will describe the evaluation and certification procedure.
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Policy recommendation report about the validation of non-formal learning focusing on people with intellectual disabilities.
Expected Results & Impact
We expect to:
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Increase the employment opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities.
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Improve the quality of the vocational training programs to match to the needs of the learners with intellectual disabilities and to the needs of the market.
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Encourage the National Accreditation Agencies to adopt EQUALvet’s validation program for non-formal vocational training and recognise the skills of professionals with intellectual disabilities.
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Extend and develop more training and certification schemes for other professions using EQUALvet’s methodology.