Care4Skills is a project designed to address workforce training needs in the long-term care (LTC) sector to meet current and future challenges.
The project originated as the first activity of the Partnership on Skills in Long-Term Care, established in 2023, and recognises the significant impact of digital transformation and the growing demand for person-centred care within the sector.
The Care4Skills project aims to create a more resilient and adaptable LTC workforce across Europe, prepared to provide high quality, person-centred care in an increasingly digitised environment.
Aims
- To train the human capital of the LTC sector to equip it with the necessary skills to effectively address the evolution of the LTC sector.
- To encourage and facilitate the digital and person-centred care transformations that are changing the LTC sector.
Main target groups
- Social workers
- Nursing professionals
- Social and health workers
- Social service managers
Objectives
- To provide immediate training opportunities to rapidly address skills shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid advancement of digitisation.
- To identify and analyse current and future skill needs in the LTC sector, taking into account the current evolution of care practices and technological advances.
- Develop and implement new modular Vocational Education and Training (VET) curricula designed to fill identified skills gaps and meet emerging occupational profiles in the LTC sector.
- To create a robust sector skills strategy to guide the European LTC sector to effectively address the identified challenges, promote innovation and excellence in care delivery.
Main activities
- Create a training programme within the first year of operation, focusing on essential digital skills and person-centred care principles, using a large-scale open online course format (MOOC) and targeting 1,500 frontline LTC practitioners.
- Conduct extensive research to analyse existing training resources, anticipate future skill requirements and devise a standardised methodology to monitor skill progression within the sector.
- Develop comprehensive scenarios and profiles to simulate and examine the various situations encountered by LTC practitioners, making it possible to identify the essential skills and knowledge needed for different care settings and user groups.
- Design and test new vocational education and training curricula based on the identified learning outcomes, focusing on e-skills and person-centred care and using micro-credentials to improve flexibility and recognition of acquired skills.
- Formulate a sectoral skills strategy including milestones, feasible plans, funding routes and practical guidelines for implementation at European and national level, taking into account local particularities and sector-specific challenges.
- Establish a comprehensive communication and dissemination strategy including a project website, social media engagement, newsletters, press releases and multiplier events to ensure broad visibility and promote the uptake of project results.
- Formulate a sustainability plan, including strategies to expand the Partnership for Skills in Long-Term Care, secure ongoing funding and disseminate key findings to policymakers and stakeholders to ensure lasting impact beyond the project period.
- Establish a rigorous quality assurance framework to monitor and evaluate project activities, ensuring high quality results and incorporating feedback mechanisms for continuous improvement.
