Through the Value Plus Project, the partners worked to build a common path to offer low qualified workers in the home care sector the possibility to have their non-formal and informal learning recognised and converted into ECVET credits. Value Plus has indeed met the need to validate and recognise the knowledge and skills acquired within informal/non formal context by home carers from Spain, Italy and Romania, ensuring the conversion of certified Learning Outcomes into ECVET credits (according to the ECVET Recommendation) that can be spent in all project countries with a view to transnational labour mobility.There is a growing demand for qualified workforce all over Europe. This demand is closely linked to the progressive aging of population. The phenomenon assumes different characteristics in different European countries. In fact, while in northern and center European areas both private and public social and health services are organised and structured to satisfy the rising demand for care services, in the countries of the Mediterranean area this demand is only marginally covered by institutional services and the workforce is immigrant (mainly from East Europe) and low qualified. The project has led to the starting of an important process of renewal of the Italian, Spanish and Romanian VET organisations (learning validation, vocational training and placement). By implementing the project the following steps have been taken: -adapting models, tools and procedures for validation of learning used in France to the contexts of the project partners’ countries (Italy/Abruzzo region, Spain/Catalunya region and Romania/Bacău county; -innovation of the VET systems in all the countries involved in the partnership which, thanks to the project, have known and started their first trials for the validation of learning, the certification of competences and the conversion of certified Learning Outcomes into ECVET credits.The main issues addressed have been the following: 1. The increasing demand for occupational profiles in the field of home care services; 2. The massive presence of unskilled workers without skills and competence certification fostering the illegal labour market; 3. The difficulty that carers experience in having recognised skills and competences acquired through work experience and non-formal and informal learning; 4. The difficulty faced by carers in having recognised/certified by other European countries the learning outcomes they gained in their own countries.objectives achieved by the Value Plus project :1) a comparative analysis of the training paths leading to the qualification of family carers in the partners'; contexts through the drafting of Output 1: Analysis of qualifications in the home care sector in the regional and national contexts of the Value Plus partners; 2) the comparison of Learning Outcomes recognition and certification system for individuals who work and/or intend to work in the home care sector in the countries involved by Value+ , through the development of Output 2: White labour and Transparent skills/Guide for the recognition and comparison of competences in the home care sector within the European panorama; 3) the shared adoption of tools and procedures for the validation and certification of Learning Outcomes and for their conversion into ECVET credits which led to the development of Output 3: TOOLKIT for transparent skills in the home - care service sector;4) the professional development of 24 VET professionals from Spain, Romania and Italy who have been trained to the use of the identifies tools and procedures 5) the testing with 200 final Beneficiaries (100 Italians, 50 Spanish and 50 Romanians); of the shared tools and procedures for the certification of competences 6) the transformation of certified Learning Outcomes into ECVET credits; 7) greater awareness among tested beneficries of their competences 8) better chance of regular placement in the Labour market of home carers in the countries participating in the project also thanks to ECVET credits;9) raising the quality of services provided to households and partially/totally dependent individuals in Europe; 10) dissemination of outputs produced (O1, O2 and O3) at EU level.The partners, although diversified and with very different professional languages, always cooperated in the pursuit of the project purpose. An approach to the development of innovation and community empowerment has been adopted in the project management. Institutional actors and VET organisations from 4 different countries (France, Spain, Italy and Romania) were involved. A European complementarity has been identified in the actions carried out in different geographical contexts for the sharing of methods and tools, validation of learning and conversion into ECVET credits. The experimentation with final beneficiaries, has made it possible to enhance non-formal and informal learning experiences of those working in the home care sector without professional qualifications. The conditions have been created for the widespread adoption of shared learning validation systems in the home care sector, for the certification of competences and for their conversion into ECVET credits.

<< Background >>In many EU countries the topic of active citizenship in youth education is often understood more as learning ‘about’ active citizenship rather than learning ‘to be’ active citizens. Indeed, in the field of citizenship education, educational practice still places the main emphasis on transferring knowledge, that is, the cognitive aspect of learning even though it would be important to teach skills as well, such as analytical and argumentative skills (A Europe of Active Citizens, 2010). Among those, an emphasis should be made on critical thinking skills that can assist with ethical decision making and reasoned argumentation.According to researchers, these are particularly necessary in times of uncertainty. Indeed, thinking critically supports our wellbeing, our decision-making amidst ambiguous and constantly changing information and our understanding of complex situations. For example, many young people are experiencing this in light of Covid-19, where there is a need to be able to process change and to deal with a significant amount of new information to be discerned. On the other hand, critical thinking skills are also important for active citizenship as they are needed to allow democracy to work well (Kinkead, 2020). Indeed, according to this author, critical thinking can help us ask better questions, uncover our assumptions, overcome systematic biases in our reasoning and reframe issues in ways that can take advantage of the essence of democracy, that is epistemic (i.e. the knowledge-producing potential of democratic decision-making processes).<< Objectives >>The project titled “Be Active, Be a Citizen” (BeAC) aims to develop training resources to help young people, aged from 15 to 24, living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods to acquire and put in practice critical thinking skills. Indeed, according to the Council of Europe, this target group face discrimination, prejudice and isolation that make it harder for them to be active citizens. In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the project will train professionals, including youth workers, teachers, social workers, mental health professionals, VET providers, and volunteers working and supporting young people with fewer opportunities. The project will build the capacities of the professionals, so as they can support young people in acquiring and developing their critical thinking skills and to apply them in active citizenships practices on three specific domains, identified as priorities in the current historical context and part of the Eleven goals for the European youth strategy 2019-2027 -Environmental citizenship (i.e. young person’s responsibility to maintain ecological integrity and the right to exist in a healthy environment)-Democratic citizenship at the EU level (active participation by young persons’ in the system of rights and responsibilities of the EU)-Social citizenship (the behaviour between individuals in a society) and the Coronavirus restrictionsThe methodology upon which the training resources will be based on two innovative pedagogical approaches:(1)The first one is philosophy for community (P4C). This practice is based on Matthew Lippman’s Philosophy for Children adapted to the use with adolescents and young adults. The method is based on the use of videos, pictures or stories as stimuli for conversation. Following that, participants start inquiring and, supported by a trained facilitator, they begin to discuss topics emerging from the stimuli, actively participating in a process of construction and de-construction of knowledge.(2)The second one is Artful Thinking (AT). An educational methodology originally developed by Harvard Project Zero. The purpose of the Artful Thinking Program is to use visual arts to develop thinking dispositions that support thoughtful learning. While AT was originally developed to be used in formal educational context, in the framework of the project it will be adapted for the use in the informal education setting.<< Implementation >>The expected tangible result of the project is a set of complementary resources to support youth educators to develop critical thinking and active citizenship among disadvantaged adolescents and young adults. The tools correspond to the following Project Results:-PR1: The Be Active, be a Citizen - a workshop programme based on the philosophy for community (P4C) methodologies -PR2: The Be Active, be a Citizen - Artful thinking workshops for adolescents and young adults-PR3: The BeAC photo challenge - an outreach activity to promote active-citizenship-PR4: Teaching critical thinking through philosophy and art: a training for youth workersEach partner will also implement a multiplier event in its country, while the project coordinator will organize an international conference in Romania.<< Results >>Thanks to the implementation of these resources, the project expects to achieve the following results during its lifetime:-supporting the development of critical thinking skills among disadvantaged youth-promoting pro-social behaviours among disadvantaged youth, including increased Environmental citizenship, Democratic citizenship at the EU level and Social citizenship-support to social inclusion of youth coming from marginalised contexts-support the upskilling of youth workers for the implementation of tailored active citizenship training programmes.