One of the current needs of the labour market in what qualified staff is concerned is the sector of Personal Caregiver/Geriatrics Technician. It is a fact that the world’s population is ageing. According to the United Nations, ‘virtually every country in the world is experiencing growth in the number and proportion of older persons in their population. Population ageing is poised to become one of the most significant social transformations of the XXI century, with implications for nearly all sectors of society, including labour and financial markets, the demand for goods and services, such as housing, transportation and social protection, as well as family structures and intergenerational ties’. On the other hand, there are many learners in VET, mainly in services sector, who have Special Needs or learning difficulties and that do not fit in the formal learning approach. They need to be prepared to integrate the labour market and answer their needs. It is thus the mission of VET schools to do this bridge and prepare all learners without exception to the current employment needs. Working with elderly people demands not only qualified people but specially caring and dedicated staff. So, this partnership is willing to help this target group integrating successfully in the labour market, enhancing their competences and skills and making them able to answer the needs of Day/Elderly Centres and contributing for their social and professional inclusion. Tackling with SEN individuals and individuals with learning difficulties and enhancing their competences and skills also means fighting poverty, social exclusion, racism and discrimination, and promoting social justice and gender equality. It provides a very strong basis to improve the socio-economic situation of many disadvantage people contributing better, at the same time, to the social, cultural and economic development of the community and country.Thus, it is not only about educating people in the identified sector, but also about empowering them to attain a better life for themselves and the society as a whole.The objective of this Project is to help transform groups of social and economic disadvantage (SEN and/or with learning difficulties students) into autonomous, useful people by providing a full range of innovative, appropriate and accessible Personal Care Assistance/Geriatrics education resources that can also be easily used in e-learning approach and to promote social inclusion and employability. The partnership will thus develop: Resources: a suite of appropriate learning resources that build literacy and technical competences related to the Sector of Personal Caregivers / Geriatrics Technician in 4 main areas - Diet & Nutrition; Basic health care; Community and social intervention; Animation activities - for the SEN or/and Learning Difficulties VET students, to include:•IO1: A set of 25 micro learning courses/curricula with a gamification strategy dealing with the above mentioned Geriatrics main areas, 2-6 for each selected theme (depending on the number of competences in each) for the development of competences in the respective professional area. It will include the e-curriculum, e-guidelines and e-contents (mainly e-presentations of easy understanding for each learning unit, according to the target group specificities). •IO2: A collection of 25 themed tutorial videos (2-4) for each selected theme, will be produced and upload in Youtube and in IO5 for viewing and use in the class or at home; they will support IO1. •IO3: a compendium of 25 inclusive web-quest challenge-based educational resources, (4-6) for each selected theme; they will support IO1. •IO4: a series of workshop lesson plans and tip sheets according to the curriculum /training programme designed in IO1. They will include concepts analysis, best practices and will play a crucial role in the understanding of the methodology and approaches used. They will allow the building of necessary skills to e- and bi-learning approaches, to understand Micro Learning Methodology, to learn how to develop and use the challenge-based educational resources and to create own challenge-based inclusive WebQuests.•IO5: A Bespoke Platform with a gamification methodology based on objectives and learning results achievement. It will contain at least the same number of games as the number of micro learning courses and will support IO1. It will be also developed and populated with all the innovative learning resources mentioned in the previous outputs. A short-training event for teachers/trainers so they can facilitate and manage the e-learning model developed, specially focused on micro-learning methodology, gamification strategies and webquests, as these are still quite new tools in pedagogical approaches. All resources developed will be in on-line formats in 5 partner languages and made available to all interested parties, with the open access requirements of the ERASMUS+ programme.

Language barriers have extremely negative effects on health because people who face linguistic barriers are less likely to search medical help, follow medical advice, go to follow-up appointments or receive preventive services. In addition, the lack of language skills is a great barrier to understanding the functioning of the health system. On the other hand, language and communication barriers also hinder the healthcare providers in the receiving country in ensuring proper accessibility, acceptability and quality of services offered to migrants.To eliminate these barriers, “FALK: First Aid Language Kit for Migrants” project was aimed at making healthcare services more accessible for migrants through developing and upgrading language skills on medical issues in the host languages of 6 EU countries (TR, BG, ES, UK, CZ, CY). To achieve this end, language-specific First Aid Language Kit was developed to overcome communication barriers resulting from language differences with migrants, to reduce misunderstandings and to offer adequate medical help.The project addressed three main target groups, namely newly arrived adult migrants, healthcare providers and language educators. The target groups were reached through many dissemination activities such as national and international meetings, project meetings, pilot workshops, exploitation seminars and multiplication events. As a result of these activities, over 2000 people (migrants, health professionals, language teachers) were directly reached throughout the project cycle. More than 300 adult migrants in each partner country were reached during the project cycle. Including social media posts, emails, newsletters, networking activities, more than 50k people were informed of FALK project aims, activities, products and its results. Especially creation of network with cooperating organizations including regional hospitals, health professionals, trainers, schools and other professionals, migration management offices. These associated partners involved in the project through development, consultations and testing of developed outputs.As for the project activities, a network of more than 50 migrant organizations, adult education providers and healthcare providers were established throughout the project. A medical language pyramid as the first project output was developed in partner languages and selected migrant languages. As the second output, medical language study-videos were created under different titles of types of illness. For the last output, learning platform hosting all language learning products was developed for the target groups for self-paced learning. Learning platform also provides a virtual map on the healthcare systems of the partner countries. During the project, pilot workshops, dissemination and exploitation activities were carried out. Apart from those mentioned above, project implementation plan, partner agreements, quality assurance plan, internal monitoring and evaluation reports, dissemination materials were created and developed throughout the project.One of the major impacts of the FALK project has been directly on the partners themselves. When talking with the partners at the meetings and following any exposure to the games, videos and activities that examine the issues of health care system, migrants and diversity, they have begun to examine their own approaches to these issues and their own behavior towards immigrants and adequate health care. As a result of testing the workshops with target groups (migrants and newcomers) and key stake holders (adult educators, community workers, volunteers, health care providers and students) the project partners have been able to gain a deeper understanding of how to use creative methodologies within a class room environment and to see the potential of the use of creative activities to promote better understandings of the migrants let them access better health care systems.The network created with the associated partners is going to remain after project is finished, and the project partnership will keep the contact on regular basis. The network is and will be a guarantee for practical use of the project and wider dissemination to other professionals. Another longer-term benefit of the project is that the developed materials are available online on the project website which will be maintained or at least 3 more years after the project end. Since the project partners are very active in developing projects and opportunities for migrant integration through education, dissemination of the FALK products and linking them with new initiatives and migrant organizations in the future will continue.

ContextA 2017 IPPR report revealed that mental illness amongst YP leaving school has risen almost fivefold in the past decade. There was also an increase in alcohol & drug misuse, self-harm & vulnerability to suicide. In 2016 about 250,000 children were receiving mental health care in England, the vast majority of those being teenagers. And there is no doubt that older school children are now in environments that make mental health worse. A recent stem4, survey of 500 12- to 16-year-olds revealed anxieties, including exam worries (41%), work overload (31%), friendship concerns (28%), lack of confidence (26%), concerns over body image (26%) & feelings of being overwhelmed (25%). While anxiety may have always been encountered in adolescence, academic, social hierarchy & performance worries are more of a modern-day phenomenon, & the feeling of insecurity in YP is intensified by the number of adults suffering from mental ill health. These experiences are being echoed around Europe. Our partners comment: ‘Recent evidence from Lithuania & Romania shows that upper school aged children are particularly vulnerable to social risks compared to adults. 0.5 m Children and students (18% of population) face factors such as emigration of parents, (often for work reasons) substance abuse, bullying, violence, institutionalization & reluctance to mental health services. Besides this, Lithuania has one of the highest suicide rates in the world particularly amongst students. Objectives of the projectThe project developed, tested & disseminated a modular curriculum and training course, & support materials delivered flexibly in a broad range of settings from secondary School to colleges and Universities. The course focuses on a broad range of issues that our research has highlighted to be problematic for students. During the training each issue is discussed, myths dispelled & students are reassured by the experience of teachers and tutors. The course uses a blended learning technique which features extensive use of ICT in order to identify with YP, & encourage them to be as interactive as possible. This includes making instructional videos, self-completion work books, and international interaction over a purpose built learning platform. Students had many opportunities to be actively involved in developing the materials and promoting them to their peer groups. Target groups & needs to be addressed Pupils and students aged 13 -21, at Schools, colleges and Universities were the primary target group as they are particularly vulnerable to mental health issues according to statistics & reports quoted above. We engaged at least 3000 students, 95 parents and 178 teachers. The target group specifically focused on students where more practical involvement in ICT could upskill them, and students in danger of dropping out of school. In addition we engaged 21 outside organisations as associate partners. Schools, school staff and parents were also target groups particularly for providing contextual research to build the modular curriculum from, to provide support to students both at school and at home. And local expert organisations in mental health were consulted. All organisations and individuals were tasked and encouraged to disseminate the project. Activities 1. Seven national pieces of primary research were undertaken to establish the priority fields of Youth mental health issues, which focused on the needs of the target groups. 2. A developed curricula in the form of a modular course on understanding and practical application of wellbeing issues for young people, broken down into 16 separate units, to be delivered to YP in schools, universities, colleges and a broad range of non formal settings 3. A set of 16 introductory instructional videos which allows remote learners to have a taster of the course and encourage them to become involved with the curriculum. 4. An interactive platform for students to contribute to and use as a learning aid, to interact with local and international students, and to improve ICT skills 5. A set of 16 worksheets to complement the course and the instructional videos. 6. A series of multiplier events held in The UK, Sweden, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Portugal & Italy, held both in person and remotely to promote the intellectual outputs and disseminate the whole project. ImpactWe calculate that at least 1360 people directly benefited, the majority c1090 being students, others including parents, teachers, schools, and partner organisations. In the region of 7-8,000 have indirectly benefitted so far. The project was disseminated to educational establishments, community groups, as well as local mental health support organisations, and will be sustained by networking, continuing with a website and social media campaigns and looking for complementary projects and other funding.