• Events, Workforce Development

Preparing health and social care students for the new realities of work in health and social care services

On 21-22 November the EURECO Forum and EHECADI Project will host a joint forum on the transition of social care students to the labour market.

Register to participate in person Register to participate online

The healthcare and social care sectors are undergoing significant transformations, driven by evolving societal needs, technological advancements, and policy changes. As the demand for inclusive and equitable healthcare services grows, there is a pressing need to prepare students with the skills required to meet these new challenges. Traditional curricula often fall short of addressing the dynamic nature of modern health and social care environments.

Within this context, the EURECO Platform and EHECADI project have come together to host this joint forum to identify how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), healthcare providers and support and social care services can best prepare health and social care students for the evolving needs of the sector.

Designed for:

  • HEIs, lecturers, and teachers;
  • Students and research groups in long-term care and healthcare;
  • Support service and healthcare providers.

The event aims to address the following questions:

  • How can HEI for long-term care, health care and social work better prepare students for the transition to the labour market through their curriculum and final undergraduate dissertations?
  • How can HEIs contribute to the inclusive transformation of local support services for people with disabilities?
  • How can support service providers collaborate with HEI to further develop curricula that reflect the requirements of contemporary workplaces in transformation?
  • How can healthcare and support service providers work with HEI to facilitate the recruitment and continuous in-service training of staff?

Forum venue: BluePoint Brussels, Blvd Auguste Reyers 80, 1030 Brussels

A number of grants of up to €600 are available to support the participation of those from outside Belgium. If you would like to apply to receive a grant, please indicate your interest in the application form. Please note that the receipt of a grant is not automatic and will be confirmed by a member of the EASPD team. Deadline for grant applications: 27 September.

Programme

Day 1: 21 November 2024

08:45

Registration and Coffee

09:15

Welcome

  • EASPD President
  • Johannes Schaedler, ZPE Siegen University, EURECO
 

09:20

Keynote 1: EU Skills agenda: what does it mean for long-term care and health sectors?

  • Representative of the European Commission

Keynote 2: Addressing current societal challenges through Final International Healthcare Dissertations: EHECADI's approach

  • Ester Goutan Roura, Fundacio Universitaria Balmes
 

09:50

Panel 1: Identifying skill needs for the inclusive transformation of health and Long-Term Care

Moderator: Renaud Scheuer, EASPD

Speakers:

  • Melanie Schaur, Johannes Kepler University Linz
  • Martijn da Costa, ZonMW
  • Reninka De Koker, ODISEE University of Applied Sciences
  • Marion Karppi, Turku University of Applied Sciences
  • Julia Maria Zimmermann, Fedas Luxembourg

 

11:00

Coffee Break

11:00

Panel 2: Designing curricula and dissertations to prepare students for the labour market

Moderator:Pavlina Psychouli, European University Cyprus

Speakers:

  • Júlia Casacuberta Roca, Fundacio Universitaria Balmes
  • Esa Barlund, Turku University of Applied Sciences
  • Johannes Schaedler, ZPE Siegen University, EURECO
  • Alice Schippers, IASSIDD/Disability Studies NL
 

12:30

Lunch

13:45

Parallel workshops

 

  • Workshop 1: Academic Collaborative Centres (ACC)
  • Martijn da Costa, ZonMW
  • Representative of ACC people with intellectual disabilities
  • Representative of ACC elderly people
  • Representative of Dutch Ministry Health, Welfare and Sport

 

  • Workshop 2: EHECADI Workshop: Experiences of the EHECADI platform
  • Moderator: Ester Goutan Roura, Fundacio Universitaria Balmes
  • Antonio Ferrira, Red Cross University Portugal
  • Representative of EHECADI

 

  • Workshop 3: Care4Skills: Rapid response to training and skill needs
  • Moderator: Renaud Scheuer, EASPD
  • Kalianne Farren, EASPD
  • Melanie Schaur, Johannes Kepler University Linz
  • Daniele Bregoli, Social Services Europe
 

15:00

Coffee Break

15:30

Panel 3: Next Steps: Boosting upskilling and reskilling of health and long-term care workers

Moderator: Konstantina Leventi, EASPD

Speakers:

  • Katarina Ivankovic Knezevic, European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
  • Lyudmil Ninov, BeWell Project
  • Jiří Horecký, European Aging Network
  • Samantha Howe, EPSU
 

16:45

Conclusions

  • EASPD President
  • EURECO Representative 
  • EHECADI Representative
 
19h00

Networking Dinner

Wolf Sharing Food Market, Rue du Fossé aux Loups 50, 1000 Bruxelles

Day 2: 22 November 2024

The EURECO Project Development Workshop will take place at Rue Guimard 1, 1040 Bruxelles.

9:45

EURECO Project Development Workshop

12:45

Conclusions

About EURECO

EURECOis a European collaboration platform of academic researchers and service providers working on inclusive community planning and development of in the perspective of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The platform originated from a joint initiative of the European Association of Services Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) and the Centre for Planning and Evaluation of Social Services (ZPE), University of Siegen, Germany to foster European theory-practice cooperation in the disability services’ sector. It was intended to develop a network of academic researchers and research affined service providers specifically interested in developing inclusive communities. Furthermore, regular meetings for platform members in a format mixing element of academic conferences and project development workshops were to be organized. In the following years, the partnership grew to include the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) and ZonMW.

About EHECADI

EHECADI is a European project designed to support healthcare students from different disciplines (nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and nutrition and dietetics) to address broad societal health issues such as healthcare equity, epidemic preparedness, underinvestment in healthcare workers, health needs of migrant populations.

To do this the project has developed the following materials: An online Knowledge hub which will host all of the final materials of the EHECADI project; a co-designed Virtual Community of Practice that will share knowledge between academia and other stakeholders as well as detect societal needs and steer the international final graduate dissertations towards them; a co-designed digital open course for students that will enhance responsible research, the acquisition of digital and transversal skills through the length of the degree length. The course will follow the principles of universal design and it will empower students to be global-minded citizens, more sensitized towards societal needs, and with easier access to employment; a set of guidelines for students, teachers, and institutions to support the use of the International Final Graduate Dissertation.