Social Connections

Trainers for e-social work

Project description

COVID-19 aggravated social exclusion of ill, older, and disabled persons through measures to restrict movement and contacts, such as stay-at-home restrictions, quarantines, and lockdowns. While such measures were crucial for ensuring the safety of all, they just worsened and mainstreamed a condition of isolation that many groups of the population suffered even before the pandemic. In this context, the SOCIAL CONNECTIONS project aims to develop digital pedagogical competences of C-VET educators in the social sector, enabling them to teach their students how to develop and use high-quality digital content for social inclusion of clients who are housebound because of disability, illness, or COVID-19 related restrictions.

Expected results

As the main goal of the project is to develop digital pedagogical competences of C-VET educators in the social sector, the impacts foreseen in the target groups (social work trainers and social work practitioners) are that they perceive themselves as ‘digitally ready’ for e-social work and practices. This means their ability to access, adapt and create new social and educational intervention methods using ICTs and to deliver technology-mediated social work and community work practices.​​

​In terms of VET structures, SOCIAL CONNECTION expects to strengthen the links between VET organizations and NGOs and to support the incorporation e-social work skills in VET curricula – this will be achieved through partner organizations as they will introduce the IOs produced in their regular offer, but exploitation efforts will be made to reach other organizations as well.

​At a higher level, SOCIAL CONNECTIONS aims to have an impact on the coverage of ICT opportunities and tools to a wide range of social practitioners and trainers. Besides, as a long-term impact, it is expected that the project contributes to contrast exclusion and isolation of vulnerable housebound persons, making them feel engaged and with increased wellbeing.

Outputs

• Intellectual Output 1: Curriculum to teach e-social work
• Intellectual Output 2: Tool-box for e-social work: a learning by doing experience
• Intellectual Output 3: MOOCs for C-VET in digital social work

Promoter

Fundacion Intras, Spain

Partners

Anziani E Non Solo Societa Cooperativa Sociale, Italy

Sosu Ostjylland, Denmark

Aproximar, Portugal

Virtual Campus LDA, Portugal

European Association for Social Innovation, Romania

Timeframe

1/03/2021 – 28/02/2023 (24 months)

More information at: https://www.socialconnectionsproject.org/