Migrants are often employed under semi-legal or even illegal conditions, partially because they are missing a formally recognized certificate in the host country or partially because they have never been formally trained for care work. Unfortunately, there doesn’t exist any formally recognized training qualification on a very low training level (EQF Level 1) that (low-qualified) migrant care workers could access. This is why the MtC-project team decided to design such a qualification description, using the ECVET methodology which promotes transfer, recognition and accumulation of an individual’s learning outcomes.
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Training Tools
The training tools are developed in different units, reflecting different care areas and tasks. Each unit contains activities which are flexible in duration, number of participants and implementation and can be tailored to the needs of each country (home service vs. residential service) and to the specific training setting (formal vs. non formal). The training is tailored to the needs of individual (low-qualified) migrants, enhancing their key competences in the care service sector, training as well their literacy, numeracy and digital competences as a cross-sectional key competence.
Each unit contains training activities related to “cultural bias”, reflecting the potential needs of migrants in understanding and acting adequately to the national context and/or the specific background of the elderly person.
The toolkit can be used by health care training providers and by organizations for coaching migrants. It is expected that this training will enhance the quality of care provision.
We also developed a work-based language course on an Online platform. This course can be used to support migrants for studying work specific vocabulary and sentences that they might need at their workplace. The online course also give migrants the opportunity to improve their ITC skills. The course is free, but you need to register first.
Find a video to discover the course.
If you want to implement the course in any of the partner country’s languages, please contact with the project coordinator or any of the partner organizations.
Unit 1: The National Care System and the Role of the Care Worker
Each country has its own National Care System which aims to provide for the Health and Social Care needs of the population. The Care Worker is an integral part of delivering solutions and meeting such needs. The Care Worker will have numerous roles and responsibilities which will differ according to the care setting and service user need.
Migrant Care Workers come from different countries, where the National Care Systems will differ. Therefore, the role of the Care Worker may differ according to country need and it is imperative that they have clear guidance and understanding of their professional role.
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Unit 2: Principles of Personal and Professional Development in Care
Principles of Personal and Professional Development consist of the continuous progress and the development of new skills and knowledge that will boost the career framework of an individual while keeping them updated in all aspects of their profession.
With regards to the Health Care System, it will provide the migrant care worker with the appropriate knowledge of care service and roles that applies to the elderly population. Understanding of the situation, the additional responsibilities, the potential pathways towards the different areas of caring and specialized medical training will be additional key learning points.
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Unit 3: Principles of Communication in Adult Care Settings
Communication is essential to provide a good quality care in social health practice. It is fundamental in the relationship of the care worker with the elderly person and as well with the family members, it is also fundamental within the team of professionals. The customer profile today has changed; it is a much more demanding profile that requires another type of more individualized attention. Social health professionals and care workers must know how to identify the model of care that fits to the needs of the elderly person and that the care worker disposes of the necessary knowledge, skills and competencies to assure good communication between the parties involved so that care delivered it of good quality and appropriate.
Care workers come from different countries, where there may be different ways to communicate, especially what belongs to the nonverbal communication. Good communication consists in assuring that the communication was successful, and if necessary, adapting the language to the person’s needs in order to avoid misunderstandings. It is also essential to interpret the reactions of the elderly person according to their own cultural criteria.
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Unit 4: Introduction to the Care Value Base for Health and Social Care
The Care Value Base is an important range of standards for health and social care. It is designed to guide the practice of individuals working in this area. The overall aim of the standards is to improve clients’ quality of life, by ensuring that each person gets the care that is most appropriate for them as an individual.
Migrant Care Workers come from different countries, where practices and legislation may differ. Core values and principles for safe and effective practice, meeting individual cultural needs, have to be established, understood and followed to ensure best practice.
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Unit 5: Awareness of Health and Safety in Health and Social Care
Health and Safety are integral to the role of the care worker. There are numerous pieces of legislation and policies which determine correct practice. Failure to adhere to Health and Safety practices could endanger the care and wellbeing of the service user hence its importance.
Migrant Care Workers come from different countries, where Health and Safety practices will differ. Therefore, awareness of Health and
Safety requirements according to the country you are working in is essential.
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Unit 6: Principles of Safeguarding in Health and Social Care
Safeguarding is a key component in the health and social care sector. Knowledge and understanding of safeguarding and the legislative framework is critical for safe practice The aims of safeguarding are to prevent harm and reduce the risk of abuse or neglect to adults with care and support needs.
Migrant Care Workers come from different countries, where the procedures and policies for safeguarding may differ from the host country’s legislative framework. It is important to consider this from both the migrant worker and service user perspective.
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Unit 7: Body Systems and Common Conditions with Aging
People age differently, some changes are the result of internal processes, due to the aging process itself. Thus, these changes, although unwanted, are considered normal and are sometimes called natural aging. These changes occur in everyone who becomes en elderly person, and such universality is part of the definition of natural aging.
The aging process is not the same for all human beings or at all historical times, the concept of old age is relative to time, period and context in which one lives and develops.
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Unit 8: Principles of Daily Care Activities in Adult Care
The activities of daily life (ADL) are a set of tasks or behaviours that a person performs on a daily basis and that allow her or him to live autonomously and integrate into her/his environment and fulfil her/his role or roles in society.
They range from activities that are more fundamental for survival such as food, to some more complex tasks of personal self-care and vital independence, such as shopping, cooking or using the telephone. Likewise all activities related to leisure and free time.
Migrant Care Workers come from different countries, where the activities of daily life might be different. Especially food, hygiene and personal self-care are often performed differently in each socio-cultural context. Care workers should be aware of these differences to best adapt the daily care activities to the background of the elderly person.
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Unit 9: Applying for a Job as a Care Worker
It is of utmost importance during the job research, the person concerned has the ability to identify what is the necessary knowledge and skills he/she needs in order to achieve his/ her goal and eventually work as a care worker. Furthermore, in the case of migrant workers, is it very important that they know how and where their formally in their country of origin, and informally (e.g. through everyday life, informal work experience) achieved competences can be validated and recognized.
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Unit 10: Labour Rights and Responsibilities
The Labour Rights and Responsibilities (LRR) are a set of regulations and laws that each country has to implement in order to regulate the employers-employees relationship. The employee should know them in order to be able to claim for her/his rights and to fulfil her/his responsibilities as a worker.
Each country has its own list of rules and laws but all countries have to take into account and respect the minimum of rights and responsibilities that are indicated by the ILO – International Labour Organization.
This Unit is about to explain migrant care workers the national labour rules and laws of the host country and the global LRR according to the ILO.
Migrant care workers come from different countries, where labour rules and laws may differ to the one of the host country. Furthermore, they could even come from countries where labour rights are not respected and almost nonexistent.
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