THE EUROPEAN PROJECT EDUCATION FOR CARE: AN INNOVATIVE MODEL OF TRAINING FOR THE ELDERLY CARER

The population distribution has changed, and the increase of the aging population is producing important changes in terms of social, cultural, and economical issues, generating a higher impact on health and pension systems, social structures or economic organization. The World Health Organization (WHO) define "Active ageing" as the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. From this new perspective, carers should focus in enhancing "active aging", providing a context where carers and elderly people mutually collaborate to achieve the same objectives. The European Consortium called EDU.CARE (Education for Care) emerged to research in this field funded with support from the Lifelong Learning Program (527360-LLP-2012-IT-GRUNDTVIG-GMP) of the European Commission. The Consortium is formed by a group of public and private organizations in Italy, Romania, Poland, and Spain, with different perspectives and specificities, to work in education and adult learning projects, who share the aim of bringing innovation and improving effectiveness in lifelong learning processes. The aim of the project is to develop a Training Program for trainers and carers to transfer knowledge and develop skills to carers in Europe, so as to: change the negative perception of caregivers to the elderly, forward awareness of the role of carers for carers themselves, and revisit their role, supporting active aging. The present work describes the main features of the EDU.CARE Project.