Transfer and development of the care concepts "Språksam" and "ArbetSam"

In many western European countries, the number of people needing care is rising, but even today there is a shortage of qualified staff. An attempt is being made to counteract this bottleneck by employing immigrant carers. To ensure care services of a consistent quality in the relevant national context, however, immigrant employees and the institutions that employ them need additional qualifications that go beyond the technical training (which may already have been completed in their home countries). In this context, interculture.de e.V. from Jena, sponsor of the Thuringian "Service Centre Intercultural Skills Development" IQ project, is taking part in the European "Transfer and Development of ArbetSam Results (TDAR)" project. This is where concepts of "Learning on the Job" in care are transferred to the German context. Within the project, the successful Swedish ArbetSam and Språksam concepts have been extended with intercultural components. This Film provides an overview of the Swedisch model. Partners from Sweden, the UK, Spain, Belgium and Germany are cooperating in the TDAR project. The aim is to further develop sustainable solutions for the language-related, vocational and intercultural training in the national context concerned. The starting point are concepts developed in the course of two projects in Sweden and trialled in 75 care institutions for the elderly and the disabled. In the Greater Stockholm area, more than 650 carers took part in training schemes that combined technical and language learning; approximately 3,000 employees have now been trained according to ArbetSam and Språksam.

Goals of the TDAR project

TDAR aims to check and try out how the results from the Swedish projects can be transferred to other European countries and supplement them with additional aspects. The focus of interculture.de e.V. is mainly on the area of intercultural communications and skills. The project is financed using funds from the European Social Fund (ESF). The target groups are outpatient and inpatient facilities that care for the sick, elderly and disabled that already employ foreigners, or plan to do so. The concepts comprise both the technical and language-related training of immigrant employees as well as further training for the staff in the facilities that will employ them. The knowledge acquired by the foreign carers in their training (in their home country or in Germany) must link into their everyday working life to that it can be used in the long term in the facilities in Germany. Moreover, reflection about differences and commonalities of care work in the home country and host country are also important. A comparison of contents, responsibilities, procedures and expectationsof care work help to develop a shared understanding of care among all employees. The following instruments have proved worthwhile for initiating, targeting and continuously using these complex processes:

  • Work-related language courses combine language training with work-related contents. As a result of this reference to each other, what has been learned can be directly applied in practice. The aim is to improve the written and oral communication skills in the work context. At the same time, language-related and technical learning is not seen as something that happens outside work. Instead the workplace becomes a learning environment.

  • Reflective team discussions provide a forum where employees can discuss and evaluate work processes and difficult situations. They can be about technical contents or getting on with colleagues. A training course qualifies volunteer employees to structure and facilitate these meetings. The aim is to exchange knowledge, agree and establish a common understanding of the task and to strengthen team cohesion.

  • Language sponsors raise awareness of the subject of (foreign) language at work and, in particular, support non-native speakers alongside their work and close to practice. The aim is for the institution to support non-native speakers in their learning progress, thus helping successful communication between all parties: care team, the person being cared for, the institution's management and family members.

  • Raising intercultural awareness helps people to be aware of their own way of working and behaving as well as those of others. For example, it can be fostered over a long time by intercultural training or as on-the-job advice. The aim is to develop strategies for better communication with each other and for dealing with misunderstandings and stereotypes. German and foreign carers and the institution's management are all target groups for intercultural training.

 

Added value for care institutions

  • Sustainability of the approach by involving all parties - German and foreign carers and the management of the facility

  • Relevance to practice and applicability of the approaches thanks to their orientation to everyday working life

  • Exact fit of content due to individualized agreements based on on-site needs

  • Exchange of experience secured by networking within Germany and with European project partners

 

Further information on the internet:

TDAR

www.aldrecentrum.se
www.youtube.com

ArbetSam project

www.lidingo.se

Språksam project

www.aldrecentrum.se
 

Contact:

Franziska Kindmann
Florian Frommeld Servicestelle Interkulturelle Kompetenzentwicklung
interculture.de e.V.
Transfer and Development of ArbetSam Results Lutherstraße 77
07743 Jena
Tel.: + 49 (0)3641 639130

franziska.kindmann@interculture.de
florian.frommeld@interculture.de
www.interculture.de

 

 

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