The importance of lifelong learning and a constant improvement of personal skills is nowadays a basic requirement in all fields of employment. The rapidly changing world has a tendency of knowledge lapsing swiftly therefore constant learning and adjustment of skills is a must. Computer skills and foreign language skills (usually English) are basic knowledge and basic requirements in many fields of employment. The employment rate of persons with intellectual disabilities is very low, especially on the open labour market with lots of competition from non-disabled people, which naturally leads to poverty and social isolation. People with disabilities are largely excluded from digital society, from opportunities for lifelong learning and from the labour market. ACCESS project’s coordinator was Hand in Hand Foundation, from Hungary and the idea of the project originated from them. As Hungary is way behind the European mean of adult education programs in general, regarding the quantity as well as the quality of these programs. Besides the strong tradition and relative high standard of special education in the school system, persons with intellectual disabilities have little to no opportunity of improving skills and learning as adults in Hungary. Special education system provides (mandatory) learning until the age of 16, further education can be found only occasionally and mainly focused on vocational training and aims to acquire a specific profession (such as gardening, carpenter, weaving etc.). Important general skills such as computer usage, IT knowledge and the related security and safety issues, foreign language learning are not part of any school system that provides special courses for persons with intellectual disabilities. There are very few opportunities in mainstream adult education where they can practice and improve skills and this disadvantaged group – mostly living from a very low income - cannot afford to attend such courses, even on the rare occasion when they can be found. Although it is well-known that these skills can be effectively trained in adulthood, a sufficient and effective solution to this growing need has not yet been found, mainstream training centres currently lack the special knowledge and methodology in implementation of training materials for persons with intellectual disabilities. The aim of the ACCESS project was to develop and implement specially designed training programs for persons with intellectual disabilities (and related developmental disabilities), in the fields of basic spoken English, basic IT knowledge and the safe use of the internet in order to consolidate and strengthen the status of these persons on the open labour market. This a huge step forward to the improvement of adult education for persons with disabilities. Besides the actual training materials (trainers guide, learner handbook) great care was paid to the specific methodology in the training of the teachers in the pilots which recognised the need for flexibility in approach, tailoring materials and levels to the needs of each individual and adjusting the speed and method of learning to suit each learner.With the project an international cooperation was implemented where the national best practices were shared and used to develop a universal version of the training program. Universal versions were localized by each partner organization, based on the local needs and specialities.Each main topic (basic spoken English, basic IT and internet safety) contain a trainer’s guide and a learner’s handbook and many additional materials, that support training process. All materials are available under the following link freely after a quick registration: https://kezenfogva.hu/node/1796The project trained 19 teachers and they trained 104 people with disabilities in Hungary, Slovenia and Sweden. Demand for places rapidly exceeded supply! All the participants found the training very useful and it was noted that participants became more confident and outgoing after the course. Teachers also admitted they learned new skills, especially around IT and developing new materials. The (deliberately) limited scope of the language teaching worked well for most, although for the very upper and lower levels of linguistic ability it had limited usefulness. The IT training was effective, especially when linked with issues of safety on the internet, with the greatest impact coming when IT skills, safety issues and ‘computer English’ were combined. ACCESS has demonstrated that there is a demand for such training from people with disabilities and that using the internet safely is a matter of huge personal significance. Universal materials are available in English. Localized materials are available in English, Slovenian, Swedish and Hungarian.

Persons with intellectual disabilities (PwID) & Persons with mental health conditions (PwMHC), like any other human being, have sexual desires, need affective relationships & freedom to express their sexuality. In this regard, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with disabilities (UNCRPD), ratified by the European Union, states that People with Disabilities have the same human rights as everyone in all areas of life. These rights include rights related to sexuality. However, commonly, people with intellectual disabilities & mental health conditions have lacked an integral sexual education & support to help them in their sexual lives. This context is slowly changing. Policy makers & key stakeholders are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of addressing the sexuality of PwID & PwMHC as an inherent right. However, in spite of the fact that lot of excellent educative material has been produced to raise awareness & train with regards to sexuality it seems to have had a low impact so far with regards to how PwID & PwMHC are actually able to practise sexual activities & express their sexuality in whatever way they choose. The SMARTS Project (Supporting Me About Rights to Sexuality) is devoted to filling this gap, between knowledge learnt & practical implementation. This will be done through 2 perspectives: 1) By promoting Active Supported decision making (SDM) in real life contexts in the field of sexuality & 2) by promoting the Implementation of specific policies & procedures from support service organisations to better address sexuality issues. SMARTS will have a duration of 36 months and be implemented by an international partnership of 5 organizations with complementary expertise from the following countries: Spain (Astres Foundation), Portugal (Associacao para a recuperacao de cidadaos inadaptados da lousa (A.R.C.I.L), Greece (Theotokos Foundation), Belgium (European Association of Service Providers for persons with Disabilities-EASPD) and the UK (Social Care Training ltd). The project will have 2 main target groups: 1. Care providers supporting PwID & PwMHC. 3 profiles: 1) Family members 2) Professionals & staff members 2) Support provider organizations 2. Adults with intellectual disabilities & mental health conditions who wish to exercise more control over decision affecting their daily sexual life. Specific objectives:1.To better identify support needs of PwID & PwMHC in the field of sexuality.2. Develop skills of PwID & PwMHC & care providers to make supported decisions in the field of sexuality3. Capacitate care providers to implement practical support in the field of sexuality. 4.To create user-friendly resources for PwID & PwMHC to better address their rights with regard to sexuality.5. Raise awareness on the need & available means to address SDM in the field of sexuality for PwID & PwMHC6. Advocate at EU & local level on the importance to address sexual support for PwID & PwMHCThe project will produce 6 complementarily outputs: 1.UNCRPD compliant guidelines on SDM on sexuality issues for people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities-Guidelines for professionals and staff members2.UNCRPD compliant guidelines on SDM on sexuality issues for people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities-Guidelines for family carers3.Policy & practice guidance on sexuality for service providers4.Awarenes Toolkit for PwID and PwMHC5.Training course for caregivers6.Policy recommendations3 rounds of LTT activities will be implemented to train users in the SMARTS materials. Project materials will be also tested and reviewed in subsequent pilots implemented at local level by service provider organizations members of the SMARTS partnership.Expected results are: PwID & PwMHC feel more empowered to make decisions with regard to their sexuality and supporters will feel better equipped & skilled to support decision making after using the SMARTS materials, service managers feel better equipped to assess & address procedural changes to better support the sexuality rights within their services.Expected long term impacts of the project are increased general openness & positive attitude to address the ( still often sensitive) topic of sexuality of PwID & PwMHC both by users & supporters, The SDM approach is increasingly accepted by professionals, support organizations & users themselves as the appropriate strategy to address & implement the rights of PwID & PwMHC with regards to their sexual needs, wishes & expression in accordance with the UNCRPD principles, Key organizational procedures proven positive to support sexuality of PwID & PwMHC within a variety of support services are progressively accepted & integrated by organization managers.

Since every EU member state is committed to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, it follows that every country will be looking to close down the old-fashioned institutions and move people (and staff) out in community based services. It is crucial to empower the PwD in order to reach their full potential and achieve full participation in the society. Also a demanding challenge alongside is to form the attitude of the supporters around them. STEPS project was set up to deliver a training method what effectively able to influence both.STEPS project main objectives were helping the transition and everybody who might get involved the process: people preparing to move out, those who have moved out, staff supporting them, the families and friends. The partnership built up from five partners in different stage of the deinstitutionalisation for Sharing the European Pathways with each other. The coordinator was the Hungarian Hand in Hand Foundation specialised in educational social care and training projects and supports the Hungarian efforts to de–institutionalise its national care services. Fundatia Alpha Transilvana (FAT) is the Romanian partner what is a major service provider in Transylvania. Kehitysvammaisten Palvelusaatio from Finland has a long-term history of innovation in service delivery and experience of training staff whilst closing down large institutionalised services. Social Care Training is the UK partner in the project. It specialises in learning disability services and staff training. inproof is our Belgian partner. It covers monitoring and quality control and valuates the project.The project had created 13 Intellectual Outputs which contain 5 universal materials, 5 localised materials with country specific contents and 3 evaluation reports on each year and manager’ feedbacks. The training materials are not just the usual training materials. An important new element (among many) is the role of the ‘co-trainer’. This is someone with a learning disability who has been trained to act as a co-trainer alongside another trainer in delivering the STEPS training materials. Not all the modules need a co-trainer, but where this is appropriate we use the skills and insights of co-trainers. The training is designed for use in the actual workplace. The materials are all broken up into roughly 3 hour training sessions in small modules clustered around a specific topic which they will need to cope with when living in the community (e.g. managing money). This means that all the materials can be accessed within a single shift by staff or residents with relative ease. The training materials had been tried and tested on two short term joint staff teaching/training activities and on two training cycles in partner countries and they really work. De-institutionalisation is a long process involving many challenges for people with disabilities, staff and families. Changing attitudes and opening up minds to different ways of supporting people to move out of institutions and live in the community is a long-term task.

This 3 year project with 6 partners aims to combine the need to improve the Digital, Literacy and Numeracy (DLN) skills of adults with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities with an individual’s desire to exercise more choice and control over their lives, by becoming involved in supported decision making (SDM) affecting themselves in 3 key areas – personal finance, healthcare and consumer rights. The project also aims to improve the opportunities for and levels of social inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWDs) as a result of these activities. With the help of a local ‘supporter’ and a dedicated methodology (manuals, training and complementary tools such as an 'SDM Agreement', 'Individualised SDM Plan', and evaluation tools) around each of these three areas, people with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities become encouraged to learn how to improve their personal autonomy and independence in different spheres of life (e.g.eg budgeting, understanding money, and health monitoring, opening a bank account, etc) all of which will require them to work on and improve their DLN skills. This will enable them to have more say in decision which affect their lives on a day to day basis. Training programmes for supporters have been provided, along with capacity building capabilities through a Train the Trainer Course. Guides for users, families, supporters, managers, staff and ‘decision makers’ (trustees, directors etc) explaining the core context of SDM, how the I-DECIDE Methodology works and how to implement it in practice have been produced. Supporting organisations have been invited to sign up to a public SDM Charter to demonstrate their support and commitment. The project explored the possibility of finding local formal methods of assessing DLN skills at low entry levels, so that learning can be recognised. Improvements in DLN skill levels and the capacity to become involved in decision making had been progressively increased for PWDs during the lifecycle of the project. Other developments, such as improved social inclusion and a reduction in conflicts between professionals and persons with disabilities, not knowing how to apply a SDM methodology have been tackled. Local User groups will be set up to assist the project’s growth and development. The potential impact of the project is significant, affecting not only the individual being helped, but also their families and friends, their own ‘supporter’, other staff and services. Adult education services may be affected in that this project aims to demonstrate an effective but alternative way of providing adult education in DLN skills, which may lead to pressure for them to adopt and/or support it elsewhere.

De-institutionalisation and the increasing personalisation of services are changing the skills and attitudes support staff need in the EU care sector. Social care employers across the EU see that big changes are required so that services become person centred & driven by the values of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) such as rights, inclusion, choice & independence. The workforce is huge and will continue to grow, with a strong tradition in many places of the medical model of care – explicitly rejected by the UNCRPD as inappropriate – which needs to be replaced with a new set of values and attitudes based on the social model. This project (EMiSC) is about helping bring about that attitudinal change by delineating and supporting the mentoring role in the social care workplace, aimed directly at front line workers who in some cases have had very little training or support, even though their ‘hands on’ role is critical to the well-being of people with disabilities.It’s a contribution alongside other EU wide products (such as the Basic European Social Care Learning Outcomes (BESCLO) and the European Care Certificate (ECC) which are now available in 20 states) to the creation of a European Area of skills and qualification in social care. It offers formal recognition for a role which many experienced staff already undertake when they guide and help new staff. It also opens routes for mentor and mentees to formal recognition of their learning and skill. EMISC produced a set of learning outcomes (LO) covering the mentoring function, with related assessment criteria, a mentoring assessment tool (MAT) and a Mentoring Training Course (MTC) to train new mentors. The consortium also produced a formal curriculum to support the EMISC LO. A Train the Trainer Course was produced as a start-up device for new countries, and a formal report on the issues facing the acceptance of transnational learning outcomes, using the experience of our partners.These training products were tested during 3 cycles of mentoring, with a control group of un-mentored candidates. All were initially assessed and re-assessed at the end via the European Care Certificate exam. Results were compared to demonstrate the beneficial impact of mentoring can be shown to be. Universal (in English) and ‘localised’ versions of all products are freely available on the EASPD E-learning HUB. A total of 387 people were involved in the project training and piloting. A total of 233 people were trained and twice assessed, of which 113 mentors were trained and involved in assessing candidates. In addition, 25 senior trainers were trained and are now able to use the MAT and undertake mentoring.The project’s products will be used alongside the BESCLO & ECC and gets promoted by the circle of ECC users in 20 states as well as via the umbrella body EASPD’s wider membership across the EU. The aim is to spread the use of mentoring as a means of driving changes in services. Interest is already big. During the second training activity in Slovenia, 6 external ECC partners from Spain and Germany followed the training for a week.In our study on formal and informal learning, we explain what a common European qualifications framework is about and reflect the current situation of learning from a more technical and formal viewpoint. We also give more insight into how the partner organisations of the EMiSC project have been dealing with formal and informal learning and recognition/validation in practice, in their country or region. We look at the relevant project outputs over a period of three years, i.e. since the start of the project in Sep 2015 until July 2018. We continue by mentioning how the partners have foreseen the use of the current project outputs after project end, i.e. their sustainability strategies or actions. And we finish with some critical reflections and conclusions on the outcome of our research.Via the End User Impact Tool feedback from 89 users of support services was obtained on the difference the project had made to how their support staff worked with them. The results showed that staff mentoring had a positive impact on the quality of the service users support. Together with the results from the MAT, we can show that EMiSC makes it possible that individual new staff and mentors will be immediate, personal and professional. Implementing EMISC is a low cost means of improving care services and marks a beginning of the transfer of power to people who use services. Issues of power and control lie at the heart of attitudes of staff in care services and the UNCRPD is clear with its slogan of ‘Nothing about us without us’ that staff must be prepared to empower users to get a ‘real life’ – with all that means.