Modernising the Professional Qualifications Directive will make it easier for professionals to find skilled jobs across Europe

The Professional Qualifications Directive proposal aims at simplifying the rules of mobility of professionals within the EU by offering a European Professional Card to all interested professions. The card will allow easier and faster recognition of qualifications and also clarifies the framework for consumers, by inviting Member States to review the scope of their regulated professions and by addressing public concerns about language skills and the lack of effective alerts about professional malpractice, notably in the health sector.

AIEJI’s European Office has participated in the public consultation launched by the European Commission in 2011. We will continue to follow the evaluation of the Directive and will inform you about all the changes that could have an impact on the social educator profession in Europe. For more information concerning the Directive please do not hesitate to contact us: internacional-consejo@eduso.net

Read here a brief explanation of the key elements of the directive.

Tony Widmer, member of the board of the Russian Union of Social Workers and Social Pedagogues, receives honorary award for his work with establishing a UK-Russia cooperation in social care.

To read more about Tony Widmer’s achievements in the UK-Russia cooperation, read here.

If you are interested in working in the UK as a social pedagogue/social educator, there may be some interesting job opportunities on this list: Jobs in the UK.

Jacaranda Recruitment is an agency that recruits social educators/social pedagogues to work in the UK. On the request of Jacaranda Recruitment AIEJI posts the list of available job opportunities but has otherwise nothing to with the jobs, the recruitment process, the employers, Jacaranda Recruitment or anything else related to this matter.

For all information, please contact the contact person on the list.

Dear friends and colleagues,

Earlier this year I was honoured to have an article published in “Child & Youth Services”, an international magazine on child and youth care.

The article is an argument for why it is so important that we – social educators and social pedagogues, care and support workers – continue to develop and strengthen our profession on an international level. We must continue to fight for the recognition of our work and only through joint forces will we be able to succeed.

Please read the article here.

Yours sincerely,

Benny Andersen

Earlier this month, a department from the Danish Federation of Social Educators had a meeting in Berlin and took the opportunity to also visit a German home, Jugendwohnhaus, for young people of 14 – 18 years.

The Danish group found the visit very inspiring. It was interesting to see how each social pedagogue works systematically but also very individually with each young person – who is often in a difficult situation both personally and socially. Jugendwohnhaus is a relatively small place and the whole staff are educated social pedagogues which ads a strong, common professional approach and spirit and understanding of how to work with the young people.

Thanks to the staff at Jugendwohnhaus, especially to Tony Leidenberger, for receiving the Danish guests. Maybe this has inspired the Germans to pay their Danish colleagues a visit. Also thanks to German AIEJI board member, Heike Beerman, for providing relevant contacts in Germany.

Visit Jugendwohnhaus her.

EP@disabilità: percorsi possibili tra educazione e riabilitazione – the Social Educator and Persons with Disabilities: possible pathways between education and rehabilitation.

The 2011 Italian National Congress will address the role of the social educator  working with persons with disabilities. The congress will discuss possible pathways between education and rehabilitation.

The AIEJI document “Working with persons with developmental disabilities – the role of the social educator” will be presented by Thomas Vollmer (AIEJI) and discussed among the participants of the congress.

For more information and downloading the programme, please visit ANEP.

Dear colleagues and friends

The board of AIEJI recently held its semi-annual board meeting in Lille, France, hosted by board member Bertrand Coppin.

Apart from discussing administrative matters, the main decision from the board was to commence work on a document about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and what this means to the daily practice of social educators.

The next board meeting will be in Brasil and, in connection to this, AIEJI will arrange a seminar to discuss the outline and contents of the document. The intention of the seminar is to find which paragraphs have the most influence on the daily practice of social educators and discuss how this influence is apparent. Moreover, the seminar will also discuss how legislation and regulation in different countries support the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

May greetings,

Benny Andersen

How a story about a young kitten helps children in Japan overcome the traumatizing experience of the recent earthquake.

The book about Brave Bart is a story about how a young kitten overcomes a sad and scary event with the help of a helpful neighbourhood cat. The book is specially designed to help children cope with trauma and its connected grief reactions and can provide an opportunity for the children to connect with a very non-threatening character.

The book is published by the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC), a programme in Starr Institute for Training, and is one of TLC’s many resources and tools for working with traumatized children. The best-selling book is now being translated to Japanese.

Read more about Brave Bart.

At Soedisbakke in Denmark, a domicile and activity centre for adults with developmental disabilities, and a workplace for social educators, they use a philosophy of actively practicing love and compassion at the work place.

The idea is that showing love and compassion is part of the job description and constitutes a fundamental framework for the work of the staff. It is not so much a method but rather a certain approach which means that all contact and communication is done in a gentle manner, with a soft voice and respect, avoiding speaking with harsh words. The approach is called Gentle Teaching.

If there is a situation with outwarded reactions, instead of saying “You need to spend time on your own”, as a way of calming down the situation, the staff will rather say “I know you’re upset and this is ok, but perhaps you want to be alone for a bit?”

For the employees at Soedisbakken, being paid for showing love and compassion doesn’t feel strange. As one employee puts it: “I get paid to do what I am really good at – and I am really good at being with other people in a gentle and loving manner”

Gentle Teaching was founded by John McGee from Pourto Rico. Read more about the principles of Gentle Teaching .