Virtual College

Glasgow Caledonian University is developing a Virtual College for staff working in the care home sector in Scotland. The aim of the project is to develop an innovative approach to providing training for workers in a private sector setting. This will allow workers to re-train and develop their skills, and allow them to realise their potential.

This project aims to empower staff through developing best practice frameworks in the care of elderly people which are aimed at improving their quality of life consistent with the Scottish Executive's Social Policy agenda to improve the quality of life of third age members of the population.

 

The project also features “collaborative knowledge networks” of carers and this will demonstrate the development of good practice in relation to geriatric care through the active participation of professionals in a variety of organisations that are widely distributed geographically.

 

The initial meeting of the ETG was held in Rome from 26 to 28 May and was attended by John Culshaw of Glasgow Caledonian University on behalf of the DP. Following this participants will provide by mid June agreed details of their projects for inclusion in the “living document” that will be one of the main outputs of the ETG.

 

Suzanne Seeland who chairs the ETG’s Reconciliation Group of DPs will visit the Virtual College Project on behalf of the Commission during June or July.

 

The next formal meeting of the ETG will be in October 2003 in Madrid at which further input is anticipated in both of the ETG’s main themes from both the Virtual College and one of Caledonian’s other EQUAL projects on “Research into Work Life Balance”.