# 4 - December 2009 Welcome The Family Competences Portfolio, in short 'FamCompass', was designed to assess and validate 'family competences', competences men and women have acquired in the informal settings of family life, in their roles as educators, home makers and care workers. Tested with almost 200 persons in seven different countries of the EU, the Family Competences Portfolio is now ready for use.
The FamCompass was presented during the conference 'FamCompass: Assessing and validating family competences' in Brussels, Friday 23 October 2009. In this newsletter we inform you of the possible use you can make of the instrument. Don't hesitate to contact us for further information.
Content
1. FamCompass ready for use
2. Methodology: background information
3. Conference and expert seminar
4. Articles to be published
5. Future plans
6. FamCompass.eu
FamCompass ready for use
The FamCompass will particularly interest educational institutes and employers in the sectors of care, social work, education etc. Centers for job coaching and employment might also find it useful to support and empower their clients.
The project website (www.famcompass.eu) gives access to the full text version of the instrument in all available languages and to the web application of the tool. Structure of the tool
The Family Competences Portfolio consists of different sections. It starts with some general questions concerning the applicant’s family life and contains four parts: - List of family competences, from which the applicant indicates which competences he/she has acquired and scores which level he/she has obtained in 'owning' these competences.
- Reflection file in which the applicant selects some of the competences and elaborates on them by giving a clear example of a situation that shows how he/she implemented the competences.
- Pieces of evidence as to relevant life experiences in the family [to be attached by the applicant].
- Case studies presented by the institution, to be analyzed by the applicant: one from family life and one from a professional context.
We designed the FamCompass to allow the applicant to gradually zoom in more accurately on competences and, based on personal specific examples, to self-assess the application of the competences. This self-assessment is balanced by the external evaluation of the case study analyses and references of third parties. Flexible use possible
An assessment of family competences is preferably based on the fulfillment of the tasks described in all parts. However, a flexible use of the instrument is possible. Depending on one’s aims, one might focus on one or two part(s) of the list of competences in part 1. On the other hand, one might find it necessary to add (existing) tests or questionnaires. The use of the FamCompass instrument is free of charge. However, the copyrights remain with the project partners who designed and developed this tool.
When using the complete instrument, the official title ‘Family Competences Portfolio’ is to be mentioned in any announcement and/or report on its use.
When important changes are made, the official title ‘Family Competences Portfolio’ can no longer be used. Still, for any use of any part of the FamCompass, however limited, reference must be made to the original instrument.
However, no changes can be made to the instrument without the permission of the coordinating partner, and, if relevant, the project partner located in his/her country. Therefore we invite any organization or individual using the FamCompass in any of the available language versions, be it printed or digital, to contact the coordinating partner and/or, if relevant, the project partner located in his/her country. This will allow us to discuss with the user if the instrument fits his/her needs and, if needed, to communicate about changes the user plans to make. Language versions
The FamCompass is available in English and in the main languages of the project partners: Dutch, Finnish, German, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian and Slovak. To support the use of the instrument, several manuals were developed.
The user’s manual gives an overview of the various steps to complete the portfolio. The criteria that will be used by the assessor are listed to help the applicant to make his/her portfolio as ‘strong’ as possible.
An assessor’s manual specifies the general and specific criteria the assessor has to take into account. On the project website (www.famcompass.eu), pdf-files of the tool in all available languages can be downloaded. These contain:
(1) the full text of all sections of the instrument;
(2) the user's manual;
(3) the assessor's manual. Not enclosed in the files, but also available for interested users, is a manual for guides or coaches. This offers insight in some experiences from the testing phases to address different target groups in the best possible way. If you want to have access to the manual for guides, please mail us at
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. Web application of the instrument
The FamCompass instrument is available in full text and in a digital version. The digital tool uses a very user-friendly web-based interface and contains all parts of the printed version. A this point the web application of the FamCompass is available in English and Dutch. This tool is equally free of charge, but the access is password protected. Organizations interested in applying the digital tool, must contact the coordinating partner at
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Interested in the methodology behind the tool?
Depending on the context, needs and goals of the different users, some parts of the instrument will be more relevant to your organization than others. One of the strengths of the FamCompass is that it allows to be modified following the needs of the users. To help you to make the best use of the FamCompass in your organization we published the booklet 'FamCompass: Assessing and validating family competences'.
Set indicators
Institutions and organizations will have different aims using the FamCompass. Schools and training centers can be interested in assessing to what extent an applicant has developed specific skills, related to their study programme(s). Employers or counselors might be more interested in assessing more general competences. In view of this, they will need to develop indicators to specify when, relevant to their aims, a family related competence is 'proved' by the FamCompass portfolio procedure. For example, if for your organization it is crucial that the applicant is able to assist children with a handicap, you might demand that the applicant reaches at least level 3 or 4 for the competence # 65 ('I am able to support a child with a physical handicap...'). If your organization rather focuses on the care for the elderly, it might set less 'severe' indicators for competences related to child care. The booklet shows clearly how indicators can be set for specific competences in different sectors. Furthermore, the booklet situates the FamCompass project in the context of the European policy for lifelong learning, it explains the development process of the instrument, the methodology and testing procedures, how the FamCompass can be linked to the European Qualification, a strengths/weaknesses analysis of the instrument and plans for the future dissemination. Of course you will also find in the book a detailed presentation of the FamCompass and a full text version of the instrument and manuals, in English. Inserted is a CD-ROM containing all other language versions. Back to menu
The FamCompass conference
The FamCompass was officially launched during the concluding conference on Friday 23rd October 2009 in Brussels. The discussion continued the next day in a seminar with experts from all participating countries.
We were honored to have the conference opened by Mr. Maroš Šefcovic, at that time the European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, and by a representative of the Flemish Minister for Education and Equal Opportunities. During the morning session the instrument was presented and several experts elaborated on the difficulties and opportunities in recognizing and validating APL in different settings. The debate in the afternoon focused on the difficulties and opportunities of the validation of family competences in particular. The Committee of the Regions of the European Union in Brussels was our host.
About 70 persons from different countries attended the conference; 24 experts took part in the seminar on Saturday.
The presentations and the minutes of the discussions of both the conference and the seminar can be downloaded from the project website: www.famcompass.eu.
Articles to be published
All partners in the consortium continue to further promote and disseminate the FamCompass. In 2010 several articles are to be published in international revues:
Competences Portfolio. Validating Competences Acquired in Family Life.
Article edited by Dewispelaere J., Jennes G., Schuhegger L., Thiessen B. and to be published in the Journal of Education Magazine (March 2010). Two Polish articles are to be published shortly: - Zarzadzanie kompetencjami rodzinnymi w procesie ksztaltowania kapitalu intelektualnego przedsiebiorstwa = Family management skills in the development of an intellectual capital company.
- Portfolio kompetencji nabytych w rodzinie szansa powrotu na rynek pracy = Portfolio of competences acquired in the family: a chance to return to the labour market.
These and all previously published articles can be downloaded from the project website: www.famcompass.eu.
Future plans
The partners in the FamCompass project made plans for the use of the FamCompass in their organization and for further dissemination in their country. The diversity in their ideas reflects the variety of possibilities to apply the FamCompass:
In Slovakia, the Department of Andragogy of the Philosophical Faculty at the Comenius University, examines the possible use of the FamCompass as an assessment test for its students. The department had contacts with regional and town councils, cultural centres, community centres and centres for families. It examines the use of the instrument to identify target groups and create study fields (pedagogy, andragogy, social work), vocational and educational programs in centres for lifelong learning at universities in Slovakia. They hope to use the instrument to further implement lifelong learning in Slovakia and support the validation of competences obtained in non-formal and informal education (draft bill). In Poland, the Institute for Creative Proceedings will use the FamCompass to select and assess potential trainees. The FamCompass will also be used as a part of the coaching and follow-up procedure of the applicant's personal development.
The institute has made contacts with a labour market organization, who will use the instrument to better match employers and job seekers. They see FamCompass as a solid tool to evaluate one's capacities. The Romanian Institute for Adult Education (IREA) will use the FamCompass to have specific family competences recognized and validated for the job of 'maternal assistant'. The programme Science & Evolution will use FamCompass to assess competences and qualify them in order to allow for shorter training programmes.
Romania has set an occupational standard to nursing, but not to child care. FamCompass can be used to develop a standard for care to children 0 – 3 years. The FamCompass partner in Germany, the Deutsches Jugendinstitut, will point out to the administrations of several levels (federal, states, local) and other organizations how the FamCompass can be useful in their work with specific target groups, for example as a selection instrument in the sector of family day care for children. The Administration of Youth & Welfare in Munich has shown first interest to use it to select and assess women who return from parental leave and seek reintegration to the labour market. Contacts have been made with the scientific board ofthe ProfilPASS, the standard instrument for documentation of competencies in Germany. In Lithuania, the College of Higher Education in Vilnius will use the FamCompass as part of the intake procedure for its Faculty of Pedagogics. Based on its experience with the FamCompass project, the Vilnius College of Higher Education submitted and got a grant from the Grundvtig Partnerships Programme for the implementation of the project 'Ethical Competence As Educational Component in Adult Education'. Using the portfolio methodology to assess 'ethical competences' in this project is planned. In Finland a vocational training institute for nursery and day care shows interest to use the FamCompass as part of the intake procedure. The Västra Nylands folkhögskola, partners in the FamCompass project, sees the FamCompass as inspiring for teachers and tutors in 'family learning'. In Belgium the Higher Institute for Family Sciences will use the FamCompass as part of the assessment procedure to grant exemption from exams and /or apprenticeship in its professional bachelor programme 'Family Sciences' in the field of social work. The institute will promote the FamCompass as a tool to lower the barrier to formal training programmes and to shorten schooling careers in the sectors of social work, care for the elderly and child care.
Already several employers, job centers, as well as advisory and training organizations have shown an interest to use the FamCompass to select employees and assess their informally acquired competences.
FamCompass.eu
This 4th issue of the newsletter concludes the FamCompass project, that has ended on the 31st October 2009. However, it is clear that the communication on the use and the dissemination of the FamCompass continues. To sustain users of the FamCompass and to motivate any other organization interested in assessing and validating family competences, the project website will remain available minimum until the end of 2010, and will be updated regularly.
We welcome all feedback, requests for information and other reactions at
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. Or contact any of the partners in the consortium: Comenius University, Philosophical Faculty, Department of Andragogy (SK) Deutsches Jugendinstitut e. V. (DE) Higher Institute for Family Sciences (BE) [coordinating partner] Institute for Creative Proceedings (PL) Romanian Institute for Adult Education (IREA) (RO) Västra Nylands Folkhögskola (FI) Vilnius College of Higher Education (LT) | 
