Eurocarers: EDY-CARE Project final dissemination event – Making inclusive education a reality for young carers
19 February, 09:00-12:30 | Palais des Académies, Rue Ducale 1, Brussels B-1000, Belgium
The Edy-Care project (Innovative School Education Methodologies and Tools for Guaranteeing Social Inclusion of Young Carers) – funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme – aims to empower school professionals so that they can address and respond to the needs of young carers.
Young carers are defined as “children and young persons under 18 years who provide or intend to provide care, assistance or support to another family member. They carry out significant or substantial caring tasks, often on a regular basis, and assume a level of responsibility that would usually be associated with an adult”.
Caring responsibilities can have a negative impact on young carers’ education, as they can prevent them from working productively at schools (because of the anxiety related to their caring role), maintaining a regular frequency of classes, reaching learning goals and finalising formal education of high school. The effects in the short term (under-achievement, absence and drop-outs) can have consequences in the long term (low employability due to lower educational qualifications and attitudes towards higher education).
Young carers have been identified as being at higher risk of becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training).
Against this backdrop, the Edy-Care project – running from October 2017 until March 2020 – aimed to investigate concrete ways to maximise young carers’ learning opportunities and improve their social inclusion.
The event will address, among others topics, the following questions:
- What are the challenges faced by young carers in relation with their educational experience?
- What good practices exist in Europe to support young carers?
- What concrete actions can we undertake to enable young carers to reach their goals in life and to thrive?
The event will be attended by young carers, school professionals, service providers, policymakers, representatives from carers organisations, at regional, national and European level.
We all have a role to play to enable young carers to reach their full potential and to thrive!
The event is free, but places are limited. Please register here by 11 February at the latest.
