This curriculum on social mentoring is the result of a collaboration of a diverse group of academics, practitioners and students from around the world and was developed and facilitated as part of the Erasmus Plus Project “Mentoring for Social Inclusion in Europe: Sharing Knowledge and Building Capacity” (Ment4EU). It was implemented for the first time in Europe as a cross-organisational effort with a transdisciplinary approach as a blended intensive program with 30 participants from the partner countries joined by a further 220 students, practitioners and academics from NHL Stenden and the Netherlands for plenary sessions. The intended group of learners for this course are students, lecturers, researchers, academics and practitioners (mentors and program managers/coordinators of mentoring programs) interested in learning about mentoring for social inclusion and who are active in the fields of social work, youth work, sociology, health care, community work, management and organization, and related fields of practice and study programs. The weight of the program is 5 ECTS. This curriculum was developed as part of the Erasmus Plus Cooperation Partnership in Higher Educatoin “Mentoring for Social Inclusion in Europe: Sharing Knowledge and Building Capacity” (Ment4EU), as part of WP3_A2 Training Capacity in higher education institutions, project number 2023-1-AT01-KA220-HED-000158214
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The implementation of the Ment4EU curriculum on social mentoring (Ciff & Brady, 2025) marked a historic milestone in the advancement of mentorship practices within Europe. Held in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, from 3 to 7 February 2025 as a blended intensive program, this initiative stands as the first known enterprise of its kind in the region. It successfully brought together approximately 250 participants from 29 countries, uniting academics, researchers, practitioners, and students who shared a passion for fostering social mentoring as a transformative tool for inclusion, education, and personal and professional development. This evaluation report serves as a comprehensive reflection on the outcomes of the program, assessing its methodologies, impact, and the exchanges that took place among participants. Through a detailed examination, I aimed to highlight the strengths of this pioneering initiative, identify areas for refinement, and explore pathways for broader implementation across Europe. The discussions, collaborations, and insights generated during this event have laid the groundwork for future advancements in structured mentoring, emphasizing its essential role in social cohesion and knowledge-sharing. Through this comprehensive exploration, the report aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on social mentoring, offering insights into best practices, challenges, and opportunities for expanding mentorship frameworks in European academic institutions. This evaluation report is part of the Erasmus Plus Cooperation Partnership in Higher Education “Mentoring forSocial Inclusion in Europe: Sharing Knowledge and Building Capacity” (Ment4EU), project number 2023-1-AT01-KA220-HED-000158214
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The Sport Empowers Disabled Youth 2 (SEDY2) project encourages inclusion and equal opportunities in sport for youth with a disability by raising their sports and exercise participation in inclusive settings. The SEDY2 Inclusion Handbook is aimed at anybody involved in running or working in a sport club, such as a volunteer, a coach, or a club member. The goal of the handbook is to facilitate disability inclusion among mainstream sport providers by sharing SEDY2 project partners’ best practices and inclusive ideas.
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The Sport Empowers Disabled Youth 2 (SEDY2) project encourages inclusion and equal opportunities in sport for youth with a disability by raising their sports and exercise participation in inclusive settings. The SEDY2 Collection of Inclusion Best Practices report contains good examples of inclusion on youth with a disability in sport at the community and institutional level. This report includes a detailed description of the process of building and using the SEDY2 approach for collection international best practices in sport, the criteria and template used to collect the SEDY2 best practices and the list of SEDY2 international best practices on inclusion in sport for youth with a disability.
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The impact of organized youth sport on youth development depends on various conditions in the pedagogical climate, such as how sport is delivered by youth sport coaches. While this is broadly acknowledged and provides a basis to improve youth sport and its developmental outcomes, little is known about the pedagogical perspectives of youth coaches on their practice. This study uses semi-structured interviews with 32 youth sport coaches in diverse youth sport contexts in the Netherlands. Reflexive data analysis is employed to garner insights into coaches’ role perceptions, coaching goals, and underlying values. The findings show that while youth coaches focus on sport-centered activities, many foreground non-sport dimensions such as life mentoring and working towards social inclusion as critical elements of their work, reflected in five pedagogically-oriented goals: discipline, autonomy, resilience, social abilities, and aspirations. Underlying these goals are pedagogical values such as building and maintaining caring relationships with participants. These goals and values echo scientific literature on pedagogical sport climate conditions (e.g. positive youth development), and challenge notions of youth sport as a performance-oriented and uncaring setting. The results contribute to existing knowledge about youth coaches’ pedagogical orientations, and inform the development of strategies to stimulate positive sport practices and developmental outcomes for participants.
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Purpose Although researchers have explored parental perspectives on childhood speech and language disorders, this work has mostly been conducted in English-speaking countries. Little is known about parental experiences across countries. Participation in the COST Action IS1406 ‘Enhancing children’s oral language skills across Europe and beyond’ provided an opportunity to conduct cross-cultural qualitative interviews. The aims were to explore how parents construe inclusion and/or exclusion of their child and how parents involve themselves in order to facilitate inclusion. Method Parents from nine countries and with a child who had received services for speech-language disorder participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews. We used thematic analysis to analyze the data. Results Two overarching themes were identified: ‘Language disabilities led to social exclusion’ and ‘Promoting pathways to social inclusion’. Two subthemes were identified Interpersonal relationships are important and Deliberate proactiveness as stepping stones for social inclusion. Conclusions Across countries, parents report that their children’s hidden disability causes misunderstandings that can lead to social exclusion and that they are important advocates for their children. It is important that the voices and experiences of parents of children with developmental disabilities are understood and acknowledged. Parents’ recommendations about how to support social inclusion need to be addressed at all levels of society.
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Sport is associated with physical well-being and social well-being and it is crucial to understand that it is a right to have access and participate in sport. It’s a question about individual choice of a sporting activity across a continuum of segregated, integrated and inclusive approaches (Kuippis, 2018). Considered as The inclusion spectrum (Stevenson & Black, 2011). The inclusion debates in sport are not about how to substitute special structures with integrative ones, and those in turn with inclusive ones, but are characterized by giving each approach equal importance and validity (Kuippis, 2018). The Social Ecological Model for Health Promotion provides a useful framework for understanding how various sectors influence participation in physical activity or sport (McLeroy, Bibeau, Steckler, & Glanz, 1988). In SEDY 2 we conducted focusgroups with young people with disabilities, their parents/caretakers and professionals in four different European countries (Finland, Portugal, Lithuania and The Netherlands). In the focus groups we want to ask people involved on their view on Inclusion in sport in practice. What does it mean for them and are we hearing the voices of young people with a disability?
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6th European Conference for Social Work Research In this paper, qualitative data are presented and analyzed to comprehend how social workers, volunteers, and users participate and construct change within hybrid practices. In the Nordic countries, there is an increasing concern about the stability of the social cohesion and the welfare states’ ability to secure inclusion and participation of people in marginalized positions.
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This book describes the principles and methodology of the CARe Model. This eclectic approach offers professionals working with people with a mental health or addiction problem, or persons with other social disadvantages, effective ways of support. The CARe model is meant to support people in their personal development. It is based on principles of psychosocial rehabilitation, recovery and empowerment. The book contains a lot of practical examples. It can be used by professionals in the field, and for the education of present and future professionals. The CARe model is an evidence based approach used by thousands of professionals world-wide
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More and more network interventions are developing at neighborhood level, with the aim of strengthening the network (in the neighborhood) of people with a disability. Some interventions are of a temporary nature, while others are structurally In this study, the various neighborhood-oriented network interventions are examined to discover what works well. With this information, more general guidelines can be set up for current and future social professionals on how to work on neighborhood networks for people with disabilities in an effective way. In this research project, various research methods, including social professionals, management, participants of the network interventions, neighbors, are involved to determine meaningful actions within each intervention. For the interviews with participants, we work together with experienced experts (People with disabilities, and participants of the interventions). These were trained by one of our research partners, to help both with the development of the research tools as well as conducting the interviews. In this presentation we want to exchange our experiences in cooperating with experienced experts on research.
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