Partnership for research in elderly care education

Background
In Denmark, social and health care education is part of the vocational education and training programmes (VET). Extensive national and international research on VET exists, while fewer studies are exclusively related to educational programmes in the field of social and health care. Only a few of these studies are conducted in partnerships between practice and research.

The social and health care educations include programmes for social and health care helpers, social and health care assistants and pedagogical assistants as well as further/continuing education and training of these professions. With just over 11,000 students out of a total student population of 107,000 enrolled in VET programmes in 2018, the social and health care helper and social and health care assistant programmes are by far the largest VET programmes in Denmark (Statistics Denmark, 2019). Due to demographic factors and political initiatives, a greater demand for social and health care workers is expected in the coming years. The role of social and health care workers is also changing due to the growing complexity of care work. These changes have increased the need for continued capacity building within the fields of elderly care, patient care and pedagogical work, creating a need for research-based knowledge produced in close collaboration between education and welfare practice.

The Partnership
The partnership is founded on long-term collaboration between SOSU Østjylland and Aalborg University’s Department of Communication and Psychology, as well as Randers Social and Health Care College and Aalborg University’s Department of Culture and Learning. Together, these two departments make up the Faculty of Humanities at Aalborg University.

Following this constructive collaboration between the social and health care colleges and Aalborg University (AAU) regarding social and health care education research, the parties decided on 29 May 2020 to draft a partnership agreement.

The following outlines the overall framework of this partnership agreement.

Purpose
The purpose of the partnership is to develop the social and health care educational programmes as a distinct research field, as well as to raise awareness among researchers, practitioners and policy makers of the many interesting aspects of social and health care educational programmes.

Vision
Our aim is for the partnership between the two colleges and Aalborg University’s Faculty of Humanities to create a foundation for social and health care education research.

Through collaborative research, we want the partnership to collect, create and disseminate knowledge about social and health care educational programmes.

Mission
The partnership’s mission is:
• To be involved in setting the agenda for research within the field of social and health care educational programmes.
• To be knowledge producers by investigating and defining the special characteristics of the knowledge used and produced in the field of social and health care and the qualities and challenges of this knowledge.
• To disseminate knowledge by optimising the internal and external profile of social and health care educational programmes vis-á-vis colleges, municipalities and stakeholders.
• To collaborate across research, education and welfare practice to produce knowledge that strengthens the field internally and externally.
• To support and build up the research capacity of the social and health care educational programmes.
• To provide a platform for the exchange of research-based knowledge and collaborative research methods in the field.
• To produce knowledge about education for welfare through research on the interplay between welfare sectors and the field of education in general.
• To inform and influence educational policy development and curriculum development and be present in public discourse.

Strategic Priority Areas
Priority areas:
• Embed the partnership research affiliation to Aalborg University’s Faculty of Humanities
• Seek external funding for activities carried out under the partnership
• Invite Master’s students from the Faculty of Humanities to take part in project work and internships/work placements at the SOSU colleges
• Communicate internally and externally about the partnership’s activities
• Publish peer-reviewed articles
• To develop an annual map of the partnership activities, including its funding strategy
• Expand the collaboration nationally and internationally
• To organize a bi-yearly conference


Overall, we want the partnership agreement between Randers Social and Health Care College, SOSU Østjylland and the two AAU departments, Department of Culture and Learning and Department of Communication and Psychology, to create a foundation for collaborative research.

Through the partnership activities, we want the social and health care educational programmes to be high on the agenda as a both interesting and necessary research field.

Demographic changes and political initiatives will lead to demands for more elderly care professionals. At the same time, work in the elderly care sector is becoming more complex. This increases the need for ongoing competence building and educational programs fit for future needs. Today, elderly care education (provided by social and health care vocational colleges) is not a distinct research field, and research-based knowledge is limited. The Department of Communication & Psychology, The Department of Culture & Learning (both AAU), SOSU Ostjylland and Randers Social & Healthcare College have therefore created a partnership for research in elderly care education. The partnership has published together and hosted the first national conference.