Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Erasmus Projesi, 2017 - 2019
The aim of the
VOCAL in Need project is to transfer innovation from the LdV TOI project
VOCAL-Medical (2014-2016) in relation to language and cultural learning in
vocational contexts to a new vocational area, namely the security sector. It
targets professionals in the security sector who need to communicate with the
migrant community, who are often non-nationals, in specific situations where
good communication skills can sometimes mean the difference between life and
death. In doing so it responds to an important need to overcome language and
intercultural barriers when interacting with members from the migrant
community. This need has drastically increased as a result of demographic
changes and increased mobility by the current refugee crisis.
The project aims
to provide language and culture training materials contextualized for the
security sector, through cooperation between educational institutions and
professionals working in this sector. One of the five on-line training modules
will also be aimed at agencies that work with migrants.
The aims of this
project are:
• provide security
staff with a practical preparation tools for communication with
refugees/migrants who do not speak the national/official language
• provide language
training materials for the security sector, which is often neglected
• enable security
staff to become more aware of (inter)cultural issues which impact on their
skill set
• improve the
ability of security staff to interface with non-natives and therefore perform
better during emergency situations
• increase
autonomous and innovative language learning (via mobile phone)
In order to
fulfill these aims the project will create and test the content of a
web-based/mobile application designed for the above purposes.
Vocal in Need will
address the professional training needs of the security staff sector through
virtual journeys developed on a website. It will also provide access to this
material via mobile phones. Users will be led through a variety of real life
problematic situations relating to their jobs. The programme will provide
technical language relating to these situations as well as background
logistical and cultural information for each of the countries involved.
Vocal in Need
tries to address the wider context of the current refugee crisis as most
migrants might not be used to living in a state with similar laws or legal
contexts. Some migrants have very different values, especially where the law
incorporates a different view of the rights of citizens and the role of the
state and its representatives, such as police. Migrants are better served if
they understand and respect the values of their host country, but at the same
time people dealing with them have to learn and understand the reasons for
their differences, including unlawful behavior, in order to avoid an escalated
confrontation and reach mutual understanding and respect.
It will create
five on-line training modules in eight languages (Arabic, Turkish, English,
German, Bulgarian, Italian, Lithuanian and Russian) as well as an associated
intercultural module, using the format developed in the original VOCAL project.
These will be made available via a website and mobile phone applications. The
language modules will be developed not just bilingually, but multilingual
(making any language combination possible) and will cover specific topics
related to the target groups and intercultural aspects of this.
The partnership
draws on the skills of professionals in the educational and language training
sectors, as well as experts in intercultural training and IT and a quality
manager who is a native English speaker. It involves former partners from the
Vocal-Medical project who are familiar with the structure and methodology that
were successfully applied in order to create www.vocalproject.eu. and
www.vocal-medical.eu. All project partners have established links with the
target groups, which will be involved in the project from the start as part of
the needs analysis and later on in the piloting phase. The University of
Applied Police Sciences plays a leading role as they have access to police
trainees.
The main result of
the project will be a contextualized language and intercultural application for
security and agency staff available for both personal computers and mobile
devices (the "Mobile Assistant “will be an application for smart phones).
The project will
contribute to bridging the gap between security staff and the migrant community
and support better relationships. Increased awareness of diverse cultural behaviors
will lead to better communication skills.