Daniel Dejica is the Dean of the Faculty of Communication Sciences in the UPT (Polytechnic University of Timisoara).
Daniel has been the responsible for coordinating the first Intellectual Output (IO) of the European Train2Validate ErasmusPlus project, the report that reflects the current status of the training of validators and facilitators in easy-to-read.
In this interview, Daniel explains the objectives of this first phase of the ErasmusPlus Project, and reveals some data about the analysis of 337 survey responses. Daniel considers that the results are representative for the status of training programs for validators and facilitators in Europe
About the Demografic Profile of participants
Most of the persons who were involved in validation and facilitation activities are relatively young.
This result confirms that new professions are usually associated with young people, and that validation and facilitation have a lot of potential from the perspective of the human resources involved in these processes.
About the educational background
Two thirds of the persons declared that they received some training related to E2R.
The training includes workshops, vocational courses, in-house training or internships.
Two thirds of the persons, declared that they are familiar with different types of E2R content, such as printed, digital, or audiovisual.
Also, declared that they would be ready to be trained in other fields of interest related to E2R and accessibility.
The answers reconfirm that there are no or few specialised materials for training
About the current activity of validators and facilitators
Most of them work with non-profit organizations, public institutions oi universities, or collaborate with associations supporting people with intellectual disabilities. The responses reveals that they work part-time or as volunteers, and are not paid for their work
What is the profile of validators and facilitators in Europe?
Most of them are trained validators.
The validation of the E2R content is usually done in a team which consists of other validators, facilitators or writers; the length of a validation session usually lasts less than two hours, but there are cases in which it may last between two and three hours; most of the validators use guidelines when they validate E2R content.
Related with facilitators, before working as a facilitator they fulfilled other roles related to E2R, such as trainers, validators, writers, researchers, translators or editors; when assessing the feasibility of a validation project, most of them work in a team with other facilitators or validators.
What about the skills validators and facilitators should have?
The respondents offered a multitude of answers, ranging from active listening skills to organization and time management skills.
In a similar way, the skills facilitators should have, include knowledge and skills related to target groups, E2R, basic validation skills, computer skills and many others, which we detailed in the report we published.
Most of the validators and facilitators who took the survey declared that they need better skills and knowledge and that they are likely to enrol in a program to become certified validators / facilitators.
How would you summarize the results you obtained and what are the next steps of T2V?
We believe that the results of the survey we obtained and reported are rich, diversified, realistic, and representative for a widespread geographical area in Europe.
We believe that the results will offer a solid ground for the successful advancement of the next activities of the project, namely to identify and document the skills and competencies needed by validators and facilitators (IO2), to develop a competence-based curricula (IO3), to create open educational resources (IO3), to provide assessed training materials (IO4), and to explore certification pathways (IO6).
We also believe that the secondary results obtained– the creation of a database with specialised literature in the field, the creation of a network of specialists (writers, publishing houses, NGOs or organisations that publish E2R content), the participation in conferences and the massive presence of the Train2Validate project in the press and on social platforms through specific PR and communication activities – combined with a continuing successful cooperation between the project partners, will also facilitate the development of the future IOs of the project.