SERN

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁: 𝗘𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗺𝘂𝘀+ 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗼̈𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴!
Representatives of the SERN consortium took part in a structured course in Östergötland on the impact and quality of change driven by Erasmus+ mobility, going straight to the heart of our challenge.

We started with a question we know well: why does learning from mobility so often stay with the individual? The "implementation gap" puts it clearly: personal impact scores 4.22/5, professional impact 3.66/5, while organisational impact drops to 3.22/5. Closing that gap is what this training is all about.

After an introduction to FoU Östergötland, a collaboration platform that helps 13 municipalities develop social welfare based on research and proven experience within the Swedish welfare system, we explored inspiring examples of turning knowledge into practice:

🔹 𝗡𝗨𝗦𝗢, the largest R&D study ever carried out in Swedish social services, covering more than 130 municipalities. Key lesson: data should be treated as a shared problem to solve, not a performance check, with engaged leadership and shared ownership of both successes and challenges.

🔹 𝗘𝘃𝗶𝗸𝗼𝗺𝗽 & 𝗘𝘃𝗶𝗗𝗶𝗴, a regional competence development model built on workplace learning and reflection, now extended to welfare technology and leading change. One message stayed with us: where change succeeds, managers have sustained their effort over time and made many adjustments until the new way of working became the new normal.

🔹 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹, focused on systematic follow-up and local knowledge generation in social services, based on a clear service description and systematic data entry.

🔹 𝗦𝗸𝗮̈𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗽, bringing us back to reality with innovative ways of working in social welfare in a challenging city district. Key lesson: cooperation among social organisations and closeness to people are essential for effective services, greater inclusion and a stronger sense of community.

With all this new knowledge from our Swedish hosts, we moved from listening to doing: we mapped the SERN knowledge journey and identified the weak points that stop mobility insights from reaching our organisations.

Tack så mycket to our colleagues at FoU Östergötland and Linköping Municipality for their generosity and expertise! 🙏

More info on the SERN webiste: https://www.sern.eu/social-services-and-digitalization-2025-2026/

✈️SERN on the move again for Erasmus+ accreditation – this time to Linköping, Sweden!

Next week, 13 coordinators and welfare service managers and Erasmus+ referents from our Erasmus consortium are heading to Östergötland for a structured training course in two intensive days, hosted by FoU Östergötland.

Participating organisations are: Comune di Cervia, Casalecchio di Reno, Comune di Fidenza, Unione delle Terre d'Argine, ASP PARMA, ASP Città di Bologna and ASP "Cav. Marco Rossi Sidoli".

This isn't just another study visit. After 150+ mobilities and 5 years of learning across the SERN network, we're tackling the next big challenge: how do we turn individual learning into real organisational change? 🔄

Over two days participants will:

🔍 Explore the Swedish approach to organisational development and quality in social services

🎓 Learn from local experts, including Karolina Rydbrant (Skäggetorp area-based social welfare) and Jessica Sjögren (R&D Östergötland)

🛠️ Co-design practical monitoring tools to track the real impact of international mobility back home

🗺️ Build a shared roadmap to pilot these tools through to 2027

A big thank you to our Swedish colleagues at R&D Östergötland and Linköping municipality for hosting and sharing their expertise with us!

Stay tuned for updates at: https://www.sern.eu/social-services-and-digitalization-2026-2027/

⚡ Another Erasmus+ project is launching: 𝘿𝘼𝙏𝘼4𝙈𝙐𝙉𝙄 - 𝗨𝗽𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗖-𝗩𝗘𝗧

The project is coordinated by Länsstyrelsen Östergötland (CAB Östergötland) and will run from 2026 to 2029, co-funded by Erasmus+. SERN joins as a core partner — connecting the project to municipalities and regional authorities across the network — alongside Lepida ScpA, together with RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Länsstyrelsen i Dalarnas län (CAB Dalarna) and Platanias Dimos Municipality as project partners.

Across Europe, local authority staff manage energy data without structured training pathways, clear role definitions or shared professional frameworks. Municipal officers' competence profiles have not kept pace with the growing demands of energy data governance, data-informed decision-making and resilient planning. DATA4MUNI responds by structuring existing practices into clear C-VET competence frameworks and equipping staff with practical digital and AI-supported tools.

Throughout the project, partners will work to:

📊 consolidate and structure existing professional C-VET learning pathways in municipal energy data use into clear, transferable competence areas

🧭 develop a shared professional framework defining roles, responsibilities and activities for municipal staff managing energy data

🛠️ design and pilot a modular, practice-based training package tested in real municipal contexts across three countries

🤝 ensure long-term uptake and sustainability through peer networks, implementation support and scaling plans — with SERN driving engagement across its network of member municipalities and regions

You can find more info at: sern.eu/projects/DATA4MUNI

🧓 Another new Erasmus+ project is about to kick off: 𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑬-𝑮𝑶 – 𝗘𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿

Led by Trollhättans Stad, the project will run from 2026 to 2029 and was born out of the collaboration within the SERN Network. The project brings together SERN and member organisation ASP PARMA, together with Teknologi i Praksis, Högskolan Väst and Gmina Lublin as project partners.

CARE-GO stems from the transnational challenges of ageing populations, rising competence requirements and growing pressure on welfare systems. Rather than relying on classroom training alone, the project builds capacity directly within the workplace, using practice- and team-based learning in welfare services for older people to strengthen a shared European VET system. Across diverse European contexts, it aims to enhance professional competence, organisational learning and systemic capacity for continuous improvement.

Throughout the project, partners will work to:

🧩 develop a shared European learning framework for work-integrated and team-based learning in elderly care

🧰 design and pilot a modular European Practical Toolbox

👩‍⚕️ enhance professional competence among health and social care staff

🔄 promote transferability and long-term sustainability by piloting and evaluating the framework and toolbox across diverse European contexts

Stay tuned for more info at: sern.eu/projects/CARE-GO

🤖A new Erasmus+ project is about to kick off: 𝘼𝙄𝙄𝙉𝘾𝙇𝙐𝙎𝙄𝙊𝙉– 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Initiated within the SERN Network and coordinated by Linköpings kommun, the project will run from 2026 to 2029 and brings together SERN and Città di Parma, together with Trondheim kommune, Fundacio Universitaria Balmes, Institut Escola Josep Maria Xandri, Berzeliusskolan and Casco Learning Società Cooperativa Sociale ETS as project partners from Sweden, Italy, Spain and Norway — working together to close a growing gap in European classrooms.

AI is already present in many classrooms, but too often without guidance on how to connect its use to inclusive pedagogy. AIINCLUSION responds to this gap by producing the first European curriculum that links AI use with inclusion in compulsory education. The project does not treat AI as a solution to inclusion, but as a tool whose value depends on the teacher's capacity to understand its potential and to decide, in each classroom situation, whether and how it actually serves the learner.

Throughout the project, partners will work to:

🧭 adapt the UNESCO AI Competency Framework to European compulsory education, with a focus on inclusion

📘 co-design a curriculum with competence pathways and classroom scenarios for primary and lower-secondary teachers

🏫 pilot a training package in 9 schools across four countries (Sweden, Italy, Spain, Norway), generating evidence of teachers' competence growth and its effects on learners' participation

Stay tuned for more info soon at: https://www.sern.eu/projects/ALLIN/

📚🏆 DIGILIBRA Project – AWARDED "BEST PRACTICE"!

We are very proud to announce that our project "DIGILIBRA – Digital Skills Empowerment in Libraries" has been awarded "Best Practice" by UHR – Universitets- och högskolerådet (Swedish Council for Higher Education), the Swedish National Agency for Erasmus+, for the quality of its activities and the results achieved.

Congrats to all the project partners! 🙌
📍 Motala kommun
📍 Biblioteca Classense – Comune di Ravenna

The project addressed a key challenge of today's digital society: the risk of digital exclusion for those who lack digital competence and have no one to turn to for support. DIGILIBRA harnessed libraries as a resource to spread digital culture across communities, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups such as migrant families and elderly people.

Through the collection and exchange of good practices, a cross-testing approach between partners (Italian librarians trialling the Swedish practices and vice versa), and a shared observation methodology, DIGILIBRA strengthened the digital skills of citizens and library staff alike, fostering the inclusion of the most vulnerable groups in the local community.

The project also resulted in the Booklet of Good Practices for the Critical Use of Digital Resources through Libraries, collecting eleven good practices tested directly with real users: from Digital Family Days to Digital First Aid services, from fake news workshops to traveling exhibitions — each practice comes with guidance on preparation, implementation, the role of library staff, impact, and replicability.

📖 Download the Booklet of Good Practices here:https://www.sern.eu/wp-content/uploads/DIGILIBRA_Booklet_EN-1.pdf

ℹ️ More info about the DIGILIBRA project:
https://www.sern.eu/projects/digilibra/

🌟 New SERN Thematic Wall on Improving mental wellbeing!

In September we will launch the sixth cycle of the SERN Thematic Wall, a new series of activities exploring how municipalities can support mental wellbeing across generations, with particular attention to vulnerable young people, isolated elderly, and the structural challenge of reaching those who do not engage with community life.

STW 6 will be framed by the central question: How can we reach those who tend to isolate themselves and do not participate in community life? With a set of activities focused on mutual exchange and experiences for practitioners new to transnational collaboration, STW 6 aims to bring together practitioners from Sweden and Italy to tackle questions close to the social inclusion mission of many SERN members.

After the initial challenge-definition activities this STW progresses in two strands: A. Youth mental health; and B. Elderly isolation and community welfare. In parallel, a working group map municipal outreach and lay the ground for future collaboration.

👉 Want to know more? Contact the SERN secretariat: [email protected] or stay tuned through our social channels and website, www.sern.eu.

What does a "European" ECEC professional identity even mean?

ECEC professionals across Europe operate in very different systems: different regulations, different funding models, different cultural expectations of what childhood should look like.
And yet, when practitioners from five countries compared notes, the overlap in values was striking: children as active participants, not passive recipients; inclusion as a daily practice, not a policy statement; families as partners, not visitors.
Building on that common ground, while respecting local differences, is at the heart of a transnational approach to CPD.
👉 https://www.intec-project.eu/products/curriculum/

A new Erasmus+ mobility experience is underway within the SERN Network!🌍
Learning from Sweden: New Perspectives on Elderly Care and Housing 🏡

Twelve professionals working in elderly care have travelled to Sweden 🇸🇪 as part of the Erasmus+ Accreditation in Adult Education, representing six member organisations: ASP Città di Bologna, Azienda Pubblica di Servizi alla Persona Carlo Sartori, Asp Rossi Sidoli, Pedemontana Sociale, Comune di Faenza, and ASSB BSB Bolzano.

The mobility focuses on exploring the Swedish elderly care system, with particular attention to innovative housing solutions for seniors and seniors+ 🏡, as well as the use of welfare technology in residential care.💡

A key highlight of the programme is the Sällbo project in Helsingborg — an inspiring co-housing initiative promoting inclusion and intergenerational living.🤝 Participants will have the opportunity to visit the site and engage directly with the project coordinator, gaining valuable insights into its development and impact.

This exchange with Swedish colleagues represents an important step toward strengthening knowledge, fostering collaboration, and transferring innovative practices at the local level. 🔄

A warm thank you to the Linköping team — Daniel Stendahl, Fredrik Törnqvist, Per-Otto Waern, and Gunilla Starräng — and to Dragana Curova from the Sällbo project for their invaluable contribution.🙏

🔗For more information about Erasmus+ accreditation within SERN, visit the SERN Accreditation page: https://www.sern.eu/.../social-services-and-digitalization/