(supported by ESF funds from the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art)

Prof. Dr. Martina Ritter, Prof. Dr. Petra Gromann

Accompanying research project in cooperation with CeSSt and An-Institut personenzentrierte Hilfe FB SW (Gromann/Ritter) 10 /2013 to 12- 2014 .

I. Aims of the project:

The research project aims at adapting to changing occupational fields for graduates of the part-time Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes of the Faculty of Social Work(www.basa-online.de,www.social-maps.de) at Fulda University of Applied Sciences.

With the results of the research project, graduates are enabled to combine "soft skills" / key qualifications in the field of coordination and further development of inclusion assistance with an impact-oriented set of instruments. Sustainable, regional development of social spaces of people with disabilities are new fields of work with new professional requirements for graduates.

The Institute for Person-centred Support at Fulda University of Applied Sciences as well as the interdisciplinary Centre for Social Sustainability at Fulda University of Applied Sciences (CeSST) combine the development and testing of new practice-oriented further education contents and knowledge transfer with the changing professional field of integration support. In particular, for the part-time/life-long learning degree programmes basa-online and BASS (Social Security and Administration) as well as for the two Master's degree programmes Social Work (maps) with a focus on community psychiatry and Social Space Development and Social Space Organisation, the set of indicators/competences to be developed will be of special importance.

From a technical point of view, the research project "Regional Participation Indicators for People with Disabilities - Regional Competences for Professionals" refers to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) ratified in 2009 and thus to the goals of the related current EU conferences 3 / 2013 "Fulfilling Potential, Realising Aspirations: A new Vision for Disabled Peoples Services" as well as to the conference "Employment and Social Inclusion in Europe - innovative Solutions for Disadvantaged Groups" (see also: www.publicpolicyexchange.co.uk). The steering function of the current system of support for people with disabilities in Germany - SGB IX/Integration Assistance - can be described as dysfunctional when measured against the task and goal of SGB IX - participation. Integration and participation of persons with disabilities in Germany only take place in a fragmented manner in the social areas of society, with comparatively high expenditure. The system of financing integration assistance favours inpatient facilities for both participation in work and participation in social life, and thus special worlds of disability assistance and psychiatric assistance. The current recommendations of the Conference of Labour and Social Affairs Ministers of August 2012 provide for the following principles: Further development of integration assistance, reorientation of integration assistance from predominantly institution-centred to person-centred services. Needs are to be determined individually and in line with needs, across providers and according to uniform national standards with the participation of persons with disabilities. The overall responsibility for control is to be reorganised, and quality is to be ensured through impact monitoring. This changing professional field for social work graduates requires the development of new methods and competences.

The control options tested so far by the service provider in the context of integration assistance (access control for new clients in the area of participation in work as well as other assistance, premium systems for outpatient assistance, individual financial case control through reduction, collective financial control through reduction of fees for service types) have made it clear that only fragmentary possibilities exist for the integration assistance provider/service provider to influence the access of clients to the assistance system and the case-related design of services by the service providers. Cost containment is only economically directed at the individual service providers, which, in addition to an increase in the number of cases, has led to an expansion of needs and a regionally very confusing system of a multitude of service types and service providers.

New regional steering concepts with the goals of participation in work and in social life must take into account all "stakeholders" - service providers, service providers, municipal responsibility holders, such as affected people and their relatives or legal representatives. This is to be understood as an aid to sustainable regional development and at the same time as new work field competences of graduates.

Against this background, concepts are demanded that make sustainable management by psychosocial professionals in the services and facilities of regional and supraregional actors possible. The acquisition, implementation and moderation of regional participation indicators involves new methodological competencies and the development of key qualifications.

The project proposed here aims to develop a set of indicators on the basis of existing data or data to be researched, which will enable sustainable regional control to reduce the exclusion of people with disabilities - especially women - also in the area of participation in working life through target agreements of regional actors. This set of indicators, together with the findings on cooperative, participative and steering action in the region, should provide knowledge and skills that increase the employability of female students and graduates.

Social sustainability in cooperation with representatives of the social economy means imparting competences related to the occupational field, in particular the ability to research distinct indicators and their meanings, which can be generated from existing data of very different stakeholders in the region with little effort or which can be collected with limited resources on an annual basis regionally for steering purposes with as little effort as possible.