A new certification registered with France Compétences

France Compétences has registered the skills certificate 'Coordinating the interventions of stakeholders involved with the individual employer to promote home care' in the specific directory (RS). This certification was designed and developed by IPERIA in collaboration with the sector branch for individual employers and home employment, which is committed to creating a true professional pathway. This marks another step forward in strengthening the recognition of the diverse, rich, and varied skills of personal carers.

A (New) Certification – For What Purpose?

Professional certification is a recognition of skills at the national level, meaning it is registered with France Compétences. For 30 years, on behalf of the individual employers and home employment sector, IPERIA has been observing professions and listening to employees and individual employers to contribute to the sector's reflection on creating a professional pathway. "We identify the needs for qualifications or skills, we experiment, and design certification frameworks," adds Camille Savre, Head of the Occupational and Professional Certification Engineering Department. The latest example: the official registration of the certification "Coordinating the interventions of stakeholders involved with the individual employer to promote home care", which is now included in the Specific Directory (RS). Anticipating, observing, developing, supporting—this certification is the result of this entire process.

A Major Challenge: Enabling Home Care

"Today, the loss of autonomy is a real challenge—we are all aware of it. Studies show that 85% of French people wish to age at home. The goal is to support them, and our sector has a crucial role to play," observes Nadège Turco, Deputy Director of IPERIA. She adds, "A few years ago, our employees were assigned very specific tasks. Today, they are truly recognized as key players in fostering social connections at home. Perspectives are shifting, and so are the professions."

Field studies conducted by IPERIA's teams reveal that multiple stakeholders can support the individual employer. This is why, since 2015, the sector has been reflecting on the concept of ‘governance’ within the home. At that time, a Professional Qualification Certificate called “Family Governance Assistant” was created. It was a generalist qualification designed to prepare professionals from three key roles—childcare provider, family assistant, and personal carer—for governance functions. "Together with the sector, which is committed to addressing the needs of individual employers and employees, we identified this essential role. We conducted studies, and it was through the Prospective Studies Agreement—supported by the General Delegation for Employment and Vocational Training (DGEFP) and coordinated by IPERIA—that we defined the framework for this certification," explains Nadège Turco. By 2020, after three pilot programs and an evolving landscape of needs, it became clear that these governance-related functions were most relevant to the role of a personal carer. "We therefore worked on a submission to the Specific Directory based on the principle that 'The simplest way to ease the daily life of people with dependent needs is to have a single point of contact in the home—someone they can rely on to coordinate all interventions,' explains Camille Savre.

Professionalizing a Key Role: Coordination

Coordination is an additional role within the personal carer profession that fits into a more human, holistic approach to care—one that is closer to the person receiving care and their family. When an individual employer calls upon an employee with coordination skills, it is because they need to rely on a single point of contact. It should be noted that within homes, personal carers often serve as a key figure, bridging the interventions of multidisciplinary teams, whose role can help prevent difficulties faced by individual employers with dependent needs, people with disabilities, or their families. These skills are now being officially recognized by the certification as coordination skills.

This specific mission reshapes the view of sector professions by placing the personal carer (or family assistant wishing to advance) in a role that many may not have imagined, but that certainly exists! Employees are indeed at the heart of what happens in the daily life of individual employers and build a unique and mutual relationship of trust. In this context, four key challenges are addressed by the certification:

1. Facilitating the interventions of multidisciplinary teams to ensure continuity of care for the person and their family.
2. Ensuring the quality of communication through the smoother exchange of information between professionals.
3. Creating a nurturing environment through participation in the quality of interventions.
4. Ensuring daily management of the home to guarantee the quality of interventions by the multidisciplinary team.

The coordination role is complementary to the personal carer profession and, therefore, to the professional qualification registered in the RNCP, "Dependency Personal Carer", which is not required to obtain this new certification. However, a complete pathway combining both certifications is entirely possible and allows for meeting the expectations of job seekers wishing to join the sector while taking on specific roles with a high level of skills.
* IFOP, Study on Seniors and Personal Services Offers, 2019