Horsemen Project Stages
The course was developed in four stages:
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Stage 1: The evaluation of courses presently available by the providers of the Horsemen Study modules in the participating countries, this was to be achieved by formal thematic groups of invited participants. A forum was provided to give the opportunity to explore the essential parts of the courses from which we moved towards an agreed draft of a module based upon the recognised need for a course. This phase lead to the development of a framework to make comparisons between modules/courses offered in participating countries and the identification of similarities and uniqueness of the programmes/courses/modules provided.
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Stage 2: A consultation process was developed to identify the present skills of Travellers and Roma in horse care. We expected that the experiences of Travellers and Roma in horse care would contribute to the development of the course. A General Forum was convened, as was a process of individual one to one interviews with members of the client group. It was recognised that the support of the client group was paramount and that one of the challenges providers would have to face was to develop strategies to ensure their involvement. Guidelines were drawn up to ensure that the specific relevant information on aspects of horse care was recorded. These guidelines were focused on the methodology to be used in acquiring the information on horses from Travellers and Roma.??
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Stage 3: The development of agreed courses based on the outcome of Stage 1 and Stage 2, this stage involved the experience of staff/teachers working with the client group. Time in this stage was devoted to the evaluation of the best place for the delivery of these programmes whether it should be part of the individual client group programmes or in a location outside their present provision. A Horse-care module was developed integrating the learning from stage one and stage two with the support of the accrediting bodies in each of the partner countries.
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?Stage 4: A pilot course was implementation in three partner countries i.e. Spain, Hungary and Ireland. This involved an evaluation phase, which was carried out during the specified period of the Pilot Phase and involved members of the project team visiting the centres where the pilot phase was being delivered, the collection of insights from tutors as the course progressed and engagement and consultation with the target group in establishing their requirements, Evaluation was also sought from students taking part in training. Upon completion of these stages it is envisaged that the piloted Horse-care module will be mainstreamed based upon an evaluation phase that was carried out as part of stage four.