Reshaping Correctional Competencies through RESCALED Innovation

RESIZE

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Reshaping Correctional Competencies through RESCALED Innovation

RESIZE

ABOUT PROJECT

The RESIZE project goal

The RESIZE project goal is to empower practitioners to become active participants in their own professional development and problem-solving processes. Through this approach, we aim to bridge the gaps between different employment settings and levels of education, ensuring that all practitioners have access to relevant and practical skills that can be applied in their specific contexts related to supporting (re)integration of people who have been sentenced.

 

By taking the expertise out of enclaves within correctional settings and promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing, we believe that the project can foster innovation, adaptability, and a more holistic understanding of the challenges faced in the criminal justice system. This approach acknowledges the importance of context-specific solutions and the expertise that practitioners bring from their diverse backgrounds.

 

By fostering a culture of lifelong learning and skills recognition, we enable workers to adapt to changing labour market demands, pursue career advancement opportunities, and contribute to a more agile and resilient workforce. This is the true power of having competencies mapped, transformed into profiles, learning objectives, micro-credentialed, digitalised and gave back to their rightful owners, the learners, into their digital wallets! 

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THE RESIZE PROJECT IDENTIFIES SEVERAL KEY TARGET GROUPS:
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Correctional professionals

involved in social work, psychology, education, and rehabilitation

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Education professionals

such as teachers working to provide educational and vocational training programs to assist persons in prisons in acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary for integration into society upon release

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Justice professionals

such as probation officers and social workers

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Civil society organizations

such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in offering a variety of services and initiatives to assist both prison own staff and people who have been sentenced, but also their families

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Specialists

from diverse fields, including education, civil society, social welfare, employment

OUR VISION

Regenerative Justice, Competence‑Enabled Why regenerative?

We believe justice should not merely minimise harm; it should repair, restore and regenerate the social fabric. At Liberate Skills, our approach is grounded in regenerative justice. To better understand this direction, we introduce both generative justice and regenerative justice as complementary concepts that explain the shift from extractive systems toward models that restore, circulate, and renew value.

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Generative justice

Generative justice refers to the idea that people, communities, and ecosystems should have the right to create value and directly benefit from it, without that value being extracted by external forces. Instead of systems where value is taken away—whether from nature (overexploitation), labor (underpaid work), or communities (social and cultural extraction)—generative justice promotes the circulation of value back to its source. It supports bottom-up models such as community-based platforms, worker-owned organizations, and regenerative practices, where those who generate value also shape the conditions of its creation and share in its outcomes.

Regenerative justice

Regenerative justice is a broader, forward-looking approach that focuses on healing past harms while building resilient, equitable, and sustainable systems for the future. In today’s Europe, there is a growing focus on investing in and supporting the development of resilient societies, strengthening communities, reducing inequalities, and advancing sustainable transitions, making regenerative justice an increasingly relevant framework for shaping inclusive and future-ready systems. It goes beyond punishment or simple restoration by addressing the interconnected nature of social, economic, and ecological issues. Rooted in principles like inclusion, equity, and sustainability, regenerative justice aims to restore balance and enable communities and ecosystems to thrive together, emphasizing long-term renewal, collective participation, and systemic transformation.

REGENERATIVE JUSTICE

We envision a Regenerative Justice Ecosystem where:

1
Real‑time competence intelligence

powered by Union‑of‑Skills data, Digital Decade metrics and sector foresight - anticipates emerging needs before they become crises.

2
Every practitioner and professional

(from first‑response officers to post‑release civic mentors) holds a portable competence passport of stackable micro‑credentials that travels with them across borders and sectors.

3
Employers and learning providers

co‑design flexible, modular pathways covering the full spectrum of knowledge, competencies, attitudes and values needed for humane, digitally confident and sustainable justice.

4
Communities, people harmed and people in detention

trust that each encounter is guided by staff who embody dignity, safety and restoration.

5
Learners access inspiring practices

and practical tools - from trauma‑informed routines to circular‑economy prison work schemes, that they can implement immediately, making every facility a stepping‑stone toward small‑scale, community‑embedded models.

RESIZE supplies the infrastructure for this vision by merging the Council of Europe’s human‑rights mandate with the European Commission’s push for lifelong competence management - Union of Skills, the European Digital Decade and the European Learning Model, and by translating those policies into concrete learning opportunities that bring the regenerative future closer, interaction by interaction.

OUR MISSION

Competence Management for Regenerative Justice

RESIZE positions itself at the forefront of European public policy on correctional transformation, serves both professionals (licensed staff) and practitioners (peer mentors, NGO actors, volunteers). Our overarching purpose is to generate justice reform through learning. Every training module, micro‑credential and recognition tool we build enables practitioners and professionals to deliver interactions that are dignifying, safe and restorative, today, while collectively steering Europe toward regenerative, small‑scale detention models.

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INSTRUMENTS WE BUILD

Core contributions in practice

1

European Blueprint of the Correctional Ecosystem - Mapping institutions, actors and practices in 30 countries.

2

European Competence Framework - 50 harmonised competencies with green & digital dimensions.

3

European Vocational Core Profiles - 10 role profiles covering security, health, education, social work, mental health, volunteering and more.

4

European Skills Index for Correctional Competencies (ESI‑CC) - Composite indicator benchmarking competence development across Europe.

5

Micro‑Credential Catalogue & RPL Mechanism - 100 ELM‑compliant micro‑credentials

6

Regional Pacts for Competencies - Multi‑stakeholder alliances aligning VET offers with real labour‑market needs.

RESIZE PROJECT

What Success Looks Like

By the end of the 48‑month (2029) Blueprint cycle RESIZE will have laid a self‑sustaining infrastructure (frameworks, curricula, recognition tools, observatory and regional pacts) that any European jurisdiction can plug into to professionalise its justice‑and‑wellbeing workforce and accelerate the transition toward regenerative, small‑scale detention houses.

RESIZE is therefore not a project about prisons. It is a competence infrastructure project that turns every corner of europe’s justice‑and‑wellbeing continuum into a learning‑enabled, resilient and dignifying environment!

PARTNERS

Collaboration Opportunities

We extend an open invitation to all individuals and institutions interested in becoming part of the RESIZE initiative! Whether you are a profesional within the correctional sector seeking to implement educational programs, an educational institution or private organisation working with correctional context and willing to collaborate or contribute, we encourage you to connect with us!

 

Would you like to be part of our stakeholder database and receive more info on our work, get invitations for events and take part in the development?

Please contact the representative organisation for each partner country and join us in our pursuit of enhancing the skills of professionals working in correctional facilities!

CONTACT

LiberateSkills

RESIZE has been funded with support from the European Union and implemented within Pact No 248 LiberateSkills - A lifelong learning European Pact for Correctional Excellence. A first‑of‑its‑kind Erasmus+ Blueprint. RESIZE is the only Blueprint Alliance that applies the full spectrum of lifelong learning, from initial VET and higher‑education programmes to continual professional development (CPD) and community‑based learning, to the correctional and community‑justice ecosystem. Rather than bolting short courses onto yesterday’s curricula, RESIZE designs a cradle‑to‑career competence pathway that evolves with each learner’s stage of practice.

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