Guidance Policies across Europe: meeting the LLL Challenge

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• Guidance Policies across Europemeeting the LLL
  Challenge
• Dublin
• 30 April 2004
• 
  

Ronald G. Sultana University of Malta
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(No Transcript)
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Key points

• Guidance on the European agenda
• The reviews exercise
• Core guidance issues across Europe
• Rationale why invest in guidance?
• Delivery how best to deliver in education/LM?
• Human and financial resources for guidance
• What leadership for LLG paradigm shift?
• Issues and challenges for LLG

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The European agenda

• Europe as a competitive, dynamic KB society
• Europe as an inclusive society
• Promotion of employability and social inclusion
• Implications for education and training systems

LLL Memorandum (1999) Consultation
(2000) Communication (2001) Quality Indicators
(2002) Objectives for education training
systems (2002) Increased European co-operation
in VET (2002) Tertiary Education (Bologna
process 1999)
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Role of lifelong guidance

• Key component in national strategies
• Priority area for action at EU level
• Policy development and initiatives
• - Expert Group on Lifelong Guidance
• - Opinion on quality issues citizen
  perspective
• - Policy Handbook on Guidance
• - Virtual community (CEDEFOP)
• - Research review on guidance across Europe

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Four reviews 29 European countries

• ETF review 11 Acceding and candidate countries
• Cedefop review 12 ACCs, plus 15 MS, plus
  Iceland, Norway
• World Bank Report included Poland and Romania
  (again) and Turkey

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Key structuring themes

• and the EU
  defining
• challenges for public policy
• needs of young needs of adults
• GUIDANCE
• widening access
• career information
• staffing funding
• strategic leadership

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Defining guidance

• Services intended to assist
• individuals and groups
• of any age
• at any point throughout their lives
• to make educational, training occupational
  choices
• and to manage their careers

• Offered in education training institutions,
  PES, companies, voluntary private
• Face-to-face or at a distance
• Include career information, assessment tools,
  interviews, career management, work tasters,
  transition services

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Key common issues across Europe

• Rationale
• Delivery
• Resourcing
• Leadership

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Why invest in guidance?

• Public-policy goals
• - learning goals
• - labour market goals
• - social equity goals
• LLL sustained employability
• Not just expansion but transformation
• Role in development of human capital

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Key features in deliveryeducation

• Most guidance at key points in school context
• In/across curriculum the G-oriented school
• Focus on personal guidance crowded out
• Emphasis on provision, not self-directed
• Aspiration to offer services to all (including
  HE)
• Strategies for target / client groups still to be
  developed (e.g. out-of-school youth post-16)

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Key features in delivery Labour Market

• Services for adults remedial and narrowly
  targeted to the unemployed (PES)
• Few developments in guidance with employed, and
  in leisure, 3rd age, retirement counselling
• Weak involvement of social partners
• Private provision underdeveloped/unregulated
• Increasing use of ICT and shift to self-service
• Weak connectivity career, education, LM data

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Resourcing

• Career guidance not professionalised yet few
  offer specialised pre-service training
• Great variety within/between European states in
  terms of qualifications/training for staff
• Need for competence frameworks
• In general no mutual recognition of guidance
  qualifications between education /LM sector

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Resourcingctd.

• Staff tend to have multiple roles
• PES staff over-burdened
• Feminised profession
• Professional associations emerging
• Lack of information re. expenditure
• Funding models devolve, outsource,
• and stimulate private markets

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Leadership

• Rare to find determined strategic leadership
• Evidence base tends to be weak
• Stakeholder involvement is underdeveloped
• Need for stronger co-ordination
• Strategic instruments
• - Legislation
• - Staff competence frameworks
• - Organisational quality standards
• Only some European countries have detailed goals
• Most European countries lack monitoring system

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Key issues and challenges

• Develop national strategies for LLG
• Improve training provision
• Improve transparency / ease of access
• Encourage flexibility and innovation to meet
  needs of diverse client groups
• Strengthen social partner involvement
• Stimulate voluntary and private sectors
• Improve access to integrated career information

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More issues and challenges

• Strengthen the employability focus
• Stimulate career management programmes
• Improve evidence base
• Strengthen quality assurance
• Generate more dialogue via national forums
  (practitioners and policy makers)
• Enhance international co-operation exchange of
  good practice

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YOU
can make the difference
Thank you