CAREER COUNSELING RESEARCHES AND EXPERIENCE OF CAREER COUNSELORS

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CAREER COUNSELING RESEARCHES AND EXPERIENCE OF
CAREER COUNSELORS TRAINING AT VYTAUTAS MAGNUS
UNIVERSITY

• Lijana Navickiene
• Vytautas Magnus university
• Centre for Vocational Education and Research
• 12 November 2007, Kaunas

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Researches on career counseling

• Dissertations
• Master thesis
• Scientific articles (journal Vocational
  Education. Research and Reality)
• National and international projects.

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Researches within projects

• Leonardo da Vinci programme project Meeting the
  Needs of Employment European Curriculum
  Guidelines for Lifelong Vocational Counsellors in
  the line with the Challenges of EU Enlargement
• Leonardo da Vinci programme project Overcoming
  Intercultural and Linguistic Barriers in
  Continuously Accessible Vocational Guidance and
  Counselling
• European structural fund project Development and
  Implementation of the Master Study Programme
  "Career Counseling"
• European structural fund project Development and
  implementation of career counseling system
• European structural fund project Development of
  open information and counseling system (AIKOS)

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Problems of career counsellors training in
Lithuania

• There is no consecutive system for career
  counsellors training and professional
  development
• Lack of attention to the training and
  professional development of career counseling
  practitioners
• Preparation level to work as counsellors is
  fairly low
• Career counsellors usually enter counselling
  practice without any particular preparation
• Career counselors are those retrained people who
  have finished different courses or seminars and
  acquired formally unrecognized competencies of
  career counselor during their practice

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Problems of career counsellors training in
Lithuania

• Educational background of career counsellors in
  Lithuania
• Social studies - 42 (economics - 33 ,
  educology - 21 ,management - 18 , sociology
  12 , psichology 9 )
• Tehnical studies - 36 (mechanics, building,
  engineering)
• Humanitarian degrees 10 (filology)
• Physical studies - 8 (physics, mathematic,
  geography)
• Natural studies - 4 (biology, agronomy,
  ecology, environmental science)

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Initiatives for solving career counsellors
training and professional development issues

• Continuous inconsecutive modular programmes
• Professional standard for career counsellors
  defining the main areas of activity, functions
  and competencies of counselling specialists, as a
  basis for planning, organizing and evaluating the
  content of specialists initial and further
  training
• Career counsellors training standard defining the
  main parameters of counsellors training (entrance
  requirements, studies duration, form, objectives
  , content of the studies, strategies for
  evaluation of students achievements, ect.)
• Master study programme Career designing

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Experience of career counselors training and
professional development at Vytautas Magnus
University

• Continuous inconsecutive studies
• Module based learning
• Module 2 credits (3 ECTS), 80 hours
• Target groups educators of vocational
  institutions and secondary schools, labour market
  specialists, labour exchange counsellors and
  personnel managers.

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Continuous inconsecutive studies

• Modular programmes for career counselors,
  mediators and business counselors (since 2002)
• Career designing methodology
• Introduction into psychological counseling
• Methods of individuals cognition
• Methods of personnel selection
• Methods for counseling long-term unemployed
• Work with disabled
• Development of business plan
• Market researches
• Information management
• Leading meetings and discussions

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Continuous inconsecutive studies

• Data on completion of the study programmes
• Career counselors 564
• 2002 y 80
• 2003 y 106
• 2004 y 97
• 2005 y 117
• 2006 y 80
• 2007 y - 84

• Mediators -114
• 2002 y 25
• 2003 y 29
• 2004 y 25
• 2005 y - 35
• Business counselors
• 2003 y - 49

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Master study programme Career designing

• Basic characteristics
• An expansive master study programme devoted to
  develop competencies in the area of career
  designing
• Provides a master qualification degree in
  educology
• Competency-based programme
• Volume 63 credits (94,5 ECTS)
• Duration 1,5 year
• Access requirements - university educational
  background in the fields of social sciences or
  humanities
• Complementary studies - those who do not have
  basics of educology, psychology and management
  are required to study those supplementary modules
  together with bachelor students during the first
  two semesters.

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Master Study Programme "Career Designing"

• Obligatory modules (3 credits)
• M1 Vocational counseling systems
• M2 Methodology of activity research
• M3 Research of vocational training and education
• M4 Methodology of vocational career research
• M5 Career counseling in organization
• M6 Psychological counseling methods
• M7 Career in different age stages
• 5 Optional modules (4 credits)
• M8 Theories of educational sociology
• M9 Applied educational philosophy
• M10 Comparative educational policy
• M11 Applied educational research
• M12 Methodology for development of project works
• M13 Lifelong learning quality assessment
• M14 Systems of educational organization
• M15 ICT in education
• M16 Culture and educational change
• M17 Andragogical didactics

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Master study programme Career designing

• Forms of organization
• Full-time studies. Target group students
  graduated from bachelor level studies without
  practical experience in the field.
• Extramural studies. Target group career
  counseling practicians from education and labour
  market sector.

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European structural fund project Development
and Implementation of the Master Study Programme
"Career Designing"

• Main results
• Developed and legalized the master study modular
  programme Career Designing.
• Developed teaching-learning material - tool-kits
  for study modules.
• Implemented programme and prepared more that 80
  masters in career designing.

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Intentions for the future

• Postgraduate study programme based on combination
  of theoretical and practical studies in higher
  school and development of practical skills in
  counselling institution and providing career
  counselors qualification.
• Scientific journal Career Designing Research and
  Counseling.

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• Thank you for attention!
• Contacts
• Lijana Navickiene
• E-mail l.navickiene_at_smf.vdu.lt
• Tel. [phone]
• Fax. [phone]