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Lifelong Guidance in Europe

International ConferenceEU IPA Project for Promoting Lifelong Learning in Turkey

Istanbul, 1 December 2016

Helmut Zelloth, Strategic Project Leader

European Training Foundation (ETF)

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‘The illiterate of the 21st century

will not be those who cannot read and write,

but those who cannot learn,

unlearn and relearn’(Alvin Toffler)

Statement made at the meeting of Director Generals for VET from EU Member States

Latvian EU Presidency, Riga, 20-21 April 2015

A lifelong learning

perspective …

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A congested highwayEducation to Employment(Mc Kinsey Global Institute, 2013)

Survey in 9 countries,

including Turkey, USA, Mexico, India, Brasil, Saudi Arabia

4 in 10 employers say a leading reason for theirvacancies is a lack of right skills in new graduates

Only 55% of working youth landed in a job related to their field of study

50% of youth are not sure that theirpostsecondary education has improved theirchances to find a job

Youth are not well informed when makingeducational choices

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Global challenges for

Lifelong Learning and Guidance

Academic drift in societies –

at the expense of labour market needs and the individual

Skills mismatch – overeducation versus underskilled;

shortage of people with the right skills and critical job skills

Youth unemployment – despite youth are better educated

than ever before (paradoxon

of educated unemployed)

Untapped human resources –

interest/skills/talent often not in line

with current/future job; precarious

work

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Source: OECD Education Policy Outlook, 2015

G20 economiesTransition support among top priority

policy measures for youth

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(Lifelong) Career guidance

– a panacea ?

Or part of the solution ?

- Transitions

- Employment

- Employability

Or part of the problem ?

- Manifold challenges

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Major conclusions

Career guidance is important for individuals, but

Career guidance also contributes to public policy goals

- in education and training (efficiency, level and quality of

human capital, address skill shortages, drop-out…)

- in the labour market (better match, mobility, improve labour

supply, workforce preparation, adaptability…)

- in social cohesion and equity (social integration, gender,

citizenship…)

International reviewsEU, OECD, ILO, World Bank

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Some universal truths…

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Individuals differ significantly in their capacities(for collecting/interpreting information about themselves, their

environment, in career decision making and in transitions)

Some individuals need little, some need

more and some need a lot of assistance

Families and communities differ in their capacities

(to source information about the world of work, about learning

pathways to the world of work) and need to be assisted

Knowledge base of adults, incl. teachers(about work

and learning opportunities, pathways between learning and work)

is very limited and needs to be assisted

Some universal

truths…

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Well positioned (I am focused and prepared)

Disheartened (I know enough to not care)

Driven (I am motivated because I know education

matters)

Disengaged (I dont care to know much)

Struggling (I want to know more)

Too cool (I am not interested in attending post-

secondary)

Too poor (I would like to go to postsecondary but

cannot afford to)

Example YOUTH –

different segments(Mc Kinsey, 2013 )

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Diversity of youth groups

The case of Arab Mediterranean Countries (ETF )

….each target group requiring different type of help…

EDUCATED UNEMPLOYEDYouth with good access to education but higher unemployment

Higher socioeconomic background

May be able to choose between available jobs or remain unemployed

Female unemployment three times higher

UN- AND LOW-SKILLED JOBBERSTend to start working early, often under strong social pressure

(early adulthood), early school leavers

Occupy precarious positions, move between short-term insecure jobs

Cannot afford to be unemployed, accept poorest informal jobs

INACTIVE YOUTHNeither in education and training nor in the labour market (NEET)

Most vulnerable to social exclusion, likely to be illiterate, uneducated

More than 1/3 of young population in this situation

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What is a ‘Career’ ?

Career is more than just a ‘Job’

Career is not only about vertical

progression (‘career ladder’)

Career is also about horizontal

development and fulfilment in

(working)life

It concerns both employment and

self-employment, entrepreneurship

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EU involvementin career guidance

1957-to present

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Paradigm shift …

…in EU and OECD countries

from intervention at key points in life

to a lifelong perspective

from psychological ‘testing’ to

«tasting the world of work»

from external expert support to

career (self)-management skills

from individual guidance to group-and

self-help approaches

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UNDERLYING PRINCIPLE

From: choosing a career

To: constructing a career

Paradigm shift …

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Access

by all

citizens

Career

management

skills

Quality

assurance

of provision

Co-ordination

and

co-operation

Four key priorities

of EU lifelong guidance policy

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Lifelong Guidance =

• ….services intended to assist

• ….individuals and groups

• ….of any age

• ….at any point throughout their lives

to make

…(a) educational choices

(b) training choices

(c) occupational choices

….and to manage their careers

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Converging or diverging concepts ?

Guidance throughout life –

or guidance at key transition points

(throughout life)?

Lifelong Guidance

and Transitions

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Key transitions

and lifelong guidance

Key

transitions

Transition

from

education or VET

to work

Transition

to specialisation

within

education or VET

Transition

from education or VET

to higher education

Transition

from (un)employment

/ inactivity

to education / VET /

employment

Transition

from basic education

to general or VET

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Triple role …

… lifelong guidance can play …

turning point role (when it comes to making

choices for a learning pathway (i.e. VET), major or

occupation)

supporting role (in critical phases during the

learning or transition process, i.e. preventing drop-out,

encouraging further learning, raising aspirations)

empowerment role (empowering the individual to

become a ‘lifelong learner’, to become/remain employable

throughout life, increased capacity to self-manage various

transitions through ´CMS´ - career management skills)

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1. Schools, VET and LLL Centres (pupils, parents, families)

2. Out of school Guidance Centres (pupils, parents, families)

3. Higher education Centres (students)

4. Public Employment Service Centres (mainlyunemployed)

5. National Telephone Helplines and Internet Websites/Online services (mainly adults, pupils, students)

6. Networks of career guidance providers (all citizens)

Where can people access

‘Lifelong Guidance’?

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Lifelong Guidance

in schools and for adults

THE IDEAL

For ALL students

Embedded in CURRICULUM

Access to QUALITY INFORMATION

Career Management SKILLS learned

PEDAGOGICAL approach

Experiental learning/work

Access to individual career COUNSELLING

if required

Access for ALL ADULTS (unemployed and

employed at the workplace) + targeting

specific adult groups (low-skilled, older

workers, immigrants)

Employment services in PARTNERSHIP

with others

THE REAL

For SOME students

Little formal CAREER EDUCATION

Uneven quality or LACK of Career INFO

‘TEST AND TELL’ approach pre-dominant

Mainly PSYCHOLOGICAL approach

Limited resource materials

School personnel often NOT TRAINED for

the guidance job

Adult Guidance services WEAK and only

emerging - main provider Public

Employment Services focuses on

unemployed

LITTLE EVIDENCE of partnerships, limited

private sector

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Delivery models

of lifelong guidance(ETF 2009)

CURRICULUM

MODEL

(1) Compulsory subject ‘career education’ or similar

(2) Compulsory part of (an)other subject(s)

(3) Compulsory curriculum principle (all or several subjects)

(4) Elective subject ‘career education’ or similar

(5) Part of (an)other elective subject(s)

(6) Part of curricular activities (eg guidance programme)

(7) Part of extra-curricular activities (eg career fairs)

(8) Part (module) of a (re)training programme

CENTRE

MODEL

(1) Centre inside school/university

(2) Centre outside school/university specifically for students

(3) Centre for unemployed inside public employment services

(4) Centre for all citizens – in- or outside educational or labour

market settings

INDIVIDUAL

MODEL

(1) Specialist inside school / university / employment services

(school counsellor, school psychologist or pedagogue,

social worker, guidance specialist in employment offices)

(2) Semi-specialist inside school / university / employment

services (eg class teacher, subject teacher,

(deputy)director, employment counsellor, generic career

coordinator or career adviser)

VIRTUAL or

WEB-MODEL

(1) Self-help facility at schools / public employment services /

local communities

(2) Web-based interactive (online, individual through Internet)

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Career

Management

Skills

Work-

‘Tasting’

Testing

Career

Information

Individual

Guidance

Group

Guidance

Career

Counselling

Delivery modalitiesETF, 2009

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Limitations

to career guidance

Large

informal economy

Phenomenon/tradition

of strong parental

influence and

‘informal guidance’

Inflexible and rigid

allocation system

of students to

educational pathways

Academic orientation +

negative stereotyping

of vocational careers and

vocational education

and training

Informal

allocation mechanisms

to jobs and employment

(social capital versus

human capital)

Barriersto meeting demand for lifelong guidance

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Policy lessons

Wider access to career guidance services and changing the mode of delivery- resource-efficient approach (career education, group- and self-help)

- decisive shift from a psychological to a pedagogical/hybrid delivery model (building on the new guidance paradigm, eg career self-

management skills, self-empowerment, work-tasting)

- enhanced career information (print- and web-based)

- stronger links between career guidance and entrepreneurship

To consider both informal labour market and informal guidance provision- when shaping new career guidance services in formal/informal economies, career informatin needs to take into account information about the informal labour market

- informal guidance and formal one need to get closer together

Fostering national dialogue + international networking among key actors and stakeholders in guidance- pilot co-operation and co-ordination mechanisms at national level

- make better use of international networks and donor funding (sustainability issue)

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Policy

lessons

Integrating career guidance within wider reforms in education, training and labour market

- VET/education reform project could include development of career information system and training of teachers to become guidance teachers

- curriculum reform could go hand in hand with piloting of career education and career managment skills in basic/secondary schools

- labour market project could contain a component to build up or improve career guidance centres in public employment services

Fostering home-grown and demand-driven career guidance services- as opposed to donor- and supply-driven development model

- aiming at service provision which fits real demand, size and contextuality of a country

- methods and tools that are ‘home-grown’ or at least culturally validated

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Preparation or escape …?

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Making Lifelong Guidance work = Passion + Vision + Action

If you have vision and action but no passion you will be mediocre………………..

If you have passion and vision but no action you will be daydreaming …………..

If you have passion and action but no vision you will reach the wrong goal………....

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Thank you for your attention !

For further information

please visit our website

www.etf.europa.eu