Counseling and Career guidance for VET graduates

One of the key issues for graduates and young people in general, is the career choices that they have to make. These decisions are crucial for the future of young people as it is largely affecting the professional satisfaction, young people will have in the future from the profession they will choose. These options will be more effective but also satisfactory if they match the personal characteristics of them with the characteristics of the job they will choose and these options largely depend on the degree to which it will be adequately structured, compact and with enough clarity the professional self. That is, the degree to which the inclinations, abilities, skills, interests, preferences, characteristics, etc. of young people will have crystallized. These decisions will also be influenced by the views of parents, teachers, potential employers, peer group and other important people in the lives of young people. The wider social and cultural environment as it is shaped by the media, social media and the internet, the print media and various other sources of information will also play a key role at this decision. The aim of career guidance counseling, if the image of the professional self has already been formed and / or in parallel with this process, is to facilitate young people in the process of making these decisions.

There are too many detailed definitions of career guidance. The general definition as cited by UNESCO and Conger (1994: 7), “the primary purpose of the guide is to provide students with general career development and development skills with efficiency in their continuous development as students, working professionals and citizens”. According to Conger (1994) and UNESCO the main objectives of the Orientation, whether it concerns educational or professional choices, as applied in education should be the acquisition of some skills that students should have acquired and relate to knowledge and attitudes, that are considered necessary but also to evaluate themselves (self-knowledge and self-esteem), to be able to effectively relate to other people, to be able to develop appropriate educational plans, to explore alternative career and work options. Therefore, the main goal of career guidance should not be limited to information. This does not mean that information is not one of the main priorities of career guidance, but that the same emphasis should be given to the above skills, which in short could be characterized as learning life skills.

According to Conger (1994) students should:

• To know the effect that the positive image of themselves can have in their life, to help them with self-knowledge and self-esteem
• Be able to interact positively with other people,
• To be able to understand the effects of their development and evolution (physical, psychological, spiritual),
• Know the direct correlations between educational performance and career planning
• Understand the need to develop positive attitudes towards work and learning,
• Have skills in locating, evaluating, and interpreting career information,
• Have skills that will prepare them in the search, acquisition, retention and exchange of jobs and professions,
• Have decision-making skills,
• Understand the interaction of different life roles,
• Have skills for planning their career.

And understand how social needs and functions, but also the various social, economic, demographic and other transformations and changes affect the nature and structure of the labor market (Bosch, G. & Charest, J. 2008).

 

In order for young people to make the best and most sustainable career choices possible, they must first achieve a satisfactory degree of knowledge of themselves, their skills, abilities, interests, values, etc. This knowledge will form gradually self- knowledge and will build their professional identity. Knowledge of this data will allow them to be able to match their key characteristics with the requirements of different career options. There are many theories about career choices, but not all are based on self-knowledge as a primary career choice. This decision-making process will be facilitated by the consultation process which, in order to be more effective, must be structured. The structured counseling process will improve counselor communication and in turn facilitate the counseling and management of counselors’ confusion. Combined with adequate information this will facilitate decision making by the consultants. Such a framework for managing and building the Consulting process is provided by Ivey, Gluckstern & Bradford Ivey (1996), Basic-counselling-skills.com, http://www.basic-counselling-skills.com/asking-questions.html, and Basic Counseling Skills. (2010).

 

Zimmerman et al (2013) note that apprenticeship is also a great way to prevent youth unemployment. They believe that the dual role of apprenticeship, ie the combination of internships in real places and working conditions with school support through the provision of knowledge and information that give conceptual meaning to experiences from the work and professional field, is a complete form of preparation for the real world of work, thus giving young people an advantage in finding work in the labor market. They believe that apprenticeship – in the form of a combination of parallel practice and theoretical practice – offers the possibility of coordinating the demands of the labor market with the abilities and skills of young potential employees. Thus, young people will prefer such apprenticeship programs as they will perceive apprenticeship as the beginning of a long-term investment in the labor market and will develop a stronger bond with the labor market itself, while promoting economic growth and social cohesion.

 

Therefore, according to the general view of the characteristics and factors but also the more specific formulations of the theories of Holland, but also of Super, crucial for effective and successful educational and professional choices is the self-determination by the students. This achievement may not be very easy for teenagers and young people as the concept of self is not built overnight, especially during adolescence which is a stage with many peculiarities and characteristics that do not favor the crystallization of the concept of self in general and the concept of professional self in particular (vocational self-concept). Apprenticeships are therefore presented as an opportunity for young people to work further, in a real work environment in real working conditions, and to gradually build more of a sense of professional self. Needless, this learning and building process is greatly favored by the involvement of young people in real working conditions as it is in line with the wording that the learning process can only happen independently, where among all other experiences there is the possibility of learning through imitation of patterns (vicarious learning). The stages of professional decision making are: Clarification of personal goals and values & creation of a hierarchy of goals, search for alternatives & expand options, information search, evaluation of options, decision-taking and finally implementation.

 

Bibliography

 

Bosch, G. & Charest, J. (2008). Vocational training and the labour market in liberal and coordinated economies, Industrial Relations Journal, 39:5, 428-447

 

Bright, J.E.H., Pryor, R.G.L., Wilkenfeld, S. & Earl, J. (2005). The role of social context and serendipitous events in career decision making, International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 5:L19-36.

 

Cedefop (2009b). Continuity, consolidation and change: Towards a European era of vocational education and training, Cedefop, Thessaloniki

 

Conger, D.S. (1994). Policies and guidelines for educational and vocational guidance, Paris, UNEVOC, UNESCO, 1994

 

Ivey, A.E. & Gluckstern, N.B. (1999). Συμβουλευτική: Βασικές δεξιότητες επιρροής. Ελληνικά Γράμματα: Αθήνα.

 

Kuhn, K.I. (2017). Enhancing social competence for disadvantaged youth in pre-vocational education: Model development through design-based research, International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 4(4): 346-368.

 

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in Society-the development of higher processes. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

 

Zimmerman, K.F., Biavaschi, C., Eichhorst, W., Giulietti, C., Kendzia, M.J., Muravyev, A., Pieters, J., Rodriguez-Planas, N., & Schmidl, R. (2013). Youth unemployment and vocational training, Foundations and Trends in Microeconomics, vol.9(1-2):1-157

 

VET Centre Zirmunai has been a member of AEHT (Association of European Hotel and Tourism Schools) for almost 20 years. The association gathers around 400 hospitality sector schools from more than 40 countries. The association aims to promote a European outlook among Hotel and Tourism Schools by providing means of communication between European Hotel and Tourism Schools and business, by pooling teaching methods and materials, knowledge, and skills. It‘s like a great European family with a solid reputation, a facilitator of mobilities and exchanges, provider of learning opportunities in a multicultural and -lingual context, promotor of soft skills.

The association organizes annual competitions in hospitality and tourism. Students are divided into teams of 2 or 3. Students who speak the same native language cannot be in the same team. Competition language is English. They must be from different countries. In a team, they must agree, plan what they will produce, order products, describe, draw their work plan and finally put their practical skills into practice, working in teams, within the set time, following the rules and hygiene requirements, demonstrating the creativity and professional competencies.

Every year the conference and competitions take place in a different country. In 2023, this event will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania. The main organizer is the VET Center Zirmunai, together with 5 other vocational schools, members of the association. To train students, to prepare them to compete, VET schools organize national competitions. During the competitions, obviously students must be able to demonstrate their professional skills. Moreover, together with professional competences, a wide range of entrepreneurial competences are needed, and they are assessed by judges. To prepare students to compete, teachers must be aware what entrepreneurial competences are important and how they should be developed.

Competition is the situation when someone is trying to be more successful than someone else. Competitors need to learn to perform professional skills under a variety of competitive conditions. To understand how to develop competing competence, firstly, you need to understand what entrepreneurial competences are necessary for a particular competition and look for ways to train them. These competencies crucial for competitions are teamwork and collaboration, problem solving, strategic thinking, resource management and mental toughness covering persistence, resilience, and grit. One of the most common concerns and misconceptions regarding educational competitions is the “Competition vs. Collaboration” debate. Some people mistakenly think that competition is the antonym to collaboration. However, when it is broken down, well-structured, consciously designed competitions actually foster collaboration and teamwork. Most team-based competitions require students to take on challenging tasks that require effective communication, collaboration, and teamwork.

These skills are necessary for future successful career. Business doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Whatever sector it operates in, there will always be other businesses competing for customers on price, the type of product or the quality of service in the same field.

 

 

 

 

INS Escola del Treball, one of the EROVET partners, is one of the founding institutions of the International Marketing Management programme (IMM), which was born in 2018 from the agreement established between different European training centres from Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal that offer EQF level 5. Students enrolled in the course have the opportunity to study and do internships in the four European countries and obtain two EQF5 qualifications ( Tecnico Superiore in International Business Marketing and Tècnic Superior en Màrketing i Publicitat).

Students spend their first term at Fondazione ITS JobsAcademy in Bergamo (Italy), where they learn the basis on Sales and Marketing, the second term is scheduled at NHL Stenden University in Leeuwarden (the Netherlands), where they continue their Marketing studies and attend lessons on Creative Business. The second year is spent in Spain (both at Institut de Vic and Institut Escola del Treball in Lleida), where students deal with financial and Commercial research issues, and the last term is spent in Portugal (Atlantica University), where they receive training on digital issues and on big data analysis. During the two years, students have to complete their lessons with internships in companies related to marketing. Both the lessons and internships allow them to obtain the final qualification.

Students who wish to undertake the programme are carefully selected. They are asked to present a letter of intent and pass an interview. It is essential for all the institutions in the progarmme to ensure that students taking the programme have a real interest in marketing, are fully motivated, have an entrepreneurial mindset, show cultural awareness and are eventually, fluent in English, as this will be the language of instructions during the two-year programme.

The selected students get Erasmus funding so that the cost of their stay abroad is partly covered. Moreover, the hosting institutions always provide information related to transport and accommodation, that makes their planning abroad far easier. As for the teachers in the programme, they are also carefully selected among the staff of the training institutions. They are required to be in possession of a C1 level of English according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). They are also required to use innovative methodologies in order to make the learning experience of the students much more significative.

In order to guarantee a full recognition of the learning done in the different training centers, all the institutions committed in the programme fill in and sign different documents, such as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), a Learning Agreement for each student and a Learner Transcript or Transcript of Records. The MOU formalizes the partnership by stating the mutual acceptance of the status and procedures for cooperation. The Learning Agreement is an individual document which sets out the conditions for the study period abroad and specifies which learning outcomes and units should be achieved by the learner.

Finally, the Transcript of Records details the learning achieved by students during their stay abroad as well as the
degree of achievement of each particular learner. After the two-year period students who have successfully achieved all the learning outcomes, as well as the 120 ECTS of the programme, get the recognition of the periods spent abroad and obtain the Spanish and/or Italian certifications. The recognition is based on the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 on the establishment of a European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET), which aims to facilitate the transfer, recognition and accumulation of assessed learning outcomes of individuals who are aiming to achieve a qualification.

The third cohort of the IMM programme is now at INS Escola del Treball in Lleida. Some companies have visited the class in order to set challenges to the students who are currently preparing their presentations with their most feasible solutions. The fourth cohort is in Bergamo and more cohorts of students interested in marketing and in an international experience will surely follow in the next years.

The Third Staff Training Activity of the Filling the skills gap of European VET learners
project took place at the Tsanaklios Building in Komotini (Greece) from 18 th to 22 nd October 2021.

The partners of the project met in Komotini to work on the structure and design of the EROVET APP and the EROVET Finding your way video. The App will give VET learners and graduates the possibility to access to job offers from the EROVET Job Pool, to share their ideas in the EROVET Innovation Platform, to access to internships
abroad and to watch videos from other learners and teachers form other countries.

Participants also worked on the EROVET Finding your way video. A common template
for all the videos was agreed and partners committed to develop videos on Orientation,
European mobilities, Cultural issues and the advantages of belonging to the EROVET
network. The videos will be uploaded in the EROVET YouTube channel.

A revision to the EROVET Innovation Platform was also done. The platform was
presented to participants and will soon see the light and allow learners and graduates
form the network to share their ideas and upload their projects.

During the Staff Training Activity participants had also the opportunity to visit the quality
and dispatch areas of Pharmathen, a pharmaceutical company that produces a variety
of products using innovative and advanced technologies. A visit was also scheduled at
the beer factory Vergina. Participants could learn about the history of the brand and
about the manufacturing process of the different sorts of beers produced by the
company.

Last but not least, a visit to the Maronia historic site and to the city of Komotini were
also organised. Participants were officially welcomed by the Director at the Directorate
of Rodopi Secondary Education and by the District Manager of the East Macedonia and Thrace Prefecture.

All in all, a very productive visit for the EROVET partners