In this issue:

2

5

6

7

7

8

9

10

11

12

Support to guidance and counsellingthrough the Erasmus+ programme –a few examples of projects

Career Guidance for Generation Z

Innovative integrated e-learningplatform for Estonian and Finnishuniversity students

Mainstream education in Europehighlighted in new Eurydice report

Quiz: choose your mobility for yourgap year!

Euro-Quest

Pathfinders in Jyväskylä

Info Day on EU Networks andInitiatives: Four generations in oneschool - Teaching Generation Z

Study Visit to Norway

December 2018

Euroguidance Insight

The leading theme of this issue of Insight isthe support granted by the Erasmus+programme towards guidance andcounselling. A short overview of theprogramme is provided with a snapshot ofsome project that have proven to givevaluable input to the counsellors’ work.

Erasmus+ & guidance

Other interesting articles deal with thesummer school for counsellors in Jyväskylä,a French quiz, a new Belgian publication, a

new Irish programme for students, info days in Croatia andnew e-platform for guidance in Estonia. Furthermore, twonew reports from Cedefop and Eurydice related toguidance are introduced.

Guide for Dutch and Europeaninstruments and networks

Support to guidance and counselling through theErasmus+ programme – a few examples of projects

2

Erasmus+ is the EU's programme to supporteducation, training, youth and sport in Europe. Itsbudget of €14.7 billion provides opportunities forover 4 million Europeans to study, train, gainexperience and volunteer abroad. For guidancepractitioners the programme offers a wide variety ofpossibilities, offering them the opportunity to learnfrom others, work with others in the development ofnew methods or practices and to influenceguidance policies in their countries.

The programme is divided into three key actions (KAs):mobility, strategic partnership and support for policyreforms. Below, there is a short explanation of each ofthese key actions and a few examples of guidanceprojects within each of them.

This Action aims to encourage the mobility of students,staff, volunteers, youth workers, and young people. Forguidance practitioners this opens up the possibility ofvisiting colleagues in other countries and learn fromthem how to become even better at their jobs.

KA1: Learning Mobility of Individuals

Austria, Denmark and Germany:

abz*austria, an organisation which promotes the work,education and future of women, led the project Digitisingadult education and raising the media literacy ofeducationally disadvantaged women.

Belgium FL and the Netherlands:

Primary school GO! Hendrik Conscience inSchaarbeek (Brussels), Belgium, aims toprovide quality education tailored to allstudents, regardless of their background. Theschool has identified a need for expertise andspecific skills amongst the school team. TheDutch partner organization Centrum TeaAdema offers Child coach basic training,related follow-up and advanced programs.This provides answers to the school’s needs.During a series of training events, carecoordinators and teachers will acquire thenecessary theoretical knowledge and developcompetences to guide pupils (in cooperationwith the parents) in a child-centered, broadand yet tailored way. This will increase theirwell-being and academic performance, andempower the children with tools to becomecritical, happy active citizens. The school willoptimize its care policy and the school teamwill be supported to improve its practice. Thetraining abroad will offer participants theopportunity to exchange experiences with theirDutch colleagues and to establish contacts forfuture cooperation.

Adult Education employees from abz*austriarecently visited various institutions in Denmarkand Germany with the aim to learn new digitaltraining and guidance methods and to improvetheir digital skills in training and counselling.

�

3

KA2: Cooperation for innovation andgood practices

Strategic partnerships to support innovation in thesector as well as joint initiatives to promotecooperation, peer-learning, and the sharing ofexperience.

Knowledge Alliances to foster innovation in andthrough higher education together with businesses,and beyond, contributing to new approaches toteaching and learning, entrepreneurship ineducation, and the modernisation of highereducation systems in Europe.

Sector Skills Alliances to tackle skills gap andensure a better alignment of vocational educationand training with labour market needs. There areopportunities to modernise VET, exchangeknowledge and best practices, encourage workingabroad, and increase the recognition ofqualifications.

Capacity-building projects in the field of highereducation to support the modernisation,accessibility, and internationalisation of highereducation in Partner Countries.

Capacity-building projects in the field of youth tosupport the development of youth work, non-formallearning, and volunteer work, as well as promotenon-formal learning opportunities with PartnerCountries

∠

∠

∠

∠

∠

This Action is designed to develop the education,training, and youth sectors through five main activities:

Activities for organisations include strategicimprovement of the professional skills of their staff,organisational capacity building, and creatingtransnational cooperative partnerships withorganisations from other countries in order to produceinnovative outputs or exchange best practices. Involvedorganisations may gain an increased capacity tooperate at an international level, access to more fundingopportunities and projects as well as a more attractiveportfolio of opportunities for learners and staff atparticipating organisations.

Individuals can take part in some of theopportunities funded by Erasmus+, althoughmost will have to do so through an organisationtaking part in the programme. Theseopportunities abroad include studying, staffteaching or staff training, traineeships,volunteering in youth exchanges and youthworking, and through these, individuals gainself-confidence, adaptability, openness,mutual understanding and solidarity. There aretherefore many benefits in involvement in anErasmus+ project for both individuals andorganisations. And European guidancecounsellors play a major role in promoting andsupporting the numerous possibilities of theprogramme.

Belgium FL and the Netherlands:

TRIAS is an Austrian led project, which hasdeveloped an innovative approach to guidanceby combining outreach guidance work withemployers’ involvement. The project focusedon strengthening the competences ofguidance practitioners to successfully reachout to the workforce, especially to the low-qualified as one of the most important targetgroups in adult education.

�

44

Therewith, the project results contribute to increasingthe chance of low qualified persons to participate intraining and education. The project was carried out inAustria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany andSlovenia and was coordinated by ÖSB ConsultingGmbH (https://www.oesb.at/) from Austria. The projectpartnership compiled a text book for self-study purposesand developed a training programme, both targetingguidance practitioners who want to offer guidance in theworkplace. In each partner country, multiplier eventswere organized to foster the dialogue with policy makersand other stakeholders in the field of guidance, adulteducation and labour market policy.

secondary education or maintain a normal jobin the labour market. At the first NorwegianProduction School, called Hyssingen, thelearners can participate in internationallearning and training programs. One initiativefrequently used by Hyssingen is the EuropeanVoluntary Service (EVS) funded throughErasmus+ program Youth in Action.

Belgium FL, Lithuania, Finland, UnitedKingdom, Slovakia and Austria:

The ADEIGUS project aimed at increasing adultparticipation, decreasing inequality in adult educationand improving information and guidance servicesthrough developing the skills of counsellors andeducational professionals. A strategic partnershipbetween Belgium, Lithuania, Finland, UK, Slovenia andAustria was established to promote innovation,exchange of practices and know-how. 72 professionalswere involved in transnational cooperation activities,study visits and continuous professional development.The project was coordinated by Leerwinkel West, anadult guidance centre based in Flanders (Belgium).

Belgium FL, Lithuania, Finland, UnitedKingdom, Slovakia and Austria:

A Production School is an alternative to regular schoolsfor youth at risk of dropping out. The main aim it tocreate a practical learning environment that can qualifyyoung people to complete general and vocational upper

The youth travel abroad to work in anorganization as a volunteer, and through thework gain renewed motivation for learning andincreased self-esteem. Hyssingen is also apartner in Erasmus + STALWARTS(Sustaining Teachers and Learners With theArts: Relational Health in European Schools),a project on music therapy and how to makethis accessible for more people. Theycollaborate with the Grieg Academy anduniversities in five European countries.STALWART is a cross-sectoral project thatinvolves a University and a school inpartnership, and the main aim is to supportvulnerable young people in their transition intolearning.

Further information:

Erasmus+. A large number of Erasmus+projects focus on guidance, as can be seen onthe Erasmus+ Project Results Platform(EPRP). By typing the search term ‘guidance’and you will find almost 13 thousand projectsthat have been approved in Europe byErasmus+ since 2014. There is a shortdescription of each project, as well as a list ofthe partner organisations. You can also usethe platform to find products developed fromcompleted projects, such as collections of bestpractice examples, curricula, handbooks andvideos.

5

Career Guidance for Generation Z

Futurists expect that 2 billion jobs that exist todaywill disappear by 2030 and that 65% of childrenentering primary school today will have completelynew job types that don't exist yet. By the timeGeneration Z enter the workplace, digitaltechnology will be part of almost every career path,creating new ways of doing things, new types ofjobs, and demanding new types of skills most of allinnovative thinking. It is not enough to showchildren and young people HOW the world ischanging. They need to understand WHY it ischanging, and to visualise HOW it will look.

Future Time Traveller is an Erasmus+ KA3 FLCPfunded project that raises awareness about thefuture world of work through the use of a seriousgame. Users will enter a virtual reality environmentand, as an Avatar, travel through a time capsule tothe year 2050. They will explore future careersthrough different missions, challenges and quizzes,working their way through the levels to eventuallyarrive back in 2020 with a ‘message to humanityabout the future’.

Future Time TravellerThe Bulgarian led project incorporates 7 partnercountries United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Greece,Portugal, Italy, Germany and Poland with a pilotversion of the platform being available in all partnerlanguages from early 2019.

For more information on the project visit:∠

∠

Felix J Prince KankwambaProject Officer Aspire-Igen

Facebook.com page

The project will produce several other productsincluding a recent policy mapping study, focusingon three critical factors:

From 2020 the project will work with policy makersand the Euroguidance network to produce:

Young people’s awareness about future jobs;

Career guidance practitioners’ capacity forinnovation;The role of policy support for sustainable,

quality, innovative career guidance development.

∠

∠

∠

A competition for innovative career services;

A Facebook competition for young people;∠

An e-book of innovative career practices;∠

A policy evidence report.∠

∠

The Future of Jobs Report and Skills Panorama,alongside many other labour market skillsintelligence sources, reveal the magnitude oftechnological development and the impact thatthis, coupled with socio-economic anddemographic trends, will have on industries,job functions, employment levels and skills.

6

Innovative integrated e-learning platform forEstonian and Finnish university students

Tartu University (Estonia) andTampere University of AppliedScience (Finland) use anInternational Moodle platform onCareer Guidance to help studentsfrom the two countries anddifferent educational systems tofind a common ground fordiscussion. The aim of the trainingmodule is to increase the quality ofcareer guidance based onexchange and discussion at aninternational level.

The cooperation between the twouniversities started in Bratislava in2015 where the Erasmus+ fundedNICE conference was held. TheInternational Module of CareerGuidance is a collaborative andvirtual learning context wherestudents from different disciplinesand with different experience cancome together and share commonideas and understanding as wellas conceptualizing ideas of careerguidance and different pathways.

Learn and familiarise oneselfon how education and guidancework in different countries;

∠

Recognize and build a commonunderstanding;∠

Identify and become aware ofone’s own presumptions;∠

Find common concepts andunderstanding in the context ofcareer guidance;

∠

The Common Module forGuidance addresses how to:

The platform offers universitystudents the possibility todiscover how people fromdifferent starting points can cometogether to discuss guidancesituations generally and howdiversity can create commonideas and understanding. Thekey challenge for participants of

the Moodle in Career Guidance isto conceptualize the careerguidance experience via differentroutes.

Ari Jussila TampereUniversity of Applied Sciences

Kristi Kõiv University of Tartu

Outi Rantanen TampereUniversity of Applied Sciences

Students Sari Mäki-Hakola and Anu Rantanen.

Identify cultural concepts andpresumptions in the field ofguidance.

∠

Discuss issues internationally;∠

Mainstream education in Europe highlighted in newEurydice report

7

Eurydice is an information network whichsupports European cooperation in the field ofeducation, e.g. by providing information andmaterial on the way education in Europe isstructured and organised. Its new report TheStructure of the European Education Systems2018/19 provides schematic diagrams andmodels about education in Europe from pre-primary to tertiary level. In total, thirty-eightcountries and forty-three education systemsare covered, including the 28 Member States,Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland,Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway,Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic ofMacedonia and Turkey.

- The structure of European education systems in 38 countries.

The report covers the educational programmesconsidered the most representative in eachcountry. The diagrams do not include informationon educational provision intended exclusively foradults with low educational attainment, nor does itinclude separate provision outside mainstreameducation for children and young people withspecial educational needs. Information on doctoralstudies and specialized studies for regulatedprofessions is also excluded.

Quiz: choose your mobility for your gap year!

The report is split into three sections. In the first, themain organizational models of primary and lowereducation are set out, thus clarifying the structuraldifferences between single structure education,common core curriculum provision anddifferentiated lower secondary education. Thesecond contains a reading guide to ensure that thecontent of the diagrams is clear and correctlyinterpreted. The guide includes terminology,definitions, the meaning of colours and symbolsused for the graphic layout and a short descriptionof the International Standard Classification ofEducation (ISCED 2011). The third and finalsection shows the national schematic diagrams.

Line Ryge DeibjergEuroguidance, Denmark

More information:Visit the Eurydice website∠

Read the full report∠

In 2018, the French Ministry of Education, HigherEducation and Research decided to open up thepossibility of taking a gap year between secondaryschool and higher education.

�

This period can be a good opportunity to go abroad, either tostudy, to volunteer, to improve a language, to work or just totravel. What is new is that the admission portal to highereducation -Parcoursup- recognises the gap year and allowsfor the possibility of keeping the registration open for a year

8

To prepare for a gap year abroad, EG Education France hascreated an interactive and personalised quiz which is freelyavailable online. This quiz aims to assist students withplanning their gap year in line with their personalities,personal situations and values. Additionally, it should raisecompetences and soft skills they already have and help themacquire new ones.

Graziana BoscatoEuroguidance, France Education

www.euroguidance-france.org

Euro-Quest

Educational mobility is promotedby the Euroguidance network,helping guidance counsellorsand individuals to understandand utilise the opportunitiesavailable to European citizensthroughout Europe.NCGE/Euroguidance Ireland hasdeveloped a new programmecalled Euro-Quest for TransitionYears* This programme promoteseducational mobility.

Hazel StanleyEuroguidance, Ireland

More information:euroguidance.ie/euro-quest∠

This led to the development of‘Euro-Quest’ which is currentlybeing piloted in 15 schools inIreland and will be launchednationally across all post-primaryschools in 2019.

The Euro- Quest online course,supported by a student workbook,contains ICT classroom- basedmaterials and self-directed researchassignments which encouragestudents to explore the possibility ofstudying/training in anotherEuropean country. This could be fora short study course or languageexchange for a few weeks while inschool, or as part of theirundergraduate training at Higher orFurther Education and Trainingthrough the Erasmus+ programmeor similar exchanges or even for theentire duration of a course.

In 2016, a continual professionaldevelopment (CPD) training course

called ‘Mobility GuidanceCounselling’ was commenced byNCGE/Euroguidance Ireland forIrish guidance counsellors toprovide them with the skills toencourage and support theirstudents to study abroad. Thesuccess of this course prompteda request for further resources.

It encourages students toconsider their own preparednessfor a period of learning mobilityand challenges their initialpreconceptions and expectations.

*Transition Year (TY) is a one-year programme taken after thethree-year Junior Cycle in Irelandand before the two-year LeavingCertificate programme. It isdesigned to act as a bridge betweenthe two by facilitating thesmooth transition from the moredependent learning of the JuniorCycle to the more independent self-directed learning required for theSenior Cycle.

9

Pathfinders in JyväskyläThe International Summer School "ICT in Guidance"

For the last 20 years, Euroguidance Estoniahas offered Estonian career guidanceprofessionals the opportunity to train andfamiliarize themselves with counsellingservices from other countries. One suchopportunity is the Nordic Summer University inJyväskylä, Finland, which focuses on the useof Information and Communication Technology(ICT) in guidance.

In 2018, the teachers were from Iceland, Malmöand Jyväskylä Universities, as well as experiencedexperts from the e-counselling centre of the DanishMinistry of Education. For the Estonianpractitioners, this was is a unique opportunity toobtain an international formal education certificate(5 ECTS). Two of them, Sirje Tarraste, Estoniancareer counsellor from the Rajaleidja (Pathfinder)Centre in Tartu, and Talviki Rumberg, careercounsellor from a similar centre in Tallinn, describewhat they learned and why they decided toparticipate.

the Danish e-guidance system during myAcademia visit to Aarhus, so I now have a greatinterest in what else can be done and what theexperience in other countries is like.

Sirje: The summer school interested me becauseI wanted to know more about different e-counselling opportunities. I tried a chat service andadvised clients via email. Basically, I use all kindsof e-opportunities for group counselling to makethem more modern and to approach young peoplein their own "language." I was briefly exposed to

Talviki: I decided to take part in order to obtain newknowledge on how to better use IT solutions incareer counselling and exchange experiences andideas with other professionals. As an e-counsellorin chat, I also wanted to keep up with the IT industryand keep abreast with new solutions.

Sirje and Talviki, why did you decide to takepart in the Summer School?

Sirje: A lot of group work was used in the summerschool, discussions and exchanges of experiencestook place, and the use of different environments.We got to use everything immediately in practice.Our 30-member group was very enthusiastic andfriendly; we learned a lot from each other andenjoyed working together. A great deal of thoughtwas given to the chat and email advisory service.Although I've been consulting via chat, I have notbeen the biggest fan of it, so it was good to discussit with others and think about how to makeconsulting more accessible and of a higher quality.

What did you learn from the Summer Schoolthat you can apply to your working life?

Talviki: The study week was very professional andwell organized. I expected to learn about somepractical knowledge of new IT applications thatwould help me make better use of innovativesolutions in my work. For example, I learned aboutthe concept of co-careering, which is a situationwhere people comment on each other's posts insocial media by sharing personal experiences,information and advice, and how careercounsellors can contribute to the conversationsand thus provide their assistance. In addition, I gotsome new knowledge about using the video toprovide feedback on CV/motivation letters,LinkedIn's possibilities in career counselling andthe benefits of using chat through customers’ eyesin Denmark.

Margit RammoEuroguidance, Estonia

10

Guide for Dutch and European instruments andnetworks

The career path of every individual requirescontinuous attention to development. Therefore,Euroguidance Netherlands has compiled a numberof instruments and networks aimed at supportinglifelong learning and development in the guide forDutch and European instruments and networks.The instruments and networks can be seen in anonline guide (in Dutch and English) compiled byEuroguidance Netherlands. The instruments andnetworks all facilitate the transparency andrecognition of the knowledge, skills, andcompetences needed to study and work anywherein Europe. They contribute to sustainableemployability and promote quality in education.They also support efforts to shape internationalprofessional practice, enhance European mobilityand assist educational institutions with regard topolicy development. The guide provides informationon each instrument and network, their purpose andfor whom they have been developed, how theyrelate to one another, and which national bodies areinvolved in them.

Training and employment help desks

alliances between schools, business owners andgovernment agencies (municipalities and PublicEmployment Agencies). Together, they developactivities, information packets, products, andservices that improve the coordination betweeneducational/training programmes and the labourmarket. Moreover, they provide independent trainingand career advice. The range of services they offeris attuned to regional policy, interests, and existingfacilities. Therefore, the focus of these desks variesbetween regions. Furthermore, an importantfeature of the desks is that people with differentexpertise, background and networks work together.Currently, Euroguidance Netherlands is finishing areport portraying the career services in four ofthese desks. The report describes which careerservices and expertise are provided to varioustarget groups within the region and with whom theywork. The report also discusses good practices,key elements, and points for improvements.

One of the networks mentioned within the guide isthe Training and employment help desks(Leerwerkloketten). These desks are regional

Info Day on EU Networks and Initiatives: Fourgenerations in one school - Teaching Generation Z

Although pupils, teachers and school counsellorswork together and share their common workingspace – the school, they do not live in the sameworld. Teachers and counsellors can belong to oneof three different generations – the Baby BoomerGeneration, Generation X and Generation Y, or theso-called Millennial Generation. On the other hand,their pupils are members of the youngest

generation – Generation Z. Generation Z ischaracterized as technologically proficient,confident with social media, used to high pressureto enter higher education and unsure of the labourmarket.

�

Karien CoppensEuroguidance, Netherlands

Building on this, Euroguidance Croatia organised itsfifth Info Day on EU mobility Networks and Initiativesin Zagreb in September 2018. The Info Day is anannual event providing news and information fromdifferent networks relevant to the school guidancecommunity. The networks participating in this year'sevent were Euroguidance, eTwinning, Eurodesk,ECVET, Europass and Youthpass, all of themoperating as part of the Croatian National Agency forErasmus+.

What challenges do they all face? How do theycommunicate with one another and whatconsequences does this bring to both theirprofessional and private lives?

11

The event was designed to address Euroguidance’starget audience - primary and secondary schoolcounsellors.

The main objective of the event was to inform andraise awareness on the opportunities each networkoffers to school counsellors and their pupils. Whenpresenting their programmes, each network was

Euroguidance, Croatia

The Info day featured panel discussions,presentations, interviews with examples of goodpractice, workshops, games and competitions, aswell as informal peer networking.

instructed to strongly focus on the characteristics oftheir programmes which are adapted to the needsand preferences of Generation Z. This includedpresentation of their digital services, focus on theskills of the future, mobility, social engagement,proactive approach etc. The goal was to encouragecounsellors to offer quality counselling togeneration Z on a number of educational andmobility opportunities.

12

Study Visit to Norway

In June 2018, a delegation ofEuropass, EQF and Euroguidancerepresentatives from Slovakia andSlovenia visited Bergen for a 2-day long study visit. Since thesenetworks operate at national levelsas knowledge-brokers and providequality information on education,training and guidance systems inEurope, study visits are a uniqueway of getting to know more aboutdifferent national systems andtheir variations. Frequently usedand popular within and amongnetworks, study visits serve as atool for gaining first-handexperience with innovativeapproaches and initiatives acrossEurope and increase of networks’members.

One such inspirational trend inVET is the concept of ‘productionschools’, widely known amongcountries of Western and NorthernEurope, yet virtually unknown inSlovakia. Functioning as a mix ofeducational facility and business,production schools inject a realsense of responsibility and workethics into their students. TheProduction School in Bergen,visited by the Slovak-Sloveniandelegation, is the first of its kind inNorway and will serve as a modelschool for other Norwegianproduction schools to follow. Theschool is funded by the Hordalandcounty and the selection of goodsand services to be produced indifferent workshops responds to

local needs. In addition, studentscan see the impact of their hardwork, which boosts their motivationand positive self-image building.

In times when most of Europeancountries struggle with a risingproportion of young people not ineducation, employment or training,‘second chance’ initiatives andfacilities, such as productionschools, are badly needed.

Ladislav OstrohaEuroguidance, Slovenia

www.euroguidance.euScripts are always welcomeand should be sent to the following e-mail addresses:Dora.Stefansdottir@Rannis.is or ellen.hagen@diku.no

Euroguidance supports the competence development of the guidance community on theEuropean dimension of lifelong guidance.

Euroguidance is a European network of national resource and information centres for guidance. Itsmain target group consists of guidance practitioners and policy-makers in all European countries.