Guidance – pathways in vocational education and training
Globally, very few young people are opting for VET. The preference is for academic education and training courses or training on the job. What role might guidance on education, training and careers have to play in highlighting the opportunities and prospects offered by initial and continuing VET, and in paving the way for this?
This article investigates the question to which extent occupations are exercised even if training has not been completed or if a qualification in a different field is held. The opening up of occupations may represent an opportunity for various groups within the population which otherwise find it harder to access the employment system. Nevertheless, this also raises issues with regard to the quality and attractiveness of occupations. The article concludes by exploring possible consequences.
The level of expectations raised in EU policy papers on lifelong guidance is high when requiring that guidance should enable citizens to identify their capacities, competences and interests, to make educational, training and occupational decisions and to manage their individual life paths at any time in their lives. How can such an ambitious concept be implemented and embedded into the educational and employment system? Professor Tony Watts, dealing with career guidance for over 30 years and gaining insights on the worldwide development of guidance due to his work as international consultant, will give us answers to this question and related issues.
Although career guidance may play an extremely important and diverse role for vocational education and training and indeed does so in some cases, the relationship between guidance and VET is sometimes problematic. This article investigates this relationship in detail from an international perspective. Developments that have occurred in both areas are used as a basis for highlighting the areas of potential guidance offers for lifelong learning. This takes place via three interfaces, for which examples of implementation from various countries are outlined. The article concludes with reflecting upon which driving factors are behind these developments and upon which implications need to be borne in mind for the structuring of the newly discovered convergence of guidance and vocational education and training.
Career guidance and counselling are recognized as crucial dimension of lifelong learning, in particular, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of education and the development of individual Career Management Skills. The article describes frame conditions of career education and guidance services within the educational system in Finland from comprehensive school to adult learning. Thereby the author addresses the strength of the finish guidance-system as well as the need for reforms with regard to future challenges ahead.
Countries around the world are searching for solutions to their workforce development challenges. Innovation has led to the creation of varying methods of illustrating the world of careers to young people. One such program, Pathways2Possibilities (P2P), has begun the process of trying to understand exactly what impact their program has had on their participants. By utilizing survey studies to gain as much feedback as possible, P2P can show what immediate effect their program is having for students, while also highlighting areas of potential moving forward. The article will explore what the data has to offer.
In the rent-a-stift project, trainees visit school classes in teams of two to provide a first hand report of their experiences in the world of work. The project was initiated in 2003 and has since been successfully conducted in many cantons of Switzerland. This article describes the implementation of the project and experiences with this form of vocational orientation from the point of view of the Zürcher Unterland Airport VET Forum.
Against the background of high levels of youth unemployment in South-West Europe, the Goethe Institute launched an initiative in the form of a job-related language course entitled “Mit Deutsch in den Beruf” in 2012. The aim is to use national measures which take account of the conditions and requirements of the respective host country to offer young Europeans an insight into the world of work and support them in making the transition from school to training. This article presents the project "Unternehmen Deutsch", which operates in the same area to initiate learning partnerships between schools and companies.
Young people wishing to commence training, higher education study or employment in another country require professional and high-quality guidance. This article presents a design concept which allows career guidance professionals to provide a service which is methodologically competent, well-structured and aligned to respective personal needs. An interactive learning portal is also in place to offer the professionals didactic support in adopting the concept.
Alongside the sun and the beaches, an unemployment rate of under five per cent and continuous economic growth are amongst the factors which make Australia a popular country of immigration. However, the route to commencement of work is often a long and complicated one for would-be immigrants. They need to negotiate their way through a complex system of declarations of interest, applications, and examinations. Support in this regard is offered by so-called migration agents. This article presents the task and activity area of such agents and reflects upon the situation against the background of existing general conditions. It makes use of interviews which were conducted in November 2014 as part of the BIBB project MoVA.
This article investigates the question of how target groups which are difficult to reach and are frequently characterised by a low level of participation in continuing vocational training can be persuaded to take part in training and guidance programmes. Findings relating to barriers and to the opening up of access points have been summarised as part of a current project being conducted on behalf of the Lower Austrian Chamber of Labour. Particular emphasis is being placed on support and on the feasibility of implementation of the findings by company stakeholders. Group discussions were conducted for this purpose within the scope of the project, and the article concludes by presenting the results of these.
In April 2016, UNESCO adopted a document which underlines the growing global significance of vocational education and training (VET) and represents an important milestone in terms of increasingly aligning the quality of VET to the requirements of the world of work. This article outlines the background and the process behind the development of the recommendation and defines its main contents with regard to practical relevance.
Afghanistan has an unregulated and informal system of apprentice training which is based on traditional societal structures. Self-organisation, self-financing and subsidiarity are conditions for the preservation of company-based VET and in this capacity deliver central ideas for the modernisation of this traditional form of training in the country. This article describes the current situation and explores the opportunities and risks associated with the establishment of a modern system of vocational education and training.
In today’s labour market, flexibility and mobility are considered to be basic prerequisites for long-term career success. This article looks at the question of whether persons in Switzerland who have completed vocational education and training have any disadvantages in this regard compared to those who are in possession of a higher education degree. Data from the Swiss Budget Panel is used to investigate how likely it is that members of these groups are no longer working in the occupation in which they have trained and the extent to which this is associated with employment which is inappropriate for the qualifications held and wage reductions.
The first digital literature documentation on vocational education and training appeared in 1996 in the form of a CD-ROM which contained around 25,000 references. Users now have access to approximately 60,000 documents stored in a central Internet-based VET database. This article traces the route which led to this. After looking back at the beginnings of the system 25 years ago, it goes on to outline current challenges and planned further developments.
Both of the two and three-year training occupations in the field of security and protection are being evaluated by BIBB five years after their entry into force. Part of the reason for this is the fact that the contrary positions adopted by the social partners in the updating procedure of 2008 do not seem to be rescindable. The article summarises some of the main results of the investigation.
Various approaches towards according better recognition to non-formal and informal learning have been tried in Germany over recent years. A BIBB research project is now evaluating how relevant stakeholders assess various options for structuring validation procedures in terms of chances of realisation, expected benefits and risks. The present article outlines the background to the project and the methodological approach adopted.