Workshop 1: Guidance for students at risk early school leavers

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Workshop 1 Guidance for students at risk (early
school leavers)

• Chair Aleksandra Sokolova
• Raporteur Marian Rodriquez
• Expert Mojca Polak

Prepared by Mojca Polak
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General objectives of the workshop

• To discuss and share experience related to
• What is the voice of early school leavers in
  guidance? How is it listened to and how is it
  reflected in the current practice of guidance
  provision around the EU.
• To prepare recommendations for further
  development at EU, national and regional levels.

Prepared by Mojca Polak
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Specific objectives

• The presentation of successful Leonardo da Vinci
  projects with the stress to
• To discuss the successful strategies of
  involvement of young people and taking account of
  their views and voice in the design, delivery and
  evaluation of the services.
• To discuss the mechanisms and tools used to offer
  opportunities to this specific yet large group of
  young people to become involved in a way that
  meets their own individual needs and ability to
  participate.
• To identify potential obstacles to be faced whist
  trying to integrate their voices into guidance
  provision.

Prepared by Mojca Polak
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Context 1

• The Lisbon strategy states that EU should by 2010
  become the most dynamic, knowledge - based
  economy. To measure achievements towards this
  goal, a set of five benchmarks were adopted.
  Early school leavers are one of them.
• The early school leavers'(18-24 years-old)
  benchmark set the target of having by 2010, an EU
  average rate of no more than 10 of early school
  leavers.
• The mid term review of the EU's Lisbon Strategy t
  has shown that young people have profited less
  from inclusion and active labour market policies
  than other age groups.
• The Commission's report on the progress of the
  Union towards Lisbon goals shows that more
  efforts are needed in the areas of increasing
  participation in learning and in reducing the
  number of early school leavers.
• Little or no progress was noted in expanding
  young people who finish upper-secondary school,
  and in reducing the number of 15 year olds with
  poor reading skills.

Prepared by Mojca Polak
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Context 2

• The 2006 report shows that in 2005, 6 m young
  people left education prematurely. This is 2 m
  above the target.
• Best performing EU counties as regards the share
  of early school leavers are Poland (5.5),
  Slovakia (5.8) and the Czech Republic (6.4).
• More info http//insight.eun.org/ww/en/pub/insigh
  t/policy/policies/lisbon2006.html

Prepared by Mojca Polak
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Policy responses

• There have been several policy measures put into
  practise to tackle the problem.
• They can be differentiated according to different
  levels
• Structural versus individualised measure,
• Preventive versus compensatory measures.
• A second level differentiates sectors of
  intervention
• school, training and active labour market
  policies, referring to main policy discourses
  lifelong learning and activation.
• More info Thematic Studies on Policy Measures
  Concerning Disadvantaged Youth.

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Guidance and Early School Leavers

• The importance of active role of guidance while
  working with early school leavers is recognised
  in many recent EU documents. Within in it is
  stressed that users should have an active role
  (Resolution on Guidance, 2004 OECD/EU Handbook
  for Policy Makers, 2004).
• The voice of users is two fold
• the centrality of the citizens should be one of
  the principles underlying the provision of
  guidance.
• 2) the citizens should also have a key role in
  continuous improvement of guidance (Peter Plant,
  2007).
• The success of guidance service provision to
  young people is dependant on the involvement of
  young people and taking account of their views
  and voice in
• the design of the service (planning and
  organising eg possible members of partnership
  boards, members in users forums, working groups,
  defining quality standards).
• delivery of the service peer mentors,
  researchers, producers of marketing materials,
  volunteering.
• evaluation of the service (checking and
  reviewing self assessors, assessors, feedback,
  survey work).

Prepared by Mojca Polak
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Guidance and Early School Leavers

• Young people benefit from being involved in the
  decision making by increased confidence, personal
  development and better awareness of what the
  service can offer.
• Young people benefit a lot from holistic
  provision of services.

Prepared by Mojca Polak
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Challenges and questions

• How to integrated early school leaver's view into
  the design, delivery and evaluation of guidance
  services?
• What kind of new approaches are effective, which
  partnerships have to be established?
• What kind of skills do guidance workers need to
  develop in order to implement the dimension of
  voice of young people in guidance better?
• How to spread the already developed successful
  cases into the wider EU context?
• What kind of framework has to be provided at the
  EU policy level?

Prepared by Mojca Polak
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Good practises

• Two successful LdV projects will be presented
• Personal Profile and Support (PPS), Social
  Science Research Institute, Iceland with the
  presentation of an interesting innovative
  holistic approach used in the development of the
  products as well as integration of previous LdV
  results.
• Friskie EU- Developing a model and methods for
  tutoring skills in vocational education through
  peer group activities, Turku University of
  Applied Sciences, Finland the project has
  developed an interesting Mentors Manuel for
  young people and professional workers.

Prepared by Mojca Polak