Vocational guidance in the education system

1. Ministry of National Education • Vocational and Continuing Education Department Vocational guidance in the education system 24.09.2014 r.

2. Vocational guidance in the education system before 2003 • Vocationalguidance system ineducation: • vocationalguidanceservice in educationarea was organisedoutsideschools, • vocationalguidancetaskswereperformed by Psycho- PedagogicalCentres, • the main form of assistance • was individualcounselling • offered by Psycho- PedagogicalCentres, • the mainmethod of work • werepsychologicaltests.

3. Vocational guidance in the education system from 2003 • Changesthatstarted in 2003: • preparingnew law regulations • (Regulationsof the Minister of Education of 30 April2003 and of 17 November 2010on the rules for providing and organising psychological and educational support in public schools and educational institutions), • placingvocationalguidanceassistanceinsideschools, • developing vocationalcousellors’ workshop, • entering the path of vocationalcounsellors’ training.

4. Vocational guidance in the education system from 2003 • According to law regulations: • Schools canemployvocationalcounsellors • Vocationalcounsellors’ tasksweredefined • Schools (lowersecondary, uppersecondary, post secondary) haveanobligation to provideguidance service • Tasks of vocationalcouncellors’ weredefined as: • gathering, updating data and providing access to educational and vocational information and systematic diagnosing of the students’ needs, • conducting activities that prepare students to planning education, choosing further educational path and an occupation, • coordinating of information and counselling activities carried out by the school, • cooperation with other teachers, parents, educationalinstitutions in creating and ensuringvocationalcounsellingassistance.

5. Vocational guidance in the education system from 2003 • Developing resources for vocationalguidance: • preparingeducational and vocationalinformationavailable on-line(brochuresaboutprofessions, films on professions), • preparing materials dedicated to vocationalcousellors (methodical and didactic materials, lessonsscenarios, guidebook on professions, publications on vocationalguidance), • preparingdiagnostictoolsused in the process of diagnosingstudents’ interests and predispositions/talents. • Availableat the webpagewww.koweziu.edu.pl • 9 diagnostictoolsavilable on-line, • 10 diagnostictools in preparation, • 34 publications and didactic materials.

6. Vocational guidance in the education system from 2003 • Entering the path of vocationalcounsellors’ training: • increasing the number of post-graduatestudies in the field of vocationalcounselling, • organizing and providingtrainingcourses, dedicated to teachersemployedatschools as vocationalcounsellorsbeing a part of in-service teachers’ training • (stationarycourses, on-linecoursesorganised and provided by National Centre for SupportingVocational and ContinuingEducation - KOWEZiU) • Using EU funds, untilJune 2015, KOWEZiUwilltrain 12.000 • vocationalcounsellors and teachersdealing • with guidanceactivitiesat the lowersecondarylevel.

7. Core curriculum for vocational education • New corecurriculm for vocationaleducationwas defined in the regulation of the Minister of NationalEducation of 7 February 2012. The regulationincludes learning outcomescommon to alloccupations for the threeareas: • area of starting and conducting business activities • (relationbetweencompanies and institutions, planning and undertaking marketing actions, market economy, labour law, protection of personal data), • personal and socialskills and competences(ability to work in a team, to communicate, to cope with stress, to foreseeconsequences of actions, to update the knowledge and professionalskills), • organization of work of small groups • (group workplanning, evaluation of tasks, introducing • thenewtechnicalsolutions).

8. Future perspectives of vocational guidance • Futureperspectivesarebased on twostrategic lines: • Recommendationsconcerningvocationalguidancetransferred to the regions • Implementation of activities under the EU Programme - OperationalProgrammeKnowledgeEducation Development - PO WER

9. Future perspectives of vocational guidance • Recommendationstransferred to the regions: • promotingneeds of vocationalguidance , • creating in eachschool the place in whichindividualscanhaveaccess to information on learning opportunities and jobpossibilities, • gathering, up-dating, disseminatinginformation on learning opportunies and jobpossibilities, • building–upclosebridgesbetweenmainactorsinvolved in vocationalguidanceactivitiesand developing local/regionalcooperation, • developing quality in guidance services by evaluatingeffectiveness of guidance services.

10. Future perspectives of vocational guidance • Implementation of activities under the EU Programme • PO WER: • preparing vocational guidance curriculum for different education levels and different types of schools (G+V+AL), • introducing vocational guidance curriculum into legal regulations, • creating and launching regional and national data bases system giving access to integretaed information on learning opportunities and job possibilities, • improving skills and competences of vocational • consellors’ and teachers’ dealing with vocational • guidance in education area.

11. Thank you very much for your attention. Iwona Greiner e-mail: iwona.greiner@men.gov.pl