Online Counselling

1. Online Counselling Vienna, April 2003 Birgit Nieskens, Master of Education

2. Content The concept of counselling in the CCT program: • Self discovery, internet links to other websites and first-hand reports of students or teachers as essential parts of online counselling Self discovery and internet • Voluntary participation • Transparency • Sensibility The advantages of online counselling The limits of online counselling The category Contact

3. The concept of counselling in the CCT program (part I) • Career counselling includes a variety of aspects: From vocational guidance, to planningand developing a career as a teacher. • Often, there are similar decisions that people dealing with education face: CCT-counselling in the internet can be useful to support these decisions. • CCT-counselling is an opportunity to support the decisions of teaching professionals and those that are considering a career as a teacher: The users have to make the decision by themselves. The users will still be the ones to decide which measures has to take.

4. The concept of counselling in the CCT program: Support in many ways (part II) • Counselling to support information: For example information about career perspectives and universities that offer study programs in teaching. • Counselling to support decisions: What to base my decision to become a teacher on? For example: Am I taking my personal interests sufficiently into consideration? • Counselling to support the implementation of individual plans: What are the most significant qualifications of a teacher? Different ways to prepare myself to become a teaching professional, such as own teaching experiences, a.s.o.

5. Information as an essential part of online career counselling • Information can be used accordingly to individual needs. • Short articles that summarize important facts and advices about teaching can also foster self-exploration. • Information inside the CCT network are not to convince the user but to make him or her more self-assured and qualified when facing an important decision.

6. First-hand reports as an essential part of online career counselling • First-hand reports can give a vivid idea of situations of the biography of teachers. They can diversify the viewing direction und provide pointers to possible future situations and ways of coping. • First-hand reports can open your eyes to discrepancies between the theory of teaching and teaching-practice. • The combination of text and images as you find it on CCT-websites is an advantage of the internet and allows the userto really picture what it could mean to be a teacher one day.

7. Links as an essential part of online career counselling • Internet links to other web pages play an important role inside the CCT- network. • A variety of carefully chosen internet links are supposed to meet the individual needs of the user. The network includes links to websites that have specialized on job offers, counselling offers and specific information about teaching and education. • Hence, the CCT website itself can focus on its main goal, namely career counselling. Information not provided by CCT can be found on the affiliated websites.

8. Self discovery and the internet • Usually, the use of internet sources and journals you get from the employment agency or other institutions has its clear limits. • Often, the user is not able to apply general information and advises to his or her specific situation, personal concerns a.s.o. • Written information rarely initiate self-reflection. • But personal vocational guidance is often time-consuming and therefore not often used. • The advantage of CCT: CCT is an efficient way to combine general information and a personal commitment to the user. Everybody interested in vocational guidance can use CCT at home without the costs and circumstances of personal counselling. Nevertheless, CCT initiates self-reflection. In combination with professional guidance offered by teachers, student advisors or psychologists the self discovery in the CCT program is very efficient.

9. Self discovery and internet: demands for the program (part I) • The structure of the program has to substitute the role of a career adviser. • Most important is the clear and logic structure of the program. It helps the user to find the appropriate information and advices without inflicting damage on his or her self-esteem. • In contrast with common tests, CCT-internet self discovery can be evaluated by the participants themselves. Therefore, feedback and advices given by CCT should be easy to comprehend.

10. Self discovery and internet: demands for the program (part II) • Voluntary participation: The user is the one that decides what to make out of CCT materials and the results of CCT tests. • Transparency: The user has to be informed about the intentions of the CCT’s project and the logic of CCT’s virtual tests. • Sensibility: Results of the CCT’s online self discoveries have to be transmitted in a way that affects the self-concept of the user as little as possible. Especially, negative feedback should never be final and there should never be a message conveyed between the lines. Rather negative feedback given by the CCT programshould always to be open to optimistic interpretations of the user.

11. The advantages of online counselling (part I) • Using the CCT program is a very efficient way of career planning and career development for teachers. It is free, all elements of the CCT websites are self-explanatory and can be used for a variety of purposes. • CCT Counselling is democratic because it is open to everybody that is seeking information about being or becoming a teacher. • There are already many people that take advantage of the CCT program. They all have equal access to the CCT web pages and benefit from CCT’s variety of services already today.

12. The advantages of online counselling (part II) • The different levels of evaluation (overall evaluation, detail evaluation, insights) allows a flexible guidance. The user can change between the different levels of evaluation. • CCT-Self discoveries can be repeated so that over time results can be compared. Consequently, personal dynamics can be identified and encourage the user to stay in touch with his- or herself. • CCT allows an individual usage. The participants can chose what elements ofCCT they would like to take advantage of.

13. The limits of online counselling • CCT-online councelling is an anonymous councelling situation. • An individual evaluation for each participant with individual advices is not possible. • If a participant has serious difficulties with dealing with CCT results, CCT will not be able to help personly the client. The only thing CCT can do in a situation like that, is to give an advice to an internet link with a career service or something comparable. • Precondition of CCT self discoveries is the capability of the user to think about her/ his personal plans, interests und personality traits. • In addition, the user has to be familiar with standard computer programs. • Websites like CCT must get an update at regular intervalls.

14. The category Contact • The “Meeting corner” on our homepage can help to overcome some of the above-mentioned disadvantages of the internet and can initiate a notable personal contact between the user and a CCT project manager. • A special link of our “meeting corner” allows the user to get in direct contact with a CCT project manager. • The user can find a picture of the projekt manager of her/ his country: