Career Orientation and Guidance (COG) Incentives plans the Netherlands
Name of the good/interesting practice/initiative/policy
Career Orientation and Guidance (COG) Incentives plans the Netherlands
Country
the Netherlands
I am proposing that this example will be published also in the KSLLL database
No
1. Background
What makes this an example of good/interesting practice/initiative/policy?
- The motivation of the initiative (What is the history/background of the policy?)
- Linkages with LLG policy priorities (Please add references to other national/EU policies or documents)
- Participants
Two important initiatives have set the course for Career Orientation and Guidance. Both on secondary education (VO) and on senior secondary vocational education level (MBO) incentive plans were drawn up. Both projects started in 2009 and are still being carried out.
Both plans receive funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The Ministry formulated the principles underpinning the projects.
The Netherlands Association of Secondary Schools (VO-raad) initiated the LOB Incentive Project (2009) to encourage schools to improve the quality of their guidance services. The main aim is to get students to think carefully before deciding on continuing education or a career, based on past experience and their own views. Many factors play a role in this respect, ranging from having a clear view of guidance to encouraging regional cooperation and expertise at school. The LOB Incentive Project, coordinated by the MBO-Diensten project office, is being carried out in cooperation with SBB (formerly Colo) and Skills Netherlands.
Aims and targets
- Objectives of the initiative (What did the policy set out to achieve?)
- Target group
- Methods applied to reach the objective (technological and /or pedagogical)
By intensifying guidance for students, the project aims to:
• reduce the number of students who drop out, for example because they have chosen the wrong programme;
• give students an accurate picture of their talents, qualities and potential so that they can make sensible decisions concerning continuing education or a career.
Both incentive plans are based on the body of thought of Kuijpers and Meijers.
Kuijpers introduced the concept of career skills. These skills constitute a “beacon” in the field of education:
• Reflecting on motives: Investigating wishes and values important for a career.
• Reflecting on quality: Investigating skills and aptitudes and interpreting them in terms of qualities and talents that can be used to achieve goals in learning and work.
• Exploring work: Exploring work-related demands and values and the possibility of changing one’s work.
• Managing career: Planning and influencing learning and working. This involves making well-considered decisions and taking action to match one’s work and learning to one’s personal work-related qualities, motives, and challenges.
• Networking: Building and maintaining a group of professional contacts in the employment sector that is tailored specifically to one’s own career development.
The design of the learning environment is important in the development of career skills. A powerful, career-focused learning environment has three features
1. Practice-based, functional and real-life. This eases the transition from theory to practice.
2. Active, participatory. This means that students deal with the learning demand-driven content interactively and comprehensively.
3. Reflective and in dialogue
2. Implementation
Strategy and actions (Please describe the approach adopted to make the reform work and any actions taken.)
- Level of implementation (national, regional etc.)
- Implementation (description)
Spearheads of the projects are:
- Professionalization of teachers
- Improvement of transfer from prevocational education-senior secondary vocational education –university vocational education (MBO incentive plan)
- Improvement of transfer from VO to university (VO incentive plan)
- Parental involvement
- More self management of students in COG and study choice
Regional cooperation and partnerships play an important role in further development steps
Monitoring and evaluation
- What has been put in place for monitoring and evaluation?
- What actors are involved?
Impact assessment and research are instruments used. The project goals are concretely specified and monitored. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is closely involved in this.
3. Outcomes
Achievements (Please describe the main outcomes/results according to the following headings. Each option can be answered - up to 50 words)
- Specific results
- Cost effectiveness
- Budget
- Innovative aspects
- Specific results
Both incentive plans report more awareness of COG in schools. In the VO incentive plan 7 steps are defined to measure improvement. There appears to be more formulated vision on COG at schools, more developments. IN the VO plan organizing professionalization lacks behind the goals set.
- Cost effectiveness
Because of the decentralized character of the plans this is not clearly visible.
- Budget
Because of the decentralized character of the plans this is not clearly visible.
- Innovative aspects
Both plans clearly delivered many innovative instruments and tools, as well as inspiring and innovative good practices. The mbo project gathered all this in a public available Toolbox website.
Success factors (What key success factors have led to or prevented success?)
- Lessons learnt
- Unintended impacts (Have there been any unintended impacts? Positive or negative?)
The character of the projects is that the Ministry stimulates, not determines developments. This enables creative and innovative solutions with bottom up ownership.
The projects are based on research and researchers are involved in implementing the incentive plans;
Success factor is the network approach: active involvement off all relevant stakeholders
Schools have their own dynamics in improving COG. There are definitely no fixed steps that can be defined here. In the VO plan the professionalization of teachers regarding COG competences lacks behind.
More schools have to be involved, and in schools already involved in COG pilots many developments can still be taken but the blueprint and the tools of how this could be established have become clearer
Strengths and weaknesses
- What areas of the policy can we learn lessons from?
- Are there still challenges ahead?
From policy perspective the incentive projects are good examples of bottom up approach supported by top down incentives. The projects give strong stimulus to regional development of career guidance services. Cooperation in the project between and cooperation of relevant stakeholders embeds developments. Many innovative tools were developed.
Strong element is the use of general accepted theoretical models - and the involvement of researchers in the projects.
4. Additional narrative description of the policy/practice/initiative
Additional information
Name of contact
Role (in policy initiative)
Organization name
Address
Phone
Fax
Website address
http://www.lob-vo.nl/ http://www.mbodiensten.nl/mbodiensten/p000047/projecten/loopbaanorientatie-en-begeleiding-lob
Documents and publications
LOB: de investering waard (2012) (VO-Raad)
Doorstart stimuleringsproject LOB ) (2012) (MBO Diensten)
Attached files
Links
No links specified.
This information was provided/updated by:
Petervan Deursen
No comments by users.
good practice, initiative, interesting practice, policy, career management skills, access, quality, co-operation, co-ordination, guidance in schools, The Netherlands
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FOR THE CAREER INFORMATION, GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING SERVICES IN TURKEY
Name of the good/interesting practice/initiative/policy
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FOR THE CAREER INFORMATION, GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING SERVICES IN TURKEY
Country
Turkey
I am proposing that this example will be published also in the KSLLL database
No
1. Background
What makes this an example of good/interesting practice/initiative/policy?
- The motivation of the initiative (What is the history/background of the policy?)
- Linkages with LLG policy priorities (Please add references to other national/EU policies or documents)
- Participants
The “Career Information, Guidance and Counseling Services Cooperation Protocol” was signed and came into force on 26th October, 2004 with participation of all related stakeholders including public authorities, social partners, and NGO’s to provide coordination and cooperation on career information, guidance and counseling services. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed in 2009 with participation of the organizations in the protocol in order to update the tasks and roles defined in the protocol and define the responsibilities for the National Career Information System (CIS). The MOU has been a significant effort and outcome to enhance the communication, coordination and collaboration of all the stakeholders.
It has links with all four LLG policy priorities:
Encourage the lifelong acquisition of career management skills,
Faciliate access by all citizens to guidance services,
Develop quality assurance in guidance provision,
Encourage coordination and cooperation among the various stakeholders
Participants are:
The Ministry of National Education, PES in the Ministry of Labor and Social Security , the Undersecretariat of the State Planning Agency, The Turkish Institute of Statistics the Higher Education Council, National Qualifications Authority, the Agency for Development and Support of Small and Middle Scale Industry, the National Productivity Center, the Turkey Union of Chambers and Stock Exchanges, the Confederation of Turkish Employers Unions, the Confederation Turkish of Tradesman and Artisans and the Confederation of Turkish Workers Unions
Aims and targets
- Objectives of the initiative (What did the policy set out to achieve?)
- Target group
- Methods applied to reach the objective (technological and /or pedagogical)
The main aim of the MOU is to define and contribute to the development of the roles and responsibilities of all the the related stakeholders, government, social partners, universities and non-governmental organizations in the national web based CIS. Moreover, to also support an integrative approach to all the services in Turkey.
The target group includes individuals from every age and a wide range of groups such as students, youth adults, unemployed, employment seekers, people want to change career, retired, disabled, women, dropouts etc.
Methods applied to reach the objective are face-face interviews ,meetings, workshops and the process of writing the country reports (2003,2006)
2. Implementation
Strategy and actions (Please describe the approach adopted to make the reform work and any actions taken.)
- Level of implementation (national, regional etc.)
- Implementation (description)
All the stakeholders will provide updated data periodically to the national web-based system.
Career guidance services will be carried out in a coordinated way
The stakeholders will share the materials and documents they develop.
The MOU covers the guidelines for the actions to be carried out by the stakeholders on lifelong career information, guidance and counseling services at national, local and international levels (Euroguidance, PLOTEUS etc.) and on the national web-based system to be coordinated by the Ministry of National Education. Moreover, the MOU has guidelines on how to carry on the services at the local level.
Monitoring and evaluation
- What has been put in place for monitoring and evaluation?
- What actors are involved?
At governmental level, monitoring and evaluation will be carried out by the Career Guidance Services Development Unit established under the General Directorate for Special Education Guidance and Counseling Services of the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MONE) and by Occupation Information Commission, MEDAK) under the Turkey Employment Agency; and
At local level, by Guidance and Research Centers and Provincial Directorships of the Turkey Employment Agency
The strategic plan is in the process of development by all the stakeholders has outcome indicators to be used, ie. number of personnel trained for ICT skills, number of students who used web based self-assessment tools, etc.)
3. Outcomes
Achievements (Please describe the main outcomes/results according to the following headings. Each option can be answered - up to 50 words)
- Specific results
- Cost effectiveness
- Budget
- Innovative aspects
Inter-agency cooperation.
Cooperation, coordination and collaboration at the national level.
Effective use of human resources and finances.
Sustainability of the national web-based information system.
Awareness on guidance services
Increase in the quality of the services
Right to use of career guidance services
Leading to the development of the strategic plan as a joint effort of the stakeholders
Each institution will finance its own activities itself.
Although career guidance services have been provided mostly in educational institutions previously, hereafter individuals from every part of the society will have opportunity to have information about these services and benefit from them.
Success factors (What key success factors have led to or prevented success?)
- Lessons learnt
- Unintended impacts (Have there been any unintended impacts? Positive or negative?)
The cooperation, coordination and collaboration of all stakeholders are a major success factor. Twelve public authorities, social partners and NGO’s came together and they undertook some tasks and responsibilities for providing career information, guidance and counseling services.
Lessons learnt are:
Team work
Importance of cooperation
Effective use of the resources
Use of stocked information
Strengths and weaknesses
- What areas of the policy can we learn lessons from?
- Are there still challenges ahead?
There are organizations providing career guidance services at local level. Also, structured and institutionalized career guidance providers are available. The MOU is an opportunity to further cooperation, coordination and collaboration among all the related the stakeholders. A web-based career information system has been established. A strategic plan for the career guidance services in Turkey is in the process of development.
4. Additional narrative description of the policy/practice/initiative
Additional information
Name of contact
Ruhi KILIÇ, PhD
Role (in policy initiative)
Director General for Special Education Guidance and Counseling Services of the Turkish Ministry of National Education and also National Coordinator for Turkey for ELGPN
Organization name
Directorate General for Special Education Guidance and Counseling Services of the Turkish Ministry of National Education
Address
MEB Kampusu A Blok Beşevler/ANKARA/TÜRKİYE
Phone
+90 312 212 76 14-15
Fax
+90 312 213 13 56
ruhikilic@meb.gov.tr, orgm@meb.gov.tr
Website address
http://orgm.meb.gov.tr
Documents and publications
Attached files
Links
No links specified.
This information was provided/updated by:
Seza Karaman, ELGPN National Representative for Turkey and the Career Guidance Services Development Unit in MONE
No comments by users.
ELGPN, good practice, initiative, interesting practice, policy, career management skills, access, quality, co-operation, co-ordination, career information, Turkey