Estonian digital solutions in guidance
In autumn 2014, Foundation Innove initiated 15 public centres called Rajaleidja (Pathfinder in English). Centres are located in every county and provide support for young people in their studies and career related issues. In addition, the counselling committees make recommendations to schools on more complex educational measures. Integrated services provided by the centres are career counselling, career information provision, socio-pedagogical counselling, special educational counselling, psychological counselling and speech therapy.
The Pathfinder is also accessible online (www.rajaleidja.ee in Estonian), offering career information and online chat for youngsters, parents, teachers and career specialists.
E-Governance is a strategic choice for Estonia to improve the competitiveness of the state and increase the well-being of its people, while implementing hassle-free governance. The daily work of the guidance practitioners in Rajaleidja centres is intertwined with the use of various digital solutions. The use of information and communication technology (ICT) here is multi-faceted: practitioners are both ICT users and the creators of new values through their use of ICT solutions.
Rajaleidja.ee is Estonia’s largest career portal, which facilitates career planning by means of providing tools for self-evaluation, as well as information about work, occupations and educational opportunities. It also features materials and methodology of guidance professionals. The database of occupations contains videos, descriptions, study opportunities, and labour market options, including information about salary range. The career game serves as a fun and engaging way of delivering labour market information that leverages gamification elements in order to stimulate the interest of and better resonate with the younger audience. Rajaleidja chat-service enables people to start an online discussion directly with a guidance practitioner. No login or identification is needed, although the client can provide their e-mail address to start or continue the conversation at a later date. Rajaleidja chat has become a very popular service among young people and school personnel.
Practitioners use a variety of electronically administered tests and evaluation tools, including personality tests, career choice tests, etc. The online tests have been standardized on norm groups comprising of Estonian school children and adults. In addition, versatile technical environments for information exchange and group counselling are in use.
There are also several ICT tools for internal management purposes. The customer management system is meant for the storage of customer data and the gathering of statistical data. The Recommy allows feedback from customers in the electronic format and customer satisfaction to be evaluated.
Euroguidance Estonia contributes intensively to the competence development of guidance practitioners, including digital skills. The results of our study among guidance practitioners in 2017 shows that the rapid development of the ICT field has also had a significant impact on the provision of guidance in Rajaleidja centres. As a result of the development of ICT communication with the customers has changed, the organisations are better managed, and the interactions done in cooperation with partners have improved. Additionally, it has significantly diversified the available information on distribution channels.
