Page 117 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

Guiding at-risk youth through learning to work
Lessons from across Europe

carried out during their youth, since most participants use it to create a personal
record, rather than a tool to access education, training, employment or
qualifications.

Recreational activity study books, Finland

The Recreational activity study book is a portfolio/CV, which enables young people to evidence
their learning from activities outside formal education. It is also currently being developed and
piloted as a web-based portfolio, piloting in 2009/2010.

The study book collects information about activities, competences and learning gained in nine
spheres (Savisaari, 2005): regular participation in leisure activities; holding positions of trust and
responsibility within NGOs; activities as a leader, trainer or coach; participation in a project;
courses; international activities; workshop activities (apprenticeship); competitions; and other
activities.

The entries in the book are always written by an adult who is either responsible or well aware of
the particular activity; the young people themselves fill in the self-assessment part. The focus is
on describing what, and how, things have been learned rather than what has been done. The
adult making the entry adds his/her contact details in case someone wants to verify the validity of
the information.

The recreational activity book does not measure the competences presented by the young
person and there are no examinations associated with it. The system does not aim for
accreditation of the young person’s competences, because the Youth Academy wishes to
preserve the principles behind a young person’s voluntary activities, e.g. the desire to spend time
and learn with others. Findings from surveys among young people who have used the book have
found that their priority in doing so was to create a personal record of the activities they have
undertaken during their youth.

However, the book can be used to identify and credit non-formal learning when applying for
employment or for a place on a formal education course. The Youth Academy has a formal
agreement with 250 formal educational institutions on how to value and credit entries within the
book.

Over 80 000 recreational study books have been distributed to date and around 5 000 young
people take up this activity each year.

This case study is based on an interview with the Finnish Youth Academy (May 2009) and
information from a case study written by Lauri Savisaari from the Youth Academy in 2005 in the
European Inventory on validation of non-formal and informal learning.

The European Guidelines for validation of non-formal and informal learning
(Cedefop, 2009a) stress the importance of providing information, advice and
guidance throughout validation. Research has shown that the process of
identifying and assessing one’s skills and competences works best with guidance
from a third party (ProfilPASS). Individuals may not be aware of the competences
and skills they have developed, through activities within the home or hobbies, for
example, and experts can help to identify competences which the individual
might have overlooked. Guidance can enable the validation candidate to develop
a comprehensive, realistic summary of their competences and abilities, strengths
and weaknesses.

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