Page 23 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

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

theme and urged Member States to support learning at all ages through guidance
measures.
Similarly, joint actions in vocational education and training have stressed the
need for Member States to strengthen career guidance provision, policies and
practices (The Copenhagen declaration, 2002; the Maastricht communiqué,
2004; the Helsinki communiqué, 2004). Guidance has also appeared on the
higher education agenda (the European higher education area, Achieving the
goals and European Ministers responsible for Higher Education, 2005) and the
adult learning sphere (the Council Conclusion of May 2008). All of these policy
documents have stressed the role that guidance can play in promoting social
inclusion, improving efficiency of investments in education and training, and aid
education-to-work transitions and job mobility.
In May 2004, the European Council adopted a Resolution on guidance
throughout life. This spelled out priorities for guidance within the framework of the
Education and training 2010 work programme. It invited the Member States and
the Commission, within their sphere of competences, to develop policies and
concrete actions to improve guidance provision throughout life. The work of an
expert group on lifelong guidance, established by the European Commission in
2002, has resulted in the development of three common European reference
points for guidance systems. These are intended to enable Member States to
benchmark and develop their existing provision within a lifelong learning policy
framework, with an aim to support their life pathways in a knowledge-based
economy and society.
Recent evaluation reports on the implementation of the Resolution of 2004
have concluded that progress has been made in Member States but further
efforts are required to improve the quality of guidance services, provide fairer
access focused on individuals’ needs and aspirations, and coordinate and build
partnerships between existing forms of guidance provision. In response, the EU
Council of Minister in its Resolution (21 November 2008) provided instruments to
assist the Member States in introducing career guidance service reforms within
their national lifelong learning strategies (Resolution of the Council ..., 2008). The
Resolution highlighted that longer periods of active employment and better
opportunities for study and work abroad (through EU enlargement and the
globalisation of trade) require individuals to adapt their skills and develop their
learning and professional pathways in a broader geographical context, to
safeguard their career paths. The importance of guidance is also stressed by the
growing number and complexity of transitions, the mismatch between persistent
unemployment and difficulties in recruiting in certain sectors and the exclusion

17