Page 40 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

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

about their education pathway (Cedefop, Sultana, 2004). School approaches to
guidance have been seen as too limited, as such provision tends to be a personal
service provided by schools themselves (OECD, 2004a). The limitations of
mainstream guidance services at schools include high costs, focus on short-term
educational decision-making, and poor links to the labour market. OECD has
suggested that school-based career guidance must adopt a broader approach that
takes into consideration the need to develop career management skills (OECD,
2004a). This means the ability to make effective career decisions and implement
them. Such an approach, according to the OECD study, must be embedded in the
curriculum, incorporate learning from experience and involve the whole school.
The concept of education-to-work transition is shifting from an approach that
simply tries to match the skills and interests of young people to particular jobs or
courses to one that places more emphasis on active, continuing career planning
and management. A variety of different personal support systems, career-related
services, arrangements and agencies are required to assist young people in the
transition process. Further, not only does guidance need to address the initial
needs of young people to support their transition into work from education, but
also to offer a grounding for their longer-term career development, and to ensure
they have a solid foundation on which they can base a lifetime of learning and
professional development.
Tailoring the delivery of guidance measures for young people to facilitate their
transition is a key issue for those implementing youth policy. There are many
examples of innovative approaches which have been developed to support and
guide young people into the labour market or back into education or training. Some
operate in mainstream settings, such as schools and formal education systems,
while others are delivered in a community, assisting those young people who are
excluded or at risk of exclusion, e.g. through community outreach centres. All have
the central aim of easing the progression of young people as they leave the world
of formal education systems and embark on their working lives.
This study explores the variety of these polices, project and programmes
available for young people in European countries to access mainstream and
specialist guidance services, including Internet-based information systems,
collaborations with public employment services and other partners to deliver
joined-up career and support services, and other tailored support services to
potential and actual school leavers. The following sections will show that
guidance does not work in isolation but it often works alongside social exclusion,
education and training, and employment policies. The remainder of the report will
also demonstrate that guidance is not always a dialogue; it also about actions to
prevent exclusion and provide routes out of exclusion.

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