Page 66 - Professionalising-career-guidance-practitioner-competences-and-qualification-routes-in-Europe

Ministry of Regional Development), the Association of Local Governments, social partners’
organisations, and guidance practitioners; it was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. The
paper covers all aspects of lifelong guidance including the mechanism for how to ensure
better cooperation and coordination between key players in guidance and counselling at
different levels.
The Guidance and Counselling System Cooperation Council (Karjeras attistibas atbalsta
Sadarbibas padome) was established in September 2007 and comprises all stakeholders in
guidance and counselling. The Career Guidance Department of the State Education
Development Agency (VIAA) provides secretarial assistance to the council. The Public
Employment Agency and the Professional Career Counselling State Agency were merged on
1 September 2007 to ‘provide more targeted career guidance and job placement’.
An ESF project, which was led by VIAA and ended in September 2008, aimed at
improving the accessibility of guidance provision within education. A total of 38 school
boards and six higher education institutions were partners in the project, which fostered
acknowledgement of a guidance practitioner as a key agent in lifelong learning and
systematic careers education at all levels, and in providing support to schools on information
and methodological resources.
The project has seen the development of:
(a) a careers education model including self-development, career exploration and career
management;
(b) a master’s study programme for guidance counsellors (including an e-platform for the
study programme ‘career counsellor’ and two examples of theoretical materials and
publications);
(c) methodological materials (seven brochures and three CDs for careers education in
compulsory and secondary schools for students of grades 7-9, grades 10-12, and
vocational secondary schools);
(d) information resources, including: three catalogues on education and career
opportunities; a national database on learning opportunities, which should be a widely
accessible electronic information tool for different target groups to be connected with the
European Commission’s portal Ploteus II in 2009; self-assessment tests for e-guidance;
and five DVDs on career opportunities in five selected economic sectors.
This shows that a lifelong guidance strategy has been established in Latvia, of which the
master’s programme is a key element. Future developments include school career guidance
centres managed by qualified guidance counsellors. The school-based guidance counsellors
will also coordinate careers work, support teachers, and provide relevant information and
face-to-face counselling.
The master’s programme in career counselling was developed drawing on experience in
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania and Poland, with
considerable help from experts in some of these countries.

4.5.2. Changes responding to the Lisbon strategy and the Bologna process
The programme is based on the aim of the European Union’s Lisbon strategy (2005) for the
year 2010. The Latvian lifelong guidance strategy, as outlined by the 2006 White Paper, is

56