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4 Academia

In 2023/24 the Academia network welcomed new- Dublin guidance professionals. In the afternoon we
comers from Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, visited Trinity College for people with intellectual
Norway and Switzerland. disabilities (TCPID). Here we were welcomed by Dr
Conor McGuckin and Des Aston who informed us
Find below a few reports of the academia visits in on the work in the centre. This was followed by pre-
Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Italy and the Netherlands. sentations on Universal Design in Guidance (UDG)
by Dr Mary Quirke and an experiential look at life in
Newcomers in 2023/24: Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, education in Ireland by Dr. Patricia McCarthy. Patricia
Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland is vision impaired and was joined by her assistance
dog Gaston who was very popular with the group.
Lifelong Career Guidance: A Future
Vision. Academia Study Visit Ireland On Thursday 9 th we visited Dublin City University
(DCU) where Aisling Fleming, Assistant Professor
Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) hosted and MSc in Guidance Counselling Programme Chair,
its first Academia Study Group from 8 th to the 10 th gave us a concise description of the programme and
May 2024 (inc). The base location for the Academia modules covered. This was followed by a visit to the
visit was the Liberties College of Further Education Virtual Reality (VR) Lab where we all got a chance
and Training (FET) in Dublin City. The Liberties, to experience VR in fun, learning, team working and
where the college is situated, is one of Dublin’s immersive environments. After lunch we travelled to
oldest and most historic sites with a view of the Baldoyle training centre where we were given a tour
beautiful St. Patrick’s Cathedral from its classrooms. of the facilities and training programmes taking place.
The theme of the study visit was ‘Lifelong Guidance – On Friday 10 th we were back in the Liberties where
A Future Vision’. This theme was underpinned by our Dr. Carol Guildea informed us on the National
National Strategic Framework for Lifelong Guidance Strategic Framework for Lifelong Guidance and Dr.
and Strategic Action Plan (2024-2030) which was Stephen O’Neill talked to us about self-care.
launched in Ireland on December 2023. The four
pillars of the framework fed into sub-themes of our The weather in Ireland for our Academia visit was
programme of events. The four pillars are: exceptionally beautiful (for Ireland). I’d like to finish
with a lovely quote from the German delegates
1. Visibility and Awareness of lifelong guidance who said ‘Wenn Engel reisen, scheint immer die Sonne’,
services and information provision ‘When Angels travel, the sun always shines’.
2. Standards and quality throughout the lifelong
guidance system Academia Slovenia 2024: Transition
3. Access, Inclusion and Universal Design from education to labour market
4. Career management skills and lifelong career
mobility Euroguidance Slovenia organised an Academia
event between the dates of the 15 th and 18 of
th
We began our programme on Wednesday 8 th May April. The focus of the event was on the transition
with a warm welcome from the principal of the Lib- from education to the labour market. The Employ-
erties College who informed us on the programmes ment Service of Slovenia has been the hosting and
offered as well as a brief history of the area. This sending organisation for Academia study visits of
was followed by a general overview of ETBI, FET in guidance practitioners since 2008.
Ireland and the Guidance and Information services
therein. We were also given a brief synopsis of the Ten guidance practitioners from Cyprus, France, Ger-
local Guidance and Information service by City of many, Ireland, Netherlands and Spain learned about

26 NETWORK LEVEL ACTIVITIES