Page 9 - european-lifelong-guidance-policies-progress-report

Executive summary

Section 2 reports on the work of the four ELGPN grated or comprehensive approach to social
Work Packages. Each section comprises four sub- inclusion, active citizenship, lifelong learning,
sections: activities; key conclusions; links to other full employment, and future skills and quali-
WP themes; and next steps. fications.
Summary
Section 2.1 reports the work of Work Package 1 on • While more traditional services are widely
career management skills (CMS). Key conclusions used in member countries for almost all target-
include: groups, online tools have been developed or
are in the process of being developed in almost
• CMS cannot solve structural problems related all of them. A good balance and a meaningful
to competitiveness, but can play a role in a combination between traditional and online
range of areas related to employability, pro- methods (following the principle: log in, walk
ductivity and economic modernisation. They in, phone in and look in) should be avail-
can also contribute to establishing a healthy able, so as to make the overall guidance service
life-work balance. delivery as attractive and useful as possible for
• The promotion of CMS is more likely to be all citizens.
successful when linked to the National Qualifi- • Developing integrated all-age information and
cations Framework and to the EU Key Compe- guidance services and/or comprehensive ser-
tences framework. vices for all target-groups is a demanding task
• There is a need to have a broad perspective on for member countries and calls for renewed
CMS – not just preparing for work, but educat- institutional structures, a co-operative culture
ing about work, so that individuals are aware of and new methods of working.
their rights.
• CMS should focus not only on the skills needed Section 2.3 reports the work of Work Package 3
to choose and look for work, but also on entre- on co-operation and co-ordination. Key conclusions
preneurship. include:

Section 2.2 reports the work of Work Package 2 on • In their lifelong guidance provision, most Euro-
access. Key conclusions include: pean countries face the challenge of fragmenta-
tion and sectorising. Services tend to work in
• The importance of validation of non-formal structural silos. Nonetheless, they are responsi-
and informal learning is now widely recog- ble for providing parts of guidance in a lifelong
nised, but the level of implementation varies. perspective, which ideally would imply a seam-
Similarly, although the need for guidance ser- less and coherent lifelong guidance system. At
vices within these processes is well understood, present, this is a vision for the future, rather
the guidance support in most cases still needs than a reality, in most countries.
to be developed, and at best is in progress. • Some basic difficulties still exist in many coun-
Guidance practitioners should be one of the tries in convincing different ministries with
key contributors to the validation process. different portfolios to co-operate, let alone
• Services need to be accessible at different places to co-ordinate their efforts in a cross-sectoral
in different localities, linked to using more manner.
centralised resources. It is accordingly impor- • Despite this, most European countries have
tant to improve national, regional and local now developed national lifelong guidance
guidance service delivery to support an inte- forums or other co-operation and co-ordina-

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