Page 67 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

Increasing the value of age: guidance in employers’ age management strategies

lack of quality assurance mechanisms at company level, the countries studied
report developments to assure quality of guidance by external providers.
Only a few countries have commonly agreed quality standards for service
delivery. A good example is the UK’s Matrix accreditation system which covers
quality assurance in adult guidance and information services/organisations. All
key information, advice and guidance (IAG) providers in the UK operate in line
with formalised systems of quality assurance; most providers are also accredited
against an externally regulated standard such as matrix or charter mark. Matrix is
the UK standard specifically designed for organisations that deliver IAG on
learning and work opportunities.
More frequently, countries have set requirements for guidance staff. In
Poland, for example, vocational guidance is one of the four basic labour market
services provided by the public employment services and so should be delivered
in accordance with the obligatory standards. The system of licences for
vocational counsellors employed in labour offices was created to improve their
services relating to vocational guidance and information.
Vocational counsellors are university graduates having a three-year bachelor
degree in pedagogy, a two-year master degree supplementary pedagogical
course, a master degree study in psychology, a specialisation in psychology of
vocational guidance, or a post-graduate study in vocational guidance for people
with higher education, other than psychological education.
In Denmark, guidance practitioners are required to complete a diploma
programme in educational and vocational guidance or document equivalent
competences through prior learning. A professional bachelor degree in education
and vocational guidance has also been established.
In the Netherlands, education career advisors have the opportunity to apply
for a personal certificate to demonstrate that they possess the required
competences. The certifying body is Certiforce C.i. (accredited for this purpose by
the Accreditation Council) and it complies with the accreditation criteria laid down
in the standard ISO/IEC 17024:2003.
In other countries, career guidance providers deploy their own quality
systems, such as the German FEA. This operates a quality assurance system
which takes the quality and outcomes of guidance interventions as a contribution
to the overall achievement of the organisation, including placement activities and
financial support. Data are extracted from the customer database and regular
customer surveys. As part of a quality assurance process, a professional career
guidance register (Berufsberatungsregister) has been established for guidance

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