Page 68 - increasing-the-value-of-age-guidance-in-employers-age-management-strategies

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

practitioners, with the possibility to be accredited as qualified counsellor based on
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certain quality requirements ( ).
Other countries developed guidelines or manuals for providers and career
guidance staff. In Estonia, for example, the Foundation Innove, together with the
Ministry of Education and Research, developed three different quality handbooks
in 2010: one aiming at management, a second on provision of career information
and counselling, and the third on career education.
These quality manuals were tested in youth centres and partner schools in
2011-12. Currently the concept of career services is being developed for 2013-20
and also includes the elaboration of quality system for career services; in this
agreed quality standards and the quality of the services will be systematically
monitored, analysed and evaluated.
Another example is the Swedish Association of Guidance Counsellors
(SAGC), a non-profit organisation funded by its members. This has developed
ethical guidelines for all guidance practitioners who are members of the
association with the aim of coordinating the work of career guidance counsellors
and to support practitioners.
The Swedish public employment service uses quality assured methods for
its guidance services. There are also three university colleges offering three-year
education programmes granting a diploma in guidance. There are guidelines from
the Swedish National Agency for Education for guidance offered within the
education system.
Where countries have a quality policy in place, this is most likely a non-
mandatory system, though some are working on a national quality guidance
system. For example, the Ministry of Employment in Italy is committed to
developing general policy regulation for the creation of an organic national
guidance system. This system will take into account the different users’ targets,
so guaranteeing a quality service. The general trend is still, however, that there
does not seem to be a strong system for assuring quality in guidance at country
level. Although there are positive developments across Europe in setting quality
standards for guidance delivery, the overall impression is still that there is no
sufficient systematic evaluation of the quality of guidance activities (Cedefop,
2011b).

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( ) http://www.bbregister.de [accessed 1.4.2014].

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