Back to Work –
Counseling instrument presentation
Carla Tønder Jessing and
Ellen Enggaard
VIA University College Denmark
The presentation
1. Context, background and products of the project
2. Film
3. Counsellors’ competences 4. Discussion at the tables
5. Presentation of the instrument (list of
clients’ competences and reflection files)
6. Discussion at the tables 7. Challenges
8. Discussion at the tables
1. Context, background and products of the project
The general aim of the project is to develop the practice of validation and
recognition of competences as part of the counseling services offered by the local employment offices in order to improve their counseling services for unemployed people and returning migrants and
increase their chances of entrance to the labour market.
(LLP – Leonardo da Vinci – Transfer of innovation, 2011-2013)
Several objectives fall under this aim:
• to raise awareness on the importance of practice in validation and recognition of competences in the context of promoting matching between
skills/competences and needs of the labour market
• to develop useful and easy-to-use counseling instruments that facilitate validation of prior learning outcomes and their match with job opportunities on the current labour market
• to enable employment offices' counselors, NGO
representatives and assessors in assessment centres to use these instruments
• to permit exchange of best practices in the field of validation of prior learning outcomes and counseling services for unemployed between the partner
countries
Partners
• IREA, Romanian Institute for Adult Education Timisoara, Romania – project management
• National Knowledge Centre for Validation of Prior Learning - NVR, VIA UC, Denmark
• MEH, Merseyside Expanding Horizons, regional non-profit org., Liverpool, England
• University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• DIE, Deutsches Institut für
Erwachsenentbildung, Bonn, Germany
• ECET, European Centre for Education and Training, Sofia, Bulgarien
• ARCA, ngo, non-profit (associative partner),
Bucharest, Romania
Products of the project
• Country reports
• 3 short films
• Platform with online-tools (instrument and user guide)
• List of basic competences for career counselors
• Model for Self Evaluation of Competences related to
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for career counsellors, EQF Level 6
• A Counselling Instrument
Including:
• List of competences – social activities, family life, hobbies, voluntary sector and work
• Social activities
• Family life
• Activities done outside work
• Voluntary activities
• Work
• Portfolio – pieces of evidence
• Report
• Case studies
• A User Guide
3. Counsellors’ competences
From the ACCED project: The Canadian Guidelines and Standards (core competences and common skills and knowledge):
• Professional behavior
• Interpersonal competencies
• Facilitating Individual and Group Learning
• Career Counseling
• Information and Resource Management
Related to the European Qualification Framework
level 6 the competences are described like this in
details:
Basic competences for career counselors according to the EQF, level 6, related to The Canadian Competence Framework
Core competences
Knowledge – Level 6
Skills – Level 6
Responsibility and Autonomy – Level 6
Professiona l behavior
Career and guidance counselors have extensive/ advanced knowledge in the field of work and in the following areas:
• in theories and models of decision making and in their ethical dimension
• of current activities of networks supporting the professionalization of teaching in adult and continuing education
• of the specificity and limits of the professional role
• in theories and principles regarding the educator’s professionalization of adults educators and counselors in adult education
• in educational psychology and of the mechanisms of self-perception and perception of others
• in the assessment of learning needs and attainments levels
• In methods of self-reflection and self-evaluation
• in creativity techniques
• in relaxation techniques and methods to deal with stress
Career and guidance counselors use advanced cognitive and practical skills demonstrating mastery and innovation in solving complex tasks in their specialized field of work: They:
• have high biographical competence being able to critically review their career development in the context of societal and professional developments consistently.
• are able to switch flexibly between different target groups, topics and teaching-learning contexts.
• are involved and work as active members in professional networks for the purposes of their own career development and for the development of the professional group.
• are able to reflect critically on their own career development and on the
development of the entire profession and link this to the overall context. This is based on their knowledge of the profession theories, principles and specificity in adult and continuing education.
• have advanced psychological knowledge and in the center of their actions is the learner
Career and guidance counselors
• manage the development of the professional self
• assume responsibility for managing the career development of other counselors adult educators
• take responsibility for managing the professional development of individuals and groups
• assume responsibility for decision making in various work contexts
• are experienced in supporting and managing learning in a variety of counseling and learning contexts, in a client-centered, sensitive and individual way
• are able to manage unpredictable group processes
• are able to assist and support other counselors/ adult educators
• have an advanced learner orientation and are able to help learners to recognize informal learning as valuable learning
• are able to reflect their actions and the limits by referring to theories of educational philosophies
• are able to make learning attractive in diverse learning contexts by relating the counseling activity to the specific living situation of learners
• -are able to overcome learning barriers by making use of motivational techniques
• -are able to reflect critically the use of motivators by using their advanced knowledge of the educational psychology
• -are able to motivate learners to adopt an open attitude towards learning on the basis of their experience in various counseling situations
• - have a broad portfolio of communication and de-escalation strategies which is used in an innovative and flexible way to manage complex counseling processes
Interpersonal competencies
Career and guidance counselors have extensive/
advanced knowledge:
• in psychology (self-
perception and perception by others, as well as body language and self-
representation)
• concerning diverse groups of clients
• concerning the creation of different counseling
environments and the use of different materials
• concerning the counseling progress - visible by using different evaluation methods and instruments
• of mechanisms of self-
perception and perception of others.
• in the field of group work and conflict management and can make flexible use of this knowledge for reflecting and justifying their own actions.
Career and guidance counselors use advanced cognitive and practical skills demonstrating mastery and innovation in solving complex tasks in their specialized field of work:
They:
• are able to use their experience in an innovative way in unfamiliar counseling contexts
• are able to use a variety of materials and media in many different counseling and learning contexts.
• are able to take advantage of unforeseen and unpredictable situations in a creative way for their counseling
• have a broad portfolio of
communication and de-escalation strategies
Career and guidance counselors
• are able to communicate effectively with the clients
• are able to adapt their counseling offers to diverse groups of clients and counseling situations
• are able to use various or inadequate resources in a productive way
• use in a creative way the potential of different groups of clients
Facilitating Individual and Group Learning, Provide Career Counseling
Career and guidance counselors have extensive/ advanced knowledge:
• about the specifics of diverse social environments/milieus of the clients
• in the field of group work and conflict management and can make flexible use of this knowledge for reflecting and justifying their own actions.
• concerning biographical research and on organizational theories.
They can draw upon this knowledge in order to critically reflect on everyday situations and relate them to theoretical
concepts
• concerning current trends in guidance and career counseling and adult education
• concerning different
assessment/validation methods and instruments
Career and guidance counselors use advanced cognitive and practical skills demonstrating mastery and innovation in solving complex tasks in their specialized field of work: They:
• are able to make learning attractive in diverse learning contexts by relating the counseling activity to the specific living situation of learners
• -are able to overcome barriers of the client by making use of motivational techniques
• are able to reflect critically the use of motivators by using their advanced knowledge of the educational psychology
• are able to motivate learners and clients to adopt an open attitude towards learning on the basis of their experience in various counseling situations and learning environments
• are able to make use of the experience resulting from new counseling situations in the planning and implementation of their future counseling
• are able to offer support to other counselors in analyzing, monitoring, guidance and evaluation of counseling processes.
• use appropriate methods for counseling and assessing the outcomes of the counseling process
• ensure that progress and performance of the client is documented and they use this information for the
development of their counseling offers
Career and guidance counselors
are experienced in supporting and managing counseling processes in a variety of contexts, in a client-centered, sensitive and individual way
• are able to manage unpredictable group processes
• are able to assist and support other counselors/ adult educators
• link the developments in field of guidance and career counseling and adult
education with the planning of their own counseling offers as well as with their responsibility for the career development of other counselors and adult educators.
• adapt their approach to a variety of counseling contexts
• support other counselors in increasing their skills in analyzing counseling processes
• take responsibility for managing professional development of individuals and groups
Facilitating Individual and Group Learning, Provide Career Counseling
Career and guidance counselors have extensive/ advanced knowledge:
• about the specifics of diverse social environments/milieus of the clients
• in the field of group work and conflict management and can make flexible use of this knowledge for reflecting and justifying their own actions.
• concerning biographical research and on organizational theories. They can draw upon this knowledge in order to critically reflect on everyday situations and relate them to theoretical concepts
• concerning current trends in guidance and career counseling and adult education
• concerning different
assessment/validation methods and instruments
Career and guidance counselors use advanced cognitive and practical skills demonstrating mastery and innovation in solving complex tasks in their specialized field of work: They:
• are able to make learning attractive in diverse learning contexts by relating the counseling activity to the specific living situation of learners
• -are able to overcome barriers of the client by making use of motivational techniques
• -are able to reflect critically the use of motivators by using their advanced knowledge of the educational psychology
• are able to motivate learners and clients to adopt an open attitude towards learning on the basis of their experience in various counseling situations and learning environments
• are able to make use of the experience resulting from new counseling situations in the planning and implementation of their future counseling
• are able to offer support to other counselors in analyzing, monitoring, guidance and evaluation of counseling processes.
• use appropriate methods for counseling and assessing the outcomes of the counseling process
• ensure that progress and performance of the client is documented and they use this information for the
development of their counseling offers
Career and guidance counselors
• are experienced in supporting and managing counseling processes in a variety of contexts, in a client-centered, sensitive and individual way
• are able to manage unpredictable group processes
• are able to assist and support other counselors/ adult educators
• link the developments in field of guidance and career counseling and adult education with the planning of their own counseling offers as well as with their responsibility for the career development of other counselors and adult educators.
• adapt their approach to a variety of counseling contexts
• support other counselors in increasing their skills in analyzing counseling processes
• take responsibility for managing professional development of individuals and groups
Basic competences for career counselors according to the EQF, level 6, related to The Canadian Competence Framework
Informati on and Resource Managem ent
Career and guidance counselors have extensive/
advanced knowledge:
• concerning the use of media / materials for counseling tailored to different audiences
• about assessment
techniques of counseling needs and attainment levels
Career and guidance counselors use advanced cognitive and practical skills demonstrating mastery and innovation in solving complex tasks in their specialized field of work: They:
• have advanced experience and skills in the proficient use of different counseling materials / media in various counseling contexts
• are able to use their advanced knowledge in the fields of biographical learning and macro-didactic action as well as of appropriate methods for the assessment of counseling needs
Career and guidance counselors
• -monitor and supervise the clients’ progress.
• are able to arrange counseling processes (focus on the client) in unpredictable situations
• are able to use the available resources in different counseling situations
• planning their counseling offers and keep them constantly up with new developments and trends in guidance and career counseling and adult education
• support other counselors / adult educators in increasing their skills in analyzing counseling processes
Carla Tønder Jessing - ctj@viauc.dk and Ellen Enggaard - ele@viauc.dk
4. Discussion at the tables:
The 10 VPL competences for counsellors:
Discuss the relevance of the 10 competences
in relation to working with VPL.
5. Presentation of The Instrument
- to help counsellors assess and validate experiences in the field of social activities, family life, hobbies, voluntary sector and work
The Back to Work counselling instrument has different parts:
• General information about the client
• List of competences: social activities, family life, hobbies, voluntary sector and work
• Reflection file
• Portfolio with pieces of evidence
• Case studies
• Glossary
List of competences – social activities, family life, hobbies, voluntary sector and work
Communication at work place Working in a team
Planning the activity of a team Diversity Orientation
Building Relationships Problem Solving
Learning and development Creativity
Innovation
Work Commitment Time Management Management skills Job knowledge
Planning an activity Organizing an activity Decision making
Knowing the health and security norms in working activities Quality assurance
Self development
For each of these competence areas: 4-17 statements about
sub competences are to be valued on a scale from 1 to 4:
Level 1:
The competence seems relevant to you but are not familiar with it.
Level 2:
You have that competence, but you do not reflect on it.
Level 3:
You apply the competence but reflect how to improve it.
Level 4:
The competence is an integrated part of
yourself, you use it and you reflect on how to
improve it.
Decisions- making
I can think on my feet
I am able to gather and analyze data
I am able to consider alternatives and assess their impact and potential problems
I am able to implement decision and evaluate results
I am able to actively seek solutions to problems before being asked or
directed
