The French presidency of the European Union Conclusions of the EUPF conference And the [future] LLG resolution The role of guidance actors : competences and training needs ? Françoise Divisia - MEN / MESR France

A transversal topic No specific focus on the competences and training of LLG counsellors/actors in the conference nor in the [future] resolution… nevertheless, this issue was evoked in the conclusions of the 3 conference workshops : quality of information and services/coordination; preventing school leaving; supporting lifelong transitions… And the resolution should act as a « user’s framework » (Jos) from which we can infer practitioner’s competences.

Practitioners’competences = quality in guidance provision Resolution priority area 3 : Develop quality assurance « the MS should consider: Enhancing, including through initial and further training, the professional profile and standards of guidance practitioners, and promote their competences and skills, in particular with regard to the provision of information, advice and support, in order to better respond to the needs and expectations of both citizens and policymakers »

Encourage the lifelong acquisition of career management skills Skills in 4 areas : 1- self-knowledge and or self awareness : how to evaluate oneself, to identify strong points and weaknesses, one’s interests 2- search for information and it’s evaluation, decision-making processes 3 - the discovery of the economic environment 4- the knowledge of training systems and pathways The teacher should be able : to build this competence through a range of pedagogical activities or experiential learning and individual counselling to help young people to build confidence, self esteem, independance and employability ; To give informations about the economic environment, buisnesses and occupations, education, training and quailification systems;

Key elements to support young people in difficulty Guidance approach should include : Be attentive to the symptoms of early school leaving Identifying various groups in difficulty Evaluating their needs and providing flexible suport

Facilitate access by all citizens to guidance services Access to the full range of forms Offer support in information searches, individual counselling Offer support in obtaining validation and recognition of their formal, informal and non formal learning outcomes Training programmes should prepare counsellors to use all the forms, web, telephone and face to face, particularly internet resources; The counsellor should understand the user’s expectations and assist him in the correct use of information He should have an expertise in validation and recognition

Quality assurance 1.Quality of information, objectivity of career information impartiality and advice; it should contribute to address sector skills shortages ; establish a clear distinction between sectorial interests and objective informations Forecasting the future jobs and skills, the changes on the labour market; 2. Building a common delivery culture in a network model so that citizens are comparably served by all network partners Evaluate effectiveness and measure efficiency : should pay attention to user benefit/outcomes gained as well as user satisfaction

Coordination and cooperation among the various stakeholders Guidance should be a shared competence area Avoid concurrence with other guidance services providers Networking, partnership : ability to respect the competences of each stakeholder: capacity of understanding the work of the other partners It requires clear sharing of roles and responsabilities of the stakeholders Promote a shared professionnalism

Conclusions 1- Lifelong guidance should respond to the expectations and needs of: - individuals/citizens - economy Social cohesion 2 -counselling refers to various profiles and skills It should be a shared competence between various actors 3- To ensure « flexisecurity » of the citizens pathways, coordination and complementarity of roles in guidance services is needed through networking;