1. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Theme 4: Impact Evidence and Impact Measurement - Steps taken in Finland 2001 - 2007 Raimo Vuorinen Senior Researcher, Ph.D. Institute for Educational Research University of Jyväskylä, Finland Fourth International Symposium on Career Development and Public Policy, October 24, 2007, Aviemore, Scotland

2. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Themes  Recent evaluations of guidance in Finland  Quality features and challenges remaining…  Strategy to develop a framework for a national feedback mechanism in Finland 2007-2013

3. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Employment offices - Vocational guidance and career planning - Educational and vocational information services - Employment exchange services Centre for International Mobility CIMO - Euroguidance Finland Comprehensive schools Upper secondary schools Vocational colleges Polytechnics Universities Adult education National evaluations of guidance 2000 - 2007 National Board of Education 2001-2002 FINHEEC 2000-2001 + Follow-up 2005 NBE 2003 -2005 Ministry of Labour 2001-2002 EU-DGempl 2005-2006 OECD activity on guidance policies 2001-2003 EU Commission 2004

4. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Key quality features in guidance practise in Finland  Educational settings: –Career guidance as a student entitlement in legislation –Career guidance as a part of national core curriclula –The competences for career practitioners defined in legislation  PES settings: –Tiered services in employment offices –Qualifications of vocational psychologists defined in legislation

5. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Recent quality features in guidance policy development in Finland  As a result of the national and international evaluations lifelong guidance has been included in the key documents of educational and labour market policies  National cross-sectoral initiatives based on the evaluation recommendations  Network of regional cross-sectoral fora established  Cross-sectoral thematic working groups feed the national policy development – still need for a sustainable national lifelong guidance forum

6. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Some features of the current evidence base – PES settings  Systematic client and careers guidance database and statistics  Systematic customer and quality feed back surveys and occasional studies on outcomes of services, results and productivity  The main feedback system of labour market training is an online Internet based tool (OPAL)  In co-operation with the employers the Ministry of Labour provides cyclical and seasonal information and forecasts on employment and recruitments

7. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Some features of the current evidence base – Educational settings  Due to the decentralised administration there is little national comprehensive data available in addition to the occasional national evaluations  The local authorities are required to evaluate their guidance services in connection with the overall evaluation of the educational institutions  The National Board of Education has developed online tools which can be used in evaluating guidance services within institutions.

8. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Challenges remaining…  The evaluations revealed that there is a need: –to develop a more sustainable evidence base to support the policy development, especially for the purposes of quality assurance of the overall arrangements of guidance and for assessments of impact and cost-effectiveness –for more explicit legislation related to guidance –to strenghten the user voice in the guidance policy development

9. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Suggested strategy to develop a framework for a national feedback mechanism  The development of the feedback mechanism will be integrated in the design and implementation of national pilot projects in lifelong guidance 2007-2013  The development of the feedback mechanism includes training of researchers  Establisment of a strong co-operation network of Finnish and international universities and research institutes for the needs of the educational and labour administrations

10. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Suggested strategy to develop a framework for a national feedback mechanism (2)  The overall goal is to focus on general factors of lifelong guidance and some specific context related factors of guidance  Tools for service providers for self-evaluation –Support for the documentation of their provision –Data for national evidence base  Interfaces to feed the national lifelong guidance policy development

11. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Suggested strategy to develop a framework for a national feedback mechanism (3)  Themes of the development work –Linkages of career development and labour force development –Linkages of guidance in the design and implementation of the educational system –Linkages of guidance in the new ministerial structure in Finland –Evaluation of the quality and effectiveness of different service delivery modes

12. National framework for a feedback mechanism on lifelong guidance - A common structure for data collection Ministry of Industry and employment Ministry of education Adult education HE2. level Comprehensive education Companies NBE Nordic countries -2007 EU -Cedefop/ETF OECD/ IAEVG/ ICCDPP Interfaces, co-operation in Transnational pilot projects PES settings Tools for documentation and self-evaluation of the guidance provision Linkages with ministries Parallel national systems e.g. Statistics Finland Integration with the development programme within adult education 2007-2013 Integration within national pilot projects funded by the Ministry of Education and the NBE Developing evidence base for guidance practise and policy development in Finland 2007-2013

13. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Steps taken to implement the strategy…  The Finnish National Board of Education has included the theme in their next work program  The Ministry of Labour has commissioned a national study to evaluate the new role of vocational guidance in PES settings  Establishment of the National Centre for Lifelong Guidance Expertise (pilot phase 2006-2011, University of Jyväskylä)  Discussions on the interface of the national strategy with parallel international initiatives e.g.: –Linkages with the European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network Work program 2008-2009 –Linkages with the Nordic network on the quality of guidance –Linkages with the CRWG in Canada

14. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Conclusions:  Finland has not solved the question yet…  However, the recent joint ministerial working groups have provided an opportunity to invest on sustainable research and development of the evidence base while redesigning the service delivery modes in co- operation with research & training units  The implementation of the strategy provides opportunities and potentials for transnational co-operation…  …

15. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RV/24/10/2007 Thank you! For further information, please contact: Raimo Vuorinen, Ph.D. Senior researcher, Co-ordinator of the ELGPN Institute for educational research P.O. Box 35 FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä (Street address: Keskussairaalantie 2, Building Opinkivi) tel. +358-14-2603271, Mobile +358-50-3611909 Fax +358-14-2603201 email: raimo.vuorinen@ktl.jyu.firaimo.vuorinen@ktl.jyu.fi www: http://ktl.jyu.fi/http://ktl.jyu.fi/ Skype: vuorai