The webinar «Innovation in Careers Education and Education Pathways» was conducted on February 3 with participation of experts, teachers and enthusiasts from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan under the ETF Creating New Learning initiative. The webinar goal was to discuss problems and to talk about innovative approaches in Career Guidance.
The webinar was moderated by two brilliant experts: Julian Stanley (ETF) and Maria Dremina (Eniostudio), who led a heated debate with eхperts in line with the following issues:
- enabling individuals to develop realistic well-informed aspirations;
- recognising and addressing the career aspirations of individuals as well as the needs of employers and capacity of providers;
- enabling individuals and providers to respond to changing labour market needs;
- providing careers advice and guidance across the life-course and integrating it with lifelong learning;
- how to recruit, develop and motivate careers professionals who will be able to provide careers advice and guidance in the 21st century.
The webinar was divided into two parts:
- Julian Stanley interviewed Professor Ronald Sultana, Director of Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research, the University of Malta;
- Maria Dremina and Julian Stanley moderated the discussion with panel experts from Partner Countries.
In general, all participants came to an agreement that changes in delivery and development of the innovation capacity of career-guidance services are required to achieve greater effectiveness and to empower individuals to manage their own career paths. Technology is already having an impact on traditional career-guidance services, and the concept of career-management skills is increasingly gaining ground, not only in EU but also in other countries. Schools need to create an environment where all students have access to career-guidance interventions. Even being exposed to a small amount of career guidance could make a big impact, particularly when it comes to providing information about new types of occupations emerging.
Here we give only a brief summary. Full expert opinions and recommendations you can find in the video above ⬆️ in English.
We know from research that many young people have as an aspiration a relatively limited number of careers. There’re a few careers that people are familiar with, being a lawyer, being a doctor, being a sportsman, and these relatively narrow number of careers have got a very high profile, and many young people focus upon them, a disproportionate number. Now I don't think that's the problem in itself, but I do think it's indicative of the problem that young people find it difficult to form realistic aspirations. They lack the knowledge, there may be a capacity for making judgments both about what the opportunities are and about how it's possible to access them and about what's needed.
One of the most powerful ways that I have seen internationally across different regions in trying to help young people expand their understanding of the world of work is career education in schools. Certainly, there are so many different ways of integrating career education but first let me say how important this is, despite that there are many discussions about us moving into a post-work society with robots taking over with Artificial Intelligence, making and having a big impact on the world of work, and all that might be very well true. But for many of us work remains very central if we are unhappy at work, if we are unfulfilled at work, then this is going to have a big impact on all the other aspects of our lives so helping young people find their ways in a labor market, which is often complex, which is often changing rapidly. I think we have an obligation as educators certainly to help young people think through these challenges, of course, these challenges vary from place to place but there are some core concerns that I think we can discuss.
The research tells us very clearly about the impact of family, extended family, and context that young people form their first views about what they could do from the community that they live in, to the point that there's a lot of research, which says that by the age of seven they have already simply ignored not considered options beyond what is common within their families. So, carrier education has the privilege in many ways of intervening in young people's lives. In many countries, it starts very early at primary school level where we help them become aware of the social dynamics, of the social processes around them that restrict their choices, and this restriction can happen on a variety of factors, gender for example. Why is it that? There are so many stereotypical choices that are made both by males and females on the basis of ethnicity and on the basis of their social class background.
The problem of a professional career is extremely relevant for graduates of orphanages. When they enter the labour market, they get lost, and it is difficult for them to decide on a profession on their own. The social project that we are implementing together with the Association contributes to their occupational socialisation.
Being an expert in VET development of Kyrgyzstan, I want to note that the problem of choosing a professional career is perhaps even more relevant for Kyrgyzstan than for other regions. First, Kyrgyzstan has a surplus of labour resources, and the lack of jobs forces citizens to look for work abroad. Secondly, the choice of a future profession is significantly influenced by the opinion of parents, status relatives, and this opinion often does not coincide with the interests of young people. Another important trend is the limited capacity of the state to train students on a grant basis, and many young people do not have the financial means to study on the contract basis. Also, a conscious choice of career is hindered by "fashionable" professions, which become relevant against the background of socio-economic trends, "dragging" graduates to them.
Unfortunately, there is no systematic approach to career guidance in Kyrgyzstan. When VET institutions do this, it becomes not so much a consultation as an advertisement.
The transition to the online environment in connection with the pandemic has improved vocational guidance through the massive involvement of young people in the discussion, receiving advice and training from representatives of the professions.
As a professional educator and counsellor for school teachers, I am very familiar with career guidance issues. I believe that the quality of vocational guidance activities is decreasing due to the failure to take into account possible areas in which a future young professional may realize himself/herself, because the information about the profession is presented in too generalised way, "big strokes".
The interests of inclusive groups - gifted children or children with disabilities - are still poorly taken into account in vocational guidance. Many of them never manage to socialise, which limits their right to work.
Also, as in Kyrgyzstan, we have limited access to grant-based education in universities and colleges. Only secondary education, which is not vocational, is compulsory. There are also problems in continuing vocational education, which is the lack of a system of recognition of learning outcomes, which does not allow young people the flexibility to build a career strategy. Also, career building is hampered by a gap in secondary education between urban and rural dwellers. The latter do not have the opportunity to fill this gap and consequently cannot project a career further.
On the positive side, it can be noted that thanks to projects with European partners, universities have managed to create career centers. The centers help students develop relevant competencies and find employment. It is also an innovation - national and regional atlases of new professions, according to which universities create educational programs.
Considering that 45.5% of the population of Uzbekistan are people under 25 years old, the problems of career guidance and career building are extremely important for us.
As the head of the “SOS Children's Villages Uzbekistan”, I contribute to solving this problem as much as I can. We help young people without parental care to get a basic business education.
In the context of rising unemployment during the pandemic and the growing threat of criminalization, suicide and early death of orphans, we are looking for new approaches and apply innovative pedagogical practices in teaching. Our observations show that the problems of lack of social experience and professional self-determination are equally inherent in children brought up in families and orphans. The family today does not play a decisive role in the process of socialization and choice of profession, largely due to the powerful influence of the Internet.
We are looking for new solutions to find a balance between the growing needs of the labor market, the existing system of vocational education and the prevailing socio-psychological characteristics of the younger generation.
I want to note with great regret that the problems of vocational guidance and career building for the majority of the population remain secondary, unlike, for example, health. Although the whole life of a person is built on the basis of a career. Weak education about professions, the lack of available information in the media creates obstacles for those who enter working age.
I guess it is necessary to have independent career experts who are not interested in promoting the interests of regional universities. A career counselor should be like a family doctor who will accompany a person in building his career from an early age.
I note that the influence of the family in choosing a profession should be minimized, since there is a tendency to impose unrealized aspirations of parents on children.
References
The future of work – New forms of employment in the Eastern Partnership countries: Platform work
International trends and innovation in career guidance - Volume I.
International trends and innovation in career guidance – Volume II. Country case studies
INVESTING IN CAREER GUIDANCE - new booklet by CEDEFOP, European Commission, ETF, ILO, OECD, UNESCO
Career Guidance Factsheet - it is about the Journey, not the Destination
Career Guidance in Kazakhstan to Facilitate Adaptation to the Changing World of Work
Supporting young job seekers in the recovery period
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