The Guiding Cities partnership is composed of 8 organisations from 4 countries: Spain, Italy, Romania and Greece. The project partner organizations (private and public) provide research, training, and guidance services for schools or are schools. They are supported by a technological partner with experience in ICT resources for social and educational services. Partners have been chosen based upon their experiences and skills and their influence at the local, provincial, national, and European level.
DEP Institut
DEP Institut is an organization specialised in strategic, sociologic and marketing research and information in the field of education, training and work with more than 15 years of experience working at the local, regional, state and European levels. Its aim is to support enterprises, public institutions and non-profit organizations in their decision-making processes. Always from the perspective of applied sociology, DEP Institut’s multidisciplinary team of professionals focuses on people and their different roles in society: citizens, users, students, workers, etc. Beyond its original activity, DEP Institut also constitutes the driving force for different Internet-based and editorial projects in the fields of education, training and work. We have to emphasize Educaweb.com, which has become the leading Spanish portal within the field of academic and professional information and guidance.
Diputació de Barcelona
The Barcelona Provincial Council is an intermediate local authority, which operates in the province of Barcelona. The province territorial area covers 24% of the total area of the region of Catalonia and it has 5.5 millions inhabitants (74.4€ of Catalonia’s total population). There are 311 heterogeneous municipalities, which range from expanded urban areas to almost 200 villages with less than 5,000 inhabitants.
Its objective is to ensure the provision of municipal services and to support the work of local government, with competences in coordination of municipal services, institutional representation, technical and economic assistance or provision of services of supramunicipal character.
In terms of guidance, the Barcelona Provincial Council established the Guidance Roundtable in 2013, a space of coordination between the fields of social welfare, education, youth and the labor market, leading to a transversal strategy within the institution. Meanwhile, the Management Education Services has launched the Guidance Pilot Scheme 2014-15 in support of educational transitions in order to establish a strategy against early school leaving that supports, through a series of projects, municipal action in promoting guidance services and resources that facilitate educational transitions and accompany people in their careers throughout life.
www.diba.cat/educacio/orientacio
Centro Studi Pluriversum
Centro Studi Pluriversum is an Italian private company engaged in the field of career education and career counselling, which has been providing services and managing projects within the PES system in several Italian Provinces for more than 10 years, a lot of these projects being addressed to young people and students in transitions between different systems.
Besides, CSP has participated in actions, at national and international level, on ICT for career guidance and for practitioners training (such as ICTSKILLS2, Ergo in Net, Career Guidelines, JOBTRIBU and the development of the career guidance software S.OR.PRENDO Italia etc.).
The company is specialized in planning and managing innovative projects in the field of education, guidance and employment policies, in developing training models for guidance counsellors as well as innovative tools and methodologies.
www.pluriversum.eu
MediaEra
MediaEra is a consulting and development company specialized in multimedia tools for digital marketing. The company from 2006 works in online market, its staff is composed of information and communication technologies specialists.
Mediaera currently consists of 3 areas: Research – Labour market and social services: Since 2008, the Research Area ” Labour market and social services ” deals with the analysis and research on the socio-economic dynamics and the labor market, Development – software development and online applications: This is the area that develop software and online applications designed from the research area or on behalf of public and private clients; Marketing – creativity and online communication: This area is specialized in communication projects, design, search engine optimization and search engine marketing, online and offline advertising. The company, directly or through its professionals, has partnered with research institutions, government agencies and private companies in the field of labour market and social services.
IES
The Institute of Educational Sciences is a national research body under the coordination of the Ministry of Education. It is engaged in a broad area of research, with counselling as one of its main topics. During the past decade it has been involved in numerous international projects aimed at the development of counselling practices among professionals of all levels.
The two main directions of research in EU funded projects were: a) the use of ICT in counselling; b) the connecting of different services that offer career counselling. We are currently involved, as scientific coordinator, in a transfer of innovation in Turkey aimed at developing the skills of guidance counsellors in the area of ICT.
www.ise.ro
Center for Education and Professional Development Step by Step
The Center for Education and Professional Development Step by Step (CEDP) provides teachers, parents, professionals and communities access to training and specialized consultancy by offering training sessions, workshops, conferences and developing web resources and magazines. CEDP engages communities in a dialogue with government, supports partnerships and is a resource for schools, parents, local and central authorities.
ISON Psychometrica
ISON Psychometrica was created in 1991 and was the first organisation to provide scientific career orientation services in Greece. ISON’s main activities are: business administration, career counselling, European programs, development of diagnostic tools, research & studies and training.
ISON works closely with IEPAS, the National Centre of Vocational Orientation, the Educational Institute, the Greek Manpower Employment Organization, the Career Offices of Universities, Right Management Consultants, the European Management Association, the Harvard University, the Oxford Psychological Press, Organizzazioni Speciali and Psychological Assessment Resources. ISON represents in Greece the Career Firms International and is an active member of the International Association for Educational & Career Guidance and the International Coach Federation and has the exclusive rights in providing the Institute’s for Personality and Ability Tests and the University of Minnesota psychometric tests.
Gymnasio Thrakomakedonon
Gymnassio Thrakomakedones is a secondary school located northwest of Athens. Previous experience with Comenius projects and an 8- year exchange with a French school in Toulouse has opened the European outlook for both students and teachers. The school is committed to vocational orientation. The teachers have attended numerous, long-term, university, certified seminars on the subject.