Projecte de Vida Professional (Professional Life Project)

Title

Projecte de Vida Professional (Professional Life Project)

Affiliation(s)/ Institution

Consorci d’Educació de Barcelona

Email addresses

ltamayo.ceb@gencat.cat; martal.ceb@gencat.cat

Project funded by

Barcelona Activa

Promoter name and country

Ajuntament de Barcelona, Consorci d’Educació de Barcelona. Catalunya. Espanya

Type of provider

public

Area of implementation

• local

Context and motivation of the project - legislative background/obligations, institutional policy, institutional structures

For the past 11 years, the Projecte de Vida Professional (ProVP) has been used as a tool to provide academic and professional guidance, available to students and teachers in public, semi-public and private schools and colleges in the city. The project covers the different stages of compulsory and post-compulsory education and provides support to students through the decision-making process to help them access and develop their future professional career. It helps them to make the transition from education to work as well as opening the door to forms of support after they have completed their school education. ProVP was created in 2004-2005 as the result of a partnership between Barcelona Activa – a body that forms part of the Department of Work, Economy and Strategic Planning and is responsible for executing the economic development policies of Barcelona City Council – and the Barcelona Education Consortium – a body created by the Catalan Government and Barcelona City Council for the joint management of education in the city of Barcelona. New strategic partners subsequently joined, including the Fundació BCN Formació Professional and, since the 2011-2012 academic year, the entrepreneurs’ organisation FemCAT. ProVP aims to help young people reflect on their professional future by analysing their preferences, interests and motivations and their possible pathway within the job market. It helps them to identify future career opportunities that are consistent with their motivations and interests, while also making sense within the highly dynamic and constantly changing context of the job market. It also introduces them to the world of work and business, the different economic sectors and professional opportunities, as well as the values and culture inherent in the world of work. .

Aims of the project

1. Empower young students in the process of making decisions on their academic and professional future. 2. Provide knowledge of the different professional opportunities associated with local economic sectors. 3. Identify the different training routes for gaining access to certification. 4. Prepare young people for entry into the workforce. 5. Bring young people into contact with the world of business. 6. Raise awareness of the values and culture inherent in the world of work. 7. Encourage entrepreneurial spirit.

Target group

• students
• Guidance practitioners
• Teachers

Description of the target group

ProVP is aimed at students in compulsory secondary education and post-compulsory education, although each activity may be aimed at specific targets. In general, ProVP assists students in the following types of education: 1. The third and fourth years of compulsory secondary education (ESO); groups with special educational needs may also be assisted. 2. Training and insertion programmes (PFI). 3. First and second years of Baccalaureate studies. 4. Intermediate-level vocational training courses (CFGM). 5. Higher-level vocational training courses (CFGS). 6. Adult education. In the 2014-2015 academic year, the following activities were carried out: 7. Sessions on specific topics, organised by the Porta22 professional development centre. 8. Talk entitled ‘Escola i Empresa’ (school and work), given at educational centres themselves. 9. Visits to companies in the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area. 10. Conferences entitled ‘Emprendre amb Valors’ (the values of entrepreneurship). 11. Information on post-compulsory pathways offered by the education system.

Methodological approach, activities implemented

The sessions on specific topics have not changed since the previous academic year, consisting of 11 sessions on academic and professional guidance, job seeking, the entrepreneurial spirit and work values. With Barcelona Activa, educational centres may attend a maximum of two of these sessions per group/class, which are given by experts in the areas of education and professional guidance. The sessions are free, last two hours, and are given in the facilities of Barcelona Activa’s Porta22 Professional Development Centre. This facility has a platform with 50 computers and a large space for group and individual activities. Educational centres are also provided with all the material they need to give the sessions in their own facilities. Each session includes: - Teaching guides2 for the teachers, setting out the structure of the session and details of the method, contents, activities and timing, to help teachers facilitate the sessions. - Workbooks2 for the students, containing the activities that they should complete during the session. - Access to multimedia content and resources: online resources, practice tests, practice job interviews, etc., all of which are available on the Barcelona Treball website. The ‘Escola i Empresa’ (school and work) talk is organised by the FemCAT entrepreneurs’ organisation. In the session, a partner from the entrepreneurs network, with a prominent professional career, visits the students at the educational centres to talk to them about the world of business and highlight the role it plays in society. The talk highlights the role played by entrepreneurs and the competencies they use in their work. The aim is for students to have contact with a person who represents the world of business and who can tell them about their own personal entrepreneurial and business experiences. This should help to give students an idea of the world of business and its role in society from a perspective that is different to the usual one. The talk is aimed at students in the fourth year of ESO, Baccalaureate and intermediate-level and higher-level vocational training programme students. These sessions last for an hour and are free, although advance registration is required. ‘Emprendre amb Valors’ (the values of entrepreneurship) conference series The aim of the conferences is to convey the values inherent in work and the spirit of entrepreneurship, giving young people a solid basis on which to develop their professional career and helping them to understand and share the new cultures that characterise the job market. Guidance activities in secondary schools. During the 2014-2015 academic year, ProVP was one of the projects of the Guidance area of the Barcelona Education Consortium, and was used as a transversal tool for supporting the guidance work done by the different districts and the joint work through the Pla Jove (Youth Plan). One of the objectives of the ProVP for the Consortium is to support teachers in implementing the Guidance Plan in compulsory secondary education and post-compulsory education, providing tools that help in the fight against dropping out, especially in intermediate-level vocational training programmes. Training for teachers in secondary schools Following on from the work of the previous year, during 2014-2015 the teacher training sessions continued running in order to provide teachers with knowledge of the ProVP and how to implement it in schools. These sessions were carried out on the premises of the secondary schools that requested this. The improvement with regard to other years is that most of these schools were already familiar with the tool but required a session to deepen their understanding of how to implement it within the school and in relation to the Guidance Plans.

Conclusions, lessons learned

ProVP has also been progressively adapted to the educational demands of new curricular approaches, although it has never lost sight of its aim of guiding students in defining their academic and professional pathways. A key part of the project has always been to review the materials used, search for new methods and think about how to improve the guidance processes in schools and colleges, and this continues to be the case.

Directions of further development/ Transferability, replicability

ProVP has been presented in schools and colleges in the city of Barcelona as well as in European projects as a model for guidance.

Type of ESL (early school leaving) practice

• Prevention
• Intervention
• Compensation

Web references (url, social media presence)

www.bcn.cat/treball
www.edubcn.cat

Parameters on which the practice is applicable (check those appropriate)

• Governance and coordination
• Accessibility
• Methodologies of provision
• Measures and profiles
• Objectives and needs
• Competences and skills for practitioners
• Common framework and quality standards
• Evaluation of performance and effectiveness