City of Sabadell- Sabadell Orienta (Sabadell Guides)

Title

Project

City of Sabadell- Sabadell Orienta (Sabadell Guides)

Promoter name and country

Ajuntament de Sabadell (Sabadell City Council)- Spain

Partner(s) name and country (if applicable)

Other actors from the territory with the ones the city council cooperates or coordinates in relation of guidance and lifelong training: Primary and secondary Schools (private and public), Barcelona Autonomous University, Barcelona provincial council, Catalan regional government, 13 other municipalities from the nearby, Business associations (Chamber of Commerce, PIMEC), labour unions

Type of provider

public

Area of implementation

urban
local

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

New latent factors encountered in the city of Sabadell, such as school failure, early school leaving or the arrival of newcomers, reveal new needs that make it necessary to consider appropriate responses. In this sense the Sabadell City council under the 1st axis of its Strategic plan ( Pla de Mandat 2016-2020) promotes the education for all and lifelong learning. And in the Action plan of the 2017 includes the definition of the guiding city model (Pla d’acció municipal 2017). Moreover the city elaborated an strategy for the Equity and the school success (Pla per l’Equitat i l’èxit educatiu 2017-2027 ). In line with these strategic plans the City promotes the strengthening of an integrated strategy for a guiding city under the trademark “Sabadell Orienta” (Sabadell Guides) assuring the coordination among all the municipal services that provide guidance services and resources (such as Education, Youth, Economic development and social services) and integrating all the other actors of the city. In particular it is highlighted the cooperation with the Barcelona Autonomous University- throughout the EMIGRA Group- in the elaboration of an study about the Early School Leaving (ESL) in Sabadell, which counted with the involvement of all the secondary schools of the city (public and private) and aims to define a city action plan to support guidance services and reduce the ESL.rnMoreover the city is currently on an advanced process in the elaboration of a map of city guidance actors, services and resources. This process has generated a coordination space among the different guidance actors, helped to identify and put in order the guidance services and contributed to identify the needs of the citizens that are not adequately met. From the Sabadell City Council it has promoted the creation of the “Consell de la Formació Professional del Vallès Sud” (Vallès Sud Vocational Training Council),that counts with a working group on guidance. The members of this council are 14 city councils of the area of Vallès Sud and 8 other stakeholders such as chamber of commerce, business associations, regional government and labour unions.

Aims of the project

The strategic axes of the City Council of Sabadell, as mentioned on their strategic plans pursue the following objectives :

to assure the education for all and to promote the lifelong learning
to assure a quality job
to promote the educational equity and success

Under this framework there is the strategic aim to define a guiding city model, as specified on the City action plan for the 2017.

Target group

students
ESL
parents
Teachers

Description of the target group

The guidance services and resources that the city council and other actors provide are addressed to a wide range of the citizens throughout all their educational and professional life phases. But specifically is addressed towards (in brackets the guidance action):

1-Students from the 4rt year of compulsory secondary education (ESO) who have not obtained the secondary education diploma and/or young people over 16 years old who do not wish to continue within formal education. (Posat’hi)

2- Young secondary students/ their families/ adults and citizens in general (Fira apropa’t a la FP)

3.- Compulsory Secondary Education students (ESO) (Campus Ítaca)

4- Families and their sons –students of 3er and 4rts secondary level, guidance practitioners/counsellors and tutors.(Maleta de les famílies)

5.1 Young people from 16 to 29 years old – in some actions are addressed to the ones that have dropped out their studies and are not working. (Garantia juvenil/ Casa d’oficis, Coneguem el mercat laboral, coneixement d’oficis, Fem ocupació per a joves, Programes de Formació I Inserció, Sensibilització per emprendre)

5.2 For adults (Orientació laboral/Orienta+30/ coaching a +45/ Feinateca)

5.3 For the people with special needs (mental disease, disabled people..) (Projectes integració laboral i recursos formatius i laborals)

6- Young people up to 30 years old (l’Oficina Jove)

7- All the students of 3er and 4rt secondary level and their teachers.(ESL Study- Group EMIGRA)

Staff (selection, evaluation, training, promotion)

Staff from the Services of the Sabadell City Council from the areas of Education, Youth, Economic Development and Social Services- guidance councillors and other personnel of the city council that periodically participate in training courses to update and innovate. (Courses that the Barcelona provincial council and other institutions organise annually).rnStaff from the other actors that provide guidance services (teachers, business associations,..).

Methodological approach, activities implemented

The actions developed are based on a diversity of methods, from the individual to the group sessions, in order to cover the wide range of profiles and needs of the groups of citizens.

The most relevant guidance actions/activities are the following (in brackets the actors that provide the action- the numbers correspond with the previous section on the target group)

1-Posa-t’hi (City council- Education service)

2- Fira Apropa’t a la FP

– Guidance fair on Vocational Training (City council, schools, vocational education centres, businesses)

3.- Campus Ítaca (City Council-Education service and UAB University)

4- Maleta de les famílies (City council- Education services, secondary schools and Barcelona Provincial Council)

5- Guidance actions promoted/provided by the Economic Promotion services of the city council (in collaboration with the regional government of Catalonia, businesses, schools,…):

5.1.1 Garantia Juvenil (Youth Guarantee initiatives addressed to the Young people to 29 years old that have abandoned the studies and are not working.

5.1.2 Coneixement oficis (also link to the Guiding Cities best practices database) – Knowledge of professions- provide support to unmotivated Young people (at the last course of the secondary school) that are at risk of dropping out and offer them the possibility of gaining practical experience of diferent professions, in order to guide their personal pathways.

5.1.3 Others: Casa d’oficis (House of professions)/Coneguem mercat laboral (Let to know the labour market)/ Programes de Formació i Inserció-PFIs (Training and Integration programmes)/ sensibilització empresarial (Entrepreneurship awareness)/ Fem ocupació per joves (work for Young people)

5.2 Orientació laboral/Orienta+30/ coaching a +45/ Feinateca

5.3 Projectes integració laboral i recursos formatius i laborals

6- Guidance actions developed from the Youth Centre –Space for Young people of the city council (Sabadell Atenció Jove (SAJ).

7- Project on the Early School Leaving in Sabadell – identification of needs from secondary students and action plan of guidance actions. Participation of the City council- Education service, the EMIGRA group of the UAB (through a European project RESL) and the Barcelona provincial council.

8- Programa Ciutat i Escola (City and school Programme)- that includes all the educational services that the city offers to the schools to guarantee a quality education. Includes a section on guidance.

Results and impact - data of program internal/ external evaluation, beneficiary satisfaction, the impact of the didactical practices at individual and institutional level

As an overall the guidance services and resources provided by the city council contribute to decrease the ESL and to provide support to the educational and professional transitions.

There are some projects such as the Posat’hi and the Coneixement d’Oficis that are very well evaluated. From the data gathered on the last edition of the first action the 74% of the participants on risk of drop out take successful advantage of the guidance developing their own pathway.

On the evaluation of the second one the questionnaires completed by the students, tutors and experts (around 900 each year) show an average of 90% satisfaction and 82.2% academic success (six months after completing the workshops, the participants are either studying of working).

Conclusions, lessons learned

There is a political and technical commitment to continue and strengthen the overall guidance strategy of the city (Sabadell Orienta), by assuring a coordination among all the municipal services that provide guidance services and with the other actors of the territory (schools, business associations, universities, local and regional governments.). Therefore there is the need to move forward by organizing what they are providing and to whom they are addressing, as well as to identifying the needs of the diverse groups, in order to improve the guidance services provided and their accessibility. In this sense, the city council is currently in the advanced process of developing a map of guidance actors, services and resources.

Directions of further development/ Transferability, replicability

At regional level and throughout the Vocational Training Council, in which Sabadell participates, there is the need to share the Sabadell experience with the other municipalities in order to find ways of transferability of some actions and strategies such as the “Sabadell Orienta”.

The further development of the map of guidance actors, services and resources will help to identify new services to provide and to improve the current services/resources in order to give a response to the needs of all the target groups.

Justification as best practice

The political and technical commitment of the Sabadell City Council on the development of a strategic vision (shared and elaborated among all the municipal services) towards a guiding city.

Type of ESL (early school leaving) practice