Granollers Guidance System

Title

Granollers Guidance System

Affiliation(s)/ Institution

Ajuntament de Granollers - Consell de la Formació Professional de Granollers

Email addresses

pgabern@ajuntament.granollers.cat

Project funded by

Ajuntament de Granollers

Promoter name and country

Consell de la FP -Ajuntament de Granollers. Espanya

Partner(s) name and country (if applicable)

Municipal services: education, employment, youth and social services. Unions, social organisations

Type of provider

public

Area of implementation

• urban
• local

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

Guidance has always had a fundamental role within Granollers' vocational training council, in order to help young people improve their employability. For this reason, we have been trying to generate strategies to tackle the challenges the economic situation raises among the population, through initiatives concerning local development, training, youth, vocational training, etc. In addition, and in the context of the forum of cities with vocational training councils, of which Granollers is part, we have set different objectives linked to guidance: urgently defining a regional model to promote professional guidance for young people; and improving the employability of unemployed people through training and tackling problems of school leaving and failure. Therefore guidance actions are necessary not only in cases where problems need to be tackled, but also as a preventive measure.

Aims of the project

The objectives of Granollers City Council's guidance system – through the vocational training council – is to offer the local population guidance throughout their lives. This is a guidance system that features participation from all the services involved, as well as all the organisations that do guidance work in the city, to align all the activities and programmes and to define a guidance model that fits the characteristics of our city.

Target group

• students
• ESL
• Guidance practitioners
• Teachers

Description of the target group

As regards this system, our target group is essentially students and/or young people who have left education, so as to reintegrate them into the educational system once again. It must be taken into account, however, that there are also actions directed at families, teachers, guidance counsellors, etc.

Staff (selection, evaluation, training, promotion)

The staff dedicated to guidance and who are in the youth, employment and education services are trained in the areas of psychology, pedagogy, social education, sociology and psycho-pedagogy. When they are selected, both their university training as well as their specific training in the field of guidance are taken into account. Moreover, every year they take part in training programmes such as skills-based guidance, guidance techniques, hiring, intermediation, guidance and social networks, as well as anything that can empower the guidance counsellors. They also participate in the different local and regional guidance networks.

Methodological approach, activities implemented

From a methodological perspective, Granollers' guidance system proposes certain strategic lines and activities: 1. academic and professional guidance in the city: facilitating the group of guidance counsellors that brings together professionals from schools, local authorities and organisations; promoting a common protocol of information and professional guidance linked to the Catalan Government and coordinating existing services; updating the post-compulsory studies guide; incorporating tools into guidance devices to raise awareness among the adult population of lifelong training and qualification opportunities; co-organising the Fira Guia't professional training fair. 2. School-to-work transition, a path towards employment and professional integration based on training: 2.1. to fight against early school leaving: preparing monitoring files; creating a coordination group among secondary schools and vocational training centres; providing information on what is available to young people who have not completed compulsory secondary education; working with adult training centres and producing, within the region, strategies in view of the responsible authorities. 2.2 that features training programmes for young people: promoting training and integration in the city; adapting these programmes to the needs of the local industrial fabric and continuity through training courses; creating other training programmes for those students who cannot get onto professional qualification programmes; creating programmes for young people with compulsory secondary education qualifications but who leave post-compulsory training.

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

There is a monitoring system via schools for students who leave the educational system, which is key for determining the guidance services and the training resources that follow on from them. We have data about participation, but it is necessary to develop a system to measure satisfaction and the impact of the actions.

Conclusions, lessons learned

Having a guidance system in the city provides a framework of action to tackle the challenges linked to early school leaving, employability and lifelong training and professional qualifications.

Directions of further development/ Transferability, replicability

Granollers' guidance system benefits from the collaboration of key agents and carries out actions that are consolidated over time, but it is necessary to make progress in terms of establishing a monitoring and assessment system. Establishing a system that guarantees the coordination and provision of guidance services and resources in the city of Granollers can definitely be transferred and replicated in other local contexts.

Type of ESL (early school leaving) practice

• Prevention
• Intervention
• Compensation

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