CAREER COUNSELING RESEARCHES AND EXPERIENCE OF CAREER COUNSELORS’ TRAINING AT VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY Lijana Navickienė Vytautas Magnus university Centre for Vocational Education and Research 12 November 2007, Kaunas

Researches on career counseling Dissertations; Master thesis; Scientific articles (journal Vocational Education. Research and Reality); National and international projects.

Researches within projects  Leonardo da Vinci programme project Meeting the Needs of Employment: European Curriculum Guidelines for Lifelong Vocational Counsellors in the line with the Challenges of EU Enlargement  Leonardo da Vinci programme project Overcoming Intercultural and Linguistic Barriers in Continuously Accessible Vocational Guidance and Counselling  European structural fund project Development and Implementation of the Master Study Programme "Career Counseling"  European structural fund project Development and implementation of career counseling system  European structural fund project Development of open information and counseling system (AIKOS)

Problems of career counsellors’ training in Lithuania There is no consecutive system for career counsellors’ training and professional development Lack of attention to the training and professional development of career counseling practitioners Preparation level to work as counsellors is fairly low Career counsellors usually enter counselling practice without any particular preparation Career counselors are those retrained people who have finished different courses or seminars and acquired formally unrecognized competencies of career counselor during their practice

Problems of career counsellors’ training in Lithuania Educational background of career counsellors in Lithuania Social studies - 42 % (economics - 33 %, educology - 21 %,management - 18 %, sociology – 12 %, psichology – 9 %) Tehnical studies - 36 % (mechanics, building, engineering) Humanitarian degrees – 10 % (filology) Physical studies - 8% (physics, mathematic, geography) Natural studies - 4 % (biology, agronomy, ecology, environmental science)

Initiatives for solving career counsellors’ training and professional development issues Continuous inconsecutive modular programmes Professional standard for career counsellors defining the main areas of activity, functions and competencies of counselling specialists, as a basis for planning, organizing and evaluating the content of specialists initial and further training Career counsellors training standard defining the main parameters of counsellors training (entrance requirements, studies duration, form, objectives, content of the studies, strategies for evaluation of students achievements, ect.) Master study programme Career designing

Experience of career counselors’ training and professional development at Vytautas Magnus University Continuous inconsecutive studies Module based learning Module – 2 credits (3 ECTS), 80 hours Target groups: educators of vocational institutions and secondary schools, labour market specialists, labour exchange counsellors and personnel managers.

Continuous inconsecutive studies Modular programmes for career counselors, mediators and business counselors (since 2002): Career designing methodology Introduction into psychological counseling Methods of individual’s cognition Methods of personnel selection Methods for counseling long-term unemployed Work with disabled Development of business plan Market researches Information management Leading meetings and discussions

Continuous inconsecutive studies Data on completion of the study programmes Career counselors – 564: 2002 y – y– y – y – y – y - 84 Mediators -114 : 2002 y – y – y – y - 35 Business counselors: 2003 y - 49

Master study programme Career designing Basic characteristics An expansive master study programme devoted to develop competencies in the area of career designing; Provides a master qualification degree in educology; Competency-based programme; Volume – 63 credits (94,5 ECTS); Duration – 1,5 year; Access requirements - university educational background in the fields of social sciences or humanities; Complementary studies - those who do not have basics of educology, psychology and management are required to study those supplementary modules together with bachelor students during the first two semesters.

Master Study Programme "Career Designing" Obligatory modules (3 credits) M1 Vocational counseling systems M2 Methodology of activity research M3 Research of vocational training and education M4 Methodology of vocational career research M5 Career counseling in organization M6 Psychological counseling methods M7 Career in different age stages 5 Optional modules (4 credits) M8 Theories of educational sociology M9 Applied educational philosophy M10 Comparative educational policy M11 Applied educational research M12 Methodology for development of project works M13 Lifelong learning quality assessment M14 Systems of educational organization M15 ICT in education M16 Culture and educational change M17 Andragogical didactics 2 Term papers (3 credits) Master’s paper (15 credits)

Master study programme Career designing Forms of organization Full-time studies. Target group – students graduated from bachelor level studies without practical experience in the field. Extramural studies. Target group – career counseling practicians from education and labour market sector.

European structural fund project Development and Implementation of the Master Study Programme "Career Designing" Main results:  Developed and legalized the master study modular programme “Career Designing”.  Developed teaching-learning material - tool-kits for study modules.  Implemented programme and prepared more that 80 masters in career designing.

Intentions for the future Postgraduate study programme based on combination of theoretical and practical studies in higher school and development of practical skills in counselling institution and providing career counselor’s qualification. Scientific journal Career Designing: Research and Counseling.

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