Pilot Implementation of the Digital Portfolio in Greece Zoe Albani Vocational Counselor European Projects Development and Management IEKEP

The pilot implementation of the Digital Portfolio method in Greece took place in two phases: January 2009 with the participation of 7 operators and 5 clients belonging to different target groups and December 2009 with 9 operators and 10 clients (old and new) The operators were psychologists, career counselors, school guidance counselors, sociologists, social workers and probation officer.

Profile of operators They work at different organizations dealing with various socially vulnerable groups. More specifically: Four are working as career counselors at the Greek Council for the Refugees Two work at the Working Youth Center of a public organization dealing with various types of socially vulnerable groups Two work at the education department of a Drug Rehabilitation Center and are responsible for the social and occupational integration of ex drug addicts Two are working at a center providing social and psychological support to immigrants, repatriates and refugees

Profile of operators cont. Two are free lance career counselors One works as a career counselor at a municipal center for social policies while another one works at a municipal unemployment center One is a Probation Officer at the Juvenile District Attorney office One works as a School Career Counselor at a public school and One provides psychosocial support to people with mental health problems during their rehabilitation period None of the operators had any previous experience with this type of tool

Beneficiaries The clients who were involved in the experimentation and developed their digital portfolio were: Two drop outs Two young unemployed individuals One ex drug addict at his rehabilitation phase Two immigrants One immigrant with mental health problems Two refugees One young offender One young woman who have completed high school but lacks the necessary credentials to enter the labor market in the sector she is interested in

Operators’ Training Before each of the two phases, a training of the operators was implemented. This proved to be a valuable asset for the successful implementation of the digital portfolio method since it provided the operators with: the necessary theoretical background mainly concerning the 3 types of learning and the importance of non formal and informal learning the necessary technical information

Operators’ Training The operators’ training in Greece included two additions that played an important role: a role playing exercise where each participant alternated between the roles of the client and the operator so as to familiarize themselves with making non formal and formal competencies visible time was devoted for the operators to enter the platform, create and modify portfolios, upload prepared photographs and videos and get acquainted with the technical part of the digital portfolio methodology

What helped The training provided to the operators The methodological and technical guidelines The support material The constant support from IEKEP, mainly on the technological, technical issues The willingness of the beneficiaries to participate

Feedback: Positive points All operators consider this method as a very helpful tool for the successful vocational integration or reintegration of their target groups It was an extremely empowering process for all the clients It provided self motivation for some of the clients to continue their personal and/or vocational pathway It constituted a kind of “remembering” for some of them Familiarizes them with ITC and the opportunities it may present It promotes the networking of the individual (client), the service and the labor market, enhancing the communication among the employment triangle

It is a time consuming process both for the operator and the client It requires a framework that allows and supports a long-term relationship with the client It requires some knowledge on new technologies as well as access to it In some cases, access to actual work places is needed Feedback: Weak points

Feedback: Weak points cont. There were some practical difficulties such as the limited duration of the videos and the encoding of the material Some of the clients did not feel comfortable being videotaped For certain target groups showing their face or revealing their names is not an option

Conclusions The experimentation of the digital portfolio in Greece has shown that it can be a valuable tool The Greek educational system as well as the issue of certification are characterized by a number of particularities and as a result certain modifications are needed in order to address these particularities Operators expressed some reservations concerning the degree of readiness of the Greek labor market to accept such a tool

Conclusions cont. The methodology of the digital portfolio method consists an extremely helpful tool both for the promotion of different socially vulnerably groups to employment but most importantly for their empowerment and self motivation regarding their personal and vocational development