NOP-ESF project “Support for Transnationality”

School-to-work transition in policies for the guidance of young people 30 June 2014

Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...2 1. Italy ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 2. France………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 3. Germany………………………………………………………………………………………………………25

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Introduction This document was written within the sphere of the Italia Lavoro NOP-ESF Project “Support for Transnationality”, in preparation for the international technical Seminar “School-to-work transition paths” (Montepulciano 10 July 2014). The report, partly based on a desk analysis and partly using the findings of recent study vsits to Germany and France1, aims at giving a brief though not exhaustive picture of, and a comparison with, the experience in 3 Countries - France, Germany and Italy – with regard to school-to-work transition, viewing the subject in the framework of the broadest guidance policies, taken as a public service, bridging the gap between school and employment services, with a system approach and with reference to secondary schools. Special attention is paid to the creation of partnerships and territorial networks and, in particular, to the methods/tools for getting enterprises involved in initiatives for bringing the school closer to the world of work, which in the Italian situation, with so many small and very small enterprises, is often a critical variable. In dealing with the country-cases, the focus was on the preparation for employment given in secondary school, and on the ways of bringing the school system nearer to the production system, through teaching aimed at guidance, alternation and placement, without analysing the regulation and operation of the arrangements for apprenticeship and on-the-job training, usually regarded as the main measures for school-to-work transition, implemented as a result of guidance paths, but which are actually career guidance activities themselves. The following aspects were dealt with for each Country: the regulatory framework and the governance of the system; the role of placement services in guiding the young people; school-to-work transition and guidance in the schools, where particular reference is made to school-firm partnerships and to the key job roles related to scholastic and career guidance for young people. The initiative is the result of cooperation with the “Formazione ed Innovazione per l’Occupazione Scuola e Università” – FIxO (school and university training and innovation for employment) programme, belonging to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and carried out by Italia Lavoro, which is now the principal national experience in the sector of school-to-work transition. FIxO is an experimental national programme of technical assistance to schools and Universities. The Programme has developed a service model that, in relation to the secondary schools and following the Agreements with the Regions, which are responsible with regard to employment services, follows 3 lines of action:

1 Italia Lavoro, NOP-ESF “Supporto alla Transnazionalità”, “Apprendistato in Germania e il ruolo delle imprese nel sistema duale” Return report on the study visit on Apprenticeship in Germany, paper 2013; and “L’aprendistato in Francia e gli incentive nazionali, regionali e derivanti dalla contrattazione collettiva”, Return report on the study visit to France, paper 2013. The reports are available, on request, from the international staff of Italia Lavoro.

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• organising placement services in schools, in line with the provisions of the Biagi law concerning the subsidiary offer; • customising the guidance/placement paths; • establishing/reinforcing the territorial network of stakeholders.

In the Italian situation, attention to the subject of guidance and of school-to-work transition is linked to the commitments of the Youth Guarantee, particularly in the hope that it can become a systematic way of acting on the youth target. In fact, within the framework of the Youth Guarantee, which provides for activation of the young person within four months of unemployment status or exit from the scholastic/vocational system, and also implements the guarantee of activation in different proposals for back-to -school, training and placement, profiling and user guidance actions are foreseen and important investments are expected to be made in the placement services system, contributed by the ESF. Within the framework of improved cooperation in the sectors of education and vocational training and of the coordination method open to employment policies, Europe intervened on the subject of guidance with two resolutions, in 2004 and 20082, which on the whole include guidance, taken as the right of a person, in the lifelong learning strategies, advising Member States to improve the quality of the services and the coordination between the various systems and parties involved. More recently, with regard to the youth unemployment emergency, policies and actions to prevent nonattendance at school and the phenomenon of the NEET highlighted the importance of system approaches, especially in terms of amplifying the services and improving the quality of the offer and of better coordination of an integration between the systems and the subjects of education/training and of the labour market. In the field of the offer of lifelong guidance services, special attention is paid to students in schools and universities, and schools are assigned a central role as the providers of guidance services and in the best position for educating young people for school-to-work transition. With regard to the international comparison, the main data found were: 1. Unlike the other countries considered, which use more consolidated national models, Italy is still in the phase of defining the national guidance system, which has the advantage of going to be based on Resolution of the Council and of the representatives of the governments of the Member States, at the Council of the European Union (2004). Strengthening policies, systems and practices in the field of lifelong guidance. 9286/04 http://www.google.it/url?url=http://europalavoro.lavoro.gov.it/Documents/Resolution_2004_lifelong_guidance_it.pdf&rct=j&frm=1&q= &esrc=s&sa=U&ei=_BaPU-bcCOLG0QWm94GwAg&ved=0CB8QFjAA&sig2=cMgqCPWtKIVC4SNT6chJQ&usg=AFQjCNEgo9aFhNE0xoFnOpE1UIcGIDTOdg Resolution of the Council and of the representatives of the governments of the Member States, at the Council on 21 November 2008 Council of the European Union (2008). “Better integrating lifelong guidance into lifelong learning strategies” (2008/C 319/02) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:319:0004:0007:IT:PDF 2

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broad cooperation between institutions and with the social partners. The general governance having been established, the work is now aimed at identifying national standards for the services and for the skills of the workers, which is expected to help overcome the fragmentation existing in the country, in terms both of regulations and of service provision. The tools of guidance teaching, and particularly of alternation as a tool for supporting school-to-work transition, are gradually spreading, including by regulatory actions in the form of guidelines (e.g. how to construct alternations) and experimental projects (e.g. alternation with an apprenticeship contract). In the Italian emergency situation, due to the high and increasing rate of youth unemployment, implementation of the Youth Guarantee offers the opportunity to rejuvenate the system and to act as a catalyst for change actions of a structural type. In this connection, with regard to the involvement of enterprises in guidance/ training policies aimed at young people attention is drawn to the many agreements made with trade associations mainly aimed at placement.

2. The French model is traditionally characterised by the distinction between school guidance, which is the concern of the educational system, and career guidance, recently regionalised, related to the system of services for employment and, in particular, to the Missions Locales, even though, with regard both to policy-making and governance and to the implementation of policies, there are points of contact between the two systems, particularly in terms of cooperation in the field between the various official parties. The school-to-work transition model follows the decentralisation approach, with the Académie, the territorial facilities of the National Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research, being responsible for implementing the education policy of the schools of every kind and level in their areas, and charged with developing the Partenariats Ecole-Entreprise through which efforts are made to bring the world of schools and the world of work closer together. Partnerships and local networks mostly originate from the Framework Agreements and Covenants signed at the national level by the Ministry of Education and the employer’s associations or big companies. Moreover, the development of school guidance is assisted by specific job roles: the Chargés de mission écoleentreprise, located at the Académie and charged with promoting school-firm partnerships, often assisted in their work by the managerial staff of big enterprises, temporarily detached to the Académie (Ingénieurs pour l’école-IPE). In the school the Professeur principal, the key person for student guidance, is assisted by the Conseiller principal d’éducation-CPE, an education officer who takes part in the educational activities without teaching and, in particular, assists with the organisation of school activities outside the classroom. He/she can also make use of the guidance services of the “conseillers d’orientation-psychologues” of the Centres d’Information et d’Orientation (CIO, Information and guidance centres), public structures existing all over the country under the aegis of the National Ministry of Education.

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3. As far as Germany is concerned, there is no school-to-work transition model regulated at the federal level since each Land is individually responsible for the education system. Nevertheless, the regional systems have some elements in common, which are the great weight of the dual system and the role of primary importance played by the enterprises in training young people and also the systematic involvement of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA) in guidance activities in the schools, which act as unifying factors. School and career guidance is implemented in the regions within the scope of agreements made at various levels: framework agreements made at the federal level by the Federal Employment Agency and the Conference of Ministers for Education and Culture of the Länder (a body that ensures coordination of the national education system as a whole), which establish the procedures for cooperation between the schools and the guidance agencies; and agreements at the regional and local level between the local employment exchanges (Arbeitsamt) and the educational establishments. Without affecting regional autonomy, the Federal Employment Agency is responsible for providing the public service of information, career guidance, job-placement and counselling, through its local offices. There is permanent and on-going cooperation between local offices of the BA and the schools, which therefore have the possibility of making use, in their guidance activities, of the high skills of the Agency’s counsellors, who are increasingly expert in specific production sectors, with a portfolio of knowledge and contacts with the local enterprises. The dual system of education and vocational training, which is highly developed in Germany, incorporating the concept of learning as a system that integrates the acquiring of knowledge and skills into school contexts and trade practice, and presupposing the alternation of training in the schools and in the enterprises, implies making enterprises really aware of their “educational role” and effective cooperation between the business world and the system of education and vocational training, which is an important contextual or “cultural” element. Close relations between enterprises and educational establishments make it possible to define competitive educational standards and to develop and implement effective alternation systems, in line with the situations of the labour market. In this connection, there are special forms of partnership between schools and enterprises, aimed at integrating the training programmes of the schools with the training requirements of the businesses in the area concerned, sometimes promoted by the authorities of the Land or of the district. Furthermore, these partnerships are often created by private Foundations private, sponsored by big industrial groups, which, by developing direct experience within the sphere of the area’s production chains, are particularly effective for the purpose of creating steady employment.

1. ITALY 1.1 The regulatory framework and the governance 5

With regard to governance, in Italy the management of the guidance services, within the sphere of employment services, is the concern of the Regions and the Local Authorities and so are responsibilities in the field of vocational training. With regard to the education system, on the other hand, the educational sector is the responsibility of the State3. Scholastic autonomy, which is based on art. 21 of Law 59/1997, is defined in terms of teaching and organisational choices, adapted to suit the different regional situations and in line with the aims of the national education system. Guidance is part of the official activities of all the schools and an integral part of their curricula. As stressed in the 2013 monitoring report by Isfol (institute for the development of vocational training of workers) on education e vocational training4, the situation of the guidance and placement services organised by the Regions at the local level, is uneven from the point of view of regulations and provision of services and reveals the need for a national policy for guidance to put an end to the fragmentary situation of actions, practices, services and job roles. Recent actions with regard to guidance, in line with the Community instructions on lifelong guidance, have highlighted the importance of system approaches, in particular in terms of amplifying the services and improving the quality of the services offered and greater coordination and integration between the systems and subjects of education/training and the labour market. This is the aim of the “Linee Guida Nazionali sull’Orientamento”5 (national guidelines on guidance), approved at a Joint Conference of the State, Regions, Local Authorities at the session of 5 December 2013, which are an important step forward in the current process of defining the “National System of Lifelong Guidance in the field of education, vocational training and employment”. Within the sphere of the activities of the inter-institution Working Group on lifelong guidance, composed of the MIUR (ministry of education), MLPS (ministry of labour), MEF (ministry of finance), the Regions, Coordination of the Regions, the UPI (provinces), and the ANCI (municipalities), and which was entrusted with tasks of general policy, proposals and monitoring, the Guidelines announced the issue of a document on the fixing of 3

For more information about the Italian education system please see: the websites of the European networks EURYDICE and REFERNET: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/index.php/Italia:Sintesi http://libserver.cedefop.europa.eu/vetelib/2012/2012_CR_IT.pdf 4 Isfol, “Istruzione e formazione professionale - Una filiera professionalizzante a.f. 2012-13 – Rapporto di monitoraggio delle azioni formative realizzate nell’ambito del diritto-dovere” , 2013, - http://sbnlo2.cilea.it/bw5ne2/opac.aspx?WEB=ISFL&IDS=19681 5 http://www.statoregioni.it/Documenti/DOC_042334_136%20cu%20(P.%201%20ODG).pdf. The “Linee Guida Nazionali sull’Orientamento” distributed by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers were previously established within the framework of the agreement reached in December 2012 at a Joint Conference. http://www.statoregioni.it/Documenti/DOC_038854_152%20CU%20-2.pdf

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minimum standards for the guidance services and the vocational qualifications of the operators, and also with determining the results expected and specific indicators aimed at measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the guidance actions. Above all, the Guidelines recognise the right of every citizen to lifelong guidance, to be ensured by means of specific policies aimed at promoting the employability and social inclusion of individuals and hence economic development. These policies are meant to be developed in an integrated manner by the State, the Regions and the Local Authorities, within a broad framework of actions concerning education, training of young people and adults, employment and social inclusion. The main functions of guidance acknowledged in the Guidelines are: the educational function, aimed at promoting, starting in primary school, the development of orientation skills that can enable each individual to manage his or her auto-guidance independently; the information function, which can improve the ability of individuals to select and assess the information available and, possibly, to look for more; the function of assistance with specific transition experiences, related to activities of support to the development of decisionmaking and active control skills, capable of helping the person during moments of transition, with a view to eliminating the risk of failures; the function of guidance counselling, related to support for the ability to build personal educational and employment projects; the system functions (technical assistance, training operators, promoting quality, research and development) related to the system actions that need to back up guidance actions, to ensure their quality and effectiveness, in all the local situations. The actions related to multilevel governance concern: a) coordination of resources and actions at various regional levels, with a view to overcoming the fragmentary nature of the actions; b) support for the development of local, regional and national networks aimed at guidance; c) sharing and developing tools and technologies for creating a unified network for information and backup to the offer of education, training and employment; d) setting up a system for monitoring and evaluating guidance policies; e) accrediting the services of guidance to individuals and the skills of the operators; f) promoting an integrated guidance offer, through regional networks, by the various systems (school, training, university, employment, and social policies); g) support for the development of an on-going process of innovation of shared tools and methodologies for action. Also in line with the aims of the Youth Guarantee, the Guidelines identify the following among the specific aims for action with regard to guidance: • fighting educational disruption, by reducing non-attendance at and dropping out of school; • supporting greater employability for young people and adults, also by improving the quality of the guidance actions involving the public services for employment; 7

• promoting social inclusion through greater participation by families in the training and career choices of young people. Attention to the subject of guidance is linked to the commitments of the Youth Guarantee, which foresees activation of the young person within four months of the start of unemployment status or of leaving the educational/career system, and also organises the guarantee of activation in different options for back-toschool, training, placement; actions of user profiling and guidance are foreseen by actions on the placement services, funded by the ESF. Another important tool in the process of reforming the guidance system, currently in progress, is Law 128/20136, which contains the most recent regulations with regard to school-to-work transition7. For the purpose of facilitating awareness of career opportunities and openings, that law ordered the amplification of the guidance systems in secondary schools, allocating 6.6 million euro (1.6 for 2013 and 5 for 2014) for that purpose. In particular, a closer connection is envisaged between school and the labour market, by means of training days in enterprises and periods of on-the-job training for students during the last two years of upper secondary school. With regard to the teachers, the law requires compulsory training and refresher training activities with regard to systems of school-to-work alternation, possibly held at the enterprises. Within the framework of the school system, in February 2014 the MIUR (ministry of education) issued the “Linee guida nazionali sull’orientamento permanente”8 (National guidelines for lifelong guidance), drawn up in line with the “Linee Guida Nazionali sull’Orientamento” (national guidelines for guidance) agreed on at the inter-institution level and with the Youth Guarantee, as well as in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy. These Guidelines, which replace the 2009 ones, confirm the value of guidance not merely in relation to school/training and employment transition but also with a view to lifelong development of each individual, Law no. 128 of 8 November 2013, containing “Misure urgenti in materia di istruzione, università e ricerca”, http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2013/11/11/13G00172/sg 7 With regard to the role of guidance in the school system, the basic phases that helped to outline the current regulatory framework consisted of the following documents: - law 15 March 1997 no. 59, which, in order to prevent dropping out of and non-attendance at school, requires educational establishments, while exercising their organizational and teaching autonomy, to carry out initiatives aimed at creating a link with the labour market; - Ministerial Directive 487/97 on scholastic, university and career guidance, which recognizes guidance as part of the official activities of all the educational establishments, of every type and level; - DPR 257 of 2000, a presidential decree ruling that each establishment is responsible for carrying out information and scholastic and career guidance activities for the students and also requires close integration between higher secondary education establishments, placement services and Local Authorities, to promote compliance with the new training obligation and the offer by the outlying placement services of guidance, support and tutoring services for young people during the phase of establishment and implementation of the training choice. 8 see Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca, (ministry of education) “Linee guida nazionali per l’orientamento permanente” - http://www.istruzione.it/allegati/2014/linee_guida_orientamento.pdf 8 6

necessary in order to be able to adapt to constantly evolving situations. With regard in particular to educational guidance, the document stresses the role played by the school system, through “guidance teaching” activities in order for the young people to acquire basic and transverse skills (life skills). This has to be accompanied by assistance and guidance counselling activities, to be carried out in response to specific individual or group needs. The Guidelines also introduce the role of the “guidance tutor”9, currently being defined, for all the educational establishments, starting with the primary schools, with the duties of organising and coordinating the guidance activities. The schools, recognised as places of learning within which it is necessary to take guidance actions aimed at assisting the choice processes of the young person, thus promoting personal and career success, inclusion and employment, are also given the task of amplifying cooperation with the labour market, with associations and with the third sector, in order to reinforce and develop networks and partnerships at the local level; developing entrepreneurial experiences, in cooperation with economic bodies and enterprises and with the assistance of a tutor; creating, also with the participation of businesses, development laboratories responsible for career management; developing internships and on-the-job training activities, making them part of the training programme of the upper secondary school. The subject of school-to-work alternation has also been regulated, starting with art. 4 of delegated law no. 53/200310, which introduced alternation as a way of carrying out the programmes of the second cycle and not as a system in itself. Subsequently, Legislative Decree 77/200511 regulated alternation as a teaching method of the education system in order to enable students that have reached 15 years of age to carry out the studies of the second cycle while also alternating periods of study and of work, for the purpose of career guidance and of acquiring skills in demand on the labour market. A new boost for experiences of connection between schools and the labour market is given by the regulations for reforming the second level secondary schools, issued on the basis of the Gelmini Reform and contained in Presidential Decrees nos. 87, 88 and 89 of 2010, with regard, respectively, to Vocational Schools, Technical

The job role of “guidance tutor” is being defined: the Ministry of Education, together with the Conference of Rectors, is establishing the specific vocational courses intended for that role. According to the statement by the Minister of Education last December, this role might also be filled by “managers from the world of business”. See: http://www.lastampa.it/2013/12/23/cultura/scuola/carrozzain-ogni-scuola-un-tutor-per-lorientamento-HkXAgCBleQXKZ2hflqbD6L/pagina.html 10 Law 28 March 2003 no. 53, “Delega al Governo per la definizione delle norme generali sull'istruzione e dei livelli essenziali delle prestazioni in materia di istruzione e formazione professionale” - http://www.altalex.com/index.php?idnot=5790 11 Legislative decree 15 April 2005 no. 77, “Definizione delle norme generali relative all'Alternanza Scuola-lavoro, a norma dell'articolo 4 della Legge 28 marzo 2003, n. 53”, introduced the possibility for upper secondary school pupils aged between 15 and 18 to follow the second cycle courses, partly or entirely, whole alternating school-to-work, as a training course method designed, implemented, verified and evaluated by the school or training establishment. To this end, conventions or agreements will be made with enterprises and trade associations willing to accept the students, for periods of apprenticeship, without that involving the creation of an individual employment relationship - http://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.legislativo:2005;077 9 9

Schools and Secondary Schools12. To go back to and confirm the provisions of Leg. Dec. 77/2005, those regulations ordered, starting with school year 2010-2011, more careful use of school-to-work alternation as a systematic method to envisage in the teaching curriculum of the various establishments, with different characteristics depending on the type of school but with the common aim of facilitating the acquisition of skills that can facilitate transition to the labour market or access to higher studies. In Secondary Schools, alternation, on-the-job training or practical experience are an option, alongside the activation of study-work models or initiatives for projects; in the Technical Schools, internships, on-the-job training and school-to-work alternation are “teaching tools for carrying out study courses”; alternation is compulsory during the top two years of the Vocational Schools13. Law 128/2013 with regard to alternation requires the creation of an experimental programme during the threeyear period 2014–2016 for carrying out periods of on-the-job training for students of the last two years of the upper secondary schools. The MIUR, MEF, MLPS (education, finance, labour) interministerial decree came out at the beginning of June 2014, laying down the terms for activation of the programme related to courses alternating with apprenticeship contracts14, while regulations related to other forms of alternation (on-the-job training, internships and laboratory teaching), referred to in art.5 c. 4-ter of the same law are still pending.

1.2 The role of placement services in guidance for young people In Italy, the public career guidance service aimed at young people of school-going age is provided outside the school sphere by services set up by the Regions, since they are responsible for career guidance. They organise the offer of guidance services independently, mainly delegating them to the Provinces. Generally speaking, the main public figures in career guidance are: 12 -Presidential Decree 15 March 2010, no. 87 “Regolamento recante norme per il riordino degli istituti professionali, a norma dell'articolo 64, comma 4, del decreto-lEGGE 25 giugno 2008, n. 112, convertito, con modificazioni, dalla legge 6 agosto 2008, n. 133”- http://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:presidente.repubblica:decreto:2010;87 - Presidential Decree 15 March 2010, no. 88 “Regolamento recante norme per il riordino degli istituti tecnici a norma dell'articolo 64, comma 4, del decreto-law 25 giugno 2008, n. 112, convertito, con modificazioni, dalla legge 6 agosto 2008, n. 133” http://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:presidente.repubblica:decreto:2010;88 - Presidential Decree 15 March 2010, no. 89 “Regolamento recante revisione dell'assetto ordinamentale, organizzativo e didattico dei licei a norma dell'articolo 64, comma 4, del decreto-lEGGE 25 giugno 2008, n. 112, convertito, con modificazioni, dalla legge 6 agosto 2008, n. 133”. http://www.normattiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:presidente.repubblica:decreto:2010;89 13 For further information see: http://www.indire.it/scuolavoro/content/index.php?action=lettura&id_m=7619&id_cnt=7669; http://archivio.pubblica.istruzione.it/riforma_superiori/nuovesuperiori/index.html 14 The terms for activation of the programme related to courses alternating with an apprenticeship contract are contained in an interministerial decree published on 5 June 2014, which specified: the objectives of the experimental programme, the types and requirements of the enterprises involved, requirements of the conventions, rights and duties of the students involved, hours of teaching and criteria for recognition of the training credits. - see Inter-ministerial Decree 28 of 5 June 2014 http://www.istruzione.it/allegati/2014/Decreto_firmato_e_bollinato_5.6.2014.pdf 10

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placement services, which sometimes have a dedicated “counter” for young people. Even lacking that, their services, in addition to bringing demand and supply together, include reception, information, guidance, and assistance with drawing up a vocational and/or training project. In some cases they make use of outside resources for these types of service. information and career guidance centres (which have different names such as, e.g.: Informagiovani (youth information); Centri di Iniziativa Locale per l'Occupazione (local employment initiative centres) - CILO; Centri di orientamento al lavoro (employment guidance centres) – COL, etc.), operating at the municipal or provincial level, sometimes organized into national networks or groups, which offer young people information not only about possible training or vocational courses but also other kinds of information (for instance about spare time, voluntary work etc.).

In addition to the public services, the offer of guidance for young people can also be supplemented by various private bodies, including, for example, Chambers of Commerce, Training Authorities, Employment Agencies, trade unions, trade associations, schools and universities, employment consultants, based on the liberalisation of the market for employment services. With regard to the latter, attention is drawn to the annual organisation by the employers’ federation, Confindustria, of the “Giornata Nazionale Orientagiovani” (national youth guidance day) aimed at bringing businesses and young people together: in all the provinces, the industrial associations, in cooperation with schools and universities, give students and teachers the opportunity to get close to the business sector and to obtain useful information for subsequent placement in the labour market. There are also guidance services available on the web, which offer information related to professions and to training or vocational courses; they include: the Ministry of Labour’s portal “Cliclavoro”, the new portal of the MUIR; the “Orientaonline” service of Isfol (vocational training institute); Jobtel15. With regard to specific programmes for facilitating school-to-work transition, the main national experience is the “Formazione ed Innovazione per l’Occupazione - Scuola e Università” (training and innovation for employment – school and university) programme – FIxO S&U, belonging to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and carried out by Italia Lavoro. This is a national, experimental programme for technical assistance to schools and universities. With regard to actions intended for secondary schools, FIxO, in cooperation with

15 Cliclavoro gives advice on job seeking, information on professions and employment contracts http://www.cliclavoro.gov.it/ The MIUR portal makes it possible to find out more about the offer of study courses at the secondary and post-secondary level, and gives information about the labour market, accompanied by videos in which personalities of various origins tell about how they achieved their aims. See http://www.istruzione.it/orientamento Orientaonline (http://orientaonline.isfol.it/) enables detailed exploration of the world of professions, broken down by areas of employment Jobtel (www.jobtel.it) the portal created by Unioncamere and the Ministry of Labour, for the purpose of spreading information about the data of the Excelsior system on the recruitment forecasts of the enterprises; it gives information about employment and training. 11

the Regions, with which a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed, is aimed at intervening in the sphere of the transition from the education and training system to the labour market. The service model prepared by the Programme foresees: •

organisation of a placement service inside schools, for assisting the educational establishments in organising and providing services of guidance, intermediation and placement, and in the use of active labour policy arrangements and measures in line with the new role of practitioners on the labour market assigned to them by the Biagi law and in liaison with the network of local stakeholders (placement services, enterprises, universities, etc.). Technical assistance includes the qualification and inclusion of the operators of the school system;

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implementation of a customised guidance/placement system for the students, offering a series of services adaptable to suit the needs of the person holding or studying for a diploma;

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assistance with the establishment/strengthening of the territorial network of stakeholders, aimed at strengthening the Employment Services sector and the role of schools as a link between students and production resources in the area, in order to finalise the course of guidance in placement, facilitating the employability and employment of young people.

During 2014, the Programme involved 383 secondary schools / school networks, for a total of 631 educational establishments, located in all the Regions and in the two Autonomous Provinces, training 1,691 school practitioners in the techniques of organising and managing guidance and placement services. By June the course of guidance and placement of about 26,500 persons holding or studying for diplomas was completed, compared to the total of 57,450 expected to be reached before the end of the year.

1.3 School-to-work transition and guidance in schools In Italy, guidance is part of the official work of all the educational establishments and an integral part of the curricula, as well as of the entire educational and training process. During the last year of lower secondary school, the schools are required to take initiatives aimed at guiding young people in the choice between a scholastic and vocational system that they have to make when they have passed the examination at the end of the third year of lower secondary school. Subsequently, during upper secondary school and, in particular, during the last two years of the course, the schools are required to organise activities in preparation for the choice to be made at the end of studies (for instance, information on types of university studies, post-diploma vocational training courses and labour market, characteristics of the production sector/job roles; visits to Universities etc.). The initiatives and the time devoted to them are the responsibility of each educational establishment and are therefore not easy to standardize. In its Guidance Report, presented in 2012 on the data of the previous year 12

made on a sample of 3,274 schools16, Isfol highlighted how the largest part of guidance work was conducted inside the establishments and mainly consisted of guidance teaching, group discussions, information action and individual guidance interviews. External activities were mainly organised by upper secondary education establishments: participation in days dedicated to meetings with enterprises (job meetings), shows, career days, “open days”. The report pointed out that, even though guidance culture had become part of the education system, the guidance service in educational establishments was still not part of the system, but instead was occasional, mainly due to the scarcity of resources, both financial and human. It was also seen that networking with other services in the area, in particular Placement Services and Informagiovani, was not very widespread and neither were guidance activities in relation with the outside, nor activities for evaluating the guidance activities, limited to one third of the schools. As far as alternating is concerned, on the basis of national monitoring reports drawn up by INDIRE (the national institute for educational documentation, innovation and research), on the alternation systems implemented by upper secondary schools, following Leg. Dec. 77/2005 and the subsequent Gelmini Reform and, in particular, on the basis of the Summary of the monitoring report 201317, the positive results of the efforts made in the last few years to integrate school training with work experience can be seen. During school year 2012-13, recourse to alternation as a teaching method involved 45.6% of the upper secondary schools. Out of the approximately 11,600 school-to-work alternation programmes carried out, 67.1% were started by Vocational Schools, 22% by Technical Schools and 7.8% by Secondary Schools. Compared to the previous school year, the number of programmes increased by 18.5%, with the biggest increase reported by the Secondary Schools: if we compare that number with the programmes carried out in school year 2009-2010 (the year before the entry into force of the Reform of the secondary school), the increase is 329%. 58.2% of the alternation programmes were carried out in enterprises and mainly involved students in the last two years. The schools express their autonomy, decreed by law no. 59 of 1997, in the Piano dell’offerta formative (POF) (training offer plan) drawn up by the Teaching Staff and adopted by the School Council and by the Head of the School18, on the basis of an analysis of the needs and resources of the area: this document shows the curricular, extra-curricular, teaching and organisational planning of the establishment’s activities. The annual version of the POF gives educational establishments the option, within the framework of the general and educational objectives laid down at the national level, of adapting the study plan to suit the needs of the relevant socio-economic context. In short, the Principal of the Establishment has the possibility of organising a different teaching offer and organising extra-curricular courses, also aimed at bringing education closer to the labour market. Out of the sample of 3,274 schools that participated in the Isfol survey, 3,012 are state schools. 33% of the sample consists of lower secondary education establishments, 46.5% of upper secondary education establishments, and 20% of all-inclusive establishments. Source: Isfol Guidance Report 2011, 2012 ed. - http://sbnlo2.cilea.it/bw5ne2/opac.aspx?WEB=ISFL&IDS=18944 17 Indire (national institute for documentation, innovation and educational research), “Alternanza scuola lavoro: binomio possibile? – Monitoraggio 2013, Sintesi” - http://www.istruzione.it/allegati/rapporto_sintesi_moni_%20alternanza_az.pdf 18 Source: http://www.atuttascuola.it/materiale/dirigenza_scolastica/autonomia_e_territorio.htm 13 16

In order to assist schools in designing curricula, with regard to the planning of alternation actions aimed at facilitating school-to-work transition, in March 2013 the Ministry of Education started a public consultation aimed at school operators on the document “Costruire insieme l’alternanza scuola-lavoro”19 (building schoolto-work alternation together). It deals with the most important subjects, which concern the implementation of alternation systems: reference structures, local alliances, shared planning, organisational structure, implementation, evaluation of learning, certification, project evaluation, financial resources. In particular, the proposal considers alternation to be the starting point for the development of territorial networks between educational and training establishments, enterprises and other elements of the economic world and the third sector, the creation of which is also hoped for in the Fornero Labour Reform20. The territorial networks are organised by means of various types of agreement, concerning a variable number of parties, and they can lead to stable forms of partnership, lasting for many years. For establishing school-firm partnerships reference can also be made to the territorial networks for lifelong learning, foreseen by the Intesa (understanding) of December 2012 on policies for lifelong learning21. Thus far, and pending a clearer definition of the role of guidance tutor foreseen by the national Guidelines for lifelong Guidance of the MIUR of February 2014, in schools guidance work is done by teachers “Guidance Referents”, appointed on an annual basis by the Principal of the School. Pending publication of the document on fixing the standards of guidance services and the qualifications of the operators announced in the Linee Guida Nazionali sull’Orientamento inter-istituzionali (inter-institution national guidelines on guidance), at present the Referents for guidance are not required to undergo specific training: any skills they possess are mainly acquired voluntarily, through various types of training course, and rarely on the initiative of the school they belong to. What is more, their work consists of organising extra-curricular work for students and families; carrying out actions of an individual type, such as, for example, “listening counters”, and conducting relations with the outside. The document “Costruire insieme l’alternanza scuola-lavoro”, drawn up by Indire, in cooperation with the Department responsible for higher education and technical training and for relations with the training systems of the Regions, was sent to the educational establishments and has also been published for the purposes of consultation on the INDIRE site http://www.indire.it/scuolavoro/consultazione/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/COSTRUIRE-INSIEME-LALTERNANZA-22_03.pdf. Consultation was aimed at laying down Guidelines on the alternation programmes foreseen by Leg. Dec. 77/2005, in line with the Moratti school reform (law 53/2003), and presently under completion. Leg. Dec. 77/2005 had foreseen the possibility for pupils of the upper secondary school aged between 15 and 18 years to follow the courses of the second cycle, partly or wholly, in school-to-work alternation. 20 Law 28 June 2012, no. 92, “Disposizioni in materia di riforma del mercato di lavoro in una prospettiva di crescita” http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/gunewsletter/dettaglio.jsp?service=1&datagu=2012-0703&task=dettaglio&numgu=153&redaz=012G0115&tmstp=1341387887869 21 See “Intesa siglata in Conferenza Unificata il 20 dicembre 2012, riguardante le politiche per l'apprendimento permanente e gli indirizzi per l'individuazione di criteri generali e priorità per la promozione ed il sostegno alla realizzazione di reti territoriali, ai sensi dell'articolo 4, commi 51 e 55, della legge 28 giugno 2012, n. 92” http://www.tecnostruttura.it/cms/file/DOCUMENTI/2246/apprendimento-permanente.pdf 19

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Thus far, in the schools, services dedicated to school-to-work transition have mainly been put into effect within the framework of projects with specific financing, or left to individual schools or teachers.

2. SCHOOL-TO-WORK TRANSITION IN FRANCE 2.1 The regulatory framework and the governance Guidance policies in France have always been characterised by the distinction between educational guidance, which is the job of the educational system, and career guidance, which is the concern of the employment services system. The State administration is responsible for both the education sector and the sector of active employment policies. With regard to career guidance, which was recently regionalised, the governance model basically follows the decentralisation approach, with policies being established at the national level and resources transferred to the Regions, which enjoy a certain organisational independence. Both with regard to policy making and governance, and to implementation of the policies, there are more and more points of contact between the two systems of career and scholastic guidance: both fall within the sphere of lifelong guidance, they make great use of the partnership approach, in which local industries participate, and with regard to the youth target they have developed important cooperation actions to suit the specific skills of each person. As far as career guidance is concerned, Law 1437 of 2009 decreed the right of everybody to career guidance22 and set up the Public Service for Guidance (Service Public de l’Orientation, SPO), aimed at developing a guidance network in every area, composed of all the parties engaged in the sector, firstly the national employment agency, Pôle emploi, the Missions Locales, the Public Education career guidance counsellors and the regional Information Centres for young people, financed by the Ministry of Education. The conclusions of the joint evaluation report by the IGAS-IGEN23 (social affairs and national education) inspectorates in January 2013 gave a disappointing picture of the Law setting up the Service Public de l’Orientation, and proposed strengthening the role of the Region as leader of the SPO, giving it leverage to be able to act accordingly on the different networks, and to accompany this decentralisation with shared national steering, capable of gathering together all the skills thus far dispersed: the new law on the reform of vocational

22 Art. 4 of “LOI n° 2009-1437 du 24 novembre 2009 relative à l'orientation et à la formation professionnelle tout au long de la vie” decreed the right to information, guidance and assistance for everybody in relation to career guidance. Cf. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000021312490&categorieLien=id 23 See Inspection Générale des Affaires Sociales et l’Inspection générale de l’Education Nationale, “Le service public de l’orientation: état des lieux et perspectives dans le cadre de la prochaine réforme de decentralization”, 2013. http://www.igas.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/Rapport_SPO_-_RM_2013-020P_-2.pdf 15

training of March 201424. Accepting those remarks, the State is still responsible for establishing guidance policies, while broader responsibilities for the organisation and coordination of the SPO are assigned to the Regions. The service, free of charge and available to everybody (including students), is provided by five official bodies, designated by law and responsible for specific user targets: Pôle emploi (general, unemployed, but even employed), the Association pour l'Emploi des Cadres-APEC (high-level professionals), Cap Emploi (disabled persons), Missions Locales (young people aged 16-25) and the Organismes Paritaire Collecteur Agréés – OPCA (employed and unemployed workers in the various production sectors). Moreover, these can be accompanied by any local operators designated by the Region, after consultation within the framework of the Regional Committee for Employment, Training and Guidance25. With the new law the Region also reinforced the tasks of monitoring the quality of the service and its consistency and compliance with the aims of the Training Charter (Carte des formations)26; increased responsibility for putting centres devoted to verifying the skills of the weaker targets into the network, and for encouraging the practitioners and activities aimed at combating dropping out of school and making a new vocational project available to each young person in difficulty. The new law was preceded by an experiment with the new Service Public Régional de l’Orientation (SPRO) in eight Regions, starting in September 2013, characterised by close cooperation between institutions at the central level (Ministère de l’Education, Ministère du Travail, de l'Emploi, de la Formation Professionnelle et du Dialogue Sociale, Ministère des Sports, de la Jeunesse, de l'Éducation populaire et de la Vie Associative), while the bodies mobilised by the Region for drawing up the plan for the new SPRO in the territories were the Prefects, the Académies, and also the territorial offices of the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research, as well as the Social Partners, backed up by an extensive partnership of guidance institutions and operators27. The guidance service is organised in four sections: reception, information, advice and assistance. The offer of services within the scope of the Public Service for Guidance has two levels: the first level is information, with access points widely diffused, both by rationalising (e.g. creating a brand) the bodies see LOI n° 2014-288 du 5 mars 2014 relative à la formation professionnelle, à l'emploi et à la démocratie sociale http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichLoiPubliee.do?idDocument=JORFDOLE000028505680&type=general&legislature=14

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consultative body for ensuring cooperation between the administrations and the Social Partners. The Carte des Formations is the tool for planning the area’s training offer (in terms of profiles/trades and courses), constructed on the basis of the development needs of the labour market and on the local economic- production situation, with a view to facilitating work placement in the various production sectors existing locally, with a view to forecast planning of training and employment needs and to territorial proximity. It must also meet the various needs for training of the citizens by offering a wide variety of training courses. The Carte des Formations is drawn up jointly by representatives of the State, Region, social partners and enterprises; it is signed by the Prefect of the Region, the President of the Region and the Rector of the Académie, representing the education and training system, and is managed within the framework of the Regional Coordinating Committee for Employment and Vocational Training (CCREFP). 27 See “Expérimentation du Service Public Régional de l’Orientation (SPRO. Document de cadrage des conditions de prefiguration du SPRO dans les territoires expérimentaux (septembre 2013), http://www.actualite-de-la-formation.fr/IMG/pdf/1113_doc-cadrespro.pdf 16 26

currently dealing with information and guidance services, and by creating “dematerialized” services (internet portals and telephone platforms)28 , followed by a second, more specific level of true guidance and assistance with, as already mentioned, the offer of service broken down by user targets. The designation by law of five operators responsible for providing the public service of guidance in the territories will result in rationalisation of the role and duties of the various parties that have offered guidance services in the territories thus far. In particular, for the target of young people, the network of the Missions Locales will have to increase its role as referent, also in relations between the education system and the employment system. In fact, for the specific target of young people alone, in addition to the Missions Locales there are many networks of operators with specific responsibilities operating in the territories: the Centres d’Information et d’Orientation (CIO), controlled by the school system; the Permanences d’Accueil d’Information et d’Orientation (PAIO), which deal with training in alternation; the Services Communs Universitaires d’Information et d’Orientation (SCUIO), structures set up in universities, which offer students information and documentation related to university courses, guidance counselling, support for employability; the Centres d’Information et Documentation Jeunesse (CIDJ), a network of structures operating all over the country and providing information of a general kind. 2.2 The role of placement services in guidance for young people With regard to policies for young people, the breakdown of duties assigns responsibility to the school for minors of compulsory-school-going age, while the services of the Missions Locales29 are for young people from the time they leave the school system (with or without a diploma). These are bodies with an association status or temporary groups of enterprises (Groupement Momentané d'Entreprises, GME), as foreseen in the Code du Travail, with the mission of adjacent public service for the employment and social placement of young people between 16 and 25 years of age, of a universalistic nature in the sense that any young person in the aforementioned age bracket is entitled to be received and assisted by the structure. Enrolment with the Mission Locale, is not required but enrolment determines a change in status to “demandeur d’emploi” (jobseeker).

28 The “Orientation pour Tous” portal was created within the framework of the public guidance service and is the result of cooperation between Ministries, the Prime Minister’s services, the Onisep, the Centres Inffo, the CIDJ, the Faf TT, the Fongecif web, the Social Partners and many local communities. Its aim is to supply information about trades, possibilities for guidance while studying or in lifelong training, and it enables people to search for information on the training offer. see www.orientation-pour-tous 29 The Mission Locales started at the end of the eighties, and in 2005, when they were entrusted with management of the CIVIS Programme (Contrat d’insertion dans la vie sociale), an arrangement concerning the right to assistance in socio-employment inclusion for young people at risk of exclusion, in force until 2010), they were included in the Code du Travail, which fixes their mission, legal status, relations with local parties and service objectives, fixed through an Agreement with the State. For information See. http://www.emploi.gouv.fr/acteurs/missions-locales, http://www.unml.info/le-reseau-des-missions-locales/le-roledes-missions-locales.html 17

The Missions Locales cooperate with the Public Services for Employment (Pôle emploi) on the basis of an improved, long-term partnership agreement30. They offer services of reception, information, guidance and support for job-seeking/social inclusion, adopting a holistic approach to the youth problem, focused on dealing simultaneously with problems that are factors hampering the inclusion of the young person in society, teaching about choice and targeted reception. In the offer of services to young people, each Mission Locale makes use of a network of local partners (enterprises, schools, training bodies, SPI, social services, associations etc.), for which it also performs a function of encouragement. The Mission Locale also acts a territorial observatory of the actions taken by public and private bodies in favour of young people. Recently they were also given responsibilities regarding the implementation of the Garantie Jeunes (the national programme for the “Youth Guarantee”, started in October 2013, before France agreed, in 2014, on the implementation plan within the framework of the European Youth Employment Initiative). Great importance is attached to the partnership between the Missions Locales and the education and training establishments that are responsible for minors of compulsory school-going age. The Law requires all the institutions in the secondary cycle and the CFAs (Centre de Formation en Apprentissage) to send to the bodies designated by the Perfects, and also to the Missions Locales, cases of school dropout, thus permitting prompt action on the targets of young people at greater risk of social exclusion31. The Missions Locales can also work more closely with the schools, for example through actions at schools to prevent dropping out, offering parallel support activities or alternatives to those foreseen in the ministerial school programme to students at risk of dropping out . There are 450 Missions Locales throughout the country, which make use of 11,000 vocational and social inclusion experts. The total funding of the national network is 524 million euro, to which various bodies 30 After

the establishment of the sole operator of Public Services for Employment, Pôle Emploi, in 2008, the relationship between the State and the Missions Locales was reviewed and a Framework Agreement was made on an improved partnership between the Pôle Emploi, the State and the Conseil National des Missions Locales. The current Framework Agreement was signed in January 2010, valid until 2014. The Agreement has to be adapted to the situation in each Region/territory and signed by the local representatives of the contracting parties. The Framework Agreement established an improved partnership relationship (co-traitance) between Pôle Emploi and the Missions Locales, recognizing that the action of the two networks complement one another and the commitment to joint steering in the offer of the service and cooperation in the services, by pooling the services offered by the two networks. Communication and exchange of information between the networks are an essential condition for the partnership to work well. The Framework Agreement gives the following legal definition of Cotraitance: “it is the contract on the basis of which Pôle Emploi delegates to a body, limited to the specific target for which it is legally responsible, the performance of all or parts of its missions, for the implementation until its conclusion of the Personalized Job-seeking Support Programme (PPAE) for jobseekers, with reservations regarding age and exit from unemployment, requiring in return the payment of a financial contribution not related to the return to work objectives”. The text of the Agreement is available on the following web address: http://circulaire.legifrance.gouv.fr/pdf/2010/05/cir_31187.pdf. See art. 13 nonies A Art. 4 of Law no. 2009-1437. In particular, reporting of the cases of young people in difficulty is done through an interministerial computer system, through which reports are sent in due time on young people that are not attending school regularly and for whom an alternative course or remedial teaching or training outside school. 18 31

contribute, in different proportions: the State (39%), the Regions (19%), the Municipalities and associations of Municipalities (21%), the Departments (6%); the ESF (3%), other pubic and private services (12%). The Convention of 2010 doubled the State’s financial contribution to the Missions Locales (about 34.5 million euro/year). Incidentally, with regard to guidance, the abovementioned IGAS-IGEN evaluation report attributed to the Missions Locales the responsibilities and skills in their specific sector and defined them as an essential element of the Public Service for Employment32. 2.3 School–to-work transition and guidance in schools In France, the educational guidance services have been part of the national system for some time, since they are a public service. Within the framework of the educational programme of secondary schools – lower and higher – there are many measures intended to offer students a better knowledge of the world of work, also with a view to enabling them to make more considered choices with regard to their career paths and to facilitating their inclusion in active life33. The new school reform law34 gives among its aims the renewal of the guidance and placement system and the development of the work of evaluating the results obtained in this field. In particular, with regard to guidance the law foresees improvement of the individual paths of information, guidance and discovery in the field of economy and employment (Parcours individuels d’information, d’orientation et de découverte du monde économique et professionnel, PIIODMEP), the main guidance measure implemented in schools, and their extension to the whole lower and upper secondary school and the improvement of cooperation between school and enterprises. From the administrative point of view, the French school system is divided into areas, approximately equivalent to the regional territories, known as Académies, under the aegis of the National Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research, and headed by a Rector (Recteur or Chancelier). The Rector is responsible, in his/her territory, for implementing the educational policy in schools of every type and level, defined for the whole country, and is directly responsible to the relevant Ministers. Within the sphere of his/her See http://alternatives-economiques.fr/blogs/abherve/2013/04/09/missions-locales-le-rapport-igas-igen-sur-lorientation-reconnaitleur-professionnalisme/ 33 For more information about the French education system see: the websites of the European networks EURYDICE and REFERNET: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/index.php/France:Overview http://libserver.cedefop.europa.eu/vetelib/2012/2012_CR_FR.pdf 34 Law n° 2013-595 8 July 2013, “Loi d'orientation et de programmation pour la refondation de l’école de la République” is aimed at creating the conditions for raising the educational level of all the students and at reducing social and territorial inequalities that can influence educational success. In planning the means a special effort is being made at the kindergarten level. The text also foresees the establishment of Teachers’ and Vocational Training Colleges and lays the foundations for a public computer science education service. With regard to guidance it plans for and improves opportunities for school-enterprise meetings and exchanges. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=B79D2B5F1CFDE3E8C05CCBA25C3E3CA5.tpdjo12v_3?cidTexte=JORFTE XT000027677984&dateTexte=20140307 19 32

responsibilities, the Rector has broad powers to organise the administrative, teaching, educational and guidance means allocated to him/her35. Educational establishments enjoy independence with regard to teaching and education. Through the Projet d'établissement (Establishment Plan)36 the Establishments take initiatives regarding the procedures for putting to students at risk of dropping out national guidance actions and programmes to students at risk of dropping out, taking into account the diversity of the school population. In particular the independence they enjoy concerns, inter alia, the organisation of guidance activities, initiatives by the school related to its economicsocial environment, organization of complementary training and lifelong training activities and other optional activities. The Partenariats école-entreprise (school-firm partnerships), formalised by the Ministère de l’Education Nationale through Framework Conventions and Framework Agreements with trade and employers’ organizations or big enterprises, constitute the framework for activities related to the aim of bringing the school closer to the labour market. School-firm partnerships, focussed on the skills and qualifications most in demand, by strengthening the links between practitioners in the educational community, students and economic operators, contribute, on the one hand, to a better knowledge by the educators about the enterprises and their training and qualifications requirements and, on the other, to guidance, creating desirable skills and placing the students in jobs. In addition to the distribution of the national framework agreements throughout the territory, in some cases informal bodies were created at the different Académie, with different names, for instance, Comités Locaux École-Entreprise, Comités Locaux Éducation-Économie (CLEE) or Réseaux École-Entreprise Locaux (REEL), which strengthen the partnership relationship between educational establishments and the local economic system. They are made up of representatives of the parties involved in guidance, training and job placement, including educational establishments, enterprises, GRETA (groups of educational establishments), representatives of Local Authorities (in particular, the Regional Council) and, sometimes, parents. There is a representative of those Committees/Networks at the various Educational establishments.

35 The Rectors of the Académies are designated by the Cabinet (they are mainly selected from university professors) and appointed by a decree of the President of the Republic. They coordinate every level of education, from kindergarten to university, and all the state staff of the educational establishments (schools, colleges, secondary schools, universities, CFA) and services (rector’s offices, academic management, CIO) report to them. 36 The Projet d'établissement is drawn up on the imitative of the Chef d’établissement, with the representatives of the educational community (management, teaching, administrative, technical and service staff social and health workers, parent and pupils, as well as partners from outside the establishment, such as territorial communities academic authorities, enterprises, cultural associations, other educational establishments) and approved by the Administrative Board of the educational establishment.

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The Académie must activate cooperation actions with the local economic situation and assist schools in planning and implementing them. To this end, there is a specific job role for developing school-firm partnerships (chargé de mission école-entreprise), which in some cases, in the bigger Académie, work as a team with corporate executives temporarily detached from big private enterprises located in the area (Ingénieurs pour l’école-IPE). A series of activities and events are organised, both at the national and local level, within the framework of the different kinds of partnership for the purposes of information and guidance, such as: •

the “school-enterprise week”, aimed at preparing students for entering the labour market and at encouraging their entrepreneurial spirit, through actions that get them and their families, the members of the teaching staff and the principals involved;

•

visits to enterprises, appearance of professionals in the classroom, and meetings between teachers and company executives for promoting dialogue and mutual acquaintance;

•

organisation of internships and alternation training programmes;

•

creation of training and technological cooperation projects;

•

training in the firm (also in internships) for the teachers.

The Parcours individuels d’information, d’orientation et de découverte du monde économique et professionnel, PIIODMEP) are the principal guidance measures used in the schools and the main form of school-enterprise cooperation implemented within the framework of the partnerships. They are planned by the Chef d’établissement (Principal) of the school, in cooperation with the whole educational team and mobilising the available resources, from relations with the economic sector based on the partnerships and local Académie to the school and territorial guidance services, such as the CIO, the SCUIO, the Missions locales, the public services for employment. Added to this are the documentation and information about the labour market, the training and professions possessed by the educational establishment and those supplied by the ONISEP (a key organisation for information on educational and vocational guidance, which comes under the National Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research). The PIIODMEP, foreseen by the school reform 2013, are an evolution of the prior “Courses of discovery of professions and training”, (Parcours de découverte des Métiers et des Formations, PDMF). They concern all the pupils of the college at the end of secondary school and are aimed at the acquisition of knowledge and skills in three main areas: discovery of vocational activities and the socio-economic context; knowledge of training systems; self-evaluation and self-knowledge. They foresee greater opening of the schools to parties that can help familiarise young people with the labour market, through talks by important professionals, initiatives conducted with the Regions and with associations and representatives of enterprises, visits,

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internships and courses of discovery of the professions and the enterprises, projects for developing an entrepreneurial spirit37. Through the PIIODMEP students are given the opportunity to explore the professions and the training sectors, in order to be able to make considered choices about studies and careers, and also to develop basic skills, useful during their whole lifetime. During the lower secondary school years each pupil spends at least 10 hours in a firm or in contact with persons from the world of work. During the upper secondary years the pupil also receives 2 hours a week of customised assistance in working out a training plan, as well as tutoring service, given by a teacher or a “conseiller principal d’éducation”. The programme also foresees customised guidance counselling, even related to aptitudes and motivation, given by the “professeur principal”, in cooperation with the “conseillers d’orientation-psychologues”. The public service for guidance in the schools is backed up the work of the Office national d'information sur les enseignements et les professions (ONISEP, National training and professions office) for everything concerning information about the evolution of the labour market and professions, and by the Centres d’Informations et d’Orientation network for matters related in particular to individual guidance counselling. In particular, ONISEP is charged with preparing and distributing documentation and updated information on training courses and professions for assisting the bodies that deal with educational guidance. ONISEP produces and distributes, also through its regional offices, many national or regional documents, including pamphlets distributed to all the students. It helps to keep teachers, students and CIO guidance consultantspsychologists informed. Alongside its traditional mission of information on training courses and professions it has developed activities for backing up guidance, through the portal “Mon orientation en ligne” (my guidance on-line) and also offers assistance to students by phone, e-mail and chats. The material prepared by ONISEP, which can also be consulted on its site, includes about 400 cards about professions. Another tool, prepared by the body, is the national portal dedicated to internships in enterprises “Mon stage en ligne” (my internship online), aimed at facilitating students at vocational schools, teachers and enterprises, in the search for, start-up and management of the on-the-job training opportunities foreseen in the school curriculum. The Centres d’Information et d’Orientation are public structures existing all over the country, under the aegis of the National Ministry of Education. At the end of 2012, the CIO had a staff of 4,800 employees, of which 3,743 were “conseillers d’orientation-psychologues”. The main tasks of the CIO are: reception and information, intended for everybody, but with particular attention to the target of young people already included in school courses and their families with regard to education, vocational training, qualifications and professions, also by Already in the lower secondary years there are, for instance, stage de découverte (discovery internships) in enterprises, lasting one week, which are compulsory; and découverte professionnelle (vocational discovery) teaching modules, which are optional, with a duration of 3-6 hours, aimed at letting students get to know the situation of the labour market and the various trades. 37

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distributing information material (particularly that produced by the ONISEP); individual counselling; monitoring and analysis of local developments of the education system and the labour market, and production of documents intended for the staff of the school and the students; territorial encouragement aimed at facilitating contacts and exchange of ideas between the partners of the school system, parents, young people, local decision makers and entrepreneurs. The CIO interact with the schools, providing advice to the students and assistance to the Principals and the “Professeur principaux” with regard to guidance, through its “conseillers d’orientation-psychologues”. As already mentioned, the French system of guidance and school-to-work transition has, over the years, developed specific skills and job roles, connected with the school system. In particular: Outside the Educational Establishment: • the Chargés de mission école-entreprise (school-firm mission officers), staff members of the National Ministry of Education, who are present in each Académie, with the task of developing partnerships between education and the world of work and making sure that all the secondary schools have created partnerships with the local practitioners on the labour market, in the sphere of development of guidance activities and in particular implementation of the “programmes for discovering professions and training courses”. The chargé de mission is usually a teacher with specific experience regarding the school-enterprise relationship. • the Ingénieurs pour l’école-IPE are company executives temporarily detached to the mission écoleentreprise of the Académie by big private enterprises located in the area, for a period of from one to three years, possible renewable once. The IPE arrangement, started in school year 1994-95 in three Académie, has been gradually extended and there are now about fifty IPE working at 24 Académie. The IPE are organised in an Association, which is partly financed by the National Ministry of Education (1.8 million euro a year) and partly by the enterprises and by the apprenticeship tax. The aims of the job role and the procedures for cooperation between the education system and the Association are laid down in a Partnership Agreement made by the President of the IPE association and the National Minister of Education, with a duration of three years; the most recent was signed in 2011. The Articles of Association assign to the role of IPE the task of: facilitating school-to-work transition, transmitting to the young people skills that contribute to employability, promotion of technical and vocational subjects and bringing economic and educational culture closer together; facilitating the guidance and employment choices of the pupils, increasing their knowledge of the business world, professions and career paths, particularly through the use and promotion of knowledge of computer and communications technologies and the development of alternation. The Agreement provides for the setting up of a Comité de Pilotage, consisting of the two partners signatories of the Contract and charged with drawing up the annual work plan, the procedures for evaluating the arrangement, validating the list of Ingénieurs pour l'Ecole; it also provides for annual monitoring of the work done, 23

carried out by the Direction Générale de l'Enseignement Scolaire of the National Ministry of Education38. •

the Conseiller d’orientation-psychologue (COP, Guidance Counsellor-Psychologist), who works in the Centres d’Information et d’Orientation, is a psychologist with specific qualifications for guidance and great familiarity with the economic world, the training courses and the vocational qualification arrangements. His/her primary task is advising students about how to plan their study and employment programmes, cooperating with the teaching staff and other guidance experts; contributing to the development of the Establishment’s Project with regard to guidance, monitoring pupils and creation of conditions for their scholastic success, also with a view to preventing dropping out.

Within the school establishment: •

the Professeur principal, is a role existing in college and Secondary Schools and the reference point for students and families, with the job of advising pupils regarding their orientation choices. This person is one of the professors of the class and contributes to the analysis of the results of each pupil. In their information and career guidance work, these professors cooperate with the educational establishment’s whole teaching équipe and with the other main guidance practitioners and, in particular with the Conseiller d’orientation-psychologue. At the end of the lower secondary school period they play an essential role in guiding pupils and helping them to choose the next courses, giving them information about professions and the training opportunities related to them. In the upper secondary school they contribute to analysing the results of the student and guide the pupil in the choice of specialisations and options.

•

the Conseiller principal d’éducation-CPE, (Principal education counsellor), a teaching officer that works in secondary schools (college and secondary schools), subordinate to the Principal. He or she participates in teaching activities but does not teach; cooperates in the organisation educational activities outside the classroom; cooperates with the teachers in monitoring the pupils and takes part in staff meetings; encourages dialogue with the students during the educational course, at the collective and individual level; organises contacts with and participation in school life by the various practitioners.

For more information about the IPE arrngement see http://eduscol.education.fr/cid47655/le-dispositif-ingenieurs-pour-ecole.html. The partnership agreement between the National Ministry of Education and the IPE Association is available on the following web page of the Ministry: http://www.istruzione.gouv.fr/pid25535/bulletin_officiel.html?cid_bo=58972

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3. SCHOOL-TO-WORK TRANSITION IN GERMANY 3.1 The regulatory framework and the governance In line with Community instructions, guidance in Germany is a public, universal public service, free of charge, looked on as part of lifelong learning. Legal responsibility is shared between Federal State, Länder and municipality. The provision of guidance services is based on the traditional distinction between educational guidance (Bildungsberatung), which is the concern of the education system, and career guidance, related to vocational training and the labour market (Berufsberatung), which is carried out by the Placement Services. Cooperation between the two sectors is very good and important, largely due to the tradition of the dual system. Since the end of the public monopoly of the guidance services, which occurred in 1998, the market has opened up to the private sector, which is relatively less regulated than the public sector, with many nonprofit organisations and private providers offering advisory services39. Information services via web have also developed considerably. In Germany there is no school-to-work transition model regulated at the federal level, since the education system is the responsibility of the different Länder. In fact, the Federal State is responsible for vocational training and apprenticeship and for both active and passive labour policies, while responsibilities for education pertain to the Länder, through the regional Ministries of Education and Culture. Coordination of educational policies at the federal level is ensured by the Permanent Conference of Ministers of Education and Culture of the Länder (Ständige Konferenz der Kulturminister der Länder - KMK). Nevertheless there are some elements common to the regional systems, which act as unifying factors, precisely because of the great influence of the dual system and the role of primary importance played by the enterprises in training young people, as well as due to the systematic involvement of the Federal Labour Office (Bundesagentur fur Arbeit - BA) in guidance work in the schools. Guidance within the education system is also one of the responsibilities of the different Länder, within the sphere of agreements made at various levels: framework agreements at the federal level between the Federal Labour Office and the Conference of Ministers of Education and Culture of the Länder, which fix the procedures for cooperation between the schools and the Office’s career counsellors, and agreements at the regional and local levels between the local labour offices and the Educational Establishments, through which cooperation between SPI and schools is formalised. Without prejudice to regional independence, the BA is responsible for providing the public service of information, career guidance, job-placement and counselling, through its local offices (Arbeitsamt and Career Information Centres-BIZ), while the Ministry of Labour is responsible for legal supervision of that work. 39 The marked increase in the offer of private guidance servces is largely due to the fact that many federal and regional active labour policies call for guidance and counselling activities in favour of the beneficiaries. 25

With regard to guidance for young people, in addition to the intensive guidance work done in the schools and through on-line services40, the BA has also implemented many information and guidance measures aimed at young people, in particular those between the ages of 15 and 18, focussed on giving them the widest possible picture of the prospective offers of the labour market and on assistance with their entry into the labour market, with particular attention to so-called “transitory youths”41 and “poor performers”. At the federal level also, some guidance measures, particularly of an experimental nature and aimed at defining system approaches, are activated by the Federal Institute for vocational training (Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung – BiBB), an organisation under tripartite management: Federal State, Lander and Social Partners. The BIBB acts as a technical assistance body, with the function of advising the Government on all matters related to education and vocational training, dealing, for instance, with fixing the compulsory contents and standards of the training courses for every job role, with updating and preparing vocational profiles, with social and educational research on the subject of training, and with pilot projects. It has the status of an independent body, under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Training. In recent years particular attention was paid in Germany to the subject of guidance and school-to-work transition, in view of certain critical data of the labour market for young people: in particular, even though the rates of non-attendance school and youth unemployment are among the lowest in Europe (7.2% and 7.6% respectively, 2013 figures), 50% of young people with a lower secondary school diploma do not enter the labour market straight away and, even though the offer of vocational training by enterprises is higher than the demand, 15% of the population of working age still have no formally recognised certificate of vocational qualification42. It is presumed that this is due to a divergence between the demands of the labour market and the interests/skills of the new generations. Therefore, during the past ten years the urgent need emerged in Germany to define arrangements capable of improving the school-to-work transition process, focussed on increasing the ability of young people to choose (their decision-making maturity in relation to training courses) and on increasing motivation for learning at school, in order to avoid phenomena of dropping out from school/training and to promote a bridge aimed at vocational training courses. A change therefore took place in the role played by career guidance in transition processes: the approach changed from an information/advisory type to a role of assistant in the development of “choice skills”, also paying attention to the individual inclinations of the young people in order to try and increase the motivation factor. The approach gradually changed to a “preventive” type one, thus not aimed at All the activities carried out by the BA are supplemented by the information services, such as: - JOBBÖRSE (employment market that reports vacant posts in the Civil Service and work); - www.berufe.tv (portal with educational films related to certain professions); - www.berufe.net (portal providing specific information related to over 3,100 job descriptions). 41 These are young people not yet ready for apprenticeship, because of their age or because they have not finished compulsory school, in cases where an educational qualification is required for acceptance for dual training. 42 Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung – BiBB, "VET Data Report Germany 2013 http://datenreport.bibb.de/media2013/DR2013_engl._Screen.pdf 26 40

disadvantaged targets but at every category of young people. In this connection it should be borne in mind that distinctive elements of the German system are: early aptitude selection, which directs people into the sector of vocational training or into that of general education, aimed at academic access, already at the end of primary school, and the difficulty of access to bridges between the two systems. This system regards guidance as being of fundamental importance and starts it at a very early point in the scholastic course, but at the same time it introduces elements of inelasticity in the choices of the young people, whether scholastic or vocational.

There is great social consensus in Germany about the importance of training young people, largely due to the wide diffusion of the dual system, taken both as a concrete alternative to the education system and as a cultural approach that treats learning as a method of constant integration, both in early training and in specialisation, through the acquisition of knowledge and thinking abilities in school and vocational practice contexts. Dual vocational training, the reputation of which in Germany is not inferior to general training, implies full involvement on the part of the enterprise system, by true responsibilization with regard to its “training role”, seen as the social responsibility of enterprises but also as the conviction that, for a firm, training is a financial investment with a good rate of return over the years in terms of staff suitably trained to suit the specific needs of the firm43. This social consensus and the longstanding tradition of corporate co-determination (Mitbestimmung) makes it possible for the authorities, at critical moments or when faced with certain problems that threaten the good operation of the system, to resort to moral suasion measures, rather than incentives of an economic-financial nature, in order to mobilise the social forces. In this connection, the impact expected from the demographic changes occurring on the labour market in Germany over the last ten years - Germany is one of the European countries with the highest rate of ageing – and in particular the gradual shortage of skilled labour, led the federal government to repeat, as time went by, the so-called national pact for vocational training and staff renewal (Nationaler Pakt für Ausbildung und Fachkräftenachwuchs in Deutschland), originally dated 2004, signed with the Ministry of Economy, the Permanent Conference of Ministers of Employment, the Social Partners and the Houses of Parliament, with the aim of guaranteeing young people adequate training and qualification opportunities, starting with a greater commitment to training by the public authorities and with getting enterprises more involved in it. The aims of the Pact currently in force (2010-2014) are: to guarantee adequate vocational training; to develop and increase 43

Based on the data of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit the share of financing of the dual system covered by the enterprises is

about 3/4 of the total. This process of responsibilizing the enterprises for a “training role”, which involves covering the costs of training in dual training programmes, constitutes an incentive for the enterprises to improve their future development abilities, looking beyond contingency also in order to ensure generational turnover. 27

career guidance, particularly aimed at the bracket of 16 to 18 years, by including a better analysis of the demands of the labour market and better programmes for analysing potential; to promote meeting between young people and enterprises (especially SME); to make the most of the potential of the new generations (creating more opportunities for all at more levels); to organise the school-to-work transition system better and make it more fluid; to improve the measurement monitoring system and the databanks, in order to make a realistic assessment of the real impact of the actions being invested in. The systematic involvement of enterprises in vocational training systems made it possible to establish strong links between schools and training and the production structures in the area. In this connection, there are particular forms of cooperation between enterprises and schools in Germany, aimed at promoting integration between the school curricula and the training needs of the enterprises located in the same area. Notwithstanding the variety and diversity of experiences and plans, the apprenticeship partnerships (Lernpartnerschaft) establish stable and constant cooperation between schools (of any level) and enterprises (of any sector and size) aimed at familiarising young people with the world of work, advantageous for both parties44. 3.2 The role of placement services in guidance for young people Career guidance for young people and adults, in relation to every aspect of vocational choice, the related educational/training courses and career development, is among the legal responsibilities of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit. In pursuance of Social Code III, which establishes its mission, guidance and career counselling in schools are included. In fact, guidance in the secondary school is usually carried out by BA professionals. The reason for this practice, unusual in other European countries, is the importance of the training by apprenticeship system, which issues vocational qualifications to the majority of young people at the end of compulsory education. The choice by a young person of training by apprenticeship is, in fact, more conscious and motivated if the guidance and counselling services are done by staff with experience regarding the labour market and that have contacts with the enterprises-trainers. The local employment services are therefore capable of offering a service that combines guidance, individual counselling and placement in apprenticeship, not only to the advantage of the young people but also facilitating the recruitment of apprentices by the enterprises45.

44

For more information on the role of enterprises in the German dual system, see note 1. Bernhard Jenschke, Karen Schober, Judith Frübing, Career Guidance in the Life Course. Structures and Services in Germany, Nationales Forum Beratung in Bildung, Beruf und Beschäftigung (Hg.), Commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, W. Bertelsmann Verlag, Berlin, 2011 http://www.forumberatung.de/cms/upload/Veroeffentlichungen/Eigene_Veroeffentlichungen/NFB_MASTER_Broschre_englisch_V02.pdf 45

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The Berufsberatung is the career guidance centre for persons, young people and adults that require services for guidance on the labour market and on the training options existing in the area. The centre also provides consultancy for organisations and institutions dealing with training. Each Berufsberatung has an Information Centre (Berusfinformationszentren - BIZ), which is an area equipped with computers and printers, which can offer any kind of information material. Guidance services for young people of school-going age are provided at both the local offices of the BA and, usually, at the schools. On the basis of a formal agreement between the Federal Labour Office and the Permanent Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder, supplemented by agreements made at the Länder level, the local SPI, through their guidance “Consultants”, work with schools, offering individual counselling to students both at the offices of the SPI and at the educational establishments, and assistance to the teachers responsible for guidance, by organising lessons, workshops and seminars, as well as visits and guidance activities at the BIZ. The work of the local Agencies for work related to guidance is carried out in close connection with Chambers of Commerce, employers’ organisations, trade unions and other public institutions. Various types of information material, either printed or on line, are available at the BIZ about professions, employment and training opportunities and tools for self-evaluation. For young people in situations of particular difficulty (disabled, disadvantaged) specialised medical and psychological services are also available, as well as special active employment policy measures for youth employment and forms of financial support aimed at rehabilitation, vocational guidance courses, work experience. For a long time, the training of Guidance counsellors in Germany was a monopoly, held until 1998 by the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, in the guidance counselling sector. Generally speaking, to prepare for the role of guidance counsellor in the BA, the person needs to complete a university level course, combined with periods of on-the-job training in the Agency. The BA adheres to the standards of educational and vocational guidance adopted at the international level by the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG)46.

3.3 School–to-work transition and guidance in schools Career guidance is an integral part of the curriculum in every type of school, with particular focus during the last two years of every education course in primary schools and lower and upper secondary schools, that is to say, during the transition phases. The Länder are responsible for establishing school curricula in a context

The International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAVEG) is an international association that includes operators, researchers and organizations that deal with scholastic and career guidance. The Association has created a system for accrediting scholastic and career guidance practitioners, known as EVGP Educational and Vocational Guidance Practitioner. For more information: http://www.iaevg.org/iaevg/index.cfm?lang=2 29 46

where the educational independence of the establishments, recognised later than in other European counties, is gradually increasing. With regard to educational guidance, one characteristic of the German system is early aptitude selection, which routes young people into the vocational training or general stream, aimed at academic openings. In fact, the German school system requires guidance in the choice between general education or vocational training to have already been given at the end of the six years of primary school (Grundschule): nearly all the Länder have a biennium of educational guidance at the end of that school (Orientierungsstufe, corresponding to 5th and 6th class, ages 10-12 years) to assist young people with the choice. Among other things, this decision related to the type of lower secondary school course, has a binding influence on access to the upper secondary level since the system makes no provision for easy passages (bridges) between the different channels of education and vocational training47. Subsequently, always pertaining to the Länder, there are the career guidance activities compulsorily included in the teaching curricula of all the secondary schools. Preparation for employment (Arbeitslehre) may be a specific teaching subject, or – more often – fall come under other subjects (e.g. socio-economic sciences, law), to which an average of 2 hours a week are usually devoted. Depending on the Länder and the schools, the curriculum may include visits to the BIZ offices and to enterprises in the area, as well as internships and work experience periods lasting 2-3 weeks. Guidance activities can also be supplemented by extra-curricular activities, often in cooperation with enterprises48.

47

Scholastic education is divided into compulsory primary and secondary school (from 6 to 15/16 years of age, depending on the Land) and in higher education of a general or vocational type. In the German compulsory education system there are different types of lower level secondary schools: - the Hauptschule (vocational guidance school) usually lasts five years, depending on the Land, up to 9th/10th class and the scholars are given general basic training; - the Realschule (intermediate technical school) gives more extensive general training, usually for six years (10th class) and makes it possible to start vocational training or enrol in an upper technical institution or an upper secondary school; - the Gymnasium (upper secondary school) in addition to school years from 5th to 10th, usually involves another three years of general education with the addition of a system of separate courses, which the students can choose and combine independently, at the end of which they obtain the general certificate of secondary education (the Abitur / Hochschulreife), which gives access to universities and to technical university schools (Fachhochschulen); - lastly, there is the Gesamtschule (comprehensive school) that combines Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium from the teaching point of view. The level of each student is fixed separately for each subject and, according to the performance achieved, makes it possible to obtain a diploma of Hauptschule, Realschule and upper secondary school. The middle school certificate is required for vocational training in apprenticeship in the handicraft sector, for training as a skilled worker in industry and for jobs in the white-collar sector. For more information about the German education system see: the websites of the European networks EURYDICE and REFERNET: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/index.php/Germany:Overview and http://www.refernet.de/images_content/Blickpunkt_Berufsbildung_Deutschland_Endversion_Englisch_05.01.2012.pdf 48 As far as guidance towards third level education is concerned, guidance counsellors of the Universities and of the higher education establishments give upper secondary school students information about study programmes, national and international professional openings and career opportunism. Moreover, the universities and third level education institutions organise events like “open days”. 30

A tool for monitoring individual guidance experience (Berufswahlpass, Career Choice Passport) is in use in most of the Länder, which traces and reports the experience and skills acquired by the student within the framework of career guidance49. The tool was mentioned as best practice with regard to career guidance by the European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network. The Berufswahlpass was developed within the framework of the school/economy/work programme, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and has been in use since in lower secondary schools since 2005. It consists of a series of interactive modules containing information and instructions for career guidance (e.g. the basic partners that influence career choice, everybody’s role and the role they can play in the choice process; evaluation of personal interests and skills, through a combination of self-analysis and external analysis; checklists for matching careers with personal aptitudes/strong points). The Berufswahlpass makes it possible to acquire and develop career management skills; in particular, it simulates personal reflection and self-evaluation of skills as well as improving self esteem and increasing user effectiveness. What is more, the tool gives young people more motivation to commit themselves to processes of learning, job seeking and career planning. At the same time, this is a useful tool for teachers to use for early identification of young students at risk of dropping out and, possibly, referring them to special structures. The national network of school-enterprise partnerships (Arbeitskreise Schule-Wirtschaft)50, together with the various types of regional/local partnerships (Partnerschaft Schule-Unternehmen) and private foundations, mainly sponsored by big industry groups, promote and assist with initiatives for school-enterprise twinning, and training and work experience for teachers and students. Some of the most important school-enterprise partnership experiences are51: Partner für schule, in the North Rhine-Westphalia Land; Kurs Kőln, promoted by the municipality of Cologne; the Kurs 21 project, financed by the Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU) in cooperation with the Wuppertal climate institution; the activities of the Bertelsmann Foundation52.

See http://www.elgpn.eu/elgpndb/view/44 See http://www.schulewirtschaft.de/www/schulewirtschaft.nsf/ID/EN_Home 51 The website of the Goethe Institut in Italy gives some practical examples of school-firm partnerships, also with references to best practices and to a manual for establishing partnerships. See http://www.goethe.de/ins/it/lp/lhr/mit/sch/prx/itindex.htm 52 The Bertelsmann Foundation is very committed to the education and training of young people and promotes actions aimed at improving quality. With regard to school-to-work transition it promoted a proposal for reforming the wide and varied offer of programmes intended to prepare young people for vocational training. The objective of the “Systematic school-to-work transitions initiative” project, in cooperation with the BA and16 Regional Ministries of 9 different Länder, is to give all the young people in the secondary school concerned, from the 7th class up (from age 13, immediately after the guidance biennium), a chance to have access to vocational training, which can lead them to employment or to further training, and which arranges for on-the-job training in enterprises and granting of a professional certificate. See http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID-7C21057B49EC3C61/bst_engl/hs.xsl/99090_99092.htm 49

50

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A “learning partnership” (Lernpartnerschaft) is a voluntary association of persons or organisations aimed at reciprocal learning. The underlying idea, developed by the University of Düsseldorf, aimed at promoting enterprises as training partners of the school. The partnerships constitute a method of systematic cooperation between schools and enterprises (usually 1 school and 1 enterprise). They mainly operate locally and are often promoted at the Land or government district level, with the participation of various bodies such as Chambers of Commerce, trade unions, enterprises, education authorities etc. This mutually advantageous cooperation is aimed at encouraging integration between the teaching programmes of the schools and the training requirements of the enterprises existing in the same locality, and better knowledge by the students about the production structures existing in the local labour market, through activities such as the involvement of enterprise representatives in subjects taught, workshops, forums, internet sites, newsletters, teaching materials, visits to enterprises and on-the-job training for students and teachers. The partnership relation is formalised in a written cooperation agreement between school and enterprise, usually reviewed on an annual basis, which specifies the common measures to be implemented. Partnerships are possible at every level of education and with enterprises in every production sector. On the part of the enterprises, this cooperation is, at the same time, not only a commitment included in the context of the enterprise’s social responsibility, taken very seriously in Germany, but also an investment aimed, in the medium term, at having well trained labour as well as recruiting young people as apprentices. Within schools, the main job roles related to school-to-work transition are: •

The Beratungslehrer (Guidance counsellor/teacher), for lower and higher secondary education. This person is on the teaching staff and has specific training in educational science and psychology. In addition to giving guidance concerning the choice of the school career, he/she conducts individual interviews with pupils when learning or behavioural difficulties arise, in order to define the type of psychological assistance needed, in consultation with the school psychologists, and also provides a general counselling service for pupils and teachers. The Beratungslehrer is required to place his/her knowledge and experience at the disposal of the school and the individual teachers, and must work in close contact with other local services, such as the local employment offices, with regard to advice in the professional sphere, and with the Jugendamt (Child care social service).

•

The Schulpsychologue (Guidance counsellors psychologists or School Psychologists) for the primary level and the upper and lower secondary school. The job role is regulated by each Land, but usually the incumbent must have taken university studies in psychology or prove to have completed teacher training, must have attended a supplementary course of at least one year in psychology and, lastly, have several years of experience in line with his or her training. School psychologists are public servants employed by the Land and are not part of the teaching staff. The psychological services of the school are either part of the school authorities at the lower or intermediate level of the school administration, or are separate institutions. They most often work with the school psychological assistance services and are usually located in an advisory and support centre managed by the school supervision authorities. They give 32

individual assistance through psychological diagnosis, counselling and therapeutic measures, in consultation with the student, the parents and the teachers. Nevertheless, global counselling activities and, in particular, treatment can only be foreseen with the consent of the parents and the student. There are specific regulations on data protection, which specify how personal data (results of tests, records of counselling activities etc.) may be processed. There can be various types of reason for having recourse to the aid of the psychological service, ranging from learning difficulties and problems of a psychological and social kind to conflicts at school, uncertainty about the continuation of studies etc. The school psychological services cooperate with other counselling services, such as the school health service of the local public health office, the career guidance services at the employment offices, the youth advisory and welfare public authorities, paediatricians, neurologists and psychiatrists.

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