Transcript Voice of users

Voice of users
in promoting quality of guidance services for
adults in the Nordic countries
Voice of users
• Funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and
the NVL
• Based on a previous project: Expected
outputs/outcomes of guidance services for
adults in the Nordic countries (NVL, 2009)
• Gap identified: “An explicit gap in the research and
national quality frameworks seems to be in the
user involvement in the design and evaluation of
the guidance services (Vuorinen et al., 2009).”
Aim and research questions
• Contribute to the body of knowledge on the
effectiveness and quality of adult guidance
• Cross-country comparison
– Are users actively involved in guidance? How, to what
extent, in which fields?
– How can involvement of clients improve outcomes of
guidance?
– How can client involvement improve services?
– What ideas do clients/professionals have of clients´ future
involvement?
Taxonomy of involvement in
educational and vocational guidance
Level
Type of involvement
Example of involvement
Level
Level 1.
Information gathering
Being told what is
available
Individual
Level 2.
Sharing of information
Telling services what it is
like to use them
Individual
Level 3.
Forums of debate
Workshops, focus groups,
consultations
Service
Level 4.
Participation
Involved in shaping
policies and strategies
Strategic
Level 5.
Partnership
Deciding with others what
policies and strategies
need reshaping
Strategic
Method
• Participants in the study
• Adults seeking guidance in the Nordic countries – low
level of formal education
• Practitioners and managers
• Urban vs. rural
– Focus groups study
• Clients, practitioners and managers
• 6-8 groups in each country
– Questionnaire survey
• Adult users of guidance services (clients)
Danish results: Focus group participants
• Managers from five different types of institutions:
Two day folk high schools, one folk high school, one regional guidance centre, one
”private actor” running short guidance programs for unemployed adults, and one
from the secretariat for adult education centres. There were four woman and three
men.
• Practitioners from six different types of institutions:
Two day folk high schools, one folk high school, one adult education centre, one
regional guidance centre, one technical college running longer guidance and practice
programs for unemployed adults, and one ”private actor” running short guidance
programs for unemployed adults. There were six women and four men.
• Clients from three types of institutions:
Two day folk high schools, one folk high school, one technical college running longer
guidance and practice programs for unemployed adults.
There were five women and four men – at different ages and different educational
levels – unemployed course participants (seven), some of them in transition from
one vocation to another, or folk high school participants (two).
Danish results: Definitions and understanding of effect
•
The term ‘career guidance’ is problematic – the term educational and vocational
guidance is more precise and appropriate in a Danish context.
•
Guidance is defined as helping clients make choices according to their potentials,
wishes and dreams. The client is a subject not an object in the guidance process –
and choices and options should not be forced onto the client.
•
Especially the managers connect the aim of helping clients make their own
choices through guidance with the term ‘realistic’ – realistic in connection to
employment opportunities and future labour market needs.
•
Guidance and effective guidance is connected to the individual client and her or
his outcome of guidance: What is the result for the client.
•
The differences are mainly two: The managers and the practitioners talk about
ownership and qualified choices that make sense and are sustainable, and the
clients talk about the necessity of empathy and support from the practitioner in
order to help them make their own choices. The target is the same, but they
focus on result versus process.
Danish results: Degrees of involvement
•
Involvement is described as active involvement in information gathering and selfexploration, as individual oral feedback to practitioners, and as (more sporadic)
use of group feedback.
•
There is no systematic evaluation on an institutional level in the form of
questionnaires, follow-up interviews or emails. Clients give individual feedback,
but the feedback is not collected. All believe that clients are influencing guidance
on an individual level, but they cannot answer whether this has improved
guidance service in general.
•
All groups are inspired by the idea/vision of higher user involvement (level 4-5),
when introduced to it.
•
All groups find it difficult to imagine higher degrees of user involvement in the
future: Ideal and desirable >< Unrealistic.
The managers and practitioners find it unrealistic mainly for two reasons: The
differentiation among clients, and the lack of interest from policy makers and
financing bodies. The clients consider it an interesting but somehow fairytale
idea.
Icelandic results
Target group: Adults with little formal education,
users of educational and vocational guidance
services.
– Lifelong learning centres, Keilir and the
Directorate of Labour.
– Interviews conducted at the LLL centres, Keilir and
at the University of Iceland
– Each interview lasted 1,5-2 hours
Icelandic results
• Clients: guidance was “endless support” and one client
described it as way to “open my mind to the possibilities I
have”.
• “I would not be in this class now and would not be heading
for another course but because of the guidance and all
that.”
• Managers: “It must be about assisting the individual in
choosing education and jobs that fit and be a guide and a
support in doing what they are interested in.”
• Practitioners: A counsellor described effective guidance
when the counsellor sees that the individual “looks at
himself in a different light” other counsellors agreed with
this description and one said that „sometimes you can see
the light bulb in their (clients´) head turn on“.
Icelandic results
• All groups could see potential in future
involvement of users
– in focus groups
– in peer groups
• The managers were very positive on the subject
of future involvement of users of the service.
• All agreed that this was important for future
development and quality in guidance services.
• Clients, counsellors and managers in all focus
groups perceived guidance as an important part
of increasing the number of people that finish
secondary and higher education.
Finnish results: Focus group participants
• Managers (8 females, 1 male)
– Organizations: two employment and economic development offices, a
regional development company, an upper secondary school for adults, an
institute of adult education, a college, a university, an open university.
• Practitioners (10 females, 1 male)
– Organizations: an apprenticeship training centre, a Christian institute, a
university of applied sciences, an open university, a university.
• Clients (8 females, 2 males)
– Urban group: Labour market training programme in social and health care
(youth and adolescent care) in the Jyväskylä Institute of Adult Education
– Rural group: Labour market training programme in social and health care
(school assistant training) in the Jämsä College.
– Students had practically no experience in guidance sessions with explicit
and specific focus on career development. Instead, they had discussions
about making and following through personal study plans with a teacher
or a study programme leader.
Finnish results: Definitions of
guidance and effective guidance
• Within the adult education in Finland the boundaries between teaching and
guidance are not explicit. Guidance is an integral part of education in
general.
→ Challenges for development of guidance services:
Difficult to identify whether the feedback is focused on teaching or on
guidance services, therefore also difficult to define exact areas where
improvements are needed.
→ The students do not perceive their role as a user of guidance services.
• Guidance: ”Everybody’s job” in educational organizations. Should be
client-centered (as all groups stressed), consistent and equal (as clients
stressed).
• Effective guidance: Setting and achieving clients’ goals through
- investigating all the possibilities in ones life or simply providing the
information one needs (clients’ view)
- achieving some kind of change (practitioners’ view)
- providing individual plans or ”next steps” to follow (managers’ view)
Finnish results: Involvement
• All agreed on the importance and significance of increasing user involvement,
but had different views on the nature and level of needed/possible
involvement.
– Managers were sceptical about clients’ ability and willingness to participate
in forums and meetings.
– Practitioners stressed the importance of projects, work groups and peer
support.
– Clients mentioned discussions, clients boards and development projects
and saw themselves as active and willing to participate especially in
developing their own studies and learning plans.
• Increased user involvement would
– improve the allocation of resources (managers and practitioners).
– enhance the skills of practitioners and help customizing the services
(managers).
– stress the importance of guidance to decision makers (practitioners).
– improve individual’s self-esteem and self-confidence (clients).
Norwegian results
• All three groups agree that the counsellor
needs to connect the action plan to the real
world
• All three groups agree that effective guidance
is based on individual needs among clients. An
effective guidance can be a slow moving
process for some clients, but for others they
need to be pushed forward.
Norwegian results
• The field where the clients have had least
focus from the counsellor is on decision
making. To do long term choices is important
for them, but they feel they do not have the
tools to work with these issues.
• None of the centres use systematic follow-up
after the guidance sessions are over
Norwegian results
• In general I would say that the interview has
given birth to a new interest in involving
clients in developing career centres, especially
at a more evaluative and strategic level. As a
comment I will add that this maybe has to do
with the focus in most career guidance studies
in Norway.
Swedish results
Target group: Adults in adult education with different
educational background, users of educational and vocational
guidance services.
– Adult education in Göteborg, Luleå and Malmö
– 8 interviews (3 clients, 3 practitioners, 2 managers) that was
conducted at the local authorities (Göteborg, Luleå) and Malmö
university
– Each interview lasted 1 – 1,5 hours
Swedish results
• Definition
- Practitionaries; process, pedagogical activity
- Clients; bank of knowledge
- Managers; process, give the clients tools
Comment: More process, less outcome
• Involvments of clients
- Practitionaries; Clients are invitets to take part
- Clients; Don´t get what they want
- Managers; Want clients to be proactive
Comment: The clients are ”diverce” - activ or helpless
• Evaluation the service
- Practitionaries; Evaluation ad hoc, no systematic
- Clients; No formal evaluation
- Managers; Sometimes includes in general evaluationa
Comment: Method gives evaluation, but no systematic
Swedish results
• Future involvment
- Practitionaries; Diverce service to meet clients needs
- Clients; Be seen, be respected
- Managers; Make clear declations
Comment: Guidance on demands
• Involvment in designing and strategy
- Practitionaries; Nothing today, maybe in the future
- Clients; ?????
- Managers; Importance of clients perspective
Comment:
Not high on the agenda, yet....But other areas like in general adult
education there is a strong movment to rise the students participation to
shape their education.
Taxonomy of involvement in
educational and vocational guidance
Level
Type of involvement
Example of involvement
Level
Level 1.
Information gathering
Being told what is
available
Individual
Level 2.
Sharing of information
Telling services what it is
like to use them
Individual
Level 3.
Forums of debate
Workshops, focus groups,
consultations
Service
Level 4.
Participation
Involved in shaping
policies and strategies
Strategic
Level 5.
Partnership
Deciding with others what
policies and strategies
need reshaping
Strategic