3. Methodologies, indicators and systems to measure Career Management Skills

The primary objective of this handbook is to support structured knowledge exchange on activities, methods and tools supporting the successful integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) and labour market information (LMI) in career guidance services and presenting potential for transferability. The handbook aims to support (national level) managers in identifying successful ICT and LMI initiatives to transfer to their context and providing guidelines on how to integrate them into their national context by identifying and analysing their essential components. The handbook aims to serve as a starting point, as more elaborated information is available in the individual ICT and LMI case studies annexed to it.

The document deals with the study of skills audits addressed to different target groups and characterized by a variety of approaches. In addition to large and established procedures, some relatively small and perhaps marginal procedures in the country context were also included in the analysis. The purpose of this study was to improve the knowledge base on skills audits, to identify the main types of skills audits, methods and approaches used for skills audits, and also to assess the extent to which standards are used as part of the process.

Counseling services in the field of education and work and employment aim to engage individuals in their support career development. Given the high expectations of advice that follows to the cross-country OECD study on education - and career guidance have been formulated, falls Evidence-based research in this field of activity has so far been surprisingly modest, at least for the German-speaking area. There is also the question of how the advice given to the different providers is designed in terms of content and process: what recurring topics are actually treated in counseling and how is the consultation process structured? This is where the "BET-U25" research and development project presented below comes into play.

This paper explores approaches to assessing career learning. A distinction is drawn between formative and summative assessment, in terms of their underpinning philosophy, the learning theories that inform them, and the relative emphasis they place on process and outcome. Both approaches are considered valid. It is however argued that formative assessment is particularly suitable for evaluating career management skills, and that the use of career learning portfolios opens up opportunities for insightful reflection on one’s career development, and for career conversations with mentors. The paper concludes by highlighting practical, ethical, and equity issues related to the use of portfolios.

 The LEADER Framework for Careers has been developed by the LEarning And Decision making Resources (LEADER) project. This Erasmus + project has been established to support lifelong learning guidance services to help individuals to develop career management skills. Career Management Skills (CMS) is the term used to describe the skills, attributes, attitudes and knowledge that individuals require in order to manage their career. The project has been undertaken by a consortium of European organisations drawn from Italy, Spain, Romania, Greece, Turkey and the UK.

This study evaluates the impact of an intervention on business school graduates’ employability comprising of a curriculum-based career management skills (CMS) module and an industrial placement year. The study uses data from the destinations of leavers of higher education survey to examine the employability of different groups within the cohort (no intervention, CMS module only and CMS module plus structured work experience). It finds that structured work  experience has clear, positive effects on the ability of graduates to secure employment in ‘graduate level’ jobs within six months of graduation. Furthermore, participation in the CMS module also has a clear, positive effect upon the ability of participants to secure employment.

Career Guidance and Counselling (CGC) is a developing professional field where many different actors, providers, customers, managers, etc., have an interest of good quality and the best possible service. At the same time practitioners and managers know about the dilemma between maintaining the day to day work with the clients – that should be in the focus of their practice – and the growing number of administrative tasks, need for networking and – not at least – quality measures. Evaluating the own service is for many CGC policies, services or projects a difficult task. One of the reasons is the complexity of the different steps and decisions an organization has to take, if they want to conduct evaluations that lead to informative, meaningful and justified results.

Cedefop’s European handbook on Defining, writing and applying learning outcomes addresses three main aims. First, it demonstrates the added value of using learning outcomes to support education and training policies and practices. Achieving this added value, however, requires an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach. The handbook provides a reference point for a more systematic exchange of experiences and cooperation at European level. Second, this handbook argues that the writing and articulation of learning outcomes must be followed by implementation, through teaching, learning and assessment. Learning outcomes cannot stand alone: their potential can only be released when interacting with practice, which the handbook illustrates with reference to teaching, learning and assessment. Third, the handbook provides an overview of, and a direct link to, existing guidance and research material in this area. This resource will make it possible for stakeholders go in depth on issues relevant to their particular institutional or national priorities.

The LEarning And Decision making Resources (LEADER) project has been established to support partner countries to develop and use career management skills (CMS) and CMS frameworks with practitioners. CMS is the term used to describe the skills, attributes, attitudes and knowledge that individuals require in order to manage their career. CMS define a set of learning outcomes that will support individuals to develop their careers throughout life. In a learning paradigm the development of CMS becomes one of the key objectives of lifelong guidance.

Guidance is increasingly necessary. Unskilled work is in decline, and education and training systems are slowly becoming more responsive to the needs of growing numbers of individuals and employers. A modular, credit accumulation and transfer approach is increasingly being adopted, and guidance is becoming more and more integral to education and training. Many recent innovations, from TVEI to the pilot Training Credits scheme, have either made special provision for guidance or been associated with calls for timely access to guidance of good quality. But just because guidance is increasingly necessary, this does not mean that guidance, or all guidance, is effective. A clear need exist for evaluation. Sponsor demand it, clients deserve it, and practicioners need it in order to improve their techniques. What should we measure? This document goes through the nature of learning outcomes, how to measure and maximise their effectiveness.

https://www.keywayproject.eu/tools/

https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/events/supporting-careers-and-learning-towards-common-standards-monitoring-and-evaluation-europe

https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/events/supporting-careers-and-learning-towards-common-standards-monitoring-and-evaluation-europe