Study Guidance
Study guidance enhances students’ feeling of empowerment and helps them analyse and plan their future. The focus in study counselling is on guidance of learning and studying, guidance of career choices, and on supporting personal growth and development.
In the area of study guidance and counselling, the project activities of the Teacher Education College concentrate on the development of adult guidance. By 2015, about one million people will have exited from the current workforce in Finland either through retirement or for other reasons. It is therefore important to prolong people’s careers, promote professional mobility and improve the functionality of the labour market. Another goal is to increase entrepreneurial activity and to raise the employment rate.
The main emphasis in pedagogic development is on the recognition and accreditation of prior learning. New tools and methods are required in the recognition of the competences of the adult population. The action models applied in educational institutions include outreach work, training need analyses, and training of workplace instructors. Other trends in the area of study guidance and counselling include the enhancement of the learning skills of low-educated adult learners and their guidance and support. In the support measures, the emphasis is on the special needs that are due to different cultural and language backgrounds and to various learning disabilities.
In the development of adult guidance and counseling services this requests to create user friendly information services that meet the needs of adult learners.
The most significant project in this area is the “Opin Ovi” (National European Social Fund Project Developing Information Guidance and Counselling Services for Adults) Project Cluster. There are 30 regional” Opin Ovi” Projects in Finland, all supported by the “Adult Guidance Coordination” Project administered by the Teacher Education College.
Projects
Coordinator in the following projects
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Opin Ovi – Adult guidance coordination project (2008-2011)
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ERKKERI – Guidance training for adult education counsellors (2008-2011)
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Study paths in skills competitions (2005-)
Partner in the following projects
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NICE - Network for Innovation in Career Guidance Studies in Europe (2010-2012)
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STUDIO – Pedagogic training for adult education counsellors (2008-2011)
Study Counsellor Education in Teacher Education College
Further information
Jukka Lerkkanen, Head of Department, +358 400 249 643, firstname.lastname@jamk.fi