Fit For Job – Evaluation, Riga State Gymnasium No 3
Details
Macro-level – Educational politics (as a general framework)
Past – what we had
State Employment Agency and their career consultants (mainly oriented to unemployed people)
Career consultants in Universities – Career centres
State Education Development Agency – brochures and handbooks about career education in schools
Education of interests (mainly connected with arts and sports)
Career consultant – a Master’s programme in Universities.
Present – what we have developed
Career education becomes more and more important – a Concept of Career Education in Riga is being developed at the moment.
Career consultants start to appear in some schools.
Career education needs to be included in the curriculum.
Money is spent on courses for unemployed people, but instead it should be invested in career education in order to decrease their amount in the future.
Future tendencies and sustainability
One centralised approach to career education in Latvia in which all the institutions had clear responsibilities and could support schools – the cornerstones of career education.
Every school needs a full-time career consultant (bigger schools – 500+ students – even 2 consultants) and individual career orientation concept based on the centralised one.
Meso-level – International relations, strategic partnerships
Past – what we had
Cooperation with Junior Achievement Latvia and some companies in a Job Shadowing Day (one day per year).
Individual initiatives related to career education from universities (opening days).
Present – what we have developed
European project – Youth Guarantee – to combat youth unemployment in the country.
Our project Fit For Job.
Future tendencies and sustainability
A bigger involvement and willingness of the companies (not just once a year) to have students not just as visitors but also as workers (during internships). That would help to attract future employees.
Micro-level – Projects in school
Past – what we had
Cooperation with Junior Achievement Latvia and some companies in a Job Shadowing Day (one day per year), students’ companies, TITAN business simulation game.
Teachers’ and students’ individual initiatives:
Christmas market (goods from students’ companies)
Learning excursions to companies and universities
Present – what we have developed
Career consultant – full-time
24h long courses mainly for class teachers - Career education in secondary schools (agreed on 26.08.2015, Riga Nr.RIIMC-15-247) in order to develop teachers’ understanding of career orientation and career education.
A Career Orientation Concept of Riga State Gymnasium No.3.
Integrated career education in the lessons once a month.
Materials for career orientation in class lessons (fully – primary level; partly, are being updated – secondary level).
24 students, 5 teachers, 1 career consultant and a principal got an international experience (involving intercultural competence and foreign language skills) and career orientation experience by participating in the project Fit For Job.
Organized a conference for class teachers and all teachers at school to distribute the career education materials and the Concept itself as well as report the results of the project (30.08.2016)
Future tendencies and sustainability
Update the schools Career Orientation Concept when the Concept of Career Education in Riga is developed.
Continue integration of career orientation in the class lessons and monitor its effectiveness.
Integrate career education in subject lessons (at least one lesson once a month).
