The aim
of this activity is to focus in the Spanish context what we have learned in
general about School Guidance and Counselling.
It’s
going to be use a technique named group of experts (collaborative methodology). Following the steps:
1. The
group of the class is divided in the ordinary groups: 1,2,3,4 and 5.
2. In
each group it’s going to be an Expert od the one specific topic related to
Guidance and Counseling
3. The
topics are:
I.
Spain: Guidance and Counselling in Early Childhood
II.
Spain: Guidance and Counselling in Higher Educación
III.
Spain: Guidance and Counselling in a Lifelong Learning
Approach
IV.
Spain: Support measures for Learners in Adult
Education and Training.
4. Each
of the experts will receive a document titled as the topics above. Actually the
documents are what they need to read to become an “expert”. But not
individually, they have to read them with the other experts of the other
groups. Therefore, all experts number 1 will work together, all number 2
together and so on. Besides learning and understanding the document, they will
have to decide the best way of explaining their topic to the members of their
group. (45 minuts)
5. Once
the expert go back to their groups, they will have to explain their topic as
it’s been agreed. During the explanations the participants can take notes, ask
questions, etc., in order to get as much information as possible. (45 minutes)
6. By
the end of the process, the teacher will ask about any topic which everyone
should be able to answer. (30 minuts)
I know
this way of working from the other Spanish class (methods it is called
Rompecabezas) and I really like it. I think it really interesting and effective
way of working. Students have their own task so they are responsible for this. They
have to present their job for the others so they want to do it in the best way.
When the pupils can get moving (the class is divided in groups, the students
change the groups and come back finally. This always improve their concentration.
GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING IN
EARLY CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL EDUCATION IN SPAIN
GENERAL APPROACH:
What is it about? Fundamental
intervention in order to improve education quality based on the principles of
prevention, development and global intervention.
Who is it for? It is for all
students, families and education professionals.
Who provides it? It is carried
out by trained and prestigious professionals, such as tutors, teachers,
counselors and in extreme situations social workers. It depends on the
specific needs of each student.
Main guidance functions:
- Educative prevention and intervention (inclusion of new students, adaption to the school…)
- Guidance and psycho-pedagogical counseling
- Academic and professional guidance
- Support the tutorial action plan.
- Diagnose (evaluation for psycho pedagogic purposes)
- Preparation and development of institutional documents.
- Teaching (counselors basically in ESO also teach)
Organization in intervention
levels:
- Classroom level (mainly carried out by teachers)
- Direct intervention at schools (counselors are responsible for setting up prevention measures, diagnosis and intervention with students apart from some administrative work).
- Specific intervention with schools (external support to the direct intervention).
SPECIFIC FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD:
- Developed by the teacher in order to ensure the pupil´s satisfactory integration in the group of classmates.
- Direct intervention at schools: predominance of guidance structures that are external to schools but provided within the schools.
- Specific intervention with schools: Professionals that cooperate with counselors providing an extra help if and when need it. Social workers, neuropediatrics, psychologists, speech trainers… could be examples of these professionals.
SPAIN: GUIDENCE
AND COUNSELLING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
In order to
have a better conception of what Spanish guidance and counseling in high
education is referring to, we are going to focus on the following issues:
·
Who receives school guidance
and counselling.
·
Specific measures provided.
·
Financial aids for students.
·
Organizational options and
alternative structures.
·
Specific measures for disabled
students.
·
Specific programs for victims
of terrorism and victims of gender-based violence.
·
Measures promoted by the
statute of the university student.
·
Measures promoted by the
Spanish Ministry of education.
·
Measures promoted by the
Spanish Public Employment Service.
School
guidance and counseling is directed to a specific target group which includes:
Students with needs related to disability, highly gifted students, and
economically disadvantaged students. Besides, special attention is paid
to: people with family responsibilities, victims of gender-based violence
and victims of terrorism.
In order to
guarantee that nobody is excluded from university because of economic reasons,
some basics grants, aids and credits are provided. It includes: general
grants and aids (Its awarding depending on the state and the Autonomous
Communities). Special grants and aids (for specific academic
achievement), graduation project grants (expenditure on academic
material), grants for students with specific needs (to pay the needed
activities in order to improve some kind of disability).
It is also
proposed the existence of other basic structures apart from the assistance way of
learning such as: Distance learning at university, UNED
(related with degrees), and the Center for innovation and development of
distance education, CIDEAD, (linked with a training education).
For disabled
students, apart from financial aids, universities carry out adaptations to
access their curriculum, studies or installations and buildings. Its aim is to
guarantee their access, entry, stay and exercise of academic degrees.
Furthermore, for students who are victims of terrorism universities carry out
personalized aid.
Besides of
what it has been said, the Statute of the university student takes into account
some ways for providing guidance and attention comprehensive activities for
university students. For instance: tutorial systems (incorporating
information, guidance and training support actions for students), tutorship (guidance
and cross curricular monitoring on their degree) or units for attention to
students (They provide psychological and health guidance).
The Ministry
of Education is also interested in giving some basic tasks to ensure school
guidance and counseling. Most of them are focused on academic issues like:
flexibility to work and study, action plans for student’s participation in
university life, aids to make easier the transition between pre-university
levels and university environments…
Finally,
Spanish Public Employment Service will help students at the end of their
degrees in order to find and job by informing them about the existing training
and professional choices
GROUP OF EXPERTS 3
Support
Measures for Learners in Adult Education and Training
Adult Education and Training is aimed at people over 18 years old. As an
exception, people over 16 may gain access to these studies, after applying for
them, and provided that they hold an employment contract that hinders them from
attending mainstream education, or that they are high-performance athletes.For
further information about these studies see the chapter Adult Education and Training.
In Adult Education and Training, the target groups of measures for
attention to diversity coincide with the ones indicated in the chapter Special
Education Needs Provision within Mainstream Education.
Adult Education and Training itself is a specific support measure for
promoting equal opportunities for everyone, particularly immigrant adults.
Adult Education and Training is aimed at correcting the risks of social
exclusion, especially in the most disadvantaged sectors, at guaranteeing the
chance to increase and update the mature people’s competences, at promoting
equal rights and opportunities for men and women, at facilitating the inclusion
of immigrant people, and at providing an appropriate attention to those people
with a specific need for educational support. Likewise, in penitentiary
establishments the access to these studies is ensured for the prison
population.
There are also other measures of the Education System aimed at attending
adults’ different needs:
In Basic and Secondary Education:
- Monitoring, aimed at adopting educational support measures and, if neccessary, curricular adaptation if student progression is not adequate. The importance of a personalised curricular adaptation of an integrated nature and that takes into account the features of the target students is highlighted.
- In some Autonomous Communities, even if students have not passed certain levels, the Autonomous Communities establish the possibility for them to obtain a certificate with the studies made or the attended modules.
- Flexibilization of the studies length: although in most of the Autonomous Communities these studies are organized in a way that makes possible their completion in two academic years, all of them foresee that this period can be extended or reduced depending on the experiences, needs and interests of the students.
- Specific programmes for learning Castilian and other co-official languages: education Authorities promote these programmes and the learning of others culture basic elements in order to make easier immigrant people’s integration.
- Programmes to eradicate illiteracy and to promote education and training for adults at risk or suffering social exclusion.
In Vocational Training:
- Disabled people receive attention through the improvement of accessibility conditions and the introduction of the necessary support resources.
- Students not passing the whole studies of each ciclo formativo may obtain an academic certificate with the professional modules passed. This certificate has, appart from academic effects, effects also on the partial cummulative accreditation of professional skills referred to the National Qualifications and Vocational Training System.
- Distance Education: the Spanish Ministry of Education, through the Centre for innovation and development of distance education (CIDEAD), coordinates and organizes this modality, in order to ease the access to education for adults and students on school age who cannot study presential mainstream education due to personal, social, geographic and other kind reasons. Students registered in this system are counselled by a tutor through group or individual tutorships. This tutorships can be carried out presentially or virtually.
- Three modalities for accessing university:
- Entrance
examination for people over 25: people over 25 without a degree can access
official university studies of Grado by passing a yearly entrance examination.
The establishment of assessment criteria and ways is made by the education
Authority of each Autonomous Community.
- Access through accreditation of work or professional experience: for people over 40 years old without no academic degree that allows them the entry to university for other ways. Universities are in charge of defining accreditation criteria and the field of work and professional experience related to each study
- Access for people over 45 years old: people over 45 without any academic degree that allow entry to university and who cannot prove work or professional experience can gain access to official university studies of Grado by passing an adapted and general entrance examination.
- Access through accreditation of work or professional experience: for people over 40 years old without no academic degree that allows them the entry to university for other ways. Universities are in charge of defining accreditation criteria and the field of work and professional experience related to each study
- Access for people over 45 years old: people over 45 without any academic degree that allow entry to university and who cannot prove work or professional experience can gain access to official university studies of Grado by passing an adapted and general entrance examination.
Spain: Guidance and Counselling in a Lifelong Learning
Approach
When accessing Adult Education and Training, an initial assessment is made to students in order to guide them and
assign them to the educational level that best fits them. This assessment
includes their current knowledge as well as their prospects or interests for
recommending a training itinerary suitable for them. The guidance services of
each education institution establish the appropriate process for recognizing
students’ prior learning in formal, non-formal education, or through work
experience learning. This is due to the fact that the 2006 Education Act (LOE) establishes that adults can
learn through formal or non-formal education, or through work experience or
social activities. For this reason, connections between both ways of learning
have been set, likewise measures for validating the knowledge acquired by this
way.
After the
initial assessment and the level assignment, tutorship and guidance receive
special attention in these studies, aimed at the comprehensive and balanced
development of all the students’ skills, as well as at their personal, academic
and professional guidance.
Concerning professional
guidance, in Spain there are different bodies and institutions providing
these services in public and private field. In addition, it is worth mentioning
that, at local or autonomous level, each education Authority tends to develop
its own professional guidance structure.
Details of
the guidance within the Vocational Training contexts and within the
training-employment relationship can be found below. Adults can benefit
from them:
- Guidance in Vocational Training studies for adults of the Education System
Both the intermediate and advanced
ciclos formativos include among their contents one or several professional
modules related to guidance and labour relations and the development of the
entrepreneurial spirit, without detriment to consider these themes also from a
cross-curricular dimension. This kind of training is aimed at getting knowledge
on several topics: learning opportunities; work opportunities; creation and
management of an enterprise and self-employment; work organisation and
enterprise relationships; basic labour legislation; legislation concerning
equal opportunities and non-discrimination against disabled people; as well as
the rights and duties coming from labour relationships, in order to ease of the
access to employment or the reintegration into the labour market. The contents
of the modules focus on the characteristics specific to any professional group
or production sector/s.
Likewise,
adults enrolled on Vocational Training, like the rest of students, havto to
study also the modulo profesional called "Training in Workplaces"
(Formación en Centros de Trabajo, FCT), consisting of a block of specific
training whose contents are organised according to the productive activities of
the professional profile. The most outstanding characteristic of this training
is that it is developed in a real production area (the enterprise), where
students may observe and develop the specific activities and functions of each
job corresponding to a profession, get knowledge on the organisation of
production process or of services and labour relationships, guided and
counselled at all times by the tutors of the school and the work centre.
- Training-employment relationship in workshop schools, trade schools and employment workshops of the labour Authority
In workshop schools, trade schools
and employment workshops, students acquire skills and knowledge related to an
occupation, qualifying them to access a job in the main occupation they have
learnt or in other occupations belonging to the same professional group. For
further information about the training provided in these institutions, see the
chapter Adult Education and Training.
Workers of
workshop schools, trade schools and employment workshops receive guidance,
counselling, professional information and entrepreneurial training during all
the training process (training and experience). The mentioned training
programmes count with the appropriate staff and methods for this purpose.
- Training-employment relationship in Vocational Training for Employment of the labour Authority
The purpose of Vocational Training
for Employment is to boost and extend, among the enterprises and the employed
and unemployed workers, a training that meets their needs and contributes to
develop a knowledge-based economy. For this aim certain goals that link
training and employment have been established. In addition, an integrated
system for information and professional guidance has been created for giving
advice to employed and unemployed workers, in connection with the opportunities
of training and employment, and with the possibilities of recognising and
certifying their skills. This system serves the definition and execution of
individual professional itineraries to improve workers’ employability, and for
developing the entrepreneurial spirit and the support to entrepreneurship and
self-employment initiatives.
- Recognising the professional competences acquired by work experience
In order to make easier for adults
lifelong learning, integration and insertion into working, and personal and
professional progression, a proceeding for assesing and
certifying professional skills acquired through work experience or non-formal training has been
established, as well as the effects that this assessment and certification
process may have.
Education
and Labour Authorities assure an open and permanent service that provides
information and guidance on the process and the official certificates that can
be got. During this process, guidance is compulsory and has an individualised
or collective nature, depending on the characteristics of the concrete call and
on candidates’ needs.
- Training-employment relationship in university studies
For further information about the
training-employment relationship in university studies, see the article Guidance and Counselling in Higher Education.
Guidance in
Vocacional Training Studies:
¨Learning opportunities¨ - Employees with learning opportunity are developing skills to accumulate
wealth for their employer. This also gives employees opportunity to apply these
skills to their lives, thereby, creating wealth for themselves. Employees under
control leadership do not have this opportunity, they just follow orders.
