REPORT COMMISSIONED BY THE EUROPEAN TRAINING FOUNDATION USING THE OECD CAREER GUIDANCE QUESTIONNAIRE

REVIEW OF CAREER GUIDANCE POLICIES

FINAL REPORT

SLOVENIA

Author:Sasa NIKLANOVIC

Head of Department for Vocational Guidance of the Employment Services

This report was the subject of an official consultation process during May and June2003 with the Slovenian Ministries of Education, Science and Sport and Labour,

Family and Social Affairs. The text has not yet been subject to final editing orlanguage revision.

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This national report (based on the OECD questionnaire on career guidance policies) wasprepared in November 2002 by:

Sa�a Niklanović - head of the Department for Vocational Guidance in Employment Serviceof Slovenia (ESS). He began as a career counsellor in the ESS, at the Regional Office inLjubljana. He then led various projects in the field of vocational guidance, including theintroduction of job clubs in the ESS (1995), the reform of the guidance services of the ESS(1996�99), the establishment of the Vocational Information and Guidance Centre in Ljubljana(1997�99) and the establishment of the NRCVG in Slovenia (1999). He also participated in anumber of other projects that had as a goal the development of guidance methods. He is amember of the European Commissions� Expert Group for Lifelong Guidance and of the Boardof Directors of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance(IAEVG). E-mail for correspondence: sasa.niklanovic@ess.gov.si

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CONTENTS

1. Overview

2. Key goals, influences, issues and initiatives

3. Policy instruments for steering services

4. The roles of the stakeholders

5. Targeting and access

6. Staffing

7. Delivery settings

8. Delivery methods

9. Career information

10. Financing

11. Assuring quality

12. The evidence base

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1. OVERVIEW

Here we would like a brief overview of arrangements for information, guidance and counselling servicesin your country.

1.1 Please provide a brief (no more than one page) overview of nationalarrangements for career information, guidance and counselling services inyour country.

In answering this please describe the principal service providers, and indicate the extent to which theprovision of career information, guidance and counselling overlaps with or is integrated with otherservices. Indicate how responsibility both for managing and for funding information, guidance andcounselling services is divided: between different Ministries (for example Education and Labour);between different levels of government; and between governments and other providers. If possible,include as an Annex the contact details and homepages of key players and main providers ofservices. (Note: questions that allow more detailed descriptions of services can be found elsewherein the questionnaire).

The principal providers of career guidance services in Slovenia are schools and EmploymentService of Slovenia (ESS). In both settings professional counsellors are employed. Guidancein schools is provided by school counsellors who work in school counselling services.Guidance counsellors are employed in primary schools (age 6-15) and secondary schools(age 15-19). They provide broad range of guidance services (personal, social, vocational).According to research carried out in education sector, school counsellors spend about 30% oftheir working time for tasks related to vocational guidance. In secondary schools thispercentage is lower (about 11%). Schools have at least one school counsellor, bigger schoolshave two or three counsellors.

Guidance in ESS is carried out by career counsellors working in local and regional officethroughout Slovenia and is co-ordinated by department for vocational guidance at centraloffice. First Vocational Information and Counselling Centre (CIPS) was established 1999. In2002 seven CIPS are operating in the frame of Employment Service Slovenia (two of themare bigger) and two in partnership with other partners. Career counsellors in ESS and CIPSprovide guidance service for unemployed and students. In principle, guidance service isoffered also to other adults (employed) but in practice they present only 2% of all clients.(ESS, Report on vocational guidance activities 2001).

In last two years small adult educational guidance centres (ISIO) located in adult trainingcentres are emerging. They are co-ordinated by Slovene Institute for Adult Education (SIAE)and provide guidance to adults during and after the educational process. Sometimes adulttraining centres have full time counsellors (in ISIO centres) but in most cases guidance isprovided by other staff in the centre. SIAE develops professional doctrines, maintainsdatabases on training and guidance opportunities and carries out relevant projects.

There are some other organisations operating in the field of guidance. Chamber of Craft isresponsible for apprenticeship system (craft). Its role is to find suitable employers, licencethem, arrange contracts, place apprentices etc. Chamber also produces information materialson apprenticeship (on apprentice system, learning opportunities) and actively promotes craftoccupations and job prospects (fairs, etc.).Chamber of Commerce and Industry was in the past not active in the field of guidance. Mostcontacts between schools and employers were arranged without participation of theChamber. In the last few years Chamber has shown growing interest in guidance and beganto co-operate in guidance projects. The Centre for Vocational Educational and Training (CPI)also became active in the field of guidance, providing information materials on vocationaloccupations, vocational training. CPI is promoting a number of guidance projects and is veryactive in recent national project for drop-out prevention.

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In Slovenia there is no guidance service specialised for students in higher education.Students can get guidance and counselling in ESS and VICC but this help is not specialised.

Responsibility for management and funding reflects organisational structure of services:school counsellors are funded by Ministry of Education. There is no special budget for otherguidance activities in schools, therefore it depends on the school how much resources arespent for guidance activities (informational materials, etc.). Career counsellors in ESS arefinanced from ESS budget. There is also a special budget for guidance activities (informationproduction, collection and dissemination, ICT, training, etc.) and national contribution forNRCVG, which operates in the frame of ESS central office. ESS provides and fundsubstantial part of national guidance programme for school students in primary (andsecondary) schools.

In the early nineties, some private counselling agencies, which provide mostly vocationaltraining or placement, but also some guidance activities, have emerged. Some biggercompanies provide guidance services for their employees.

2. KEY GOALS, INFLUENCES, ISSUES AND INITIATIVE

Here we would like you to provide information about the broad goals for information, guidance andcounselling services, about the influences that are shaping these services, about the key issues in theirorganisation, management and delivery, and about important recent initiatives.

2.1 What are the key objectives and goals of national policies for information,guidance and counselling services in your country? Please describedifferences in objectives and goals that might exist between Ministries. Wherea legislative basis exists for these objectives and goals, please providedetails.

Relevant legislation refer mostly on guidance services and counsellors, not on guidance. TheAct on Vocational Education and Training in 1. paragraph defines goals. One of the goals ofthe vocational education and training is to enable students to choose the occupation andprepare for it. In Slovenia there is no single national policy on guidance. National policydocuments do not explicitly define goals of guidance or guidance services. DocumentStrategic Goals of the Development of Labour Market and Employment (2000-2006) mentionsguidance programmes among other measures in context of achieving higher level ofdevelopment of human resources for different target groups: employed, unemployed anddrop-outs, but there are no statements of specific objectives for guidance.

In ESS documents (Source: Overview of the Employment Service of Slovenia, 2001) the goalof guidance is not specified, but it�s indirectly recognised that guidance plays an importantrole in achieving basic goals of ESS, particularly the second one: �to facilitate successfulprofessional development to individual�. Sometimes, there are some differences betweenprofessional and management structures. First, the most important goal of ESS, is to reduceunemployment and increase employment. Management structures sometimes expect thatguidance will have higher and more direct impact on unemployed to fill current vacancies,thus professionals emphasise long-term effects of guidance. It�s common agreement thatguidance and counselling in ESS contribute to higher level of employability of unemployed.

There are also no specific objectives existing for guidance in education sector. One of thegoals of schools in Slovenia is also �to prepare students for work� but it refers to schools, notto guidance. Sometimes expectations from the Ministry responsible for labour differ in a waythat guidance should �do more� to fill current vacancies, but in general, there are no indicators

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showing that differences between both Ministries in Slovenia on the level of goals andobjectives, though not explicitly written down, would be a serious problem.

Key objectives of adult educational guidance are defined Act on Adult Education and insupport document to National Programme for Adult Education adopted by National Council forAdult Education. Guidance is defined as one of the basic activities necessary to achieveobjectives of adult education. Guidance is designed as the network of local, regional andnational guidance providers, which is supposed to stimulate adults for education.

2.2 What are the major social, educational and labour market influences that arecurrently shaping national policies for information, guidance and counsellingservices?

Though in Slovenia we can not speak about single guidance policy or co-ordinated policies,there are signs that Ministries and other organisations are aware of a need for guidance andare aware of some influences, which require different policy in the field of guidance. Some ofthese signs, mentioned in paragraph 2.5. Initiatives and changes (mentioned in 2.5.), pointout that today more institutions/organisations (etc.) show interest in guidance and alsobecame active in this field. Though in some cases the extent of these activities might belimited (to one or two pilot projects or limited production of information materials), it is slowlygrowing from year to year and means big change compared to ten or more years ago, whenESS, and schools and some employers were the only providers of guidance activities. Themajor influences causing changes in the policies of different institutions are:

• The changes on the labour market where knowledge became more important issuethan before the transition. It seems citizens and relevant authorities and organisationshave become aware of this change. Now, there are much more people enrolled ineducation and training programmes including people from targets groups(unemployed above 40 or 45), who were traditionally not involved in training andeducation.

• Rapid pace of changes has similar results as mentioned above. Fast changes alsocause feelings of uncertainty.

• Low educational level of adults and level of their motivation for education. Theproblem is also low literacy level, which has been confirmed in the international studyof literacy level among adult population.

• There are certainly other less obvious and less researched influences. It seems thatpeople perceive, that a level of social standard is more connected to a level ofeducation as before.

As a result the number of students and people involved in other forms of training increasedenormously. People are also much more aware that jobs are insecure and that they need toupdate their knowledge constantly. Authorities and organisations dealing with education andtraining therefore try to offer those people some help (guidance), using different approachesand forms.

2.3 What are the most important issues facing policy makers in your country inthe organisation, management and delivery of information, guidance andcounselling services?

One of the problems, which the policy makers have been facing in last few years, is the lackof financial resources due to the restrictions of the budget. The budget allows to run existingextent of services but does not allow implementation of new guidance activities.

For policy makers in employment sector the most controversial issue is the fact thateffectiveness of the ESS is measured only by one criteria � number of unemployed placed to

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employment in one year. Since guidance has other, in many cases long-term impacts, thissystem of measurement is not in favour of guidance. In such system it�s very difficult to justifymany guidance activities in ESS, especially those for students. This criteria is also not incompliance with strategic goals (defined by Ministry).

In education sector one of the major problems is the delivery of careers education. Theeducation reform (mostly finished in 2000) had some positive effects on guidance. The mostimportant is the adoption of Guidelines for School Counselling Services (in 1998) wherevocational guidance became officially one of most important functions of school counsellors.Unfortunately in later stages of curriculum reform no time in schools curriculum has beenassured for career education.

Next issue is small number of Vocational Information and Counselling Centres (Center zainformiranje in poklicno svetovanje � CIPS). Students who live out of big cities have moredifficult access. Another handicap is also small number of counsellors in ESS.

2.4 Please describe any recent (last five years) initiatives and changes that are ofparticular significance for the organisation, management, funding, staffing, ordelivery of information, guidance and counselling services.

For example you might like to describe initiatives such as: government reports that haverecommended new approaches or new priorities, new methods and philosophies of providingservices (for example within the context of lifelong learning), new or proposed legislation andregulations, new or upgraded services or the down-sizing or elimination of existing services, changedpriorities for access to services, changed responsibilities between agencies for the provision ofservices, new education and training requirements for staff, initiatives to engage citizens in theplanning and delivery of services, changes in the involvement of the private sector, technologicaldevelopments that have made a real difference to the ways in which services are delivered and/oraccessed

There have been a lot of initiatives and changes in last five years in guidance in Slovenia. Themost significant are:

• Guidelines for Schools Counselling Services, adopted in 1998 by National CurriculumCommission, is a document which for the first time define roles and tasks of schoolcounselling services. Guidelines were discussed before with school counsellors.

• Reform of guidance service in ESS (1997-1999). Before the reform, the guidanceservice of ESS carried out the guidance activities for pupils in primary schools andstudents in secondary schools. Because of the high level of unemployment, ESSdecided to organise also career counselling service for unemployed. ESS did not getany additional staff for this service, therefore the extent of some guidance activitiesfor students (like individual career counselling) has been reduced. At the same timeESS intensified other guidance activities, like information production and developed arange of new methods and techniques. This reform was done at the same time asPHARE PVICC, described in next paragraph. All this enabled that the quality level ofservices for students has not been reduced.

• PHARE project Pilot Vocational Information and Counselling Centre (PVICC –inSlovene CIPS) 1997-1999). In 1999 first CIPS was established in Ljubljana as aresult of this project. It was a regional centre, but it functioned as a model centre forother centres. Strong emphasis in the project was on development of new guidancetools and staff training. The results of the pilot centre were implemented on thenational level soon after the completion of the project.

• Establishment of NRCVG Slovenia in 1999. This centre was established with activeco-operation between ESS and Leondardo National Agency in Slovenia, who

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supported this project with the resources allocated for establishment of NRCVG byEuropean Training Foundation. Centre became a member of the NRCGVEuroguidance Network.

• Guidance activities of CPI (Centre of Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Educationand Training). CPI provides information od vocational occupations, study courses,vocational schools etc. Some guidance projects should be mentioned. First is currentLeonardo da Vinci project VirtuOrientation (CPI is a partner), which is shortlypresented in 8.2. of this report. Another is Model of Vocational Guidance inVocational School which was a project in the frame of Innovation Fund (PHAREMOCCA) where CPI was a promoter.

• Slovene Institute for Adult Education (SIAE) is collecting, producing anddisseminating information on adult education. Centre is national promoter of lifelonglearning in Slovenia. Centre developed non-formal educational programme called�Project Learning for Young Adults�(PUM) and carry out evaluations. In last two yearCentre introduced Centres for Adult Educational Guidance (ISIO).

• Employers are in last years more interested in participating in guidance activities.

• Chamber of Craft intensified information activities related to apprentice system (see4.1. and 4.2.).

• Chamber of Commerce and Industry is involved in the project aimed to intensify co-operation between schools and employers (see 4.1. and 4.2.).

• Manuals, professional literature; the level of professional development in the fieldof guidance was low in eighties and first half of nineties. There was little training ofguidance counsellors, except training on the use of psychometric instruments. It�salso difficult to find any manuals or professional literature in Slovene languagefrom this period and the new methods as well. In the period from 1997-2002 moremethods have been developed, more manuals and professional literaturepublished and more training of counsellors provided than ever before. Theexamples of new methods are: development of CIPS (Centres for CareerInformation and Counselling), CAG programme �Kik� (see 9.2.), career planningworkbook �Occupational signpost� (see 7.4.). The examples of manuals are (see7.2.) Manual on Career Education published by Institute of Education, anotherpublished by private sector and Manual on Adult Educational Guidance publishedby SIAE (2002).

3. POLICY INSTRUMENTS FOR STEERING SERVICES

Here we wish to know about the key policy instruments that are used to steer information, guidance andcounselling services, and about how policy goals are translated into service delivery.

3.1 How important is legislation in steering information, guidance andcounselling services in your country? Please briefly describe the main piecesof legislation that directly affect information, guidance and counsellingservices. More complete details and examples can be provided in an Annex.

In this paragraph only most important pieces of legislation are presented. Many otherdocuments (organisational regulations, etc.) are not mentioned here. Guidance in the Slovenelegislation is only briefly mentioned in various acts. First is Act on Employment and InsuranceAgainst Unemployment 1997). Guidance is mentioned in paragraph 66 among other activitiesof ESS:

“(ESS) provides vocational guidance, information and counselling for young people and adults anddevelops methods and tools for vocational guidance”.

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Guidance is mentioned again in paragraph 49, which states that unemployed personsattending employment programmes have right to claim for a free access to guidance,information and counselling.

Among the acts on education the most important for guidance is The Act on Organisation andFunding of Education. School counselling service is defined in paragraph 3:

“In public schools and kindergartens the school counselling service operates. It provides counselling toapprentices, pupils, students, teachers and parents and co-operates with tutors, teachers and schoolmanagement in planning, following-up and evaluating the development of schools or kindergartens, inperforming educational tasks and provides vocational guidance.

The tasks of school counselling services are carried out by school counsellors who are psychologists,pedagogues, social well-fare workers, social pedagogues and defectologists. School counselling serviceliase with Employment Service of Slovenia when providing vocational guidance services.

The last sentence is important as a legal base for co-operation. Other acts on education onlymention that schools counsellors exist or define data, which school counsellors can collectand protect.

Vocational training and education system in Slovenia will be improved in near future. Recentlythe document Starting Points for Curriculum Development in Secondary VocationalEducation and Training has been developed and adopted by Council of the Republic ofSlovenia for Vocational Education and Training. On the basis of this document theprogramme for the competence "employability and career planning skills" will developed andintroduced as one of 16 key competencies in future national curriculum.

Act on Adult Education (1996) in the article 24. defines counselling as the activity which is apart of the Annual Programme of Adult Education, which is adopted every year by thegovernment. Article 29 of the same act defines standards for the financing of guidance staff.

3.2 What other instruments are normally used for the political steering ofinformation, guidance and counselling services and to monitorimplementation?

For example you might like to describe the use of instruments such as outcomes targets, mandatoryor voluntary service quality standards, mandatory or voluntary competency standards andqualification standards for staff, competitive tendering for services and the like.

Guidance in education sector is defined in Guidelines for Schools Counselling Services,which define minimal standards of guidance services, i.e. what kind of guidance servicesshould be provided to all students of primary and secondary schools. Guidelines weredeveloped in 1998 in the frame of broad curriculum reform in Slovenia. Standards areexplained more in details in the paragraph 7.4 of this report. Guidelines are very importantdocument for guidance counsellors because guidance activities are defined on the concretelevel. Legal basis for guidance in education are too general and too undefined.

In Employment Service of Slovenia the targets are defined in terms of the number ofcounselling sessions and other forms of guidance activities provided by counsellors; targetsare defined on the level of whole guidance service and on the level of regions. There are nomandatory standards. We can speak about voluntary standards in the case of NRCVGSlovenia, which prepared guidelines for establishing and operating of local VICC whichinclude standards of technical equipment, staff etc. These standards are not officiallyapproved yet, but are (more or less) respected by those, who are establishing new VICC indifferent locations in Slovenia. There are no mandatory or voluntary competence standardsfor staff, the only requirement for counsellors is university level of education (see 3.1.). Thesame is true for tendered services.

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3.3 Please describe how government regulation, funding and provision ofinformation, guidance and counselling services are related to one another. Isthe same (government) body typically responsible for all three, or are theycarried out by separate agencies?

In education sector government regulations define conditions (minimal number of pupils orstudents in school) under which school can employ counsellor. Other regulations define theirstatus, salaries and data protection. In employment sector government regulations refer tofunding of some guidance programmes (together with employment programmes), but noregulation refer to provision. Educational guidance for adults is regulated by Ministry ofEducation, Science an Sport and co-ordinated by SIAE.

3.4 What mechanisms, if any, exist for co-ordinating information, guidance andcounselling services: between different Ministries; between different levels ofgovernment; between governments and other parties such as employers,trade unions, the private sector, and community groups; between services foryouth and for adults; and between the different agencies that provideservices?

Though institutions (partners) co-operate around some common issues (legal issues,employment programmes, fairs, etc.), there is no permanent mechanism for co-ordinatinginformation, guidance and counselling services between different Ministries and otherinstitutions (partners) mentioned in this question. Lack of effective co-ordination on the policylevel is causing more and more problems in practice every year.

In last two decades two or three attempts have been made to formalise such co-operation.The last attempt was made in the period 1997-1999 when Expert Group for VocationalGuidance was established by Ministry responsible for education and Ministry responsible forlabour. The aim of the group was to prepare proposals for both Ministries for developmentand implementation of guidance projects, tools, programmes etc. The group has worked formore than two years, achieved some results but never succeeded to make substantial impacton the policy of both ministries. The mandate of the group was not renewed after the electionsin 2000 when the new government was established. Both Ministries now show the increasedinterest for the closer co-operation in the field of guidance and the interest to formalise thisco-operation, but due to many other priorities of both Ministries, the guidance very seldomcomes on the agenda.

There are also no formal mechanisms for co-ordinating guidance activities among otherpartners providing guidance. In spite of that, partners co-operate quite often; particularlypublic services, employer associations, and agencies for adult education. The role of thetrade unions in this field is minimal. The role of local communities is usually minimal withsome examples of good-practice. In last two years there was an example of good co-operation between local partners in the field of educational guidance for adults (ISIO centres).

I don�t see any other barriers to co-operation than lack of awareness that co-ordination canbring better effects of guidance and benefits for all partners.

3.5 What barriers exist to co-ordination of services and to networking amongproviders?

One of these barriers is sometimes lack of awareness as described in 3.4. Providers areusually preoccupied with the tasks they are responsible for, and sometimes do not see theneed for co-operation. For private providers a barrier to co-operation is sometimes a fear ofcompetition. In spite of the above mentioned barriers, the level of co-operation between

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different providers is quite impressive. They co-operate around some common events (fairs,seminars), tasks (information materials), training or projects.

4. THE ROLES OF THE STAKEHOLDERS

Here we wish to know about the roles played some key stakeholders other than government Ministries --such as employer organisations and trade unions – in information, guidance and counselling services.

4.1 What role do employer organisations play in regulating or fundinginformation, guidance and counselling services?

For example by participating in advisory and co-ordination bodies; by contributing to common fundsfor information, guidance and counselling services; through providing employee leave to take part incareer guidance; or through participation in programme management committees.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry as perhaps the most important employerorganisation in Slovenia is financially involved only in one guidance project. Some individualmembers are also involved as the authors of occupational descriptions. Though someemployers are actively working with schools, they do it independently.The employee leave for participating in careers guidance (if there is any) depends on theemployer. The chamber has no system of providing employee leave to take pat in guidance.The Chamber of Craft has responsibility for apprenticeship system. The regulation in this fielddoes not refer to guidance.There is no evidence about eventual guidance activities of other employers associations.

4.2 What initiatives do employer organisations take to help provide information,guidance and counselling services?

For example: involvement in career information programmes in schools and tertiary education; theprovision of guidance and counselling; organising careers fairs and exhibitions; or the production ofcareer information.

The Chamber of Craft is very actively involved in organising fairs and production ofinformation materials related to apprenticeship system. Both Chambers participate on theregular yearly meetings of school counsellors, where they present latest developments.

4.3 Does employer involvement in information, guidance and counsellingservices tend to be:

In answering this question please tick the box that best applies. You might also like to add somedescriptive material in support of your response.

In Slovenia employers (enterprises) co-operate directly with schools, not through theirassociation (Chamber of Commerce and Industry).

If this question refers to the employers (according to 4.3.) the answer is as follows:

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Seldom Occasional Regular1 2 3 4 5X

Local

Mostly local,but somenational 50-50

Mostlynational, butsome local National

1 2X 3 4 5

Trade unions

4.4 Do trade unions play a role in regulating or funding information, guidance andcounselling services?

For example through participating in advisory and co-ordination bodies, or in programmemanagement committees.

Trade unions have representatives in steering board of ESS but are not directly involved inmanagement and funding of guidance services.

4.5 What initiatives do trade unions take in providing information, guidance andcounselling services?

For example involvement in career information programmes in schools; providing guidance andcounselling; or producing career information. Here also describe any initiatives taken by trade unionsto provide information, guidance and counselling services to their own members.

Trade unions sometimes provide information and advisory service for their members, butmainly on legal or financial issues. The exception was the Trade Union for the Unemployed,which provided some help to the unemployed to find jobs. The trade unions in general do notprovide any kind of career guidance.

4.6 Does trade union involvement in information, guidance and counsellingservices tend to be:

In answering this question please tick the box that best applies. You might also like to add somedescriptive material in support of your response.

Seldom Occasional Regular1X 2 3 4 5

Local

Mostly local,but somenational 50-50

Mostlynational, butsome local National

1X 2 3 4 5

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Other stakeholders

4.7 Please describe ways in which policies encourage other stakeholders � suchas parents, associations of students, alumni, community organisations,educational institutions or the end-users of services -- to play a role ininformation, guidance and counselling services.

For example through roles that are expressed in legislation; through policies to contract serviceprovision to non-government organisations; through membership of advisory bodies; throughmembership of programme management committees.

The primary school policies try to involve parents to participate in some guidance activities. Inmany schools, the parents arrange visits to the organisations where they are employed withthe goal to present occupations (jobs), nature of work, employment prospects etc. Sometimesparents present their occupations and their experience to the students. In some schools theco-operation of parents in guidance activities is strong, in some schools this participation isminimal. In secondary schools, the participation of parents is rare.

The students organisations play more important role every year in the provision of guidanceto students in tertiary education. This could be the answer to the lack of government fundedguidance provision for students in Slovenia. I am presenting students guidance fair �Get Job�as an example of involvement of other stakeholders in the provision of guidance � at thesame time it is the example of the lack of guidance provision by institutions (universities,government, communities etc.).

Example of good practice: Student guidance fair �Get Job�

It started with the student�s fair called �Top job�, which has been organised every year. Atthe beginning it was organised only for students of the Faculty of Economic. In 2001, for thefirst time, �Get Work� fair was organised by students organisation called Komisp. It involvesdozens of events in major towns in Slovenia and finishes in Ljubljana with the biggest event- the fair. Get Work is sponsored by Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, ESS andsome others. The organisers succeed to get the co-operation of many organisations,government institutions (ESS), employers etc. Many bigger employers and the private job-searching agencies participate too. The fair is also well promoted in media.

In past, the Community organisations very seldom saw themselves as partners in guidanceprovision. This attitude is now changing due to the development of the labour market and dueto some European programmes, (PHARE, Leonardo etc.) which require partnershipparticipation and support the local development. The regional development agencies (RRA),established a couple of years ago, are now actively participating in the HRM projects on theregional and local level. Local partners are also actively involved in the development of theISIO centres (centres for guidance in adult education).

5. TARGETING AND ACCESS

Here we want to know about priorities for access to information, guidance and counselling services. Thissection also asks about how services are provided for adults.

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5.1 Please describe any priorities or target groups for information, guidance andcounselling services, including how priority needs are established.

For example target groups might include: school students; young people; adults; unemployed people;those receiving social welfare benefits; tertiary education students; employees; refugees andmembers of ethnic minorities.

Target groups are defined on different levels. Generally, they are defined on the level oflegislation, as described in 3.1.

In most of other documents, targets groups are usually defined in the context of theemployment and education and are not defined explicitly for guidance. An example: in theemployment sector, the unemployed people are priority target group for the employmentactivities � consequently they are priority target group for all services in ESS, includingguidance service.

In employment sector, the target groups are defined on the national level in the documentEmployment Action Plan 2000-2001 and 2002-2003. This action plan is constructed on thebasis of priorities and guidelines of the European Commission and involves activities for manytarget groups: unemployed, employed, students, long-term unemployed, unemployed withoutvocational qualification, older unemployed, young unemployed, drop-outs, disabled, etc. andthe measures for each target group; sometimes guidance activities are among thesemeasures.

In other cases, the target groups are defined by organisations (providers) according to theirmission. In school broadly defined target group is school students. In past some schools andcounsellors decided to work more with certain target groups, like underachievers, pupils withbehavioural problems etc. From 1998 according to Guidelines for School CounsellingServices the target group is all students in the school. Counsellors should carry out allactivities listed in the Guidelines and work with all students. Guidance is also one of thereactivities. School counsellors should provide guidance activities in compliance with minimalstandards of guidance activities as defined in Guidelines. Though school counsellors gavesupport for the Guidelines in 1998 they also said that in practice it�s sometimes very difficult(or impossible) to meet so broadly defined standards and goals.

ISIO centres offer information, guidance and counselling activities to those who are lesseducated with the aim to raise access to education and training.

5.2 How are any such priorities or targets expressed?

For example give details of any legislation that provides rights or entitlements to services forparticular groups.

The text on guidance in Slovene legislation is very short and is presented in 3.1. Otherexamples are presented in 5.1.

5.3 Where such priorities exist, what active steps are taken to ensure that accessto services is possible for target groups?

For example “one-stop-shops”; drop-in services that do not require appointments; telephone help-lines; use of community organisations for service delivery; targeted advertising.

There are examples of active steps. One is establishing of Vocation Information andCounselling Centres (CIPS). ESS traditionally adhere to one-stop-shop approach. The

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telephone help-lines are rare and not as popular as they could be. The communityorganisations do no deliver any guidance activity. Targeting advertising sometimes exists.Although it�s usually not enough intensive, there are some good practises, like promotion ofdual-education system by Chamber of Craft, promotion of Centres for Adult EducationalGuidance (ISIO) etc.

Though many target groups are mentioned in policy documents, (see 5.1.) the access toservices for some target groups is not good. The examples of such groups are drop outs,university students and ethnic minorities. The reasons for low access are different. Onereason is that existing guidance services are not specialised for the needs of those clients.Some clients (usually drop-outs) do not accept existing guidance service as institution whichcan offer them �real� help and see them as the part of the system which they don�t like.

5.4 Typically, are different methods used to provide services for different targetgroups?

I can say that typically different methods are used for different target groups though there�sfeed-back from practitioners that the range of different methods (or programmes) is notsatisfactory. There�s a lack of suitable methods specially for drop-outs. ESS has a programmesuitable for drop-outs, called Project learning for Young Adults (Projektno učenje za mlade,�PUM�), but the offer does not meet the demand. There�s a lack of other suitable methods(like outreach etc.).

5.5 Do examples exist in which individuals are required to take part in guidanceand counselling?

For example to continue to receive social security benefits or pensions; or to avoid expulsion fromschool.

There is only one such example in Slovenia. The unemployed, registered at ESS, are obligedto attend informational seminars, where they get the information on employment possibilities,employment programmes, training, and other opportunities which they have. They also getthe information about their duties. The reason that this programme has been introduced asmandatory is frequent excuse that clients are not informed enough. The other examples aredifferent: the unemployed persons get financial benefit (scholarship), if they attend vocationaltraining, etc.

5.6 Do policies for information, guidance and counselling services favour:

• A comprehensive approach (so that services are universally accessible andmeet a wide range of needs); or

• A targeted approach that favours those in greatest need; or• Both of these approaches.

• -A comprehensive approach (services are universally accessible and meet a widerange of needs); --A targeted approach that favours those in greatest need or bothof these approaches.

• It seems that in education sector the policies favour more comprehensiveapproach. Guidelines for School Counselling Services in primary and secondaryschools clearly define that school counsellors work with all students (and runpreventive measures), not just with those who already have more problems. In

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practice many times school counsellors deal with pupil who have problems(learning, behavioural, etc.)

• Situation in ESS is slightly different. I would say that both approaches arefavoured depending on circumstances. Comprehensive approach is favouredregarding target groups; there was no resources in past to establish specialisedguidance service in ESS, therefore counsellors do counselling for all targetgroups. In different circumstances approach is targeted; because the number ofunemployed is to high, only unemployed with more barriers to employment arereferred to career counsellors.

5.7 Please describe the major gaps, if any, in the provision of information,guidance and counselling services. Are there any groups whose needsappear to be met less effectively than others?

Target groups, which experience lack of service, are students and drop-outs. Also counsellingfor disabled should be improved. There are also gaps in guidance service for employedadults: they can get some guidance in VICC, but this service is not publicised, so not manyemployed adults use this service. They can get educational guidance in ISIO centres. Onlysome bigger employers offer effective guidance and counselling service.

Services for adults

5.8 Please describe how information, guidance and counselling services areorganised and provided for adults in your country.

For example: which agencies (educational institutions, community organisation, the publicemployment service) typically provide services for adults; are these different from the agencies thatprovide services for youth; how are different agencies co-ordinated; what priority do services foradults have compared to services for youth; what recent initiatives have been taken to provideservices to adults.

Employment Service of Slovenia offer career counselling to adults, mainly unemployed butalso to employed (2% of all clients are employed adults).

Employers; Only bigger employers offer real guidance and career counselling to employees.There are big differences among employers. In some cases, companies also financiallysupport further education and training, in other cases this support is limited, occasional or notexisting.

Adult Education Information Centres for (Centres ISIO) offer information and counselling toadults who are interested for education and training.

Private agencies mostly offer job-placement service or training. Mostly they do not declarethemselves as career-counselling services. One of the reasons is, that it�s difficult for them toget experienced career counsellors, who work (get experience and training) in publicguidance services. Most private employment agencies have concession from Ministry ofLabour, Family and Social Affairs to provide employment and training programmes for theMinistry and ESS. Some of these programmes have been developed by ESS which also trainstaff of private employment agencies (the example: Job-Clubs). Some agencies developedtheir own programmes based on job-search techniques and techniques of group work. It�ssurprisingly that it�s practically impossible to get high quality individual career counselling onthe market.

Some other organisations, like Chamber for Craft and Chamber of Trade and Industry,produce information materials and are active in promoting occupations, but have no guidance

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service for clients. Local units of both chambers offer some information and advice to theirmembers, (and apprentices) but mostly on legal and business issues. In some cases, theyoffer also some information on education and in most cases refer interested clients to trainingproviders, employers or guidance services.

Secondary vocational schools provide also vocational training for adults but very little or noguidance. These schools have schools counsellors, but only some of them offer their serviceto adults, since they see their role only in providing guidance to students in �regular�programmes.

In 2001 five Adult Educational Guidance centres (so-called local guidance centres for adultlearners in Slovenia), which are open to all adults in the local community that are in any wayinterested in adult education or learning, were developed and in 2002 were developedanother four local guidance centres. Their work is co-ordinated by Slovenian Institute for AdultEducation (SIAE).

Guidance centres offer adults information on opportunities for additional education orprofessional training for spare time or for an occupation in their local environment, on theenrolment conditions for various programmes, on the possibilities of transferring betweenprogrammes, on the duration of education, on the methods of knowledge assessment, onlearning assistance and on possibilities for continuing education. In addition, they also providecounselling on the selection of suitable education, in overcoming learning and other difficultieslinked to education, and in the planning and monitoring of an adult's education. Through theprovision of information and guidance in person in guidance centres, telephone conversationswith advisors, and the provision of information by electronic mail or over the Internet, anyadult considering participating in education or already engaged in education can obtainanswers to questions. Group guidance or guidance outside the guidance centre is alsopossible by arrangement. In addition, guidance centres in a local environment also link otherinstitutions into the local network in order to provide a higher quality and more comprehensiveand diverse range of guidance. Educational guidance is free of charge. It is intended for alladults in the local environment, with special attention paid in individual environments to thosetarget groups that have more difficulty in accessing education, that need more incentives toparticipate in education, and that need various forms of help to persist with education to asuccessful conclusion.

6. STAFFING

Here we wish to know about the types of staff that provide information, guidance and counsellingservices in your country, and about their qualifications and competencies.

In answering this section, please describe differences between staff in the different settings in whichinformation, guidance and counselling services are provided: for example schools, tertiary education,community organisations, public employment services.

6.1 What types or categories of staff are employed to provide information,guidance and counselling services in your country?

For example information librarian, classroom careers teacher, school counsellor, public employmentservice counsellor.

In schools, guidance is provided by school counsellors, who are full-time counsellors. Inprinciple, counsellors don�t teach but there are some exemptions. There are no careerteachers in Slovene schools. Career education is not a special subject. It�s supposed to beincluded, according to Guidelines on Career Education, in other subjects. In reality, the extentof career education in the curriculum is limited. The Act on Organisation and Funding ofEducation (brought in 1996) defines in Paragraph 3 occupational profiles eligible to work in

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school counselling services: psychologists, pedagogues, social well-fare workers, socialpedagogues and defectologists.

Career counsellors in Employment service Slovenia are mostly psychologists. There are onlyfew exceptions, mainly elderly employees.

In Vocational Information and Counselling Centres (CIPS) there�s a very small number ofextra staff at the information desks. They provide information to clients, help them to findinformation resources, refer them to counsellors etc. (counselling service in VICC is providedby counsellors of ESS). They have mostly 3-4 years post-secondary education or universitydegree.

There are at present 5 counsellors (plus 15 part time counsellors) in ISIO centres in Sloveniawho have University degree; they are �andragogs� (pedagogues for adults), pedagogs,sociologists or psychologists (source Centre for Adult Education).

There are no reliable records about counsellors and other HRM staff working in industry.

6.2 What is the best information that can be provided on the number of staff, bytype or category, who are employed to provide information, guidance andcounselling services in your country? Please indicate if information on theirage, gender and equity group structure is available.

Structure of counsellors in schools:

Primary schools

According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia Rapid report (No 57, March2002), there are 503 primary schools in Slovenia. 60 elementary schools with specialcurriculum are included in this number. There are also more than 300 subsidiary elementaryschools, which are not included in this number since they are not independent. They areattached to central schools and run only first four years for a very small number of pupils anddo not employ counsellors. Scholl counsellors from central schools provide guidance servicesalso to pupils in subsidiary schools.

According to the same source, 645 counsellors are employed in these 503 schools. 597 arefull-time employed, 48 part time. Approximate1ly, one third of counsellors are psychologists,less than one third pedagogues and similar percentage are social well-fare workers. Otheroccupations are represented only in a small proportion though the number of social pedagogsis increasing. There is no evidence on the age and gender, but it�s not difficult to make anestimate about the gender � vast majority of counsellors in schools are women.

Secondary schools

In Slovenia exist 130 secondary schools or school centres and all employ school counsellors.Counsellors are employed also in 43 student residence centres (�tudentski domovi) which areaimed for students who live too far to commute every day. These centres are sometimesattached to schools but sometimes they are independent.

In secondary schools and residence centres work 179 counsellors. 42% of them arepsychologists, 36% are pedagogs, 10% social well-fare workers, 7% social pedagogos. 5 %of counsellors have other educational background. About 50% of those counsellors work as afull-time counsellor, due to regulations, which defines criteria (the number of students inschools) which school must meet to get funding for counsellor. The rest of the counsellorscarry out also other tasks (teachers, assistant to school principle, etc.) to meet requirementsfor full-time employment in school. Most of the counsellors are women.

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Employment Service

In ESS career counselling is provided by 48 counsellors who work in 60 local officesthroughout Slovenia.Most counsellors are psychologists only three of them have different background.

ESS-VIC centres employ only few extra staff at the information desks. Counselling is providedby career counsellors from local offices.

In Department for Vocational Guidance in ESS Central Office 11 counsellors are employed.Department, which include also NRCVG Slovenia, (5 employees), is responsible for co-ordination of guidance activities in local offices and for the development of guidance tools andactivities.

Centres ISIOFive counsellors work in ISIO centres in 2002. In a plan for 2003 another four centres withanother four counsellors are foreseen.

For all guidance services in Slovenia there is no information available on age and equitystructure without special research.

6.3 What education and training qualifications are the different types orcategories of career information, guidance and counselling staff required tohave? (Where qualifications are required, please indicate whether it isgovernment or a professional association that requires them, and describerelevant professional licensing bodies).

For example teaching qualifications, university degrees in psychology, special diplomas in guidanceand counselling, post-graduate qualifications, completion of in-service courses and so on. Pleasedescribe the length of the education and training and the type of qualification that it leads to. Pleasedescribe any differences in requirements between the different settings in which services areprovided.

Initial training

The relevant university diploma is the only precondition to get and to keep the job of careercounsellors in Slovenia. The educational level of counsellors of Slovenia is very high (see6.2.) but I can�t say so about the level of certified practical training.

Employers (i.e. guidance providers) like schools, ESS (and ISIO centres) usually look forcounsellors with work experience, but it�s not an official demand.

Further training

There�s a lack of guidance specific training in Slovenia. The situation is better in ESS, wheredifferent training guidance modules have been developed in the frame of PHARE project PilotVICC. All career counsellors in ESS attended 36 days of training in guidance in two years(1997 and 1998), though it was officially not obligatory. This trend has continued in next yearson a smaller scale. All those courses are internal and not available to counsellors from othersettings. The problem is that this is not a regular training system and that courses are notcertified by some professional body.

School counsellors have the opportunity to attend vast range of training courses, which theychoose from the Catalogue of training programmes. Many of them are relevant for guidance(counselling techniques etc.), but there�s a lack of courses specialised in guidance. Schoolcounsellors have less opportunities to be trained in guidance skills than career counsellors inESS. Further training of school counsellors is organised also in the form of �study groups�,

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where school counsellors choose the subject they are interested in and then work on thissubject. Study groups are co-ordinated by Institute of Education.

Staff in ISIO centres received training developed and provided by Centre for Adult Education.Each year 50 hours of staff time is devoted to counsellors training.

Only a small number of bigger companies employ counsellors whom they call Careerdevelopment counsellors or experts. In some cases (big foreign or multinational companies)they attend company�s internal training. In many cases private HRM agencies provide trainingfor those counsellors.

Professional bodies

No professional body provides licences for guidance. Guidance is represented mostly in twobodies: School Counsellors Association and Psychological Association.

Level of Education and TrainingTeachingqualification

Universitydegrees inpsychology

Specialdiplomas inguidance &counselling

Post-graduatequalification

In-servicecourses

Other

Information librarian X

ClassroomcareersteacherSchoolcounsellor

Xpsych. and

otherCounselloringovernment agency

X

Counsellorin privateagency

Typeofstaffposition

Other

6.4 What, typically, are the types of competencies (or knowledge and skills) thatthese different types or categories of workers are required to have?

For example communication skills, group facilitation skills, individual and group assessment skills,labour market knowledge, knowledge of career development theory.

I must briefly describe the context before I answer this question. There�s very little mobility ofcareers counsellors in Slovenia in public services. It means that counsellors usually stay inthe organisation for very long time. Therefore public organisations usually employ younggraduates without work experience. In this case employers are aware that graduates do nothave much skills described bellow. Also, when they employ counsellors with experience,employers look more at personal traits of the counsellors than competencies. Lack of propertraining and absence of certified guidance training make it very difficult for employers toassess competencies mentioned below.

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Employers also differ and according to my experience many are not aware of somecompetencies listed below. I can�t find any empirical evidence to answer this question,therefore my answer would be subjective.

Competence

Communicationskills

Groupfacilitationskills

Individualand groupassessmentskills

Labourmarketknowledge

Knowledgeof careerdevelopment theory

Other

InformationlibrarianClassroomcareersteacherSchoolcounsellorCounselloringovernmentagencyCounsellorin privateagency

Typeof staffposition

Other

6.5 How are the competencies or knowledge and skills required of those whoprovide information, guidance and counselling changing, and why? What isbeing done to meet these changing knowledge and skill needs?

Counsellors and their organisations are aware of the changing nature of work, work patterns,of need for lifelong learning, etc. For decades they�ve been used to base guidance on reliableinformation about labour market (prospects in different occupations, etc.). Most of them areaware that only data on short term employment trends are available for school counsellorsand this is far from enough. Occasional training needs analysis (ESS 1997, schools 1998)show that knowledge about labour market is one of the topics counsellors rank amonghighest. ESS undertook some steps to meet these needs but found out that it�s difficult todesign training programme to satisfy the needs of counsellors, who expect something�reliable� in the unpredictable labour market.

Good approach in context of long term trends on the labour market seem to be identificationof skills which employers need rather than trying to identify prospective occupations. Trainingto teach students how to adapt to non-stop changes seem to be effective solution as well butthere�s a lack of proper training programmes and providers. I would say everybody is aware ofthe need for training on labour market issues but there are not many answers.

Concept of lifelong learning became reality for counsellors in Slovenia in last few years. Alsomany clients, unemployed and employed are aware of it. The number and range of trainingcourses and training providers is increasing and number of students as well.

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6.6 What opportunities exist for information, guidance and counselling servicestaff to update their knowledge and skills?

For example: Do industrial agreements allow time for recurrent education and skills upgrading? Whattime, and what programmes, do government agencies provide for the purpose? What recurrenteducation and skills upgrading courses are provided by tertiary institutions?

All ESS career counsellors had intensive training in guidance (36 days in two years)! in theperiod from 1997-1999 as a part of PHARE VICC project. The aim of this project was toestablish regional CIPS and five guidance training modules have been developed to train thestaff on pilot centre: module on counselling interview, module on counselling adults, moduleon labour market issues, module on use of new guidance method (KiK) and train the trainersmodule. Experts of ESS developed some other training modules, like module onpsychological theories of career development, etc. Management of ESS decided to nominatefour internal trainers who than trained all career counsellors of ESS. After completion thisphase trainers adapted some of these programmes and train another 300 client advisers innext three years. ESS achieved very good dissemination of the project results. In the periodfrom 199-2002 training continue with slower pace (training on the use of new methods, etc.).Most of the training is internal and is provided during the working hours and is available onlyto counsellors in ESS.

Counsellors in school have special system of training which cover all subjects relevant towork of school counsellor, not just guidance (relationship parent-child, drugs abuse etc.).Usually these are short courses. Some of training courses are relevant to career guidance(like counselling techniques, etc.), some not. Some guidance issues (like knowledge aboutlabour market) are not covered at all. Counsellors are free to choose courses. I can say thatschool counsellors have much less opportunities to access guidance training. Additionaltraining of counsellors in ISIO centres is organised by SIAE.

6.7 Please describe any policies that exist to systematically make use of groupssuch as alumni, parents and local employers in delivering services.

For example by acting as mentors, or by visiting classes to provide information on careers.

There are many cases when parents and employers participate in delivery of guidance andthere are also cases when alumni do the same. This policy is incorporated in Guidelines forScholl Counselling Services and most schools follow this policy though there are schoolswhich are much more active in this field than another.

ESS has the same policy when providing guidance programme for school students; the policyrefers only to employers. The measure which is implementing this policy on operational levelis ESS programme called �Occupations in a different way� (see 7.4.), which support visits ofstudents to employers and similar forms of co-operation.

7. DELIVERY SETTINGS

Here we would like to know about the delivery of services in different settings.

Schools

7.1 Are separate career education lessons a normal part of the schoolcurriculum? If so, for each school grade, please indicate whether or not suchlessons are required and the mandatory number of hours per year.

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There are no separate career education lessons inside the school curriculum.

Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12 Grade 13

Required?

Hours

7.2 If separate career education lessons are not provided, are policies in place tointegrate career education into other subjects? Details can be provided in anAnnex.

According to Guidelines on Career Education produced by Curriculum Commission for SchoolCounselling Services in late nineties, career education in primary schools is so called �inter-subject content�, i.e. a subject which should be thought during other lessons (integrated inother subjects). The same status have some other �inter-subject contents�, like healtheducation and environment education. Though career education has a solid base indocuments, it has marginal status in practice. The provision of career education depends onteachers, on their will and competencies to integrate career education in the subject they areteaching. It seems that the situation is better in first four years of primary school, since there�smore career education (knowledge about occupations, etc.) in the national curriculum. Duringthe discussions on curriculum reform in 1998, organised by Curriculum Commission forSchool Counselling, teachers gave feed-back on reasons for lack of career education inschools. They stressed that teachers are not trained to provide career education and thatthere is no relevant training and tools available. They were absolutely right � fortunatelysituation is getting better in last few years at least when manuals are concerned (there�s stillno relevant training on career education available to school counsellors and teachers):

-Institute of Education which support the development of the school counselling servicepublished a manual on career education in primary school in 2001. This is a firstmanual on career education after many years.-Institute also carry out the project on career education in secondary schools.-Two school counsellors also published quality manual on career education in primaryschool.

There are only traces of career education in general secondary schools. In vocationalschools, career guidance was in past seen as an activity, which does not refer to students invocational schools, �because they have already chosen their occupations�. The situation willperhaps soon change, due to activities undertaken by Centre for Vocational Education andTraining (CPI), which has different attitude: vocational guidance and career education shouldhave an important role in vocational schools as well. CPI has already made concrete steps toachieve this goal.

Career education is, taking into account extent, range and quality of the guidanceprogrammes, one of the weakest guidance activities in schools in Slovenia.

7.3 Are periods of work experience1 required as part of the secondary schoolcurriculum? For each school grade please indicate whether or not suchexperience is required, and how many hours per year are required.

1. This refers to periods that students are required to spend in workplaces in order to assist their career

decision making and in order to understand the world of work. It does not refer to those periods of

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Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12 Grade 13

Required?

Hours

In general secondary schools there�s no obligatory work experience any more. In vocationalschools work experience is part of the programme (not relevant to this question).

7.4 What other types of career information, guidance and counselling servicesare typically provided for school students (that is, apart from career educationlessons and work experience)?

For example careers fairs; personal counselling; access to career libraries; alumni programmes;parent involvement programmes; internet or computer-based programmes.

Many other activities, apart form career education lessons, are typically provided in schools inSlovenia.

Primary school

In primary schools, the range and extent of guidance service, which each student receive, isdefined in Guidelines for School Counselling Services. Guidelines use the term �Minimalstandards of guidance for primary schools�. These standards are, unlike Guidelines on CareerEducation, usually respected by schools. In implementation of standards ESS plays animportant role. I am presenting brief overview of these standards as an example of goodpractice:

workplace experience that are included in vocational education programmes in order to allow students todevelop or practice the work-related skills and competencies included within the vocational educationcurriculum.

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Example of good practice: Minimal standards of guidance for primary schools

-According to Guidelines, the school counselling service is obliged to assure that studentshave access to quality career information in the schools. This can be done via career pointsor career libraries and out of schools: visits to VICC, visits to employers, visits to secondaryschools, etc. Schools obtain certain amount of career information material free of chargefrom other public institutions (like Job-descriptions from ESS, et.).

-In the seventh year of primary schools, counsellors from ESS deliver lectures on careerdevelopment for parents. In the last year of primary school counsellors deliver lectures oneducational opportunities (secondary educational system, secondary schools, etc.).

-All students of the last two years also have opportunities to participate in visits toemployers and visits to VICC. Some of these visits are arranged by school counsellorsthemselves, but they usually have limited opportunities to arrange these visits; a smallnumber of employers in local community, small network, etc. These are the reasons thatthey also extensively use the programme called �Occupations in a different way� (Drugačeo poklicih), provided and financed by ESS. This programme, carried out by the localexternal providers, offer much wider possibilities to schools to arrange visits according tothe needs of the students.

-In last year of primary schools all students get guidance workbook �OccupationalSignpost�, produced and financed by ESS in co-operation with Institute of Education.

-ESS still carries out testing of intellectual abilities of the whole generation of students inseventh year (age 14), in spite of the fact that many policy makers and practitioners do notsupport this activity. The reason why it�s still carried out is, that the results of the tests areused as one of three criteria for selection of gifted students, who are biding for specialscholarships (Zoisove �tipendije); this is a task which ESS must carry out according to theAct on Employment and Insurance Against Unemployment (Paragraph 59). Test resultsare also widely used by psychologists in career counselling.

-Medical examination; every student in the seventh year goes to medical examination,provided by doctors specialised in school medicine, who compare medical status of astudent with his preferred vocational option (or options). One of the aims of thisexamination is to identify possible health barriers related to potential vocational options.

-At the beginning of the last year, all students respond to the questionnaire on their interestand potential

vocational choice (Vpra�alnik o poklicni �elji �VPP) .This task is organised by schoolcounsellors and

carried out by teachers. The aim of the questionnaire is to make student aware that time tomake decision

is approaching and that he/she should start thinking about it. School counsellors use thesequestionnaires as

a tool during individual counselling session but also as a screening method (to identifystudents, who have

more difficulties to decide) and in counselling interviews as well.

-Each school organises every year consultation meetings, called �team conferences�. Theparticipants at these meetings are class teaches, school counsellors, career counsellorfrom ESS and usually doctors from local health service. The aim of these conferences is toconsult students vocational preference from the viewpoint of different experts.

ach student in the last year of primary school has an opportunity to attend individualcounselling session delivered by a school counsellor or a counsellor form ESS. Mostly,parents and students use this opportunity.

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Minimal standards of guidance for secondary schools

These standards are written in different ways � not as a subtitle, like in the case of primaryschool. Guidance standards are attached to other standards and they are spread over thewhole document.The standards for secondary schools are also defined, but in practice provided much lessthen in primary school. One of the most important reasons is, that secondary schools areusually very big (1000 or 2000 students or more) and one counsellor can�t provide guidanceservice to all. The second reason is, that school counsellors in secondary schools, due toother obligations, devote less time for guidance that in primary schools (see 1.1.). The thirdstrong reason is that ESS traditionally provides minimal guidance service to studentssecondary schools.

We can not say that standards on the level of secondary schools are implemented in practice.The number of counselling sessions depend on school, on situation and on school counsellor.There are some schools, which provide satisfactory support and there are some schoolswhere students get very little guidance support. Secondary schools are very interested in selfhelp guidance material and computer assisted guidance tool called �Where and How? (Kamin kako? � KiK).

Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training (CPI) started theproject in year 2000 with the intention to develop the model of vocational guidance insecondary schools:

PHARE MOCCA- Innovation Fund Pilot Project:Model of the development of vocational guidance in secondary vocational schools

The project �Model of the development of vocational guidance in secondary vocationalschools� is a part of activities carried by Centre for Vocational Education and Training(CPI) with the aim to assure more important role of vocational guidance in vocationalschools. The project was carried out in the frame of much broader PHARE project(MOCCA - Modernisation of Curricula, Certification&Ąssessment in VocationalEducation for Youth and Adults). Partners in the project were: CPI, ESS and Schoolcentre Velenje. Special 12-day vocational guidance programmes was developed.Programme involved meetings and workshops which were carried out in three months:career development workshop, job-search workshop, workshop on entrepreneurship,workshop on relevant legal issues (related to legal aspects of work, contracts, rights,etc.), personal development workshop (emphasis on team work, conflict managementetc.), final workshop etc. 32 students from Schools centre Velenje participated in theproject. Students also used some other services: individual counselling, self-assessment tools, etc. The effects of the project were evaluated with specialquestionnaire. Statistical analysis of the results showed that programme helped studentto improve significantly their career planning skills and relevant knowledge.

All partners in the project and relevant authorities highly valued the results of theprojects, and discussions started with the intention to implement the results of thisproject in regular vocational training curriculum. Project was terminated in autumn2000, but unfortunately the results have not been implemented till nowadays.

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The public employment service

7.5 What information, guidance and counselling services are provided by thepublic employment service?

For example: what is the relative balance between career and job information services and guidanceand counselling; what types of clients typically seek and receive assistance; how are these servicesrelated to overall national labour market and employment policies?

Information

ESS publishes wide range of information materials (leaflets, brochures etc.) on ESS activities.ESS also maintains good Internet site, where unemployed and others can have access tovacancies and information on ESS activities, opportunities for unemployed and their dutiesas well. The level of information activities increased after introducing career centres calledCIPS which usually operate in the frame of ESS.

Counselling

There are two levels of counselling (vocational) in ESS. First level, called employmentcounselling, is provided by employment advisers, who in some cases, also provide job-broking. Advisers have higher level of education (three years of post-secondary education)and they have a role of personal advisers. In counselling interviews, the adviser identifies thepossible barriers to employment. If advisers identify problems related to vocational choice(lack of information, career indecision, lack of career planning skills etc.) they refer the personto career counsellors (second level of counselling), who are mostly psychologists. In twomonths after registration, the adviser produces �employment plan� together with unemployedperson. If a person was treated by career adviser, both counsellors would co-operate to findthe best solution for the unemployed (team work is supported). Career counsellors alsoprovide counselling to school students, university students, drop-outs, gifted students andemployed adults.

Group information sessions

Group information sessions are obligatory for unemployed and are usually provided byemployment advisers. Sessions usually take place in local employment offices.

Guidance in employment programmes

Employment advisers and some career counsellors provide two day job-search seminars.Other programmes are provided by private external providers. Some employmentprogrammes have little elements of guidance, another are in fact guidance programmes: job-clubs, group career counselling, workshops for long-term unemployed etc. Also public worksprogramme has, according to Act on Employment, 20% of time devoted to personaldevelopment (includes guidance and training).

ESS guidance programme for schools (see guidance in schools).

Tertiary education

In answering this section, please separately describe services in university-level tertiary institutions(those offering programmes at ISCED-97 levels 5A and 6) and in non-university-level tertiary institutions- such as community colleges and polytechnics (those offering programmes at ISCED-97 level 5B).

If applicable, also describe services in post-secondary non-tertiary institutions (those offeringprogrammes at ISCED-97 level 4) and in institutions offering continuing education or further educationand training programmes.

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7.6 Please describe information, guidance and counselling services that areprovided within tertiary education.

For example: Are they a normal and standard service within tertiary institutions or are they onlyprovided in some institutions? Are they normally provided separately from or together with personaland study counselling services? Are they normally provided separately from or together with jobplacement and graduate recruitment services?

The universities and education institutions providing non-university tertiary education inSlovenia do not have specialised career services or centres. Some higher educationinstitutions provide some guidance services for their students. In most cases institutionsarrange visits of the students to prospective employers or arrange discussions with relevantprofessionals. There are some cases where private providers run job-searching sessions forstudents at universities, but these are exceptions. The universities have students� offices,which deal with administrative issues, not with guidance.

The extent of guidance activities in Slovene higher educational institutions varies a lot.Though in some cases it is difficult to find any traces of guidance activities, there are alsocases of good practice:

Example of good practice: Guidance programme for students of psychology

University of Ljubljana, Department of Psychology organise different forms of contactsbetween students of last two years of graduate study and employers. Department arranged14 visits to different organisations in last two years of study and many students attendedthese visits. Students can get good overview of the nature of the work, work requirementsand employment possibilities in most of the areas where psychologists work: industry,schools, counselling centres, employment service, clinical practice, etc. Another form oflearning is optional subject in last year of study, attended by majority of students. One of theaims of this subject is also learning about fields, where psychologists work.

There is also no other institution specialised for guidance of students. The only guidance forstudents is provided by ESS, (individual career counselling) but students mostly use thisopportunity when they became unemployed. The guidance is also provided by studentorganisations, which organise student-employer fairs. From 2001 onwards ESS also providescareer counselling workshops for students attending student-employers fair GetWork and itlooks this will become a common practice.

The private (for-profit) sector 2

7.7 What is known about career guidance and counselling services provided bythe private (for-profit) sector: such as management consultants, outplacementservices or private practitioners?

For example describe their client base, the level of their fees, the sorts of services that they provide,and what is known about growth in these services over time.

There is practically no practitioners who provide high quality career counselling due toreasons mentioned in 5.8.

2. Section 8 asks about the role played by the private sector in producing educational and

occupational information for use in information, guidance and counselling services.

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Many private agencies have concession from the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social affairswhich allow the to provide placement (job-broking) and employment programmes tenderedout by ESS and sometimes by Ministry itself. In most cases agencies are not specialised forjob-broking, they rather provide different activities: job-broking, employment programmes,training,

7.8 Please describe any steps that governments have taken to try to encourageprivate (for-profit) organisations to provide guidance and counselling servicesor to regulate the ways in which such services are provided.

For example by providing vouchers that can be used to purchase services; by changing legislation;by contracting out services; by setting staff qualification levels; by regulating fees that can becharged.

Vouchers for training and education will be introduced in 2002 but will be used only fortraining and education. Counsellors in ESS will provide guidance for those who will enrol intraining programmes. Profit providers are encouraged in employment sector. Regulation isdescribed in 7.10

Other organisations

7.9 What role do other organisations -- for example in the community sector -- playin providing information, guidance and counselling services? What types ofclients do they serve? What types of needs do they attempt to meet?

Traditionally, community organisations played no visible role in guidance. Also this rule hadan exception � some communities financed additional school counsellors in some schools inregion Primorska (Nova Gorica). Nowadays, a community sector is more interested andsometimes participates in guidance projects, but there is no community guidance service innarrow meaning of the expression �community�.

Centres for adult educational guidance ISIO could be classified among �other organisations�too. They are attached to the local training centres called �Folk high schools� (Ljudskeuniverze).

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EBIS-ISIO project

On the initiative of the Institute for the International Co-operation of the German AdultEducation Association (IIZ/DVV), the Slovenian Institute for Adult Education in 2000joined with the project. Development of guidance activities in adult education at the localto the international project EBIS (Adult Education in South-Eastern Europe - EBIS projectis co-ordinated by IIZ/DVV and is a part of the project Stability Pact for SoutheastEurope). In first phase were supported and co-financed activities in Slovenia and in thesecond phase of the project is to develop the same model of guidance centres in someother south � eastern countries of Europe. This year is going on the transfer of theknowledge and experience acquired in establishing guidance centres - and theconnected local guidance networks - to Romania and Yugoslavia where our partners areeducational organisations for adults which have been selected by IIZ/DVV biros inRomania and Yugoslavia.

First step of collaboration is to analyse the systemic conditions for developing adultguidance in education and to analyse the needs of development (economical, social andhuman resources) in the local community and especially the analyse of characteristicsand needs of different target groups of adults. For this reason the selected partners fromYugoslavia and Romania have establish the project groups, which will collect additionaldata, developmental plans of their local environment and analyse other necessaryconditions for opening the guidance centres in their countries in 2003. If we will succeedwe plan to disseminate the results of the project also to other south�eastern countries inthe next years.

The network of Youth Information Centres in Slovenia provide wide spectrum of informationon all issues

relevant to students and other young people. They also provide basic information on jobs,careers etc. They

do not offer specialised career counselling support.

7.10 Have governments attempted to increase their role (for example bycontracting out services)? If so, why? Have they attempted to regulate theways in which they provide services?

Labour Ministry and ESS are regularly contracting out majority of employment programmes,including those with strong elements of guidance. The reasons are mainly expectations of thegovernment thatprivate providers offer lower prices and the fact that public services does nothave enough staff to provide all programmes. Government introduced different mechanism toregulate the provision. One is concession. To get concession from the labour Ministry theprovider must meet certain requirements concerning premises, legal status, educational levelof personnel, etc. Second regulative mechanism is tender which specify additionalrequirement for each employment programme. Providers sign a contract with ESS for everyprogramme and ESS is responsible for monitoring.

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8. DELIVERY METHODS

Here we would like to know about delivery methods, including the ways in which they are influenced bygovernment policies.

8.1 Career information, guidance and counselling services can be delivered in avariety of ways. In the last five years, how have these been influenced bygovernment policies? (These might be policies to improve the use ofresources, policies to increase access, policies to better meet client needs,policies to encourage equity, or other types of policies. To guide your answer, alist of some of the ways in which information, guidance and counsellingservices are delivered is given below in bullets).

• Batteries of psychological tests• Telephone information, guidance

and counselling• CD-ROM-based self exploration and

job-search packages• Internet-based self exploration

and job-search packages• Careers fairs and exhibitions• Educational experiences such as

transition years• Organised workplace experience or

community experience

• Group guidance and counsellingsessions

• Individual face-to-face interviews• The systematic use of community

members such as employers, parents oralumni: for example as sources of careerinformation or as mentors and rolemodels

• Career information libraries• Paper � and � pencil self assessment

techniques: for example the Holland SelfDirected Search

There has been a clear policy in ESS regarding delivery of guidance services in the last fiveyears. The priority in development and implementation was (and still is) on:

• computer delivery methods : informational databases on computersuse of Internet to deliver information and guidance, etc.

• self-help techniques: including paper-and-pencil self-assessment tools and skills learningprogramme

• group guidance programmes

The reasons for such policy are needs of clients, but also the interest of management, whichis searching ways how to decrease the cost and increase the effectiveness of guidanceservices. The policy also supports methods, which liase school students and employers.

In education sector there are similar ideas about such policy, but it�s not officially approvedand there are no signs yet that implementation of such policy takes place.

Project: Promoting Vocational Training through Careers Education

The aim of the project �Promoting Vocational Training through Careers Education� is tooffer work experience to students in last two years of primary schools. The project isfinanced by Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Ministry of Labour, Family andSocial Affairs and by Chamber of Commerce and Trade and is carried out by non-profitorganisation �Izida�. Vocational training in Slovenia is not popular among young people.Some employers and some (good equipped) vocational schools offer their staff andfacilities as their contribution in this project. Young people work in this workshops on realequipment, including modern ICT technology and produce certain products under thesupervision of the mentors. These activities are attractive for young people who areshowing interest for such work experience.

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8.2 Please describe any recent or current initiatives to develop Internet-basedinformation, guidance and counselling services.

Organisations involved in guidance provide more and more information on the Internet,usually on their organisation�s site. Good examples are:

ESS (http://www.ess.gov.si); where clients can find useful information on vacancies, guidanceavailable in ESS (individual counselling sessions, VICC) about employment programmes,training opportunities, financial support and much more. Good examples are also Centre forVocational Education and training CPI (http://www.cpi.si), SIAE (http://www.acs.si) and manyothers.

These Internet sites are already very complex and for clients it�s sometimes not easy to findinformation they need. Internet sites offer information and do not support other guidancefunctions (self-assessment, decision making etc.)

Currently the Leonardo da Vinci project VirtuOrientation is on the way. The aim of this projectis to develop Internet site (portal) to help individuals to find information they need. The site willbe �needs-based� as opposite to existing �resource based� sites.

NRCVG Slovenia also has Internet site designed to support international mobility of students.

8.3 Can examples be provided of the use of screening tools to match client needsor client type to the type of service provided? If such screening tools exist,please describe the reasons for developing them, and describe where they areused.

There�s no evidence that such screening tools exist in Slovenia, therefore I am presentingproject VirtuOrientation. The aim this project is to develop Web-site (portal), which will matchclients� needs with existing resources:

Leondardo da Vinci project �VirtuOrientation�.

The promoter of VirtuOrientation project is School Centre Velenje, which is big provider oftraining programmes in north-east part of Slovenia. Other partners from Slovenia are CPI,ESS and PIA-Velenje. International partners in the project are from Italy, Austria and CzechRepublic. The project started in March 2002. The aim of the project is to develop Web-sitewhich will help young people in the transition between school and labour market.

Original idea is, that there are already too many resources available on the Internet. Thismeans that it�s very difficult for the end user to find and select relevant information. The qualityof many sites is also disputable. In the first phase of the project these assumptions have beenconfirmed. VirtuOrientation Website will help users to identify their needs (screening) andprovide an easy path to resources, which will really help individual. The user will work throughcarefully designed questionnaire which will guide them through the jungle if the resources onthe Web. Users will have access to information on all educational and training programmes,schools, universities, job-vacancies, financial support, etc. Some self-assessment tools will beavailable on the site too. According to the results of the screening, individual will be offered tocontact relevant services, where he/she can get specialised help according to their needs:career counselling, labour offices, school counselling services, etc.). The aim of the site isalso to improve the access of the existing services. The site will offer users better access toresources not just from home, but also form schools, labour offices, career information andcounselling centres and other settings.

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9. CAREER INFORMATION

Here we wish to know about the educational and occupational information that is used in information,guidance and counselling services.

9.1 What is the public sector�s role in producing career information?

For example indicate which Ministries are responsible for its production; how it is produced; whetherit is produced on a national level or at the regional/provincial/state level. Also indicate if governmentslegislate to control how information is classified, distributed or stored.

Large amount of career information in Slovenia is, according to size of our country producedon the national level. Responsibilities for information production reflect roles of the institutions:Ministry of Education is responsible to publish yearly overview of education courses andcertified schools. Centre for Adult Education produce paper based and CD-ROM basedoverview of training providers, which provide training in Slovenia (most of providersparticipate in this activity). Chamber of Craft produces all information on apprentice system,learning places, entry requirements, legal issues etc. ESS produces information on labourmarket, job-descriptions etc. CPI produces information on vocational training and education.Information on international mobility programmes are provided by relevant services andNRCVG. NRCVG Slovenia tries to function as a central co-ordinator of this network with theintention to avoid overlap of information production and achieve synergy. Network is notapproved on the level of Ministries but functions in practice.

There is also certain information production on the regional and local level. These are piecesof information specific for a region: the information on regional or local developmentprogramme, about local employment opportunities, training opportunities etc. These pieces ofinformation are produced by regional and local ESS offices, local employers, developmentcentres, local training centres etc.

Many organisations and schools produce their own leaflets, brochures and Internet sites.

9.2 What forms does career information typically take?

For example: printed guides containing information on a large number of jobs and courses; individualleaflets or information sheets; CD-ROMs; Internet-based services.

Career information are available in many different forms: leaflets, posters, information sheets,brochures, books (manuals), video-cassettes, disks (usually CD-ROMs) and Internet. Theextent of information databases on the Internet steadily increase every year.

New career information product is computer guidance programme called �Where and How?�(Kam in Kako?), which is the adapted version of Adult Directions programme (UK). This CD-ROM tool is used in ESS local offices and CIPS by clients who unemployed or student. KiKis used also in group work. Institute for Education carried out evaluation (in 2000) of the useof KiK in primary and secondary school. Results were positive and in 2002 about 25% of allschools bought KiK

9.3 Typically, which client groups is it aimed at?

For example school students; public employment service clients; tertiary students; the general public

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Career information is aimed at wide range of target groups: school students, unemployed,employed, redundant workers, etc. Due to limited financial resources there is a limitednumber of information materials, specially designed for certain target groups: like students,drop-outs, disabled.

9.4 What methods are used to gather it?

National institutions use different methods for gathering information. Sometimes, they havelegal basis for gathering information, like Ministry of education (information on schools) andESS (information on vacancies). In other cases, they use the network of regional and localproviders to get information.National database on providers of training programmes for adults, managed by Centre forAdult Education, is compiled by information gathered from training providers. They are notobliged to give their information but a majority decides to do so. The database on job-description, managed by ESS, is designed and maintained in co-operation with authors fromdifferent settings (industry, education, professional associations etc.).

NRCVG Slovenia has a central role in Vocational Information Network in Slovenia. Moreinformation and graphical presentation of this network can be found in the leaflet on NRCVGSlovenia (See Annex 2). The network of ISIO is designed to function in a similar way and isco-ordinated by Centre for Adult Education.

9.5 Please describe the steps that are taken to ensure that it is accurate andtimely.

ESS and NRCVG have started with activities to develop quality standards. Till now qualitystandards for Vocational Information and Counselling Centres (VICC) have been developedand implemented. This standards define quality of premises, technical standards (furniture,computers and other technical equipment) and personnel.

NRCVG plans to develop quality standards for provision of career information in 2003.

Centre for Adult Education also requires that ISIO centres meet certain standards forproviders.

Though quality standards are only partly developed, providers of information pay a lot ofattention to accuracy and updating of information. If the provider provides the information,which is not correct or not updated, he will usually get �strong� negative feed-back from theusers.

9.6 Please describe the steps that are taken to ensure that it is user-friendly andoriented to user needs.

There are not enough measures (lack of quality standards!) to ensure that information is userfriendly. There are some very good user friendly materials, but some which are not. Userneeds are sometimes not in focus; particularly when we speak about Internet sites, which areoften overloaded with information. Many times they are constructed to present theorganisation and their activities and are not focused on clients needs. The clients need a lot oftime to find desired information or they don�t find it at all.

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9.7 How is it typically distributed?

For example through career information centres; through public libraries; through communityorganisations; to schools and tertiary institutions.

Most career information is usually distributed through schools, local employment offices,career information centres (CIPS) etc. Some libraries have more career information. Clientscan get more general information on education and employment opportunities in otherinformation centres, like youth information centres. There�s little evidence on guidance intertiary institutions.

9.8 What role does the private (both for-profit and not-for-profit) sector play inproviding career information?

For example: What is known about the size and nature of the market for privately published guides tojobs or to tertiary education? What examples can be provided of privately funded career informationweb sites? Are there examples of the mass media taking an active role in providing careerinformation?

There are private providers who publish guides on job-search. There�s a big of temporaryemployment agencies called �Student Service� who also have their web-sites. There are alsoexamples of career information activities carried out by mass media. I will mention only twoexamples of activities which are permanent and very popular. First is magazine for youth(PIL-Plus) which has regular column on jobs. Editors find employees with differentoccupations who present their jobs in a very user friendly way. This column is very popular.Another example is the biggest daily newspaper called �Work� (Delo). Every year they publisha book on occupations or a book where secondary schools are presented or a book ontertiary education opportunities.

9.9 Have governments tried to increase the role of the private sector in providingcareer information?

For example by contracting out the production of material.

Yes, but it�s more obvious in the field of employment programmes providers then in the fieldof career information.

Data on unemployment is regularly included in information provided by ESS. Data onemployment is less frequent and sometimes structured in a way which is different comparedto client�s expectation (it�s collected by branches and not by occupations etc.). Data onearnings is not part of career information yet. Institutions and employers which traditionallyprovided information on labour market needs, do that only for short term needs, not for longterm needs.

9.10 Please describe the ways in which labour market data is typically included incareer information.

For example through inclusion of data on unemployment rates and earnings; through the inclusionof data on regional variation in employment and unemployment for particular occupations; throughinclusion of the results of graduate employment and course satisfaction surveys.

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10. FINANCING

Here we wish to know about: the ways in which information, guidance and counselling services arefunded; the ways in which costs are shared; and the financial resources devoted to information,guidance and counselling services.

10.1 What method(s) do governments use to fund information, guidance andcounselling services?

For example: direct service provision; contracting out/tendering; public-private partnerships. Ifpossible indicate the percentage of total government funding of information, guidance andcounselling services that flows through each of these methods.

Salaries of counsellors in schools are financed according to the current wage system throughschool budget i.e. from Ministry of Education. Schools in principle do not contract out anyguidance service. School can spend some resources for some information materials,computer assisted guidance programme (Kik) and some lectures on occupations. Usuallythese are very small financial items.

Salaries of career counsellors in ESS are paid from the single ESS salaries budget. Additionalbudget is foreseen for career information materials and for guidance programme called�Occupations in a different way� and psychometric testing which is also tendered out.

It�s not possible to give real information on percentage of government funding due to reasonexplained in 10.3.

Ministry of Education, Science and Sport finances activities of ISIO centres (salaries ofcounsellors and fixed costs). The budget is 3% of the total budget for adult education inSlovenia.

10.2 Are individuals required to meet some of the costs of governmentinformation, guidance and counselling services? If so, what sorts of clientsare asked to pay, and what is the typical level of fees charged?

Public information, guidance and counselling services in Slovenia are free of charge for allindividuals, regardless their status; unemployed, school students, employed.

10.3 Please describe what cost and expenditure data is available to governmentand to stakeholders -- for example on the relative costs of different deliverymethods, or the cost of achieving particular outcomes, or the costs ofproviding services to particular types of clients -- when making policies forinformation, guidance and counselling services. Describe the ways in whichthis information is used, providing specific examples if possible.

In education sector financial situation is not very complex, since salaries of school counsellorsis the only financial item funded by Ministry. Without special investigation no data is availableon the amount of financial resources schools spend for purchasing information materials,tools and (exceptionally) other services.

In ESS financial situation is very complex. The main barrier to provide more accurateinformation on cost of guidance services is the fact, that in ESS there is no clear distinctionbetween guidance service and employment programmes (see Annex 1, pg.31). Expression�guidance service� in ESS means activities provided by career counsellors (individualcounselling, group counselling, psychometric testing, lectures, team-conferences, follow-up of

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clients, etc.). Expression �employment programmes� has very broad meaning, includingvocational training and many programmes which have elements or even strong elements ofguidance; like job-search seminars, job-clubs). Employment programmes are not in thebudget for ESS operations but in the special budget called �Employment programmes� Thereis not clear distinction what is guidance and what is not guidance in employmentprogrammes, therefore it�s notpossible to answer the question on cost of the guidance,though financial data on each employment programme exist.

Second problem is, that there�s no tradition in public services in Slovenia to follow up eachservice separately. For example ESS do not follow separately cost of career counsellors, sothe only data on cost of counsellors which can be obtained is the cost of the averageemployee in ESS (total salary and material cost budget divided by the number of employees).

10.4 Please provide the best available estimates of the cost (most recent year) togovernments of providing information, guidance and counselling services.

In answering this, where possible provide information on the ways in which this cost is dividedbetween different Ministries and between different levels of government. Where possible, provideinformation on trends in costs over time. Where possible break costs down by type: for example staffcosts; information production costs; capital and equipment costs.

In answering this, it might be helpful to include an Annex describing the problems that are involved inproviding expenditure and cost data for information, guidance and counselling services in yourcountry.

The best available estimates will not show the real costs, but can be used as roughorientation. To get real costs more thorough research would be needed.

There�s no exact information of the average salary of school counsellor, but it should bearound 900 EUROS. The budget for 645 counsellors in primary schools should be around6.969.000 EURO. School counsellors in secondary schools are not included in this number.Also other costs of workplace, like costs of the premises, heating, computers, etc. are notincluded (represent perhaps 40-50% of the salary).

In ESS the appraisal of the cost of workplace can be identified by dividing total expenses ofthe workplace (5.297.332.000 SIT) divided by the number of staff (862 in 2001: SourceEmployment Service Slovenia Annual Report 2001). Using this method the resources forcounsellors are 3.540.000 EUROS (including all costs of workplace, not just salary), but inpractice it�s higher, because counsellors have higher level of education and higher salariesthat average ESS employee.

Other costs for guidance activities of ESS are approximately 290.000 EURO, but only �pure�guidance activities are included: vocational information materials (95.000 EURO), programme�Occupations in a different way� (68.000 EURO) and psychological testing (tendered out for127.000 EURO). Other guidance related programmes (like job-clubs and job-searchworkshops) are not included since in ESS financial budget they come under other financialitems.

Total cost of five ISIO centres in 2002 is approximately 132.000 EURO. Salaries ofcounsellors represent80% of this cost.

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10.5 Please provide an indication of the statutory salaries of information, guidanceand counselling service workers. As a base, take the case of guidanceofficers/counsellors with a guidance or counselling qualification at ISCED-97level 5 ( i.e. a university degree or equivalent) and indicate:

• The starting salary for those with the minimum required training• The salary after 15 years� experience• The number of years from the starting salary to the top salary• Where available, please provide equivalent information for other

categories of guidance and counselling workers

The starting salary for career counsellor (psychologist) in ESS without previous experience isabout 820 EURO per month. This is net salary after all taxes and contributions have beenpaid. Salary after 15 years of experience is approximately 1000 EURO. Pace of progressionfrom starting to top salary is minimum 15 years.

Salaries of school counsellors are similar. The difference is that starting salary is lower. Thesalary after 15 years can be higher than in ESS, but it depends also on counsellor himself(herself): promotion depends on the number of point each counsellors collect over the yeardue to extra activities (like attending further training, etc.).

11. ASSURING QUALITY

Here we wish to know about the ways that the quality of information, guidance and counselling servicesis evaluated, maintained and enhanced.

11.1 Please describe the steps that governments take to maintain and increase thequality of information, guidance and counselling services.

In past not much government activities took place regarding these issues. Recentlygovernment (in the employment sector) is much more interested in outcomes andeffectiveness of guidance services. All activities of ESS should be evaluated in future.Standards are very important in this context.

11.2 Do standards exist for the delivery of information, guidance and counsellingservices? How and by who were these developed? What status do they have?Do they differ between providers?3

Organisations providing guidance in Slovenia produces some standards but they are broaderand sometimes involve administrative procedures. None of these standards cover all qualityissues; for example, none of these standards refer to quality of information materials, qualityof counselling etc.

ESS developed standards for establishing CIPS (Vocational Information and CounsellingCentres). These standards include: premises, staff (number and educational level), technicalequipment (furniture, computer and other equipment) and range of guidance activities whichall centres should provide (information, counselling, group session, presentation ofoccupations by employers, lectures on career development, labour market, etc.

3. Please provide details in an Annex.

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In education sector standards of provision are incorporated in Guidelines for SchoolCounselling Service. On the operational level guidelines are implemented through annualplan of activities: Annual plan of school activity (developed on the level of each school) and inAnnual plan of ESS guidance programme for schools (developed on the national level).

Centre for Adult Education developed operational standards for ISIO centres, which include:range of activities, extent of activities, structure of provision, etc. Standards also defineadministrative and management procedures.

Summary; standards exist partly on the level of guidance providers. Quality standards forinformation and guidance itself are still, to be developed.

11.3 Do standards exist for the competencies required by information, guidanceand counselling services staff? If so, how and by who were these developed?What status do they have? Do they differ between providers?4

Guidance providers in Slovenia have requirements for different work positions which can�t betreated as standards. Educational standards are usually defined in legislation. Standards ofcompetencies of guidance staff do not exist in Slovenia.

11.4 Are there formal requirements, for example expressed in regulations orlegislation, for the education and training qualifications required byinformation, guidance and counselling staff?4

Formal requirement for guidance staff in education sector and in employment sector arepresented in paragraph 6.1. (Staffing).

11.5 Do guidelines exist on information quality standards to help groups such astertiary institutions, industry associations and individual enterprises producecareer information? 4

There are no such standards in Slovenia.

11.6 Please provide details of any professional groups, bodies or associations ofinformation, guidance and counselling services workers in your country.

In answering this please describe the extent to which such professional groups, bodies orassociations: work to raise standards of professional practice, for example through the professionaldevelopment and recurrent education of their members; are actively involved in lobbyinggovernments on professional issues, for example relating to service quality; and have an industrialrole to improve the employment conditions of their members.

The most relevant association for guidance is Association of School Counsellors, whichassociate about 1/3 of school counsellors in primary and secondary schools. Associationproduce professional magazine and organise some other forms of professional development(some seminars etc.). Its impact on government policy is marginal. Relevant associations arealso Andragogical Association of Slovenia and Folk High School Union.

Guidance is officially also included in some other associations, like Psychological Association,but in practice little activities in the field of guidance takes place.

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11.7 Please describe any ways in which career information, guidance andcounselling professionals are involved in the development of policy: forexample through formal roles for professional associations; or throughproviding feedback to service providers.

Formal professional associations have no such role. Sometimes practitioners are member ofthe groups which propose policy proposal for the government. It happened in 1997/98 duringreform of education, when Guidelines for School Counselling Services were developed byprofessionals.

In some cases practitioners have an opportunity to discuss policy proposal and directlyinfluence in their organisation; it happens in ESS in 1996-1997 during the reform of vocationalguidance in ESS.

In most cases practitioners are members of workgroups for implementation of policies. In thisrole they sometimes have influence to improve, refine policies, but not to change major goals.

Providing feedback to service providers is also a method of influence on guidance policy. Itworks, if provider was in charge to make required changes. In many cases providers dependon broader (national) policy and limited financial resources.

12. THE EVIDENCE BASE

Here we wish to know about the ways in which the delivery of information, guidance and counsellingservices is evaluated and supported by data and research evidence. In answering this section pleaserefer in particular to national evidence where this is available, rather than to studies conducted in othercountries.

12.1 What information is available about the extent to which information, guidanceand counselling services are used? What is known about differences in levelsof use and access as a function of factors such as: socio-economic status orfamily background; geographical location; gender; age; educational level; andlevels of disadvantage? Do regular national statistical collections monitoraccess? Have access and usage levels changed over time?

ESS follow up all guidance activities, number of clients specified for each activity,geographical location of users etc. Some data like age, gender and level of disadvantage arenot always available. All data which exist are also available on the national level. Forexample, number of adult clients attending individual counselling sessions in 2000 was13.588. Number of individual sessions for students in the same year was 9.535 (source:Overview of the Employment service of Slovenia 2001, pg. 34: see Annex 1). Access of adultunemployed to guidance services changed substantially after 1996 (six times in three years)when guidance services were offered also to unemployed. At the beginning of ninetiesnumber of counselling sessions for unemployed adults was about 2.000!

Similar data exist for guidance on the level of each school, because in schools all studentsare expected to be �clients� of the guidance service. SIAE closely follow up reports of ISIOcentres, therefore information on extent of guidance service for adult educational guidanceare available.

National statistical collections do not monitor access to guidance services.

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12.2 How is the level of community need and demand for information, guidanceand counselling services established (for example by use of surveys, rates ofservice usage, waiting lists)? What is known about the expectations thatclients have of services?

In traditional settings, schools and employment services, demand for services is notresearched, because there is always a lot of clients. Practitioners and organisation raise thisquestion when demand is obviously greater than offer. School counsellors in some schoolsuse questionnaires to establish demand. In the case of new guidance projects (centres CIPSand ISIO) the demand was established by questioning local counsellors and clients.

12.3 What criteria are normally used to judge the benefits or outcomes ofinformation, guidance and counselling services?

12.4 Please provide details of any recent (last five years) studies that have beenconducted of:

• The costs of providing information, guidance and counselling services.• How costs vary as a function of the type of service delivered and the

characteristics of clients.• How the outcomes or benefits of information, guidance and counselling

services relate to their costs.• How the benefits or outcomes of information, guidance and counselling

services are related to the type of service provided and the characteristics ofclients.

Studies in last five years were focused on evaluation of the employment programmes takingin account outcomes i.e. number of persons who successfully accomplished training orprogramme and number of people who got jobs as a result of the programme. Theseevaluations mostly did not take in account characteristics of the clients involved in theprogramme and some other outcomes, like learning outcomes of guidance programmes.

In developing ISIO centres in 2000 was very important phase research and study ofdevelopment (economical, social and human resources) in the local community. A specialattention was paid on analyse of characteristics and needs of different target groups of adults.One of very important task was also to restore the needs and the collaboration of differentinstitutions in environment to acquire them to join in the local guidance network for adulteducation.

12.5 Please provide details of any recent (last five years) initiatives or pilotprojects that have been designed to provide insight into: the impact ofcareers services on individuals� career choices; the ability to use careerinformation; the impact of services upon employers; the impact of servicesupon the development of a learning society.

Two scientific research are more than five years old. Form recent initiatives and projectsfurther should be mentioned:

The ability to use career information was tested in a research done by Institute for Educationin 1999. The institute evaluated computer assisted guidance programme Kam in kako?

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(Slovene version of Adult Directions). The results were positive on the level of secondaryschool and on the level of primary schools as well (age 14-15).

Second is evaluation of career development programme (2000) in Vocational School inVelenje. Evaluation was a part of the project �Model of the Development of VocationalGuidance in Secondary Vocational Schools (PHARE-MOCCA Innovation Fund). ToolMeasure of Guidance Impact was used to evaluate learning outcomes of the careerdevelopment programme designed for the students of the last year of three and four yearvocational training courses. Programme involved career counselling workshop, personaldevelopment training, job-search workshop, lecture on legal issues (employment legistation),visits to local VICC (and use of computer assisted guidance tool) and individual careercounselling . It was used before and after the completion of the programme.

12.6 Do any national research centres specialise in career information, guidanceand counselling services? Do they specialise in evaluative and policy studies:or do they mainly focus upon guidance techniques and methods?

Some institutions in Slovenia occasionaly produce elaborated evaluations of employment andguidance programmes , including thorough statistical analysis of the results. Evaluations arefocused upon guidance methods and effectiveness of the programmes. These instotutionsare: Institute of Education, ESS and IASE. Some Leondardo da Vinci project (like �Model ofVocational guidance in Vocational Schools�) have also been thoroughly evaluated. Nonational research institute specialise in research on guidance. I am also not aware of anypolicy study in the field of guidance.

12.7 How useful have governments found the work of research centres indeveloping policy for information, guidance and counselling services?

Government found the research data useful, but there�s little research on guidance.

12.8 Have governments taken steps to increase the evidence base for information,guidance and counselling services through support for relevant researchcentres? Has such support been on the basis of individual commissionedstudies, or are more on-going forms of support used?

There�s no evidence of such support specific to guidance. Evaluation refer mainly toemployment programmes, there�s also research on education, but very little on guidance.