Improving counselling services for the unemployed and for those at risk of unemployement

Eurofound — European Foundation For The Improvement Of Living And Working Conditions

Informations

• Publié par: EUROFOUND-EUROPEAN-FOUNDATION-FOR-THE-IMPROVEMENT-OF-LIVING-AND-WORKING-CONDITIO
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Eurocounsel Conference Report
IMPROVING
COUNSELLING
SERVICES
for the unemployed and for
those at risk of unemployment
Dublin 24-26 May 1993
Π
Λ
eurocounsel
PROGRAMME
DUBLIN
24-26 MAY 1993
IMPROVING
COUNSELLING SERVICES
FOR THOSE WHO ARE
UNEMPLOYED OR AT
RISK OF BECOMING SO.
* k European Foundation
*
for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
*** Eurocounsel Conference Report
IMPROVING
COUNSELLING
SERVICES
for the unemployed and for
those at risk of unemployment
Dublin 24-26 May 1993
EF/93/32/EN The conference report has been compiled by Glenys Watt, Director of Blake
Stevenson Ltd. Glenys Watt has been the technical co-ordinator for the
Eurocounsel programme since its inception in 1991, and prior to that
undertook the research for the feasibility study.
Blake Stevenson Ltd is a research and consultancy company which specialises
in social and economic development with a particular focus on issues relating
to employment and unemployment. Eurocounsel Conference Report
IMPROVING
COUNSELLING
SERVICES
for the unemployed and for
those at risk of unemployment
Dublin 24-26 May 1993
Conference Report
by Glenys Watt
Blake Stevenson Ltd., Consultants in Economic and
Social Development, Edinburgh.
*f—A European Foundation
• LT5J* for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Loughlinstown House, Shankill, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1993
ISBN 92-826-6891-6
© European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 1993
For rights of translation or reproduction, applications should be made to the Director,
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Loughlinstown
House, Shankill, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Printed in Ireland CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION 1
THE CONTENT OF THE CONFERENCE
KEY ISSUES 40
REFERENCES
Appendix 1 : List of conference participants
Appendix 2: Conference programme
Appendix 3: Pre-conference paper on Identifying Gaps and Setting Priorities
Appendix 4: Information on the EURES programme
Appendix 5: Information on the PETRA programme 1 INTRODUCTION
The EUROCOUNSEL conference was held at the Conference Centre of the European
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in Dublin from May
24th May to 26th 1993. It was attended by some 100 participants from 17 countries
representing governments, employers, trade unions, researchers, practitioners and users of
counselling services. The conference was held as part of Phase 2 of the Eurocounsel action
research programme.
Eurocounsel was established by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living
and Working Conditions in May, 1991. Its aim is to improve the quality and effectiveness
of information, advice, guidance and counselling services in relation to the prevention and
solution of long-term unemployment.
This document is a report on the proceedings of the conference. It outlines the content of
each element of the conference programme and highlights some of the key issues which
were raised by the participants during plenary sessions and discussions.
Background on Eurocounsel
The first phase ofl took place between 1991-1992 and focused on work in ten
local labour market areas in six countries: Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the
U.K. These six countries have also now been joined by Austria, where the same
programme of action research is being followed, funded by then government in two
local labour market areas.
The first phase of the programme concentrated on the following areas of work:
a mapping of existing provision of counselling services in the context of the labour
market and of relevance to long-term unemployment;
in-depth research with some of the counselling services to identify strengths and
weaknesses;
consultation exercise in each of the participating countries to bring together key
actors from the two local l labour market areas to discuss the main issues emerging
from the research to date. The results of this first phase of work were written up in country reports by each of the
local researchers. The six reports were then synthesized into the final report for Phase 1 of
Eurocounsel.(1) A summary version is also available.(2)
Phase 2 of Eurocounsel has consisted of further work at local and national level and in
addition a "European" dimension has been added. The main elements of the programme
during this period have been as follows:
monitoring of the situation with regard to counselling and unemployment in each of
the participating local labour market areas and nationally;
feedback of the results from the first phase of Eurocounsel;
organisation of a pilot programme of exchange study visits for practitioners from the
participating areas;
collection of a portfolio of case studies of interesting and innovative experience from
each of the participating countries;
organisation of a working seminar of senior public employment service officials to
discuss the issues arising from the results of the first phase of Eurocounsel and new
developments at national level;
the Eurocounsel conference.
The Conference
The Eurocounsel conference was organised by the Foundation and supported by the
Commission of the European Communities (Directorate General V) and FAS, Training and
Employment Authority, Ireland. The aims of the conference were as follows:
to promote the exchange of information on advice, guidance, information and
counselling services in the context of the development of the labour market and the
reduction of unemployment;
to disseminate and discuss the results of Phases 1 and 2 of the Foundation's
Eurocounsel programme on counselling and long-term unemployment;