Educational and vocational guidance services for the 14-25 age group

Directorate-General For Translation European Commission

Description

Belgium, France and the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
Education policy
Labour market - free movement of workers
Vocational training

Sujets

• Education policy
• Belgium
• France
• Luxemburgo

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION
• Nombre de lectures: 12
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL
GUIDANCE SERVICES
FOR THE 14-25 AGE GROUP
BELGIUM, FRANCE
AND THE GRAND-DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG
EHTO
0 DOCUMENT DOG IISSION
OF THE EUROPEAN IMENT ΕΓΓΡΑΦΟ COMMUNITIES
m This document has been prepared for use within the Commission. It does not
necessarily represent the Commission's official position.
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1 988
ISBN 92-825-7854-2
Catalogue number: CB-52-88-01 7-EN-C
© ECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels · Luxembourg, 1988
Reproduction is authorized, except for commercial purposes, provided the source is
acknowledged.
Printed in Belgium Commission of the European Communities
EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE SERVICES
FOR THE K-25 AGE GROUP:
Belgium, France and the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
Document This document has been prepared for use within the Commission. It does not
necessarily represent the Commission's official position.
Copyright ECSC-EEC-EAEC, Brussels - Luxembourg, 1987
Reproduction is authorized, except for commercial purposes, provided the
source is acknowledged. Introduction to Country Studies - Watts' study on guidance
The Director of the National Institute for Careers, Education and Counselling
(NICEC, Cambridge, U.K.), Mr. A. Watts has recently concluded his work on a
study on Education and Vocational Guidance Services for the 14-25 age group
within the Member States of the European Community.
He was assisted in this extensive and complicated study by a multilingual team,
representing all Member States, and in particular by Ms. C. Dartois of the
Agence Nationale pour le Développement de l'Education Permanente (ADEP ) France,
and Mr. P. Plant, Guidance Counsellor, Dermark.
As is well-known, since 1980, unemployment amongst young people has risen
drai„atically, and Member States have initiated or intensified their programmes
of training and work-experience for young people, whether school-leavers or
unemployed. A problem encountered by all Member States is to provide the right
quality and quantity of guidance for young people in their choices in school
or on the labour market. The Second Community programme on Transition of Young
People from School to Adult and Working Life has guidance as one of its central
themes, and several projects are concerned wholly or partially with this problem.
As a result of the Commission's work in this programme, and studies such as that by
Professor Drévillon on recent developments in Member States policy on guidance, the
Commission's services concluded that it was necessary to make an indepth study
on guidance issues, Community wide, for the 14-25 age group, with a view to
providing Member States with an overall picture of guidance provision and needs
and to formulating future Community policy in this field.
The study set out to cover in a comparative way the nature and size of guidance
services, their staffing and funding, the identity of their clients, and in
particular the cooordination existing between the different branches of the
services. It has now been successfully completed.
A synthesis report of Mr. A. Watts, Ms. C. Dartois and Mr. P. Plant, analysing
all the country studies has already been published as a Social Europe Supplement^.
Each country study was produced by an expert on guidance from the Member State
concerned, in cooperation with one of the three coordinators named above.
Each study has been written according to the same basic plan, thereby affording
easy comparison. There will be four volumes published as follows :
1. Reports from United Kingdom, Ireland and Greece (in English)
2. Reports from Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany and Netherlands
(in English)
3. Reports from France, Belgium and Luxembourg (in English)
(1) For information and copies, please apply to :
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Directorate General V
Rue de la Loi, 200
Β - 1049 Bruxelles 2 -
4. Reports from Italy, Spain and Portugal (in English)'
The reports can be read separately since each is self standing, or
together with the synthesis report. However only the synthesis report
contains the author's recommendations to the Commissions's services and
those of Member States. An executive summary of the synthesis report
and its conclusions ands have been published as an Article
in Social Europe. 2
The services of the Commission feel that the quality and range of the
country reports will provide a most useful base for information and
for policy formulation for administration and policy makers within the
Member States, and would like to express their thanks to all who
contributed to the success of the study.
4Λ
Paul Gormlev
(1) The country reports on Spain and Portugal do not form part of the
synthesis report
(2) For information and copies, please apply to :
COMMISSION OF THE European Communities
Directorate-General V
Rue de la Loi, 200
Β - 1049 Bruxelles EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE SERVICES
FOR THE 14-25 AGE-GROUP
IN BELGIUM
V. Pieltain
Laboratoire de Pedagogie Experimentale
University of Liege
A contribution to a study conducted by A.G. Watts, C. Dartois and P. Plant
on behalf of the Commission of the European Communities
(Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Education)
June 1986 CONTENTS
Page
Background
(a) Lower and Upper Secondary Schools 2
(b) Higher Education 5
(c) Further Training Opportunities 6
(d) Specialn 7
(e) Adult Education
II. The Structure of the Professional Guidance Services 9
(a) General Features 9
(b) The CPMS/pMSC H
(c) University Centres 20
(d) The ONEM/RVA Observation and Orientation Service 2 3
(e) TheA Placement Office5
(f) Other Services6
III. Relationships between Institutions9
(a)s with Schools
(b) Relationships with Employers 31
(c)sh Parents2
(d)s between Different Services3
IV. Conclusions 35
Glossary7 I. BACKGROUND
Over the last fifteen years, many changes concerning young people aged 14
to 25 have taken place in Belgium. As many as 25% of young people are now
affected by unemployment.* This is especially true for those young people who
have received less training and education.
Since 1971, educational reform (the renove) has greatly changed the
structure and organisation of schooling in the country. One of the aims of
the renove or 'renewal' was to improve the provision of guidance and
Orientation' for young people during their time at school.**
The time spent in compulsory education has been lengthened. Since 1984,
full-time schooling has been compulsory from the age of 6 to 16; part-time
schooling is now compulsory from the age of 16 to 18. Unfortunately, this
increase in the length of schooling has not been accompanied by appropriate
changes in school structures.
In order to gain a better understanding of the problems related to the
orientation of young people, it is necessary first to present a brief
description of the Belgian school system.
Belgium is divided into two linguistic areas: Walloon where French is
spoken, and Flanders where Flemish is spoken. Brussels is the capital and is
bilingual. There are also several educational networks in Belgium:
• a school network organised by the State;
• a school network funded by the State but organised by public institutions
(local or provincial schools);
* Estimate by the National Employment Office (ONEM), Liege.
** Organisation des Etudes: Le Mouvement Educatif en Belgique. Brussels,
1981-83. - 2 -
• a school network funded by the State but organised by private
institutions (mainly Catholic schools).
In every town there are schools belonging to each of the different networks.
However, the distribution of the schools between networks differs in the two
linguistic areas: Catholic schools, for instance, are in the majority in
Flanders.
(a) Lower and Upper Secondary Schools
Secondary education begins at the age of 12. In 1971, the educational
system was reorganised, but the systems still differ between one network and
another.
The traditional secondary school system (the system before
reorganisation) was divided into three main types of school: the general
secondary school, the technical secondary school, and the vocational secondary
school. Each one was organised independently from the others. Changes from
one section to another were not permitted.
The 'renewed' secondary school system (the system after reorganisation)
is divided into three successive two-year stages: the 'observation stage', the
'orientation stage', and the 'determination stage' (see figure 1). Throughout
the six secondary school years, the curriculum includes:
• Core subjects (e.g. mother tongue, mathematics) which are the same for
all students.
• Subjects related to the main option chosen by the student: the student
gradually specialises more and more in these subjects.*
• Complementary options in other fields.
• Optional activities.
Even if there ar