External Evaluation (Summary)

1. External Evaluation (Summary) Project: Attractive Vocational Guidance for Pupils/@VGP Final Conference 24 September 2010 Sofia

2. Remarks on External Evaluation • The external evaluation is focused on products/outcomes resulted from the project; • Every product is evaluated by external expert in the respective area; • The main areas of evaluation are the quality of the products and their relevance to the target groups; • Why choosing such an evaluation approach? The answer: to provide for validation of conclusions and credibility of products.

3. The Value Added of the Project • Content: transferred methodology is addapted to the specific situation in participating countries with respect to the needs for vocational guidance of pupils, educational opportunities and labour market tendencies; • Content and quality: transferred methodology is enriched with two additional methodologies for psychodiagnostic of pupils’s individualities and development (training) of their soft competences. • Application scope: transferred methodology is addapted to primary education level (pupils of age 12-14) in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania.

4. Products resulting from the project activites • Survey of pupil’s needs of vocational guidance; • Survey of educational opportunities of the national education systems; • Survey of the labour market needs; • Multilingual web-based platform on vocational guidance; • Set of CDs for vocational guidance of pupils(18 CDs, one per each profession); • Methodology for training teachers and trainers in vocational guidance; • Methodology for training of pupils in soft competences.

5. Psychological survey of students in relation to their professional orientation • Purpose: to determine the pupil’s needs of vocational guidance; • Target groups: teachers and trainers/policy makers, researchers; • Evaluator’s remarks: • The tools used for diagnostics of personal characteristics and preferences towards a certain type of career are standardized and adapted to the concrete socio-cultural environment. Their reliability and prognostic validity is proven; • The statistical analysis and reports based on the survey provide valuable information about the 12- 14 age group; • A matter of special interest is the comparative analysis of the results of the pupils from the countries participating in the project, which is unique in its nature; • The survey has been implemented correctly, according to the highest professional and ethical standards.

6. Survey of Employers’ Demand for Qualified Labor Force • Purpose: to identify the labor market needs for employees with specific professional qualifications and educational background; • Target groups: pupils, teacher and trainers, policy makers, researchers, wider public; • Evaluator’s remarks: • The construction of the sample size and its sectoral and territorial distribution provides for accumulation of data that could be considered nationally representative in terms of survey’s goals and objectives; • The elaborated questionnaire provides for collection of comprehensive information regarding different labor market issues; • The data collected provides a sound base for estimation of currently available qualified labor within particular industries; evaluation of the labor demand in different segments of the labor market; elaboration of specific recommendations for developing critical skills demanded in various industries; highlighting some important issues related to modules of vocational education and labor market participation;

7. Multilingual web-based platform on vocational guidance • Purpose: to provide information for the project, developed guidance tools and methodologies to a wider public; • Target groups: pupils, teachers and trainers, policy makers, researchers, wider public; • Evaluator’s remarks: • The organization of the information is very neat and the navigation through the different sections of the site is easy; • The site provides a quick, easy and convenient access to all of its parts; • The design gives an air of freshness and positiveness; • Good usage of screen space and a nice balance among the separate website elements.

8. Set of CDs for vocational guidance of pupils • Purpose: to develop flexible and user-friendly guidance tools that will help pupils make informed choice for their future personal and vocational development; • Target groups: pupils, teachers and trainers; • Evaluators’ remarks (BG, TR, RO): • The appearance of CDs is attractive for students; the CDs are designed for students to take a look for attractive appearance, even though they don’t be aware of the content; • The method used is very successful as the presentation includes visual and written information support; • Profession Guidance part is broadly prepared, the information is clear and plain and easily understandable for the students; • In the content of the CD, the information about professionsis given in details; the presentations are fulfilling for the users;

9. Set of CDs for vocational guidance of pupils(2) • Evaluators’ remarks (2): • In terms of visually and auditory effects video presentations have positive and lasting effects on users. In vocal presentation decent voice is used for intonation. It would be more interesting for users if an appropriate song is used on the background; • The multimedia application allows for minimum user interference; it is compatible with different multimedia public kiosks for further dissemination; • There is an optimal balance between resolution and video compression which allows for convenience and broad distribution of information; the navigation is convenient and user-oriented. • The films can be enriched by people working in professions.

10. Methodology for training of pupils in soft competences • Purpose: development of soft competences which will enhance the effect of the applied vocational guidance methodology; • Target groups: pupils, teachers and trainers; • Evaluator’s remarks: • The methodology is designed in format of group dynamic training and integrates traditional and interactive information and training approaches; • It is consistent with the target group profile, which is homogeneous in terms of age, education, level of development, interests, goals and motivation; • The content is oriented to the pupils’ needs which are determined with preliminary survey; • The training approach reflects the psychological characteristics of the respective age group; • The structure of the training process, the choice of exercises and used didactical materials are fully compatible with the set goals.

11. Thank you! bogdanov@iwatchbulgaria.com www.iwatchbulgaria.com