Best Practice „Career Orientation”

1. Best Practice „Career Orientation”

2. The Significiance of Career Orientation The Individual Career opportunities and future prospects Successful careers Autonomous and self-confident young people Societal, Economical, Political Context Youth unemployment Pressures on social cohesion Shortage of qualified workers against the backdrop of demographic change Help to avoid Need solutions

3. A successful transition from school into the work force Depending on: Quality of vocational training Accessibility, permeability and wealth of opportunities of the educational tracks Educationally well-developed career orientation programs career orientation programs with a structurally grounded foundation

4. Political Context Statewide plan in Berlin „Career and Academic Orientation”: „Career and academic orientation should be regarded as the task of all [school] teachers in all subjects, and collaborations with partners outside of the schools should be included as an integral component.” (Resource: http://bildungsserver.berlin-brandenburg.de/berufsorientierung.html) Structural Integration The Berlin Senate Administration for Education, Youth and Science & the career counseling arm of the Federal Employment Agency acting on behalf of authority „Berufspraxis Network”

5. Variety of Interests Berufspraxis Network combines 27 Secondary Schools 16 Berlin Trade Guilds & the Chamber of Skilled Crafts and Small Businesses Young people need career opportunities Trades need qualified workers Berlin Senate: „Trades Action Program of theBerlin Senate”

6. Main objective: Enabling youths to independantly find a career path Factor 1: Recognizing and developing talents, interests, skills and competencies Factor 2: Weighing one‘s wishes and goals against Educational and labor market opportunities Factor 3: Practice-oriented and as early as possible Purposes and goals of our work

7. Career Orientation is a Process Premise:Continualassistanceandsupport in theprocessof Focussing on three dimensions What they want Formulating desires and interests What they can do Discover, develop and test their own skills, talents and competencies Actually doing it The decisive step: Comparing desires and competencies with job market and educational opportunities

8. The particular Educational Approach The Berufspraxis network is „one of a kind in Germany” and its importance „could not be overstated”. „Practical career orientation in the trades is valuable not only for those who later wish to pursue an education in the trades but also for those who, through the practical visits to the operation realize that it‘s not for them, because that helps us avoid drop-outs among trainees later on.” The former Berlin Senator for Education, Science and Research, Dr. Jürgen Zöllner:

9. The Implementation 7th graders (12 - 13 years old): The „Job Detectives” • Learning in a playful way • In small groups discovering the trades in the neighborhood • Learning about various careers in the local companies • Achieving results through initiative and creativity • By collecting „evidence“-objects in the companies they solve a riddle

10. The Implementation 8th graders (13 - 14 years old): „Workshop Days” • Introductory classroom event • Visiting four different education centers of the trade guilds* • Learning in a hands-on manner on-site in the real-working world • Gathering experiences and knowledge about typical activities, materials, and tools • Additionally: events for determining key qualifications, application training * Education centers of the trade guilds are run by the trade guilds and provide workshops where students receive the general portion of their education in trades

11. The Implementation 9th graders (14 - 15 years old): „In-depth learning phase” • Offering a brief but intensive internship at a training company or education center • Offering a clear view on the selected career • Requiring an application with a detailed description of one´s motivation

12. The Implementation 10th graders (15 - 16 years old): • Assisting the career counselors at the employment agencies in the schools • Consulting the career counselors about the youth‘s career prospects and work with them based on that information  thereby we benefit from our network of connections within the trades and guilds • Additionally: application training, aptitude tests etc.

13. 5 Key Components of a successful Career Orientation • Career orientation as a process with continuous presence, advice, support, and assistance of youths • Career orientation through practical experiences in the real working world • Structural anchoring of the programs for career orientation • Educational concepts that take account of the economic, political, and societal dimensions of career orientation programs; in which the youths are at the center and, associated with that • A value-based, holistic approach to competency development

14. Our Partners: Some Photo Impressions

15. IMPRESSIONS Baker

16. IMPRESSIONS Confectioner / Patissier

17. IMPRESSIONS Metal Worker

18. IMPRESSIONS Woodener

19. IMPRESSIONS Glazier

20. IMPRESSIONS Plasterer

21. IMPRESSIONS Painter and Varnisher Plasterer

22. Thank you very much for your attention! Modul e. V. Netzwerk Berufspraxis Susanne Green Grüntaler Straße 62 13359 Berlin Germany Tel.: +49 30 493 00 341 Mobil: +49 170 3711754 Fax.: +49 30 493 00 343 E-Mail: sgreen@berufspraxis-berlin.de www.modul-berlin.de