Committed to guidance for learning

In March 2022, we completed six years of activities for the development and implementation of guidance for employees. These activities took place at the SIAE as part of the ESF project Professional support for information and guidance activities and validation of non-formal knowledge 2016–2022 and in a network of 15 consortia under the public tender Guidance for Employees 2016–2022. As per the Operational Programme for the Implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy in the period 2014–2020, both projects were placed under the priority axis 10: Knowledge, skills and lifelong learning to enhance employability, investment priorities 10.1., Specific objective 2: Improving employee competencies to reduce labour market mismatches.

The closing professional event for counsellors who provided guidance for employees, entitled Committed to guidance for learning of all employees, was organised on 25 March. The purpose of the event was to share the experience the SIAE experts and experts of 15 consortia gained in the project and reflect on how we will continue to facilitate the participation of employees in guidance in ALE, especially those to whom guidance brings opportunities that they would otherwise not have.

The event took the form of a workshop led by experienced facilitator Natalija Vrhunc, MSc. She led the participants from thinking about key success factors in project activities to pondering the vision of providing continuous guidance for learning of all employees and defining key guidelines for successful ongoing guidance.

The exchange of experiences and the creative and scintillating reflections that emerged in the group of participants during the professional event could be summed up in one message: ‘The counsellors at ALE remain heartfelt and committed to guidance for learning of all. Counsellor as an expert and as a person!’ The counsellors recalled many personal stories of the employees involved, which had a successful ending. Some are presented on the For Learning portal (in Slovenian).

Guidance activities for learning of all employees will continue as part of the implementation of guidance activities in ALE following Slovenian legislation. Guidance in adult education has been implemented as a public service since 1 January 2021. It is financed by MESS and professionally supported by SIAE experts.

Tanja Vilič Klenovšek, MSc (tanja.vilic.klenovsek@acs.si), SIAE