Workshops

Together we will try to look ahead and recognize the skills of the future. We will not only come out of our previous experiences and skills, but also from our own characteristics, aspirations and private or professional ambitions. The workshop will focus on different methods and techniques, lectures, role-plays and group work.

Uroš Kopavnik is career counsellor for jobseekers, students and pupils at Career Centre Kranj of the Employment Service of Slovenia. He also coordinates and implements work at the Career Center, while developing new methods, contents and approaches for individual or group career counseling. In his career counselling work, he always focuses on the individual's advantages and opportunities in the labor market.
 

presentation

Early detect troubling students “at the first sign of difficulty” is a key skill to prevent school failure, maladjustment and school dropout. Screening risk it is still today conceptually diffuse and operationally challenging. Conceptually, there is a lack of clarity about the risk factors associated to risk grounded on limited longitudinal research. Supports also lack science-based foundations and empirically validated evidence, challenging effective impact evaluation analysis. Operationally, the screening of risk is undermined by subjectivity, limited response from student supports and a highly bureaucratized articulation within school systems, leaving untracked and/or unresponded students exhibiting signs of risk (in attendance, behavior, career choice). 

Redirect time and focus is now required to optimize school support systems. Indeed, the Portuguese National Board of Education has established a new inclusive education framework based on response to intervention (RTI) model that proposes a multilevel approach to curricula and supports, redirecting the focus and scope of supports from remediative to promotional and preventive measures. This requires more accessible systemic, comprehensive and effective student management systems. 

We present the SAPIE-EB, a web-based delivered early warning system that predicts student failure and dropout, manage supports and evaluates their impact in redirecting trajectories of risk across time. As a universal screening device, the SAPIE-EB uses readily available data imported from student management systems, making predictions with no extra work. Predictions are scientifically grounded on the A-B-C model of risk (Balfanz, 2007), expanded to health and career domains. As an intervention management system supports are codified according to the multilevel model advocated by the National Board of Education.  At-risk students are suggested to specific domain -specific interventions based on the dimensions of risk and ranked for intervention from innovative algorithm based on student actual status, the level of risk, and on over-time progress in risk. Intervention is monitored for both the intrapersonal and interpersonal domains, from indicators of student progress and analysis across time, class, course and schools, making it possible to measure the impact of interventions in redirecting the trajectories of school (and career) failure across time. The data stay available across different levels of education, making it useful to inform further interventions. 

Advantages of the SAPIE-EB include the ability for decision-makers and educators to gain a deeper and broader perspective on students’ success, bridging teacher and support systems within schools while they make data operational to support political and educational decision-making, thus bringing closer schools to community. Other advantages include focusing intervention and debureaucratizing processes and optimizing direct intervention time. 

Results in the US are promising. A recent longitudinal study showed that in schools monitored with similar systems when compared to schools with conventional screening procedures, the rates of absenteeism and failure in isolated courses are significantly lower. This lead us to believe that the SAPIE will result make a decisive contribution to decrease the rates of school failure and dropout, while providing critical inputs to increase the quality of success of students. In the workshop, we will navigate through the system and exemplify processes from real data.  

Pedro Cordeiro PhD has a degree in Clinical Psychology and PhD in Educational Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra. He holds the position of invited adjunct professor at the Higher School of Health at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, team coordinator of the PIICIE project at the city Council of Leiria and head of research at the Associação Tempos Brilhantes for The SAPIE project. He collaborates in the Integrated Masters and Doctoral programmes of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra. He is author of several scientific research publications in international impact-factor peer reviewed journals.
 

presentation

Presentation skills are essential in every aspect of the professional life. To be good at something is not enough: if you don’t show it, no one will know it. 

Through everyday work with job seekers and unemployed people of all ages, we become aware of the importance of self-evaluation and quality presentation in the labour market.

Whether it is applying for a job and sending a resume, preparing for a job interview or just performing tasks in everyday work, you will achieve better results if you master the necessary presentation skills.

In this workshop we will show examples of good practice and some exercises in our work with job seekers in order to strengthen them in their job search process.

Helena Smoljo is psychologist, working at the Croatian Employment Service (CES) as a senior expert advisor in Lifelong Career Guidance Centre (CISOK) in Zagreb for the past five years. She provides clients information, advice and support them in the decision making process, in choosing their career path and preparing them for the labour market requirements.

presentation