VVOB is supporting Quang Nam and Nghe An to reach their vision of career guidance (the report on the development of this vision can be found elsewhere on this website). Career counseling is an important element of career guidance and capacity development in career counseling is therefore included in the VVOB support. Two 3-day workshops on Individual Career Counseling Skills were organized for the core group of trainers of Quang Nam (17 – 19 August 2012) and Nghe An (24 – 26 August 2012). These trainer of trainer (TOT) will transfer their knowledge to their colleagues in the province in a series of multiplication trainings.
There were 54 participants (23 female and 31 male participants) from DOETs (5), BOETs (10), Centres for General Technique and Career Orientation (2), Lower and Upper secondary schools (27) and Women’s Union (10). The participants were very active and participated enthusiastically in the workshops.
Nine related modules were introduced. The first six modules provide knowledge and skills for a career counselor, the last three modules were designed to help the core group members internalize and adapt the learned knowledge to their individual setting. The final goal was to enable the participants to share the content or train their colleagues in local schools/organizations.
Each module was designed to start with an introduction in the theory, followed by the application of this into practice in small groups and in a large group (on stage) setting. At the end of the day there were assessments and Q&A sessions. In-class exercise and homework were given for assessment purpose to help evaluate the teaching methodology and participants’ understanding.
Finally, on the last day, local secondary school students were invited, and, in small groups, the participants applied their career counseling skills. The facilitators observed to assess the participants’ knowledge and skills.
It was obvious that the participants were genuinely interested in the training content. The majority of the participants acquired the micro-counseling skills quickly and successfully implemented these skills in the small group and in practice with real students in day 3.
After a three-day training program in each province, through observation, reviewing of in-class exercises and homework and comments from the participants, it was concluded that the training met its initial objectives of helping the participants:
- Develop individual career counseling skills
- Gain basic theoretical career guidance knowledge
- Contextualize individual career counseling skills and career guidance theories
- Create an agenda for training career guidance teachers in their local organization (schools or Women’s Union)
In addition to that, this has been an opportunity for the participants to further understand their “Provincial career guidance visions”, and the cohesion between VVOB’s support and the provinces’ needs in achieving the visions. Participants deeply understood the importance of collaboration among different stakeholders on career guidance development in their areas, especially the collaboration among schools and parents via collaboration with women’s union.
At the end of the workshop plans were made for further multiplication of the training. The participants showed that they are highly dedicated and committed to apply the gained knowledge and skills. VVOB staff and the consultants will continuously provide further coaching to help the participants in sharing and re-training their colleagues.
