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The 100 Careers from VET!

Overall objective  

The aim of the 100 careers from VET project was to promote the attractiveness of vocational education and training, strengthen students’ attachment to the labour market, motivate continuous learning and encourage professional and regional mobility. The need for the project was linked to the desire to strengthen the positive image of VET by highlighting inspiring and encouraging career stories and by explaining education and work in an interesting way. In addition, vocational education and training legislation obliges VET institutions to provide career guidance for students from the beginning of their studies until graduation. The development of customer-oriented career pathways and student guidance requires the development of services and expertise in educational institutions. The project has worked with employers in the region to raise the profile of vocational skills and VET. 

Target groups 

The target groups were 1. students at Kankaanpää College, Sataedu and WinNova 2. graduates from the above mentioned educational institutions and those who have entered the labour market (=alumni) 3. applicants for vocational education and training. 4. employers in the region. 5. teachers and other staff of Kankaanpää College, Sataedu and WinNova. The indirect target groups of the project have been employers and work communities that offer employment opportunities to students and other educational institutions that can benefit from the results of the project. 

Activities and results 

The objectives, results and impact of the project are linked to the activities carried out. The key areas of activity have been:

Kankaanpää College (in Finnish Kankaanpään opisto) has carried out comprehensive and innovative work to develop digital services by integrating the different parts of the project into a virtual service environment, which name is e-learning office. During the project, Kankaanpää College has designed, produced and updated content for the different service layers of the e-Learning Office, targeting alumni, working life actors and students. The use of virtual spaces and services has been tested. The 3D space and its usability and functionalities have been adapted in response to user experience. 

In terms of alumni activities, the development work has included building an alumni network and alumni register and recording alumni or career stories in different formats (podcast, video, text). Alumni activities bring together a network of experts from the graduates of Kankaanpää College, Sataedu and WinNova who have moved to working life and/or postgraduate studies. Alumni stories increase the attractiveness of vocational education and training. 

The project has developed an operational model for a career monitoring survey in upper secondary vocational education and carried out three career monitoring surveys targeted at graduates and interviews with employers and graduates. The results of the career monitoring survey can be found at the short link bit.ly/uraseurantatulokset3(siirryt toiseen palveluun). The operational model and the results of the interviews can be found at the short link bit.ly/uraseurantatutkimus The results will give a voice to graduates and those who have moved on to work, using their expertise to develop vocational education and guidance services. The results will also provide useful background information for those working in the field of career guidance and for management. The career monitoring study and its results are of national significance, as no similar study has been designed and implemented on this scale before. 

The information packs on job search and employment and entrepreneurship respond to the need to strengthen the expertise and knowledge of both teaching staff and students in the areas of employment, job search and entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurship information pack can be found at short link: bit.ly/ yrittäjyyspelilaudat. The information pack on job search and employment can be found at short link: bit.ly/duuniinpelilaudat The contents of the information packs will help students and graduates to identify and articulate their skills, prepare a modern application and CV, and provide a wide range of information on job search, employment and entrepreneurship issues. 

In terms of career and recruitment services, the main objective was to extend the job search guidance model developed in the Winkkari project (ESF), coordinated by WinNova, to other educational institutions in Satakunta, in order to more effectively introduce students to working life throughout Satakunta. Sataedu has developed a Career Counselling Centre (name in Finnish Uraohjaamo), which aims to support students’ job search skills and employment, promote access to further studies and encourage entrepreneurship after graduation. The Career Centre has included job search simulations, CV and job search workshops and visits to tell the entrepreneur’s story. Guidance has also been provided digitally. At Kankaanpää College, career and recruitment services are integrated into the e-learning office, and guidance services have mainly been provided in virtual environment. 

As a result of developing and testing the “enterprises as mentors” model, cooperation with employers in the region to raise the profile and importance of vocational skills has intensified and new models of cooperation have been developed. All “enterprises as mentors” experiments are described in detail on the project website, which can be found at short link: bit.ly/satauraa The experiments have included: a podcast series (called “Urajuttuja”) featuring different forms of cooperation between VET-schools and working life and presentations of partner companies and their employment opportunities; the Partner of the Month approach; the concept of a service pledge contracting company. 

The 100 Careers from VET! project has been successful in developing and strengthening methods and services to support the transition from education to work and from work to education. It has diversified the interaction between working life and educational institutions, for example through the implementation of “enterprises as mentors” model, alumni activities, career monitoring and the development of related approaches. The project has developed expertise to support student employability and quality career guidance by producing digital information packages on entrepreneurship and employment, as well as the Career Guidance Centre concept at Sataedu and a virtual service environment integrated with the e-learning office at Kankaanpää College. In addition, the results of the career monitoring survey will provide an insight into the situation of VET graduates and the views of employers, thus broadening the knowledge needed to support career planning and the positive image of the quality of VET and the employment prospects it offers. 

All results can be found from project´s website at the short link: bit.ly/satauraa(siirryt toiseen palveluun)