National Resource Centre for Vocational Guidance
(Euroguidance Centre of Greece)

Activities

In addition to activities common to all Centres in the Euroguidance Network outlined in section c, The Basic Activities of the Network, EKEP, the Greek NRCVG, has concluded the following activities:

i. Printed information material

With the aim to promote cooperation among the different stakeholders in the field of Counselling and Vocational Guidance and dissemination of quality information, E.K.E.P. has published the following information material:

• Promotion leaflet, in greek and in english, which describes the role, the mission and the activities of E.K.E.P. both at national and European level (published in 2003).
• Promotion leaflet, in greek and in english, which presents the Euroguidance Network and the activities and services provided by the Greek NRCVG/Euroguidance Centre (publication 2003 and 2005).
• User manual for the Ploteus Portal which contains useful information about the Portal and specific details on how to make good use of the tool and on how to deal with its contents (published in 2003, updating is under way).
• Abstracts of the Panhellenic Conference on Counselling and Guidance, titled “Career Counselling and Vocational Training”, that E.K.E.P. organised in cooperation with the Hellenic Society of Counselling and Guidance, in Athens, on 30/11-1/12/2002 (published in 2003).
• Information Guide titled “Contact the appropriate organisation”, which provides contact information on all agencies and organisations that are active in education, training, employment, counselling and vocational guidance services in Greece (published in 2004).
• Aiming at strengthening European mobility for education and employment reasons and having as a criterion the large number of Greek people moving to the United Kingdom to study or work, an information Guide titled “Studying & Working in UK” was compiled, including information about issues of mobility, education, training and employment in the UK (published in 2004).
• Proceedings of the one-day seminar titled “Multicultural Counselling” held in Athens, on 6 December 2003. The publication includes speeches, material used in the Work Groups, a list with Internet links as regards multiculturality and relevant Greek and foreign bibliography (published in 2004).
• Annual Newsletter (EKEP@info) for EKEP’s realised activities (published in 2004 and 2005).

The above printed information material is distributed during the different events organised by E.K.E.P. (e.g. seminars, conferences, etc.) and sent to all national organisations offering counselling and vocational guidance services in education/ training and employment sectors, as well as to the Euroguidance Centres.

 
ii. Career Fairs

• E.K.E.P. participates with a pavilion in the International Fair on Education organised annually during spring in Piraeus, under the aegis of national authorities. The Fair is visited by students of secondary and tertiary education, young employees, business executives, free lancers, teachers, vocational guidance practitioners and parents. The visitors have the opportunity to be directly and properly informed about the educational opportunities offered in Greece and abroad as well as their career prospectives.
• E.K.E.P. is represented in the Thessaloniki International Fair held in September every year. The basic target is to provide citizens with information about the work of the body, its actions in the framework of the Euroguidance Network and to present the European Portal on Learning Opportunities throughout the European Space - Ploteus.

iii. Training actions to strengthen the mobility and lifelong dimension in Counselling and Vocational Guidance Services

In collaboration with the two ministerial entities (Employment & Education) competent in Counselling and Vocational Guidance, E.K.E.P. organizes special seminars and conferences targeting the field interests of Guidance Counsellors. The aim of these seminars/conferences is to establish close contacts among the Guidance Counsellors and with EKEP. In addition, Counsellors have the opportunity to learn about the new trends, activities and initiatives in the field of Counselling & Vocational Guidance. The following seminars-conferences-meetings have been organised so far:

• International Conference titled “Trends in Counselling and Vocational Guidance on the eve of the 21^st century, Athens, 9-11/05/2001.
• Panhellenic Conference on Counselling and Guidance, titled “Career Counselling and Vocational Training”, that E.K.E.P. organised in cooperation with the Hellenic Society of Counselling and Guidance, Athens, 30/11-1/12/2002.
• One-day seminar titled “Multicultural Counselling”, Athens, 6/12/2003.
• One-day information event regarding “European Mobility for education and employment reasons: Euroguidance-Eures”, Athens, 15/10/2004.
• International Meeting titled “Lifelong Guidance: Trends and Perspectives”, Athens, 9-10/12/2004.

iv. Study visits – Exchanges aiming at the exchange of information, knowledge and best practices in the field of Counselling and Vocational Guidance

• Study visit of E.K.E.P.’s representatives to the National Resource Centres (Euroguidance Centres) of Ireland on 11-17/11/2002.
• Study visit of E.K.E.P.’s representatives to Cyprus on 20-21/11/2003.
• Study visit of representatives of the Euroguidance Centre of Hungary to E.K.E.P. on 10-14/12/2003.
• Study visits of representatives of the Euroguidance Centres of Denmark and Poland to E.K.E.P. on 6-7/10/2004 and 6-10/11/2004, respectively.

v. Development of tools

E.K.E.P. undertook the purchase and translation from the English language of the Multicultural Counselling Inventory of Sodowsky, Taffe, Gutkin, and Wise (1994), which assesses multicultural counselling skills, multicultural awareness, multicultural counselling relationship and multicultural counselling knowledge. E.K.E.P. plans to conclude the psychometric adaptation of MCI to the Greek language and culture soon.

vi. Participation in transnational projects

• E.K.E.P. participates in the second implementation phase of “Fit for Europe”, which is an internet tool to support mobility.
• E.K.E.P. has been a partner in the “Guidenet” programme since May 2003. “Guidenet” is a transnational network for vocational guidance counsellors aiming at finding and disseminating new and innovative practices in counselling and vocational guidance.

vii. Participation of E.K.E.P. in conferences – meetings

The activities of E.K.E.P., as the Greek Euroguidance Centre, financed by the Leonardo da Vinci programme, include the participation of its representatives in meetings and conferences in Greece or other countries of the European Union, with the aim of gathering scientific material which will help the promotion and enhancement of the European dimension in counselling and vocational guidance institution. Indicatively are mentioned the following conferences-meetings:

·         World Congress of the IAEVG (50th anniversary) on: “Guidance, constraints and freedom”, Paris (17-21/09/2001).

·         Congress organized by the Euroguidance Network on: “The European Dimension of Vocational Guidance”, Madrid-Spain (13-14/12/2001).

·         14th “Forum du lyceen a l’ etudiant”, Amiens-France (10-11/01/2001) - a representative of the EKEP spoke to French students about education and training opportunities in Greece and provided pertinent material.

·         IAEVG-AIOSP World Congress on: “Counsellor-Profession, passion, calling”, Warsaw-Polland (29-31/03/2002).

·         Congress on Multicultural Counselling held by SIETAR with the title “Cultures in Transition”, from 31/3 to 4/4/2004 in Germany.

• International Conference of IAEVG from 15 to 17 September 2004 in La Coruña, Spain.
• Conference organised by CEDEFOP in Thessaloniki with the title “Life Course Guidance and Counselling” on 4-5 October, 2004. 
• Conference with the title ''ICT in Educational and Vocational Guidance'' with the participation of representatives of the Euroguidance Network from all the European countries. The Conference was held in Vienna, on 6 October, 2004.  
• International Conference on “Systems, Institutional Frameworks and Processes for Early Identification of Skill Needs” held in Dublin, Ireland, on 25-26 November, 2004.