StartNet has organised a 30 hour career guidance training for teachers, in collaboration with the school network GET (Green Education Training), led by Liceo Marco Polo in Bari. The Building Futures training course is aimed at teachers and school heads at lower and upper secondary schools who wish to strengthen career guidance for their students as well as being engaged in activities or career guidance NOP projects (National Operational Programme). The course consists of 7 dates and has so far been hosted in Bari (Liceo Marco Polo), Lecce (I.I.S.S. Antonietta De Pace) and Potenza (I.C. A. Busciolano).

The misalignment between educational programs and employment expectations has caused an ever increasing gap between the school system and the labour market with considerable consequences for young people in Apulia and Basilicata: not only regarding the mismatch between skills acquired at school and skills required by companies, but also the increase in school drop-outs in two regions that had seen the drop-out rate fall in the years before the crisis (in Apulia, it has grown from 16% to 18% in the last two years, and in Basilicata, it has risen to 13.8%, ISTAT 2017 data). A career guidance service has never been more necessary and should start at school.

The course is based on the European model of "Career Management Skills", and consists of 21 hours of workshop activities with experts and entrepreneurs and 9 hours of research activities and case study. The first round was held in Bari in 2018, where 40 teachers successfully participated in designing activities and career guidance interventions to be carried out in class with students and families.

The following topics are addressed: self-awareness, career guidance and the world of work; career guidance didactics and research on educational needs; construction of vertical curricula and evaluation as a career guidance opportunity; motivation and entrepreneurship; life planning (assessment of skills, potential, motivation); placement services in the region and in the European area; online procedures, how to write a curriculum vitae and introduce yourself to an employer.

The course was organized by Head Teacher Rosa Scarcia of the lead school in the GET network: the Liceo Linguistico and Istituto Tecnico-Economico Statale Marco Polo in Bari, coordinated in Lecce by Head Teacher Silvia Madaro Metrangolo of the partner school I.I.S.S. Antonietta De Pace, and in Potenza by Head Teacher Lucia Girolamo of I.C. A. Busciolano and the Director of the Provincial School Office (USP) of Potenza Debora Infante.

Watch the interview on Telerama.

The course is completely free of charge and enrolment is made via MUIR’s SOFIA platform. For further information please contact the tutor of the course Prof. Francesca Tritto: tritto.formazione@gmail.com.

The training course is part of the Building Futures project that covers all angles, combining teacher training, studies of the labour market, investigation into the needs of students and the launching of regional teams specialising in career guidance in Apulia and Basilicata. A fundamental part of the course is to allow participating teachers to deepen their career guidance didactics, both through methodologies that identify and enhance the skills and aptitudes of students and through a direct comparison with the development trends of the region and the world of work.