Die Strategie für das Lebenslange Lernen ... - EUROlocal

14 GUIDANCE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING
Guidance for Lifelong Learning
Obtaining effective education counselling seems to be a
matter of luck in Germany. Available services are very disparate
and the quality is not always good. Education counselling
specialises in different target groups of different ages
and consequently in different phases of life and education.
At the same time, education counselling has to satisfy
demand in a changing environment: the significance of
informal learning and therefore self-managed and selforganised
forms of learning has increased. Analogously,
education counselling also has to cover areas such as study
and organisation guidance. From the perspective of companies
and educational institutions, there is a growing
demand for flexible ways of determining qualification
requirements and for guidance in terms of planning and
implementing (further) education programmes. In regions
close to national borders, information about the education
systems of neighbouring countries is required. Not least of
all, electronic media have also made their entry into education
counselling.
For long-term success, the quality of counselling is decisive,
i.e. the qualifications of counsellors, the quality of the counselling
process and the satisfaction of the student. Counselling
also involves professional recognition of skills, acknowledgement
of informal learning success and regional
information management for Lifelong Learning and targeted
contact to persons remote from education.
Educational counselling is an important focal point in many
Learning Regions. Here, we can see the immediate advantages
of networking for the prospective student. The following
pages outline examples of learning service networks, learning
stores, education databases, online counselling, basic
education centres, as well as cross-border counselling services.
What is needed are integrative, all-embracing forms of guidance
which take into account the individualisation of life
situations and which are geared to the complete life history
of the clientele. Regional network partnerships can coordinate
and harmonise existing and new guidance services,
particularly for initial sessions. The advantages are that they
can operate impartially and across funding agencies and
can thus mediate more effectively between supply and
demand in the region. Impartial counselling also makes it
possible to address new target groups and educationally
deprived groups.