Career Management Skills – A New ‘Literacy’ for Sustainable Employment Erasmus Project

Project Title

Career Management Skills – A New ‘Literacy’ for Sustainable Employment

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

The development of guidance services for adults within the workforce is a topical concern. Dramatic changes in work structures and social organization have occurred that are placing demands on adults to rethink their careers on an on-going basis. Added to this, are current EU policies that emphasise the need for continuous education for future economic and social mobility in an increasingly competitive global environment. The ACUMEN project consortium are of the opinion that traditional career guidance, although still relevant and important as a school-based or institution-based service, is wholly unsuitable to meet the needs of adults already in the workforce and that there is a considerable gap in the market for freely available and easily accessible career management training resources to help adults take control of their own career trajectory. Career management is a continuous process that occurs throughout one’s career and not just at discrete times. It may be helpful to think of career management as a philosophy and set of habits that enable adults achieve career goals and develop career resiliency. Career management skills are like ‘labour market literacy’. Adults in the workforce who have developed the necessary skills should be able to assess where the labour market is going; consider new skill areas that are appropriate to their own strengths and preferences; develop a personalized learning plan and map-out their career pathway to sustainable and rewarding work based on an understanding of potential future skill needs. Successful career management is accomplished through regular habits of building relationships, engaging in career development conversations, updating your career development plan, and setting new goals as life and career needs change. Being proficient at career management also means possessing basic skills related to job searching and managing change in a resilient manner.The Career Management Skills Framework for Scotland, published in July 2012, describes career management skills set around 4 themes of Self; Strengths; Horizons; Networks. This framework will be the basis for the ACUMEN project and consortium partners will develop a complete suite of tools and resources that address each of the above themes and support adults within the workforce or those seeking employment to identify an appropriate career progression pathway. The ACUMEN project will develop these new resources for adult learners in the UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Finland. It will be the first project to comprehensively address career management skills in a European context and will provide tools and resources that are localized to meet the needs of adult learners in each partner country. Furthermore, ACUMEN will provide free on-line access through the most popular on-line platforms to all tools and resources developed. All resources and on-line platforms will be available in partner languages.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 250976 Eur

Project Coordinator

European Learning Network Ltd & Country: UK

Project Partners

• BEST INSTITUT FUR BERUFSBEZOGENE WEITERBILDUNG UND PERSONALTRAINING GMBH
• INNOVENTUM OY
• MEATH COMMUNITY RURAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP LIMITED
• SYNTHESIS CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION LIMITED
• REINTEGRA, z.s.
• FUTURE IN PERSPECTIVE LIMITED
• ttg team training GmbH