JoPo - Joustavia polkuja työelämään

In order to assess the skills needs of the working life, skill needs surveys were carried out in the mechanical and production technology and social and health sector workplaces in the Jämsä, Keuruu and Saarijärvi municipal experiment area.

The educational offer of workforce training was planned in close cooperation with TE services experts and municipal trial service managers and self-coaches.

• In the planning of the training offer, we responded to the labor shortage in sectors suffering from the lack of employment by offering e.g. workforce training for the fields of social and health and mechanical and production technology.
• In accordance with the project plan, the university examined the existing supply and its even better allocation to the needs of the regions (working life) and students. Jamk produced an online course in cooperation with the project Women equally for a career - NAU! project (ESR, S21952): Boost your career! Career planning and working life skills (2 credits) to develop students' career planning skills and working life skills.

The customers of the municipal experiment received guidance on studies, building different study paths, financing studies and employment opportunities.

• Guidance was given personally close to the customer, and guidance was made easily accessible.
• The customer's service path was streamlined and supported to make appropriate and employment-promoting education and career choices.
• The guidance and counseling service produced by the project partly replaced the service of a vocational psychologist missing from the municipal experiment.

A guidance network was built and close cooperation was carried out with the self-coaches of the municipal experiment.

• Municipal experiment personnel visited educational institutions and organized joint events.
• Participated as partners in the Työkvartti meetings of Saarijärvi's employment operators and theme days organized for jobseekers, in which employers were also involved.
• In these events, e.g. training opportunities in the field of social and health care and mechanical and production technology, open jobs, wage support and work trial opportunities, SORA legislation and the renewed Työmarkkinatori.
• Participated in and developed an educational experiment pilot.

Produced material:

• Guidance discussion form
• Routes to vocational training
• Education paths in the social and health sector
• Transitions during studies in workforce training
• Routes to higher education (UJOPK project)• Special support toolkit - for self-coaches

Project supported the learning and familiarization of secondary vocational education students studying with unemployment benefit in working life, provided additional guidance and support for learning in working life and workplace counselors with workplace visits. The special support toolkit of Ammattiopisto Spesia, which is a good tool for guiding and supporting special support students, was offered to workplace counselors and self-coaches of the municipal experiment. The support needs of students studying with unemployment benefits were identified at different stages of their studies, and different forms of support and methods of completion were offered individually.

Various training paths in the social and health sector were described and illustrated from the perspective of different customer groups. An educational trial pilot in central Finland was planned and implemented together with ELY, the TE office and the municipal experiment.

The virtual showrooms that were created in the project 'Osaamisella töihin' were used in the supervision work.

The existing possibilities of the guidance and support services of the higher education units involved in the project to meet the individual support needs of the project's target group, the jobseeker-clients, were investigated.

• Existing activities and their status were examined, and guidance activities were planned and implemented in order to evaluate and develop guidance and support activities related to study and learning readiness, learning difficulties, and guidance that prepares for study and apprenticeship.
• In the spring of 2023, a 2-part workshop process was implemented to develop support and guidance for university of applied sciences students, as well as to review and develop the functions of special support and guidance during the application phase.
• Experts from different units of Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences participated in the workshops in guidance, teaching, student well-being, marketing, studying, coaching, communication studen services and quality.
• The topics of the workshops were in particular: guidance and support of the application phase now; job seeker-client as an applicant for education: assessment of study readiness; identified areas' for guidance, support and special support; accessibility of application; guidance and support good practices and development needs.
• Those who participated in the workshop defined tasks arising from unit-specific development needs, which the participant in his background unit set out to work on alone or together with other participants in unit. The progress of unit-specific development tasks was reviewed jointly in the workshops, and suitable follow-up actions were defined to be worked on independently in the units after the workshop process.

This work package also included an interview with the actors of the project (free educational work) in order to find out the development of forms of support during studies.

• The results of the interview materials and the joint examination of the client profiles of the municipal employment experiment brought to light the demandingness of guidance skills and the need for information. Based on the results, joint planning was started with Jamki, JYU Open University and OsaajaKS project participants on how the JoPo project could be involved in increasing know-how and knowledge.
• The self-coaches of the municipal experiment's employment management guided the clients to the study path, and in order for them to have the skills and up-to-date information about the existing support and guidance models of educational institutions for the guidance of demanding clients, efforts were made to develop the guidance skills of the self-coaches.
• Correspondingly, the purpose was to get information from the self-coaches about the needs for further development of guidance skills in a targeted manner.
• As a result of the above-mentioned joint planning, the 'Ohjauksen 3varttiset' events were created to meet this need, for which information acquisition, joint planning and network operators were contacted.
• In the Teams environment, training events related to customer guidance aimed at employment self-coaches were carried out, the first of which was 'Self-coach's guidance skills', 120 participants. The following training events were: Diverse clients and guidance situations: special support and guidance', participants 90 people, and 'Guide to education and study, cooperation in networks', participants 70 people.
• 'Ohjauksen 3varttiset' offered support and info for coaches' everyday life for motivating and counseling clients.