Youth Information and Counselling

 

Approved at the General Assembly of ENL

17.11.2007

Youth Policy Standpoints of ENL

Youth Information and Counselling

The goal of the document is to define the standpoints of the Estonian National Youth Council in the area of youth information and counselling. ENL proceeds from these standpoints in its future work, in commenting on legislation and it will attempt to establish them in cooperation with state agencies and other partners.

ENYC organised a seminar, two group work sessions and a consultations round for its members to formulate its standpoints. The standpoints were approved by the General Assembly of ENL. Formulation of the standpoints was coordinated by the Youth Policy Specialist of ENL Marit Valge.

Introduction

Informing young people means guaranteeing up to date, relevant, quality and accessible information and information services to young people. Youth information work covers all subjects that interest young people. Counselling young people means guaranteeing counselling services to young people that allow them to make decisions about their lives.

In Estonia, the area of youth information and counselling is regulated by the European Youth Information Charter (2004), the common goals of the European White Book on Youth Policy (2003), the Youth Work Act and Youth Work Strategy from 2006 to 2013.

There are 18 county and local information and counselling centres in Estonia whose task is to guarantee diverse information and counselling to young people. Information must be easily available both on paper and on the Internet. The services offered by the centres include collecting and communicating youth information, creating communication channels (lists, homepages, information events, etc.), gathering and communicating career planning information (introducing learning opportunities, organising vocational guidance, etc.) and counselling (psychological, sexual, health issues, etc.).

SWOT Analysis

The ENCY sees the following strengths in the current information and counselling system:

  • Centres located in all counties
  • The existence of the state's interest, a developed structure and funding
  • Motivated and qualified employees
  • Documents on the European level have been well thought through; the existence of examples
  • Information fairs (learning opportunities, youth initiative)
  • The development work of youth information portals
  • Measures of the youth work strategy
  • Youth conferences

The weaknesses, however, are:

  • Limited awareness and interest of young people in information and counselling services
  • Lack of a functioning common system
  • Lack of quality requirements
  • Passivity of young people
  • Youth information workers do not cooperate with young people and youth organisations
  • The small role of local governments
  • Lack of systematic in-service training for information workers
  • Lack of attraction
  • Limited advertising and insufficient advertising funds
  • Unprofessional homepages
  • Insufficient opening hours of the centres
  • Information collection and communication networks that do not function
  • Insufficient information in Russian (mainly alcohol/drugs, HIV/AIDS prevention, less information about opportunities)

The following is certainly possible on the basis of the current system:

  • To create a network between youth work agencies and organisations in all counties
  • To increase funding by local governments
  • To create a qualification system for youth information workers
  • To increase the salary level
  • To follow the example of other countries in developing a functioning system (it is important to adapt it to the conditions in Estonia)
  • To develop attractive services at fairs, interactivity
  • To inform about NIP and other youth information services
  • To implement the measures of the youth work strategy
  • To involve young people and youth organisations in information work
  • To put all information into a format that is suitable for young people
  • To work on offering opportunities to Russian-speaking youth (information about their rights, benefits, learning and working opportunities, youth initiative, etc.)

However, we also see the following threats:

The service may prove to be unnecessary

  • The service will not meet its objective
  • The service is abolished
  • The information is not suitable for young people or in a suitable format, young people become more passive
  • Underfunding, young people leave local governments
  • Incompetent employees, wrong decisions are made
  • Information does not reach young people
  • Young people do not use the centres
  • The bigger problems of Russian youth
  • Young people are not aware of their opportunities

Standpoints

Offering counselling services to youth in Estonia is fragmented between several different service providers in the sectors of education, social issues, health protection and employment whilst responsibility has been divided to such an extent that the strategies implemented on the local government level do not support offering quality services that produce results.

Youth in Estonia need a supporting network of professionals in several areas of counselling, including career services, which make it possible to gather information about the learning and working opportunities available to young people, self-realisation, health, etc., and to receive advice and support in making well considered and informed decisions about one's future. Young people do not segment their needs into career-related, psychological, social or educational ones, they need answers to their questions and a transparent network of trustworthy practitioners who could help them.

ENL believes it is important to implement the principles of the European Youth Information Charter in offering youth information. Youth information must be accessible to all young people, proceed from the needs of young people, be free of charge, professional, correct, independent and user modern data media. Youth information work should reach as many young people as possible and they should be given the opportunity to participate in information work. Information providers can guarantee adequate and sufficient information only if they work together.

We see problems in youth information work that concern guaranteeing stable and sufficient funding from the state, guaranteeing equal access to all young people (e.g. there is less information in Russian, the service is more accessible to young people living in large cities and centres), youth participation in information work (young people are not seen as cooperation partners and communicators of information, but they are regarded as consumers; at the same time, information is often not offered proceeding from the needs of young people), quality measurement scales (there are none), training, diverse communication of information.

The analysis conducted by ENL shows that the main problems in the area of youth information and counselling are as follows:

  • Young people are not aware of information and counselling centres
  • The centres offer different services
  • Underfunding
  • Insufficient opening hours of the centres
  • The centres have unprofessional homepages
  • The centres have no quality criteria
  • Young people are not involved in decision-making
  • Information and counselling services are not centrally coordinated
  • Young people see no benefits in the activities of the centres

We see the following solutions to reaching young people:

  • Implementing the from young people to young people method (especially in information work, but also in the area of counselling if capable young people exist)
  • Taking the services closer to young people, e.g. to schools
  • Making the homepages of the centres more attractive, using innovative methods in counselling
  • More cooperation with youth portals (e.g. rate.ee)
  • Making youth workers more confident and open
  • Making the centres more attractive
  • Organising information campaigns and advertising (e.g. a common brand for the centres)
  • Increasing the professionalism of information and counselling centres
  • Regular mapping of the need for information (surveys)
  • Involving young people in the management of information and counselling centres, asking young people for feedback about the services
  • Cooperation with youth organisations and student councils
  • Training information workers and guaranteeing that the opening hours of the centres are sufficient
  • Uniform coordination of the activities of information and counselling centre
  • Communicating information according to the age and needs of young people
  • Communicating information about the services in schools, e.g. in study programmes, taking young people on visits to TNK, etc.

The services of the centres must be harmonised by establishing certain criteria they have to comply with (both in terms of the selection and quality of services). In order to offer suitable information to young people and to reach them, it is necessary to ascertain the needs of young people, involve them in the management of the centres and cooperate more with youth organisations and other institutions in the area. Youth organisations also communicate information to young people.

The centres must be transferred under common coordination in order to guarantee that the services and quality of the centres are harmonised, which means that it is necessary to create a national system of information and counselling centres and to have it managed by a state institution (e.g. Estonian Youth Work Centre). The task of said institution would also be to monitor the implementation of the standards and instructions approved by different ministries; joining different counselling networks; collect, organise and communicate information that concerns counselling services and service providers and to be responsible for guaranteeing the development of the area and the quality of counselling services.

Common coordination of information and counselling would also help to guarantee that services have the required quality. We believe that youth involvement and asking young people for their feedback is one of the most important criteria in organising youth information and counselling. The services must certainly be made more attractive for young people and offered in a format that is suitable for them. This is the only way we can guarantee that the services reach the target group.

It is necessary to communicate more information in Russian about the rights of young people, the support they are entitled to, learning and working opportunities, youth initiatives, etc., to guarantee that young Russian-speaking people are better informed and thereby more successful in functioning and integrating in the society of Estonia. The state has to pay more attention to creating opportunities for young people living in rural areas and outside centres to provide them with better access to information. Training of information workers must be constant and of high quality, information workers must be interested in improving their qualifications in order to offer the best services to young people. An efficient and suitable training system for counsellors and information workers must also be developed. Creation of a mentorship system could also be considered.

The focus on using diverse channels that appeal to young people in communicating information must be increased. E-mail, Skype and other technologies used by young people could be implemented more in providing counselling and communicating information.

The information and counselling area should be integrated more into the school system so schools can give young people the knowledge that they need certain kinds of information and counselling and where they can obtain the relevant services.

The information and counselling required by young people must be available at the time, in the place and in the manner that meets the needs of the user in finding answers to the different problems that emerge in the different stages of their lives. This means that combining the services and opportunities offered by different parties must be guaranteed.

ENL fully supports the goals set in the Youth Work Strategy from 2006 to 2013 for the development of the youth information and counselling area and the implementation of an integrated counselling model.