Peer counsellors

PEER COUNSELLORS AT THE WORKPLACE

Guidance at the workplace can also be provided through peer support.

Study counsellors raise awareness among colleagues about adult education pathways and encourage them to apply for vocational or other training that improves their professional skills. The operational area of a workplace study counsellor is an individual organisation or a union branch. Workplace study counsellors are voluntary trade unionists.

In at least three different projects carried out in Finland, the purpose has been to train peer counsellors for workplaces.

In 2002-2004, workplace study counsellors who could inform their fellow employees of adult education options were trained in the context of a project called Life Long Learning Animators.
In 2003, a three-year Noste programme was launched to raise the educational level among adults. In the context of the programme, the trade union organisation SAK and its member unions trained competence counsellors, whose task was to raise awareness among their colleagues about training options and encourage them to reflect on their own skills and competence development needs. The duties of a competence counsellor had to be performed in addition to other duties, without separate compensation.
In 2010-2013, a project called OpinVerkko – Työelämän koulutusneuvojat provided training for workplace study counsellors, who provide peer support for colleagues in their competence development needs.

CASE FINLAND

CASE DENMARK

Interviewer: Career counsellor Teea Oja, OAKK Finland

Interviewee: Lene Rosfort, employee in 3F Kastrup, Denmark

Meeting at 3F Kastrup in March 2014.

Teea: Lene, tell me about 3F Kastrup?

Lene: 3F Kastrup is a trade union. Our office is near Kastrup Airport (Copenhagen). Union members are workers at the airport or waste management and renovation business employees. The union has around 4,600 members.

Teea: How are you involved in guidance at the workplace?

Lene: The union selected 32 active members and trained them as educational ambassadors for 18 workplaces. The task of finding educational ambassadors from the union members for each workplace has recently become one of the shop stewards’ duties. Whenever enough new ambassadors have been found, the union organises a three-day training session for them.

Teea: Could you tell me about the training of educational ambassadors?

Lene: The training includes three intensive days of information and learning tasks on the following topics:

The Danish educational system
Educational paths for adolescents
Vocational training and adult education, AMU courses
How to help co-workers with dyslexia
Immigrants’ learning challenges
How to finance courses and studies and how to apply for financing
Communication, interaction, speaking and negotiation skills.

Two of the ambassadors are specialised in dyslexia and other learning difficulties. The ambassadors have their own mailing list through which the union sends monthly alerts about upcoming events and courses. The ambassadors also have each others’ phone numbers and meet once or twice a year.

Teea: Are ambassadors working on a voluntarily basis?

Lene:Each educational ambassador can spend approximately two hours a week on advice and guidance provision for workplace union members.

Teea: What do ambassadors actually do at the workplace?

Lene:At the workplace, an important role of the ambassadors is to inform and inspire co-workers, help them find suitable courses and training, help them forwards in their career path and encourage them to take part on courses. Workplace guidance concerns not only courses and training directly related to workers’ tasks, but also more informal ones such as cooking and gardening. The latter can provide a much-needed break from work when someone is at the risk of burnout.

I also go to workplaces myself and put up guidance corners with educational ambassadors. We bring good news to employees. The guidance services are much in demand, because many of the members of 3F Kastrup are unskilled and do not have a vocational degree. The guidance is often very practical help to workers: searching for suitable courses and providing information about financing options. The guidance is always given directly to workers, who then go to see their manager with a personally prepared training plan.