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Applications for Guiding Users in their Developmen..
Applications for Guiding Users in their Development towards Education and Employment; AppsGUIDE
This project was targeted at agencies working with people who have experienced challenges in their lives e.g. addictions, mental ill health, long term unemployment, living in a disadvantaged area with low aspirations. These issues not only make it harder to find work or training, but limit people’s confidence and self- knowledge, so they often don't believe they can move forward. Further, if they start a job that doesn’t fit them, they may quit and feel even less confident about working. What is needed is knowledge that they have skills, interests and the right personality to fit a particular job, and the self-esteem that recognising their own interests brings. Many services lack the right tools to help them see these things and have to rely on either discussion about what they are good at – which they might not consciously know – or written psychometric tools that are complicated to explain, may refer to unfamiliar situations, and can be a barrier to people with literacy problems.The EGUIDE Platform and its interactive tools provide the solution. The tools are based on good practice in psychometric testing, rigorously developed and tested via Leonardo projects, and designed to be relevant, fun, and easy to use. And now they are updated and ready for use in English across Europe and also in Swedish and Dutch.Through the AppsGuide project we have: • adapted the tools for use in Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands, and update them in Ireland• developed an mobile-friendly version for iPads and tablets to use remotely and flexibly, as these are readily accessible to disadvantaged people• tested the use of peer mentors to give the feedback about people’s interests, personality-environment fit and skills, thus building even more confidence and removing more barriers• pilot the adapted tools in a range of support settings and build up an international norm group as the statistical reference for the new tools• spread awareness of the tools and piloted their wider uptake, ready for rollout after the project.The overall aim is to make it easier to help disadvantaged people gain the confidence, motivation, direction and clarity they need to find jobs that genuinely fit them and in which they can stay, grow and flourish. The consortium includes diverse support settings – public sector employment support, community-based job support, social enterprises and private training to demonstrate the wide applicability.