The second Fair of school teams for career guidance and counseling – Požarevac won!

On 13th June, Belgrade Open School, in partner cooperation with Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia and Solidar Suisse/Swiss Labour Assistance (SLA) – Office in Serbia, organized the second Fair of school teams for career guidance and counseling. The fair was held in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and gathered the 20 best school teams for career guidance from all over the Serbia, as well as representatives from other secondary schools and other institutions and organizations, in order to share experiences with each other and thereby improve its work in this area.

Among others, the attendees were addressed by Mrs. Vesna Đukić, Director of Belgrade Open School, Mrs. Mirjana Kovačević, Director of the Centre for Education in Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, Mrs. Snežana Klašnja, assistant Minister, Ministry of Youth and Sports and Mr. Nikola Mikašinović, Programme Coordinator Foundation, Solidar Suisse.

"Career guidance and counselling is a system of support to youth that will help them in the process of the making professional choice, constant development, as well as exploring their skills and talents and provide information where they can find a suitable school and/or job. It helps them to make the right decisions at the end of primary and secondary schools when enrolling faculties", said Mrs. Snežana Klašnja.

Mrs. Mirjana Kovačević drew attention that necessary to establish good cooperation between the school and business sector at the local level “Career guidance and counseling helps young people to choose occupation in accordance with their interests, what the job entails, what knowledge and skills are needed and what to pay attention, but also to understand business sector demands. Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, primarily wants to support employers in the process of searching for human resources. We want to help in connecting young people, schools and employers".

At the end of the opening remarks Mrs.Vesna Đukić welcomed the participants of behalf  Belgrade Open School, ’’Belgrade Open School over ten years works on the development of the career guidance and counseling system and the development of innovative methods. The fair is one of innovative mechanism that should help schools in the process of improving these services at the local level“.

After the opening speeches, four-member commission, Marko Banković, Euroguidance Centar, Ivana Kovačević, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, Jelica Ristić Ćirović, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and Jelena Manić Radoičić, Belgrade Open School, visited all the stands and met the representatives of school teams. The Commission had to choose the most active school team for the school year 2015/2016 based on the Plans for career guidance and counseling, presentation and the material submitted by the schools. The main criteria on which decisions were made were: quality of school Program/Plan for Career Guidance and Counselling, the quality of the implemented activities and establishment of cooperation with local partners.

On the end of the second Fair of school teams for career guidance and counseling, school's team of The School of Trade and Economics from Požarevac has been recognized with an award for the greatest contribution to the development of career guidance and counseling service for the school year 2015/2016. The School of Trade and Economics has particularly stood out with its proactive attitude and the involvement of the business sector, as well as various activities organized for its students, which were planned in the Plan for the career guidance and counselling. Award in the amount of 30,000 dinars were presented by Ms. Jelica Ristic Ćirović

The fair was organized within the project Advocacy for Continuity in Implementation of the Policy for Career Guidance in Serbia - KViS na BIS II and with financial support of Solidar Suisse/Swiss Labour Assistance (SLA) – Kancelarija u Srbiji.