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STUDY: Personal development and career counselling, needs also felt by the secondary school students in Prahova and Neamţ counties

The results of a research conducted at the level of the school communities in Prahova and Neamț counties reveal that, for an adequate school and career evolvement, the students need personal development and career counseling courses.

The study ”School dropout, challenges and problems – initial analysis of the situation in Prahova and Neamț counties on the needs related to education continuation, bullying, social inclusion of students with SEN in the case of secondary school final grades” is one of the first components of the project “ZEST4EDU – A new perspective in education”, implemented by the Prahova County School Inspectorate, in partnership with Neamț County School Inspectorate, GO-AHEAD Association and Art for Change Foundation from Norway and financed by the Romanian Social Development Fund under the “Local Development” Programme. The study aimed to provide a clear image of the perception of students, teachers and parents on the challenges of school dropout, skipping classes, inclusive education and bullying, in the 19 rural and urban schools involved in the project.

19 school principals and education experts, 697 parents, 276 teachers, 873 lower secondary school students (mostly 6th and 7th grades) answered the questionnaires and participated in interviews, the research conclusions drawing the attention to the need of the students to be guided and counselled on their school and professional evolvement, and also to the main causes of school dropout and lack of specialized stuff for working with the students with special educational needs.

More than two thirds of the students who expressed their opinion under the study noticed that they needed to talk to someone about their professional future, in a similar proportion (approx. 62%), drawing the attention to the need for guidance on their educational evolution. 8 out of 10 surveyed students have never participated in a professional counselling programme. The needs of the students were overwhelmingly confirmed (94.2%) by their teachers too, who notified the fact that only a few of their students are determined about their school and professional future.  

As concerns the school dropout, the teachers have appreciated that this is due to family problems (40.8%), to low motivation for education and lack of interest of the students (33.2%), but also the financial problems the family faces (14.8%).

As concerns the inclusive education, there is an acute lack of coherent measures to make this concept really implemented in mainstream schools. The lack of the support teacher is sensed in most schools, especially in rural areas. More than half of the surveyed teachers think that the low-skilled staff working with the students represent the biggest problem and that the students with special educational needs and disabilities are marginalized by the other students.

The project “ZEST4EDU – A new perspective in education” benefits from a financing of 1,120,896 Euro, offered by the Norwegian Grants 2014-2021, under the “Local Development” Programme. The project aims to increase the social inclusion degree of students from Prahova and Neamț counties and their access to quality, fair and inclusive education, through integrated measures addressed to a number of 650 students at risk of school dropout.

Updated information on the project ZEST4EDU – A new perspective in education is available on the official project website: https://www.facebook.com/zest4edu.

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