Portugal Needs Analysis Report – Portugal (ISQ)February 2016

IO1 – How to Get There?

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

This Report was developed by

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Table of Contents

The Get There project 3

Summative Results regarding the Questionnaires in your organization 4

“How to Get There?” Summative Results regarding the questionnaire for counselors/ trainers/ career guides/ VET experts 5

“How to Get There?” Summative Results regarding the questionnaire for the beneficiaries 12

Appendix I – “How to Get There?” Questionnaire for counselors/trainers/career guides/VET experts 17

Appendix II - “How to Get There?” Questionnaire for beneficiaries 19

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The Get There project

The Get There project seeks to promote the access to trainings that promote employability skills to a wide range of people, like employed people that want to strengthen their skills to perform better at their works, unemployed people that want to increase their chances of getting a job - including young at risk , who are expected to become engaged in this courses via a peer mentoring methodology that will make them feel empowered and, hopefully, less intimidated and more enthusiastic with the training that will give them better chances of entering the labor market.

Through the VET initiatives boosted by this project, VET relevance in the labor market will be enhanced. In fact, through VET, people will be better prepared to enter and stay in the labor market and their performance will be improved.

In this context, the first step in understanding and analyzing the different needs in the participating countries, the Consortium created a set of questionnaires to explore the needs that exist in each country in the promotion of employability skills targeting both groups of interest: the trainers and the beneficiaries. More specifically, to assess which of the employability skills are more relevant for the partnership countries and/or VET organisations' "clients", 2 very similar surveys were developed and all partner organisations delivered them to 2 target groups:

trainers, counsellors, carrier guides, VET experts. unemployed people or people that is going through training.

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Summative Results regarding the Questionnaires in your organization

ISQ gathered 23 questionnaires from trainers and 49 questionnaires from the beneficiaries. It is important to mention that ISQ has ongoing trainings for young people – 3 years trainings that provide them a level 4 qualification – and has also been providing training to unemployed people. These were the targets who answered the questionnaires for beneficiaries.

-What were the main differences between the two groups?

There is an important need identified by trainers that the beneficiaries didn’t even include in the six more important skills: Teamwork. On the other hand, the two most important issues for beneficiaries are related to their rights and responsibilities and to their own safety at the workplace.

-Which were the six most important skills according to the trainers? 1 – Teamwork2 – Problem Solving3 – Costumer Awareness4 – Communication at the workplace5&6 – Self-management & Exploring job opportunities

-Which were the six most important skills according to the beneficiaries?1 – Rights and responsibilities at work2 – Health and safety at the workplace3 – Costumer Awareness4 – Problem Solving5 – Communication at the workplace6 – Applying for a job

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“How to Get There?” Summative Results regarding the questionnaire for counselors/ trainers/ career guides/ VET experts

In the questionnaires that were given to counselors/ trainers/ career guides/ VET experts the summative results of the questions exploring the perception and understanding of employability skills were:

1. Are employability skills taught in your country?

17

6

YesNo

2. Are employability skills measured in your country?

7

5

11YesNoI don't know

The way that employability skills are measured in Portugal, according to the counselors/ trainers/ career guides/ VET experts, are:

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“Through moments of practical assessment and a written evaluation”

“Through the number of trainees that get a place in the labour market after the training and by the time they keep their job”

“Through the statistics presented by the national authority for VET and employment (IEFP)”

“By the statistics published by each VET provider”

“Although that measurement is foreseen in the Labour Law, that measurement is not done.”

“Statistics provided by the National Institute for Statistics (INE)”

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3. Do you work on employability skills with your beneficiaries?

17

6

YesNo

4. Are beneficiaries aware of their employability skills?

1211 Yes

No

5. Are beneficiaries keen on improving their employability skills?

22

1

YesNo

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6. Are there differences in the awareness of employability skills between different age groups and/ or groups of beneficiaries?

22

1

YesNo

The main differences in the awareness of employability skills between different age groups and/ or groups of beneficiaries are:

According to the trainers targeted by the GET THERE questionnaire, the main differences are “Previous work experience” – because someone who has worked before may be more aware of what is appreciated in the labour market; “Educational level” – because people with a higher educational level tend to be more aware of their own skills and training needs; and “Youngsters at risk”, because sometimes these tend to be unaware of their skills and potential.

7. Do you see a need on improving employability skills on the beneficiaries that you have been working with according to your experience?

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YesNo

8. The three most important employability skills according to the opinions of the counselors/ trainers/ career guides/ VET experts are:

- Teamwork

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- Problem solving- Communication- Entrepreneurial attitude/sense of initiative- Ability to adapt to change/flexibility- Self-management/time management

9. The three most relevant employability skills that are required by employers according to the experience of the counselors/ trainers/ career guides/ VET experts are:

- Self-management- Teamwork- Problem solving- Flexibility/adaptability/polyvalence- Entrepreneurial spirit

10. The three most important employability skills asked by beneficiaries according to the experience of the counselors/ trainers/ career guides/ VET experts are:

- Self-management/time management- Problem solving- Languages skills- How to apply for a job- IT skills- Technical skills/know-how

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11. This part explores the employability skills rate the following employability skills according to their importance in the professional opinion of the counselors/trainers/career guides/VET experts in Portugal. It focuses on understanding how important this group finds the following employability skills with 1 the least important and 5 the most important.

Self-m

anag

emen

t

Team worki

ng

Problem

Solvin

g

Customer

Awareness

Communication in

the w

orkplac

e

Working w

ith numbers

IT in th

e workp

lace

Applying f

or a jo

b

Explorin

g job opportu

nities

Rights a

nd responsib

ilities

at work

Health an

d safet

y in th

e workp

lace

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

31 1

7

4 4 3 4 5

10

25

69

7

12 1210

10 7

10

2118

1613

7 7 710 9

11

2

5 - Most Important4321 - Least Important

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12. Are the employability skills required by employers the same as the ones that beneficiaries think are most relevant?

7

16

YesNo

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“How to Get There?” Summative Results regarding the questionnaire for the beneficiaries

In the questionnaires that were given to the beneficiaries in exploring the perception and understanding of employability skills, the summative results were:

1. Have you ever heard of the definition of employability skills?

27

22YesNo

2. According to the beneficiaries understanding of the term employability skills, the most common and/ or important answers were:

3. Are employability skills measured in your country?

8

6

35

YesNoI don't know

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“Having competences to perform tasks”

“Skills that help us get and hold a job”

“Being assiduous, diligent, autonomous, responsible and able to work in teams”

“Personal characteristics that influence their job opportunities”

“Competences that help us get a job faster.”

“Abilities we get through study”

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The way that employability skills are measured in Portugal, according to the beneficiaries, are:

4. Do you work on employability skills with your counselor(s)/ trainer(s)/ career guide(s)/ VET provider(s)

20

17

12

YesNoI don't know

5. Do you consider important to improve your employability skills?

47

2

YesNo

12

“Through workers’ analysis”

“Through reports, sometimes self-assessment reports”

“Nowadays, the Facebook profile is as important as a CV to measure the employability skills of a candidate”

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6. The three most important employability skills according to the beneficiaries’ opinion are:

- Responsibility- Autonomy- Commitment/effort- Self-management- Ability to work as a team- Costumer awareness- Looking good

The above were the most mentioned “characteristics mentioned by the beneficiaries, but it must be referred that there was a significant amount of “I don’t know” answers.

7. The three most relevant employability skills that are required by employers according to the beneficiaries’ experiences are:

- Having previous work experience- Problem solving- Proactiveness and autonomy- Multifunctionality- IT skills- Team spirit- Rigor

8. The three most important employability skills that beneficiaries would like to improve are:

- Teamwork- Problem solving- IT skills- Communication skills- Self-commitment and self-management- Autonomy- Time management

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9. This part explores the employability skills rate according to their importance from the beneficiaries’ point of view aiming at the understanding of how important the beneficiaries in Portugal find the following employability skills with 1 the least important and 5 the most important.

Self-m

anag

emen

t

Team worki

ng

Problem

Solvin

g

Customer

Awareness

Communication in

the w

orkplac

e

Working w

ith numbers

IT in th

e workp

lace

Applying f

or a jo

b

Explorin

g job opportu

nities

Rights a

nd responsib

ilities

at work

Health an

d safet

y in th

e workp

lace

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

12 106 4 5

2623

11 10

2 2

21 21

17 1920

17

16

1921

1419

16 1726 26 23

28

19 16

3328

1 13 2 1

5 - Most Important4321 - Least Important

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10. Are the employability skills required by employers the same as the ones that beneficiaries think are most relevant?

24

21 YesNo

Some final considerations

It is clear that there is not a very clear general understanding of the term “employability skills”, neither from the trainers nor from the trainees, who seem to be somewhat unaware of what that might be! Some answers from the trainees’ groups were, sometimes, quite awkward. For instance, when asked about their understanding of “employability skills”, there were answers such as: “It’s a company that employs people”; “Knowledge that people gain at work”; “I don’t get it”; “acquired professional skills”; “capacity to change job”. Nevertheless, most of them seem to be aware that “employability skills” will help them get a job faster.

Also a very peculiar, but strange finding was that no one seems to know if employability skills are measured in Portugal. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the term is not used as so in Portugal. Or perhaps there is no real and broaden communication around it.

There are some similarities in the skills (or subjects) both groups find more important - Problem Solving, Costumer Awareness and Communication at the workplace – but then there are very clear mismatches: for beneficiaries, the most important aspects have to do with their rights and responsibilities and about their safety assurance. According to the trainers’ opinion, what they need most is to work on their teamwork skills. And this is a quite unique case: trainees don’t seem to find it one of the most important skills for the labour market, but they refer it as one of the skills they would like to develop.

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Appendix I

“ How to Get There?” Questionnaire for counselors/trainers/career guides/VET experts

1. Are employability skills specified/taught in your country?Yes No

2. Are employability skills measured in your country?Yes No I don’t Know

If Yes, specify how

3. Do you work on employability skills with your beneficiaries?Yes No

4. Are beneficiaries aware of their employability skills?Yes No

5. Are beneficiaries keen on improving their employability skills?Yes No

6. Are there differences in the awareness of employability skills between different age groups and/ or groups of beneficiaries? If so, please specify

7. Do you see a need on improving employability skills on the beneficiaries that you have been working with according to your experience?Yes No

8. Please rate the following employability skills according to their importance in your professional opinion. How important do you find the following with 1 the least important and 5 the most important?

Employability Skills

1 2 3 4 5

Self-managementTeam workingProblem SolvingCustomer AwarenessCommunication in the workplaceWorking with numbers

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IT in the workplaceApplying for a jobExploring job opportunitiesRights and responsibilities at workHealth and safety in the workplace

9. What are the most important employability skills according to your opinion? List the three most important ones

10. What are the most relevant employability skills that are required by employers according to your experience? List the three most important ones

11. What are the employability skills asked by beneficiaries according to your experience? List the three most important ones

12. Are the employability skills required by employers the same as the ones that beneficiaries think are most relevant? Yes No

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Appendix II

“How to Get There?” Questionnaire for beneficiaries

1. Have you ever heard of the definition of employability skills?Yes No

2. What do you understand by the term employability skills? Please specify

3. Are employability skills measured in your country?Yes No I don’t knowIf Yes, specify how

4. Please rate the following employability skills according to their importance in your opinion. How important do you find the following with 1 the least important and 5 the most important?

Employability Skills

1 2 3 4 5

Self-managementTeam workingProblem SolvingCustomer AwarenessCommunication in the workplaceWorking with numbersIT in the workplaceApplying for a jobExploring job opportunitiesRights and responsibilities at workHealth and safety in the workplace

5. Do you consider important to improve your employability skills?Yes No

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6. What are the employability skills that you would like to improve? List the three most important ones

7. Do you work on employability skills with your counselor(s)/ trainer(s)/ career guide(s)/ VET provider(s)?Yes No I don’t knowIf Yes, specify how

8. What are the most important employability skills according to your opinion? List the three most important ones

9. What are the most relevant employability skills that are required by employers according to your experience? List the three most important ones

10. Are the employability skills required by employers the same as the ones that beneficiaries think are most relevant? Yes No

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