Characteristics

GOAL clients in the Czech Republic are a rather homogenous group regarding observed sociodemographic – most of them are early school leavers, who are currently unemployed due to the low education level obtained and low qualification profile. Vast majority has no previous experience with the guidance services, if they do, the experience was reported mainly among the clients who left education system before the appointed time. Based on the results of the monitoring, it can be concluded that most of the service users reported a high level of self-efficacy, however this belief is influenced by the socio-economic climate and the background of the clients – in this particular case, clients in Olomouc report higher self-efficacy, suggesting a stronger belief in their capacity to produce a given attainment; however clients in Most are more skeptical. This corresponds with the socio-economic situation in both regions, especially when considering rate of unemployment, which is higher in Most and Ústecký region in general.

However economic situation in the Czech Republic is getting better, especially when considering rate of unemployment in all of the regions, including Ústecký region. This also might be one of the reasons, why clients in Most are more motivated to obtain higher education and qualification so they can re-enter the labour market more easily. Motivation among the clients is lower in Olomouc, which may by caused by better economic situation and easier accessibility of the labour market. When asked about learning goals, most of the clients declared themselves motivated to engage in further education and learning in order to obtain higher qualifications required for a specific job, or simply for better employability on the labour market. One third of the GOAL clients declared they want to achieve a specific qualification, or they need services of further education to find a job. This suggests that the motivation lies in achievement of qualification in order to boost the probability of their employability on the labour market, so the motivation is caused by external economic factors rather than an intrinsic understanding of the value of education itself. This mindset is quite common among this target group, according to previous surveys in the Czech Republic1.

When asked about career goals, most of the clients had clear career ambitions, with a specific job in mind. The problem is, however, that even with the obtained information within the guidance and recommendations, only a small share of clients is able to achieve their goals by themselves (as it turned out also from the follow-up survey within the GOAL project).