Publication Date 25.02.2019
By Endrinë Rafuna & Genta Agaj
In a labor market which continuously reports a mismatch between the needed skills and the ones taught in schools,young Kosovars are in a constant need for guidance about what careers they want in the future. This is where career guidance comes in, opening a path for high school students and widening their horizons with information about career options that are available to them. Considering the limited resources that high schools in Kosovo are faced with, the USAID ASSET Program has been a supportive ally, assisting them in better providing students with the necessary guidance. The program which is officially named After School Support for Teens has been running since 2017 with various components which strengthen the capabilities of both teachers and students, aiming to provide them with better skills which increase employability and entrepreneurship initiatives. One of the components strives to tackle the problem of the lack of career guidance in high schools through training teachers about career orientation.The three-day training sessions, which were held in the Xhevdet Doda and Hajdar Dushi high schools in Prishtina and Gjakova respectively, were designed to increase the capacities of high schools teachers to provide such guidance to their students. In the first two sessions, the teachers learned about what career guidance is and how they can best go about informing their students, while the third session was for the teachers to present the work that they had done with students in classes 10, 11 and 12. Overall, the teachers who received the training said that that the students had enjoyed the career orientation classes as they facilitated research and group work skills. The teachers had incorporated different components, starting from opening professional email addresses and learning how to write an email, learning how to use the official career guidance platform Busulla.com, exploring career options with interviews of those who are already in those paths, writing CVs and cover letters, and organizing mock job interviews. Some of the teachers went above and beyond what was expected of them, providing students with a comprehensive and repetitive learning experience about their careers. They had coordinated so that each teacher provide different components of career guidance depending on their profiles. All the teachers were excited and committed to learning how to better provide students with the necessary knowledge that will open a path for a better future and more employment opportunities. They welcomed feedback from the trainers and even went on to ask to be signed up for additional training sessions within the ASSET program. The story of these teachers and their enthusiasm to become better education providers shows how Kosovo’s teachers are increasingly welcoming opportunities to develop themselves and communicate these skills to their students. Our education system, despite all the criticism it gets for being underdeveloped is becoming better thanks to the support of different initiatives and programs such as the USAID ASSET and its complements.
