Across the world, society is changing and the rate of change is accelerating. Flexibility and adaptability linked to a lifelong learning disposition are the keys to adjustment to such change. Adults in the workforce today, and in the future, will need to engage in repeated career decision-making throughout their working years by self-managing their careers. The ACUMEN project consortium are of the opinion that traditional career guidance, although still relevant and important as a school-based or institution-based service, is wholly unsuitable to meet the needs of adults already in the workforce. Career management is a continuous process that occurs throughout one’s career and not just at discrete times.
The Career Management Skills Framework for Scotland, published in July 2012, describes career management skills set around 4 themes of Self; Strengths; Horizons; Networks. This framework will be the basis for the ACUMEN project and consortium partners will develop a complete suite of tools and resources that address each of the above themes and support adults within the workforce or those seeking employment to identify an appropriate career progression pathway. The ACUMEN project will develop these new resources for adult learners in the UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Finland. It will be one of the first projects to comprehensively address career management skills in a European context and will provide tools and resources that are localized to meet the needs of adult learners in each partner country.
Furthermore, ACUMEN will provide free online access through the most popular on-line platforms to all tools and resources developed. All resources and online platforms will be available in all partner languages.
