Type of Project: Funded project Transnational project
VOGS - Vocational Guidance Standard Model for Deaf People in Europe

Deaf people belong to a group of disadvantaged persons in Europe, who have big difficulties to obtain training, guidance and counselling. All the training offers are only possible in spoken language, which is a foreign language for deaf people, because they have developed a full individual language - sign language. At the moment the only chance to obtain vocational and general training is through sign language interpreters, but this service is offered to deaf people very rarely. Deaf people are mostly responsible for their own for the organisation and the payment of the interpreters. If a interpreter is not used the target group has to rely on their own "internal" interpretation from an acoustical spoken language which is understood and used very badly to sign language. In the field of vocational guidance and counselling there are no offers specially oriented in this target group, but exactly this offer would be of highest importance for this disadvantaged target group as possibility to open vocational training and the labour market for deaf people in Europe.
Out of this reason the project VOGS wants to develop a target group oriented specific training and job guidance and counselling model for deaf people in Europe with a strong and highly competent European partnership and test this model in a pilot phase within the project. The model refers to a holistic approach which should be the basis for a methodological variety and also an expression for the inclusion of the person as a whole in the guidance and counselling process (not only vocational competencies and qualifications but also personal habits and social competencies will be approached by the model), furthermore this model will consist of psychological testing procedures as well as of an insovative tandem guidance method (hearing and deaf counsellors together).

Products and results:
* State of the art report: methods of aptitude diagnostic and models of vocational guidance in Europe
* Criteria catalogue of models for vocational guidance and job information in Europe
* Methods of aptitude diagnostic adjusted for the target group (one personality test and one test of intelligence)
* Counselling method for deaf people (VOGS tandem-method)
* Description of the guidance model for deaf people in Europe (handbook, videos)
* Curriculum for a training course for deaf or hearing counsellors following the VOGS model
* Pilot course for vocational counsellors
* Pilot counselling following the VOGS model
* Finished VOGS model