Belgrade Open School (BOS) organised the sixth Career Guidance and Counselling School Teams Fair on Thursday, 29 October 2020, this time in an online format. This year’s Fair brought together 16 secondary school career guidance and counselling teams, who presented their activities aimed at improving the employability skills of their students and introduced other participants to the work they carry out in their schools. In addition to the competing exhibitors, the Fair was attended by more than 100 virtual visitors from schools, public institutions, the business sector, civil society organisations, and other interested individuals. This year’s exhibitors represented schools from Sečanj, Belgrade, Šabac, Kraljevo, Požarevac, Bor, Inđija, Bač, Velika Plana, Stara Pazova, Zaječar, and Ruski Krstur.

The jury, consisting of Jelena Manić Radoičić (career guidance and counselling expert), Emilija Panić (Ministry of Youth and Sport), Dragana Jovanović (Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development), Lidija Matijaš (Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia), and Ivana Vulić (Tempus Foundation), together with the jury chair Ivan Topalović (Belgrade Open School), faced a challenging task of selecting the best teams among the outstanding exhibitors.

The first place and a cash prize of RSD 40,000 were awarded to the Agricultural School from Bač, which implemented a wide range of activities during the previous school year, involving a large number of students through its comprehensive career guidance and counselling programme. The school successfully overcame all challenges caused by the pandemic and transferred its work to the online environment, while at the same time maintaining students’ strong interest in participating in various activities. In addition, the Agricultural School from Bač actively works with students from vulnerable groups, thereby contributing to reducing student dropout rates. This represents an important activity of great significance not only for the school but also for the local community, emphasised Ivan Topalović, Project Manager in the field of Employability Improvement.

The second place was awarded to the “Branko Radičević” Grammar School from Stara Pazova, while the third place was shared by the School of Economics and Trade from Požarevac and the “Vuk Karadžić” School of Economics and Hospitality from Velika Plana. These schools developed highly innovative methods of working with students, ensured the quality of their activities, established significant cooperation with key stakeholders, and achieved excellent results in the field of career guidance and counselling.

“Throughout 18 years of work in the field of career guidance and counselling, through teacher training and mentoring programmes for secondary schools, BOS has been providing professional support and encouraging continuous and effective cooperation among partners in the fields of education, economy, and youth policy. So far, we have implemented numerous accredited and other training programmes for teachers and associates from secondary schools, organised many professional conferences on career guidance and counselling, and supported all interested stakeholders in the field of education in various ways,” said Marina Lukić, Project Coordinator in the field of Employability Improvement.

Through its Employability Improvement programme area, BOS has been working since 2002 on establishing and developing career guidance and counselling services in Serbia. Over the past five years, the Career Guidance and Counselling School Teams Fair has brought together more than 80 school teams that presented their activities as examples of good practice. So far, the Fair has been attended by more than 550 representatives of schools, the public sector, and civil society. The 6th Career Guidance and Counselling School Teams Fair was supported by Solidar Suisse/Swiss Labour Assistance SLA – Office in Serbia.