I N V I T A T I O N to the General Assembly and International Conference – Suitable Pathways
Role of Parents in Guiding their Children towards the Most Suitable Personal Careers
November 24th and 25th, 2017
in Tallinn, Estonia
Co-organised by
and 
One of the most delicate parental tasks is to guide your child or children towards further education and possible successful career pathways, avoiding traps such as trying to fulfil your own un-accomplished dreams in your child or following fashionable trends instead of looking for the right pathways.
The EU has realised the importance of building a knowledge-based society back in 2000, and in 2010 set the headline target that 40% of the younger generations should have a tertiary degree by 2020. On the way – while the legal basis has not changed, but the university lobby has become very influential – the European Commission started to interpret tertiary education as higher education, but we must keep the original intention and regulations in mind: parents should aim at supporting all children to finish secondary education and as many of them as possible to obtain a tertiary degree, be it a vocational, post-secondary or higher education one, that can ensure easy access to the labour market.
Meanwhile we should not forget that even if Europe manages to achieve the above goal, still nearly 2/3 of young people will have to successfully start their lives having the right secondary education, cognitive and transversal skills as well as the spirit of initiative. Parents and professional educators have a crucial role – individually and together – in supporting young people in finding their own pathways, be in a secondary vocational education or a PhD, help them to lose the least possible time with useless studies and find their way to a happy life.
The conference will look at ways of home-school cooperation in career guidance, transversal skills with special focus on entrepreneurship, and the role of parents and parents’ associations to improve the image of vocational secondary education and non-university tertiary education to help people understand that for most people it is a first and best choice.
Registration is now open.
Registration deadline:
Sunday, 15 October 2017
Preliminary Programme
The conference is held in English.
Friday, November 24th, 2017
9:00 Bus leaves from Park Inn for school visit at a Waldorf school
11:30 School visit at a vocational school, venue of the conference
12:30 Lunch and registration š
13:30-18:00 General Assembly – for EPA member representatives only
13.30 – Creating the next entrepreneurial generation: are our policies and parents up to the challenge? – guest speaker Anthony Gribben, European Training Foundation
14.30-17.00 – small group work on EPA’s strategic plan and working methods 2018-2020
15.30-16.00 coffee break
17.00 statutory decisions according to agenda sent separately
18:00 Community dinner preparations
19:00 Dinner
Saturday, November 25th, 2017
9:30 Bus leaves from Park Inn
10:00 Official opening
Mrs Mailis Reps, Minister of Education and Science and
Janar Holm, Deputy Secretary-General on Labour and Employment Policy
on behalf of the Estonian Presidency of the EU,
video message of the European Commission,
the President of the hosting organisation, Aivar Haller and President of EPA, Eszter Salamon
10:30 Keynote session
Career guidance as a family aim – the Mengels family
Raising the attractiveness of vocational training and apprenticeships – Petri Lempinen, EUproVET Finland (AMKE, the national association of VET providers)
Junior Achievement and Entrepreneurial Expreience in Career Guidance – Epp Vodja, JA Europe / JA Estonia
11:30 Coffee break
12:00-16:00 Workshop sessions 1&2 with
13:30-14.30 Buffet lunch
Workshop 1: Entrepreneurship
Workshop 2: Vocational education pathways
Workshop 3: Career guidance by parents and with parents
Participants will be assigned to workshops according to their choices at registration
16:00 coffee break
16:30-18:00 Fishbowl session – Parents for children’s successful future
19:00 walk through old Tallinn to the conference dinner
Sunday, November 26th, 2017
10:00 Walking tour of Tallinn – upon separate registration
Disclaimer: Please note that cancellation was only possible before 20th October, in case of accommodation booked with us it is 15th October. In case you cancel later, you have to pay the full fee due and also the cost of accommodation booked.
In all organisational questions please contact Brigitte Haider +43-664 562 4043 or the local organiser, Aivar Haller +372 5162211, e-mail: GA@euparents.eu
LOGISTICS INFORMATION
Accommodation
Park Inn by Radisson Meriton Conference & Spa Hotel Tallinn
Address: Toompuiestee 27, Tallinn, 10149
Phone: +372 62 88 100
More information about hotel can be found here
Transport from the airport to the hotel:
The distance from the airport to the hotel is 6 km. Easiest way is taxi. The taxi stand is right in front of the airport door. The journey takes 10 minutes and costs EUR 10-15. If you are using Uber or Taxify apps, you can order one by phone to the Airport parking place (100 m from doors) and it will cost approximately EUR 5.
See map here
Public transport options from the airport to the hotel include at least 1 km walking. You can find options here Tram tickets cost 2 euros when buying from the driver
Conference Venue (and second school visit on Friday)
Tallinn School of Service
Address: Majaka 2, Tallinn, 11412
Phone: +372 605 3102
Homepage is unfortunately in Estonian and Russian only.
Transport from the hotel to venue and back is organized by bus. From the airport You should take a taxi if you go to the conference venue directly.
School visit
Free Waldorfschool of Tallinn
Address: Tuulemaa 12, Tallinn, 10312
Phone: +372 601 6504
Homepage is unfortunately in Estonian
Transport from the hotel to school is organized by bus.
Dinners
The community dinner will be held at the venue of the conference on Friday, prepared with our own assistance.
Conference dinner on Saturday
Restaurant Babulja
Address: Pärnu mnt 2, Tallinn, 10148
Phone: +372 502 4752
More information about Babulja is here
We will walk through the old town from Park Inn to the restaurant and back. It will be a short warm-up for Sunday morning’s tour in the Old Town of Tallinn.Disclaimer: Please note that cancellation is only possible before 20th October, in case of accommodation booked with us it is 15th October. In case you cancel later, you have to pay the full fee due and also the cost of accommodation booked.
In case you organise your own accommodation, you can register for the conference until 20th October.
In case you choose to pay in cash at the event, you will not be able to join the sightseeing progamme, lunch or the conference itself without paying your due fees.
In all organisational questions please contact Brigitte Haider
e-mail: GA@euparents.eu
Tel. no: +43-664 562 4043
