Xcelence: Online career guidance platform

Abstract

Xcelence is an online platform that provides schools with an innovative and strategic reference model for guidance. It defines 10 “keys” (benchmarks) that schools must achieve to offer a quality guidance system to their students. It offers an online self-evaluation tool that provides schools with a diagnosis of their current performance in academic and vocational guidance, compared to other schools nationwide. Xcelence provides access to quality guidance recommendations and resources for the implementing of actions and activities.

The Xcelence model is based on international standards from 7 OECD countries and is particularly inspired by the Gatsby Benchmarks from the UK. The primary objective is for schools to seamlessly incorporate Xcelence into their educational coordination plans, thereby establishing a new, specialized role known as the CEAP (Coordinador de Estrategia Académico-Profesional).

Resource overview

Website: Xcelence

Schools register on the main website. There are two possible registration profiles: school principal or CEAP / teacher. Once the new user logs in, they select their school using the school’s code. The platform then allows the user to register some school details (like dropout rates, academic offer, etc) and then it provides a blank questionnaire for the representative of the school to fill in. It takes around 30 minutes to fill in all the questions. Once they’ve answered, a report is created, showing the strengths and areas for improvement, acting as a career guidance diagnosis. Resources are also provided to nurture the guidance practice of the school. The collection of over 200 resources is grouped by benchmark and schools can navigate through them for free and without previous log-in. It includes the links to the resource and the contact information of the developer.

Each year the self-evaluation is repeated, allowing schools to review their progress. In the user panel, each school can compare its results anonymously with the entire database of the platform. Schools are provided a guide and an informative video.

Description of technology

It is a self-developed platform that incorporates three types of users: School Directors, Teachers/CEAPs, and Researchers. The first two user types have access to the Xcelence questionnaire, through which schools can evaluate their performance by responding to a variety of different items. When the questionnaire is completed, a personalized PDF report is generated using Dynamic Report Generation software that includes basic AI capabilities. This report includes customized recommendations. The Researcher user type allows researchers to download the database containing anonymous self-assessment responses from all participating schools. It features a filter by academic year and enables visualization of the main results for each benchmark of the Xcelence model in graph form.

How the resource makes career guidance more effective, efficient and/or equitable for students

Xcelence allows Spanish schools to work under an international quality framework adapted to their needs. In a country where educational guidance is overloaded (with a counsellor: student ratio of 1:1000, far exceeding the UNESCO recommendations of 1:250), the CEAP role offers a means of extending the concern for academic and professional development to the entire teaching staff. Any teacher can be a CEAP and become the promoter of career guidance activities at their school. The main tasks of the CEAP are strategic planning, improvement assessment and implementation, communication and connection with the labour market. Within the self-evaluation platform, the school can develop effective and efficient action plans, based on the analysis of its own performance and inspired by the examples of other schools.

The 10 keys (benchmarks) that schools must achieve in order to have a quality guidance system are:

1. An integrated system of academic and professional guidance as a strategic element.

2. Strategic and operational co-ordination.

3. Adaptation to the needs of the students.

4. Personal guidance.

5. Families as active agents.

6. Link between school subjects and professional fields.

7. Meetings with alumni and professionals.

8. Experiences in work contexts.

9. Use of labour market information.

10. Preparation for transition to post-compulsory education pathways.

According to the latest Xcelence research study (available here), the areas of improvement are: the use of labour market information (key 9, where only 18.1% of the standards are met), experiences in work contexts (key 8, 24.4% compliance) and meetings with former students and professionals (key 7, 30.7%). Attending student’s needs and preparing for post-secondary education programs are the best performing areas.

Xcelence provides more inclusive guidance and contributes to the vocational development of students, especially those at risk of early school dropout or school failure. For this purpose, Xcelence exists within the project XEQI.es (Xcelence-Escuelas que Inspiran). Find out more.

Challenges or potential barriers to use

This platform is designed for the educational context of secondary education in Spain. The user is required an A1 level of digital competence (according to the EU Digital Competence Framework for Educators). It is not available internationally, but it could be replicated in similar contexts. For Vocational Training schools and Schools for Adults, the questionnaire is being revised to be better adapted to their context.

The resource is free of charge.

Support for users

Users don’t need any support to use the platform, though there are ways to contact the developers if there is any incident.

Further advice for users

This tool can be carried out at two points in time within the same school year: at the beginning and at the end of the school year. The final report can complement the school's report of guidance activities.

Additional details

 

Has the resource been…	Yes or No?	Description	Link
…informed by research?	Yes	D’EP Institut elaborated the Xcelence Annual Report in November 2022, using the database provided by the platform. It incorporated data from 225 schools and analysed their answers to the self-evaluation in each of the 10 keys/benchmarks, tracking their progress during the previous two years.	 Juárez, JJ., Brandt, H. (2019) Initial report of the Xcelence project. Adaptation of an international academic-professional orientation model for its application in Spain. Link: https://www.fundacionbertelsmann.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/20190416_Xcelence_FINAL_revisado.pdf  D’EP Institut. (2020) Academic and career guidance in times of COVID-19. Results of the study. Link: https://www.dep.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Informe-final-Orientaci%C3%B3n-en-tiempos-del-COVID-19.pdf  The state of academic-professional guidance in Spain according to the Xcelence model. Link: https://xcelence.es/informe-anual-xcelence-22
…funded by government?	No
…recognized by peers?	No
…evaluated?	No

This resource has been endorsed by IES Enrique Tierno Galván school, in Parla, Madrid, in Spain.

Disclaimer: This content is provided by the submitting organisation.