Guidance
and Counselling Unit Quality Service Charter
Contents
Who
we are
This
charter
How
to contact us
Opening
hours
Information
protected
Personal
consideration and respect
Our
services and standards
Counselling
service
How
you can help us
How
we monitor our performance
If
you are not satisfied with our service
Learning
from you!
Who we are
The Guidance and Counselling Service within the Department of Student
Services and International Relations of the Education Division
promotes the holistic development of pupils and students by providing
personal, curricular and career guidance and counselling.
This charter
This charter outlines your rights and responsibilities, the services
we provide and the standards of service we aim to achieve and which
you can expect from us. It also tells you what to do if you wish to
see any improvement in our service. Through this charter we are
committing ourselves to providing you with a quality service.
How to contact us
Guidance and Counselling
Service
1, St Publius Street,
Floriana VLT 16
-
phoning on: 21237906
-
sending a fax on:
21246212
-
sending an email on:
guidanceservice.floriana@gov.mt
-
accessing our website
on: http://schoolnet.gov.mt/guidance
When you visit our office we will:
-
be prompt to attend to you
-
be courteous and helpful at all times
-
welcome you in a clean and friendly environment.
When you write to us you can expect us to:
When you phone us you can expect us to:
-
answer politely
-
identify ourselves.
When you send us an email, you can expect us to:
When you phone for your appointment, you can expect us to:
In providing information we will:
-
give you the most accurate, up-to-date information available to us, at
that point in time
-
refer you to other agencies or organizations that can give you further
assistance.
Opening hours
Counselling services are offered during school days, from the end of
September till the beginning of July.
We are open from Monday to Friday between:
8.30 a.m. – 2.30 p.m.
For information on the exact dates and times of the service please
phone on 21 237906.
Information protected
Personal information provided is protected and used in accordance with
the Data Protection Act 2001.
Personal consideration
and respect
You can expect all staff who deal with you to treat you in the best
possible manner. They will attend to your needs with courtesy and
respect your privacy, dignity, culture, religious beliefs and
lifestyle. All information provided is kept strictly confidential.
Our services and standards
The Guidance and Counselling Unit render a service in schools and from
its premises in Floriana during the school year ONLY. One counsellor
is available at the Guidance and Counselling Service in Floriana every
day during the school year to give this service.
The main areas of work include:
-
counselling service
-
curricular guidance
-
career guidance including career seminars programme
-
parenting skills programme
-
service at primary sector
-
designing of career rooms
Counselling service
This service is given at the Guidance and Counselling Unit and in
schools. Students themselves usually ask for counselling. Sometimes
parents are also invited to attend counselling sessions. Counselling
services range from crises intervention to personal, vocational or
curricular counselling. It is advisable for clients to phone for an
appointment when they need counselling services.
You can expect us to:
Curricular Guidance
We provide curricular guidance which helps to facilitate the
transition of students from primary to secondary school and from
secondary to post-secondary institutions and/or work. Talks are held
for parents and students during the scholastic year. We also provide
guidance regarding subject options and choice of courses, at different
levels.
You can expect
us to:
Career Guidance including
Career Seminars Programme
The Guidance and Counselling Service provides information through
various activities which consists of career seminars and career
orientation visits/talks. Guidance Teachers in schools also organise
talks and visits.
Career Seminars are specifically organised for students in Form 4 and
5. The seminar is a full day programme based on getting to know
oneself and the various opportunities for career/vocational choices.
You can expect us to:
provide an on-going
service throughout the school year
Parenting skills programmes
We also provide parenting skills programmes which consist of a weekly
two hour session for six weeks. These are delivered by specialists in
the field upon request from Heads of School, Local Councils and Non
Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
These programmes are held at different venues as necessary.
You can expect us to:
-
provide parenting skills programmes throughout the school year
-
deal with topics such as self-esteem, decision making, communication,
relationships, drug abuse, assertiveness, health and sexuality.
Service in the Primary Sector
Counselling support for children and their parents is provided in a
small number of Primary Schools. A similar service is also provided
from the Guidance and Counselling Unit preferably by appointment.
A child must be referred for counselling by the Head of School after
obtaining parental consent or by the parents themselves.
You can expect us to:
Designing of Career Rooms.
This area of work deals with designing, setting up and upgrading
information boards and leaflets for career rooms in schools and at the
Guidance and Counselling Service. This work is carried out by a
graphic designer.
You can expect us to:
How you can help us
You can help us deliver a better quality in service by:
-
being courteous
and co-operative with all our staff
-
providing us with
accurate and up-to-date information when filling forms
-
providing us with
all the relevant information or documents when they are requested
-
explaining clearly
and briefly the nature of your query
-
giving us the
correct name and surname, address and telephone number of the person
being referred and the person making the referral
-
presenting the
appropriate Identity Card.
How we monitor our
performance
We want to meet the standards set out in this charter in order to
provide you wish a quality service. Assessing how well we perform
against these standards is an important element for your satisfaction.
We will assess and improve our standards by:
Thus, we will monitor our standards and find ways of improving them.
If you are not
satisfied with our service
Your complete satisfaction is essential to us. We look into all
complaints as they help us improve our service. If you think that we
have failed to maintain our service delivery standards you can lodge a
complaint. You may write to the following address:
The Director
Department for Student Services and International Relations
Great Siege Road
Floriana CMR 02
We promise to acknowledge all letters of complaint and send a reply
within five working days.
Learning from you!
We continuously strive to provide a service that meets your needs and
we welcome any comments and suggestions for service improvement.
Kindly give us your comments and suggestions by filling in the
Feedback form on the backcover of this booklet and dropping it in our
suggestion box. You can also send it by post to the address printed on
the Feedback form itself.
You can also lodge a complaint, make a suggestion or ask a question by
accessing the Customer Care System at www.servizz.gov.mt
All information is correct at time of going to print. More information
is available on the Charter Support Unit website and the Guidance and
Counselling Service website at http://schoolnet.gov.mt/guidance.
January 2005
Published by the
Charter Support Unit, OPM
http://www.servicecharters.gov.mt
Printed at the
Government Press
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