Who wants to train in the Algarve?

They spend many a night scouring the Internet in search of opportunities of learning something new. From the outset, criteria was based on the tastes and necessities of the site’s founders – educational courses, and those involving social and psychological intervention.

“We thought that we could create a platform for young university students - or new graduates who don’t have much idea of the places open for training in the Algarve, or where they could find information publicising any initiatives”, Eliana Calixto explains.

So, “we sent an e-mail to various entities in the region, telling them that we existed and that we were able, for no charge at all, to publicise their initiatives. We asked them to send us simple information, in any format – even a simple link, if necessary – so that we could make the necessary adaptation to the lay-out of our blog” Sofia Justino continues.

“We thought we would be able to publicise the work of these various entities, and in a way, open them up to all kinds of markets”, she adds.

But “what happened, is what normally happens here – they didn’t answer”, she shrugs.

Only two organisations, out of dozens contacted, replied to the initiative of these two young women – a fact they both consider ridiculous.

“When we go to a website and sign up to receive a newsletter, we start receiving information straight away. In other words, if many organisations work this way, why can’t they reply to a direct request?” Sofia explains.

“Despite the fact that we’ve existed for more than a year, we still have to go onto the Internet and visit all websites of the organisations that we know about ourselves, one by one, every week, to discover what’s new on offer”, Eliana adds, fully aware of the fallibility of this method of working.

Evermore determined to take this project further, the girls have created a page on the Facebook and Twitter social networking site, which increases its number of visitors by an average of 20 per day.

Meantime, they’ve opened up their blog to other areas of learning – science, history, computers, health, cinema, and in the future they hope to offer courses in language training. Portuguese for foreigners, for example – as we’re living in such a multi-cultural region.

In spite of all the difficulties, the two guarantee that their initiative is to stay – particularly “as we have a number of regular visitors now, and feel we owe them continuity”.

Difficulties in communication

If interest from organisations providing training was less than enthusiastic, Sofia and Eliana were also surprised that people who visited their blog were also relatively lukewarm when it came to responding.

“We’d like to have some feedback from people – for instance, if they’re interested or not in what we’re doing on our blog; if the courses we’re publicising are interesting enough; what areas they, the visitor, would like to see presented?”

“We also ask people to give us feedback about the courses they go on to take. I think we have the right, and duty indeed, to offer critical appraisal – whether positive or negative. This way, the blog could also become a kind of discussion forum/ centre for debate”, explains Sofia Justino.

But reality shows that “it’s very difficulty to reel people in and get them to take part. In our generation, I see there are a lot of people with a critical spirit, but they prefer to discuss things in cafés more than publically”.

“I think that’s why so many people end up giving up dreams and ambitions”, she shrugs again.

Both psychologists feel that today’s reason for inertia and lack of communication in Portugal “stems from a lot of social factors”.

“The Portuguese is a conformist. He sees what other people are doing, and copies them. It’s something that’s passed down through many generations! I often say that 25th April wasn’t that long ago. There’s still a certain retrograde, conservative mentality that, although many of us young people dislike it, ends up pulling us backwards. I think it’ll take many more years before there’s really a revolution in mentalities,” she concludes.

Training, useful or not really?

How can you take it all in in a blog? The field of training is vast. “Well, there are various entities offering training. The hospital, for example, can be one. Libraries and parish councils also, on an occasional basis – and then there are the permanent training centres, for example. Businesses that run this kind of service”.

Sofia Justino and Eliana Calixto are firm believers in the importance of training when it comes to personal and professinal esteem. They’re also aware that there’s a lot to out there of dubious worth.

“Yes... there’s a lot of “watering down” going on with regard to content. For example, even a lot of workshops end up being more theory based than practice” (which is the absolute opposite of what they’re intended for), criticises Eliana.

“I accept that there has to be an element of theory in order to pass on to the practical – but, in many cases, that’s all people get! And they end up leaving thinking something was definitely missing – like the exchange of experiences, or the presentation of projects/ work. Practical things, in other words. Concrete examples”, adds Sofia Justino.

“After all, there’s endless theory out there on the Internet, or in books. What people need is to meet others from different walks of life” she concludes.

Equally, people today are dubious about investing in training. Why? “Possibly because in the end, it’s just another thing to add to your CV – without bringing with it many advantages”.

In truth, the Portuguese system of official education is on the point of imploding – and young people are caught up in all the anomalies. For example, the recently created “Ordem dos Psicólogos” (Order of Psychologists) “decreed that as of a certain date, whoever hasn’t completed a 12 to 18-month long professional apprenticeship CANNOT practice psychology”, explains Eliana.

This means that “when we finish our courses we’re told that we cannot practice what we’ve learnt – and we don’t know when that will change, or how to create the necessary conditions for it to change” so that we can end up working in the area we studied for…