Temi di Ricerca

- Educational and vocational guidance
In many European countries educational and vocational guidance has not been counted as a major issue of public interest, nor was it at the top of the political agenda of those responsible for education and labour market policies.
However, in spite of different legal, economic and social conditions as well as the different level of development in the countries, educational and career services are quite similar. They may be more distinctive in one country and less in another, but on the whole they seem to be quite universal and to suggest similar conclusions and recommendations for political actions.
In this regard, the perception of educational and vocational guidance in Europe and worldwide as a major lever to achieve important political goals has been improved by several activities and political processes carried out by many institutions (such as the IAEVG, International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance * or the CCDF, Canadian Career Development Foundation), ** which have at the same time decisively influenced the further development of guidance services with reference to content, conceptions and strategies.
As an NGO, the IAEVG has been promoting the professionalisation of educational and vocational guidance for over 50 years. It also campaigned for the political recognition of guidance as a fundamental right essential for the participation in education and employment.
n North America, thanks to the dedicated work of the Canadian Career Development Foundation, the Canadian guidance services are highly professional. In three international symposia (1999, 2001, 2003) it has brought together vocational guidance practitioners and policy makers from different countries in order to demonstrate the strategic importance of vocational guidance in achieving important political goals and also in order to advertise a better policy on vocational guidance worldwide.
In the European context, the Leonardo da Vinci programme has long been promoting projects in the context of educational and vocational guidance. These projects are not only aimed at further developing conceptions and methods of guidance offers but also at professionalisation and quality assurance of guidance and guidance practitioners. By establishing and promoting National Resource Centres for Vocational Guidance (NRCVG) all over Europe they added a European dimension to the national guidance systems and thus contributed to the transnational exchange of experiences and know-how.
The EU heads of state and government, during a conference held in Lisbon in 2000, defined the political goal for Europe to become by 2010 the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world and to achieve a sustainable economic growth. The optimal use of human resources and a policy promoting lifelong learning are the essential requirements for achieving these goals.
In this regard, the European Commission set up an experts group called “Lifelong Guidance” whose task is emphasizing the aspect of lifelong guidance in all EU resolutions and documents.
According to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and the European Union, career guidance services have to assist people of any age and at any point of their lives, letting them free of making educational, training and occupational choices and of managing their careers.
Generally, guidance offers are still aimed at short periods of time and are mainly based on a psychology approach. For this reason what should be done is the enhancement of a lifelong guidance founded on a multidisciplinary approach implemented not only by the state but also by private and non-profit organisations.
Access to educational and vocational guidance services should be improved and, depending on the target group, different strategies have to be launched. In particular, for those who wish a professional development for their employability preservation, vocational guidance services should be offered at the workplace in cooperation with companies.
On the whole, the tasks of the countries include the coordination of joint initiatives, the stimulation of standards and tools advancement, the identification of information gaps and need of research as well as the handling of policy decisions. Policy should offer people freedom for education, training and guidance in order to let them better acknowledge the different possibilities coming from the international labour market and to improve the exchange of know-how and expertise as well as the professional mobility. Participating in a broader social network gives the opportunity of integrating learning with experiences in work placements and social involvement, connecting training activities with the demands and possibilities of real labour.
In this regard, from an individual point of view, it is important to introduce the concept of “empowerment” that is the achievement of individual learning goals such as personal coaching, acquirement of competencies and career management skills, leading both students and adults to appreciate and valorise their abilities and personalities. As a matter of fact, career guidance helps people to reflect on their ambitions, interests, qualifications and background and to make a decision about which direction to follow in the different stages of life: people are often not lacking abilities but they just have to choose how and where to use them.

If you wish to give your contribution on this concern implementing this report with further suggestions, even mentioning what have been done in your universities and in your countries, in order to exchange ideas for drafting guidelines for international educational and professional guidance services, you are kindly requested to send your contributions to:

info@guideassociation.org
Fax: +39 06 37 72 55 44