Practice Areas
Employability and fair transition to work
Tags
Skills demand analysis
Skills anticipation and matching
Make it match
Lifelong learning
Engaging enterprises in skills development
Employability

Education, training and labour-market systems are increasingly challenged by global developments such as new and rapidly advancing technologies, demographic changes and environmental degradation with profound impact on the lives of individuals and on society as a whole. The idea of a job for life has been replaced by a constant change and uncertainty, requiring that individuals become real lifelong learners, acquire new skills to cope with change and adapt and build on their existing skills. Consequently, there is a need for greater support for individuals and a greater need than ever for career guidance. In addition, with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and dealing with its impact and aftermath the need for career guidance is even greater to help individuals to reach their potential, economies to become more efficient and societies to become fairer.

The ETF has been a consistent advocate on the role of effective career guidance in the development of education, training and employment systems in the EU’s neighbouring countries. The latest round of the ETF Torino Process confirms that the demand for career guidance in partner countries is on the rise. In recent years, the ETF has developed specific methodologies and tools, such as questionnaire-based policy reviews, a position paper, policy reports like the recent "International trends and innovation in career guidance", a practical tool to identify the best mix of delivery models/modalities, and tailor-made policy papers for countries on demand. The ETF has also designed and offers a one-week course on career guidance policy and practice for policymakers and planners in cooperation with ITC-ILO.

In order to understand the current career guidance systems of selected partner countries, ETF hired a national expert per country from Albania, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, to develop career guidance factsheets. The factsheets capture the state of play of career guidance per country looking at institutional capacity (i.e. laws, policies, strategies, cooperation/collaboration mechanisms, quality assurance and professionalisation etc.), the capacity of organisations delivering career guidance services, and the capacity of practitioners. The factsheets aim at informing wider policy dialogue and policy advice.

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Comments (3)

Lida Kita
Open Space Member • 4 years ago

The world of work is changing. Digitalisation, globalisation, and population ageing are having a profound impact on the type and quality of jobs that are available and the skills required to perform them. The extent to which individuals( in education system and employment), public education and employment system, firms and economies can reap the benefits of these changes will depend critically on the ability of individuals to maintain and acquire relevant skills( formal and informal) and adapt to a changing labour market over their working careers.

Career guidance for young and adults is a fundamental policy lever to motivate them to train and to help address the challenges brought about by rapidly changing skill needs. Such services are particularly important amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, as many young and adults have lost jobs and require assistance navigating their career options in the education system and changed labour market.

We all need to co-work, co-share and co discuss on the functioning, effectiveness and resilience of young and adult career guidance systems across countries to better understand the user experience of young and adults with career guidance, and any barriers they all might face in accessing these services.

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