GLOBAL CAREERS MONTH 2022

The global careers month lasted from 8 November till 13 December 2022: IAG Events (skillsforemployment.org)

One month has passed since we last met in the opening ceremony and a lot has been discussed in a multiplicity of events organised in all regions of the world:

• MENA region
• European Union
• Oceania
• Central, East and Southern Africa
• Eastern Europe/Central Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Latin America
• North America

Countries are making strong efforts to secure economic recovery and relaunch economic growth and there is a growing narrative about the near future that may have strong implications for career guidance, namely:

• The need to promote adaptability in the face of structural transformation
• The development of more resilient societies
• Enabling a just transition into greener economies and societies

This narrative also grows while important challenges persist, related to economic inequalities, gender gap in access to education and decent work and a digital divide that threatens to widen social inequalities. While career guidance cannot solve these issues, it can provide a critical contribution to help individuals and organisations address them.

KEY EMERGING TOPICS FROM THE REGIONAL EVENTS

The key emerging topics from the regional events were discussed in the global closing ceremony which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/fGzlixmFAJo 

They include:

• competence development of guidance professionals – and its value for innovating policies and services; e.g. shift in professional identity from “inspector (in PES and schools)” to “counsellor”, from “providing orientation” to “providing lifelong guidance and supporting the development of career management skills to empower people”
  • the value / need for international cooperation and peer-learning at international level among any professionals in career guidance, including practitioners, researchers, trainers, policy makers etc. and related to that the value of international learning mobility & the value of national networks for the same reason
• career guidance for youth in and outside of formal education with a particular focus on school-to-work transition and further, the challenges, practices, and initiatives in enabling and promoting career-related education and training for youth in the aftermath of COVID-19
• international students and their need for guidance in foreign labour markets
• knowledge management and innovation of guidance – it must be situated, contextualized, incorporating concepts such as interculturality, gender and disability
• lifelong guidance as a need including guidance for non-traditional and vulnerable groups such as workers, disabled and older adults having to stay longer in working life and facing higher needs of up/reskilling
• digitalisation and its implications for career guidance – e.g. while technology is likely to enhance the efficiency, impact, and scale of interventions, interventions need to be designed to be socially just, equitable, environmentally sensitive, and culture-resonant
• Innovation in guidance – e.g. intercultural career guidance in virtual modality, mentoring in the classroom, integrating professional career development into curricula
• shift from learning and adopting career development programs from Western countries towards developing own approaches
• the impact of career guidance – how career guidance changes the lives of individuals, supports organisations and helps achieve wider policy objectives in education, employment, youth, social inclusion and health  
• need for making society aware of the benefits and effectiveness of guidance and that it is not just for unemployed – need to shift towards preventive guidance instead of reactive
• need for research practice connection to ensure quality
• Quality of services across educational, employment, youth, social inclusion sectors, as well as the need for integrating career guidance into wider policies on education, employment, youth etc.
• Access to guidance, remaining a challenge for many countries – in particular again the need to strengthen support for transitions between school cycles, higher education and work promoting the development of skills and competences that help people adapt to changes in the world of work
• Career guidance to reduce inequalities – e.g. women in science and the role of guidance

The opening ceremony can be watched here: https://youtu.be/rzMlr9UNWew

This marks the beginning of a global community!