Page 103 - Professionalising-career-guidance-practitioner-competences-and-qualification-routes-in-Europe

at the discretion of the individual worker rather than part of a systematic process to maintain
the currency of skill and competence in the workforce. The OECD review (2004)
recommends that policy-makers should ‘(w)ork … more closely with career guidance
practitioners to shape the nature of initial and further education and training qualifications …’
(p. 149). McCarthy (2004) stresses the need for increased dialogue between policy-makers
and training institutions to ensure that training systems and the content of training courses
are aligned with public-policy priorities.
A considerable proportion of training for career guidance staff, specialist or otherwise, is
provided post-entry. Often it is delivered in a way that is specific to the sector through which
it is provided, thus reducing mobility between sectors, and failing to support the development
of a distinctive professional identity for career guidance, an important element in making
career guidance services more visible to potential users. Pre-entry training for career
guidance is a desirable option, particularly where it is designed in a way that provides
common-core elements alongside specialised elements attuned to particular employment
sectors (for example, education, public employment service, private sector). Common-core
elements of such training can be expected to increase the levels of understanding and
cooperation between different delivery sectors, and also to increase the possibilities for
individual staff to develop their own career through movement between sectors.

The value of common frameworks for all initial, induction and in-service training is covered in
Section 8.4. below.

8.2. Sufficiency

A key item raised in this report is the question of seeking, both nationally and within a
European context, a consensus on what may be viewed as a sufficient level of training and
competence for those operating as specialist career guidance practitioners. This raises
questions of both the level and the degree of specialisation needed, in relation to the role of
career guidance practitioner as defined in different countries. In many instances,
specialisation as a career guidance practitioner will include a role in coordinating networked
and dispersed delivery, as well as in direct work with and for clients.
Currently, those involved in delivering career guidance services as part of another
professional role, as a paraprofessional, or as a contributor to non-formal delivery networks,
have a wide range of types and levels of training, and sometimes none at all. Few countries
have reported systems for quality assurance of such delivery.

8.3. Evidence for what works

There is need to seek evidence on what levels and forms of training are effective in
developing career guidance practice which is able to deliver the client outcomes needed to
achieve desired policy outcomes in each country and to meet EU goals. The OECD review
(2004) provides a clear guideline:
‘Policies should assume that all people need career decision-making skills and career
self-management skills, and that everybody needs access to high quality, impartial career

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