Page 27 - Professionalising-career-guidance-practitioner-competences-and-qualification-routes-in-Europe

2. Training for career guidance: the

current situation

2.1. Career guidance roles

Career guidance exists in some countries as a specialist occupation requiring extensive and
specific training. This is as yet not very common in Europe where, in many countries, career
guidance activities are a subspecialism within another role, or are carried out by those who
have obtained career guidance posts on the basis of general qualifications or of extensive
life experience that is seen as relevant to career guidance.
Where career guidance is a subspecialism, those delivering career guidance services
may more commonly define themselves according to their primary role and training. Three
such categories were identified by Watts et al. (1994) and remain much in evidence, either
alongside or as alternatives to the specialised career guidance role:
(a) psychologists, whose training relevant to career guidance is either assumed to have
been incorporated into their broad psychological training, or who may have received
limited supplementary training;
(b) teachers, who may perform their career guidance responsibilities alongside their
teaching duties with limited supplementary training, or who may have received more
extensive training, though often as an educational counsellor rather than for a
careers-specific role;
(c) labour-market administrators, whose in-service training is likely to include an emphasis
on public administration, including unemployment insurance, and services to
job-seekers and employers (e.g. placement into work).
Where career guidance activity is combined with other roles, it frequently leads to the
career tasks receiving lower priority among other work pressures and being more difficult for
potential users to identify and access. In such cases, separate specialised training is less
likely to be provided, and policy-makers may find it harder to control the delivery of career
guidance services and to develop them to meet their strategic aims (OECD, 2004). It is also
often the case in such circumstances that relevant training is available only on an in-service
basis, so that it becomes accessible only to those who have been selected for the relevant
job.

2.2. Training traditions and patterns

The diversity of situations within which career guidance practitioners work is accompanied by
equal diversity in form and manner of training provided in preparation for, and delivery, of
their working role. Sultana (1995) identifies four traditions in the initial education of teachers.
These are applicable across a range of professional areas, including career guidance. While
these are presented here sequentially, it is important to note that they are rarely distinct
‘types’ but are commonly blended in the design of professional training. Also, this listing does
not necessarily relate to historical progression.

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