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Euroguidance UK: movement have not been shared equally, and that some destination countries, including the UK, do
not have a high proportion of their own citizens living in another EU Member State.
3 Decades of Commitment Perhaps this is one of the reasons that we now find ourselves on the outside looking in. Whilst we,
in the UK Euroguidance team, have enjoyed working with our colleagues to understand the benefits
of social mobility, we have always understood that this is a professional Network within the guidance
to the Network community – and not public facing in its own right. This is also true of our other work involving Network
members, such as the Academia exchange programme*.
* Referenced later in this publication, the Academia exchange programme, launched in 1995, encourages
guidance counsellors to spend a week in another country to learn about guidance systems and other
cultures.
A note from Caroline Harrison, The UK team (Aspire-international) also teamed up with the Career Development Institute to offer
Chief Executive, Aspire-igen award winners in the field of UK guidance the opportunity to take part in an all expenses paid Academia
placement to develop their knowledge and understanding of the benefits of international cooperation.
The feedback was invariably positive, for example:
(host of Euroguidance UK)
“Visiting Estonia to observe and learn about their career Guidance is an experience that I will always
remember.”
In 1992, we were successful in our bid to become We have tried various ways to reach out directly to the public. Our annual ’Stand Out in a Global Market’
the UK’s Euroguidance centre. For the almost conference is a free event for Sixth Formers and other young people aged 16-18, to inform them of
three decades since we have been proud to the possibilities that exist beyond our national boundaries. We are pleased to report that despite Brexit,
share the same goals with our colleagues across 94% of attendees rated the event as very good in both 2018 and 2019.
the Network, helping to maximise the mobility Euroguidance has also enabled our team to polish up their French language skills at their annual Salon
and career opportunities for everyone throughout
Europe. de l’Education in Paris. This three day event usually attracts over half a million visitors, and the UK’s
stand is always one of the busiest with students and their parents asking about possibilities for studying
We hope that our passion for this project has or working in the UK.
been clear to all, evidenced by our enthusiastic
participation in Network events, and through the There have been so many successful study visits and internships in Bradford, via Euroguidance. In
other programmes that we have been a part of, 2019/2020 alone, coupled with Erasmus+, our team has finished two projects and started three more.
as a consequence of the strong relationships that We have visited fourteen countries for project meetings, attended sixteen career events and organised
we developed internationally. six study visits.
Over the years, we have attended meetings in so We were so very proud to welcome so many of our Network members to the 2018 Euroguidance
Network meeting in Bradford. It was three days of productive meetings, helping to draw up the new
many different member states. We have learned
much from our colleagues in the Network that has ways of working together. Inspired by the amazing cultural experiences we have also shared in so
many countries, we put together a series of social
informed our own national practice and we have
also been able to share our own expertise and events for our Euroguidance partners and we will
never forget driving through the stunning Yorkshire
contribute towards the development of systems
in other EU countries. countryside, hearing medieval music and seeing
everyone getting ready for our banquet in the
Right now, in the UK, there is a lot of discussion about ‘Leveling Up’ our country, addressing the ruined, ancient fortification of Barden Tower. At
economic imbalances that exist between different regions. The European Union recognised the need for that moment, we felt so proud to be a part of this
this long ago, and has been working hard over many years to ensure that all its citizens are provided team and to be able to reciprocate for the many
with the same opportunities. years of shared hospitality and warm welcomes.
The three goals of this Network - to support the development of the European dimension of lifelong We will miss you all so very much. Our final
guidance, to support the development of guidance practitioners and develop their awareness of in- request is to ask that our hard work would not
ternational mobility and to provide information and communication on European guidance - are there become lost in the ether. We wish to build on the
to ensure both fairness and future prosperity across the continent. The final report of the ’Study on knowledge we have shared and the relationships
the movement of Skilled Labour’ which was published in November, 2018, concluded that ‘The free we have made as colleagues became friends. It
movement of workers provides an opportunity for brain flow, with ease of worker movement meeting is vital now, more than ever, that we work even
the demand and aspirations of individual movers, as well as demand by employers for labour or skills harder to ensure that opportunity prevails for
which they otherwise struggle to obtain.’ However, it also recognised that the benefits of the EU everyone.

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