Page 9 - euroguidance-insight-2018-autumn

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More compensatory guidance measures needed Development of guidance services for the unem-

in schools ployed
A survey made by the National Union of Teachers, The Swedish Government’s ongoing labour market
where 1,500 pupils were asked about the career guid- investigation is also looking into the issue of guidance.
ance they received in elementary school, showed that: The Government has given the Public Employment
Service the task to:
• The element of compensatory guidance is very
limited in the guidance conversations that the pu- • Explore how a digital platform for lifelong guid-
pils get in their schools, even though guidance is ance can be set up and operated jointly by sev-
supposed to even out the unequal background eral national agencies. The platform should meet
that pupils have, so that everyone gets equal op- the individuals’ need for information and guid-
portunities regardless of background. ance as well as provide information on funding
• Pupils with foreign-born parents are more dissat- for studies and validation.
isfied with the individual guidance they received • Develop an implementation plan for how the PES
than pupils of parents born in Sweden. guidance services can be strengthened. The plan
should contain information on how PES intends
Now the Swedish Government has appointed an to organize its guidance services and work with
investigation committee with the task to propose quality assurance and follow-up.
some improvements to guidance services in schools.
The committee is to suggest possible measures to
decrease the importance of gender, social back-
ground and disabilities for making educational and
vocational choices and analyse how the role of guid-
ance can be strengthened in schools and how digital
guidance services can be developed.

Difficulties for employees to find adequate guidance
The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employ-
ees (TCO) conducted a survey among their members
to shed a light on areas where changes are needed to
create conditions that are more favourable for career
development. With the guidance services in focus -
the survey showed that:
• 25% of the employees are in need of guidance

• Less than half of them are able to get guidance
through their employer Shortage of guidance professionals
• Among those who have previously received guid-
ance, 26 % of men and 21 % of the women con- There seems to be a shortage of guidance profession-
sider it insufficient. als and the universities that educate career guidance
counsellors report that their students are headhunted
The TCO concludes that universities need to get bet- into working life before they even have finished their de-
ter at marketing the guidance services that they offer gree. With such high demands for guidance services,
and work more pro-actively in their guidance efforts. this shortage may become worse in the coming years.
The universities should also regularly carry out sur-
veys on the needs for guidance and how their con- Nina Ahlroos
tacts with working life can be developed. Euroguidance Sweden