Professionalization of Career Guidance Practitioners - Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Conference
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Experts from many international, regional and national agencies generously share their views, experiences and findings on skills, helping policy-makers among other stakeholders to understand the linkages between education, training and the world of work, and how to integrate skills into national development planning to promote employment and economic growth.
Career guidance and employment services
Career guidance and counselling, career education and lifelong development of skills for employability are key for success in learning activities, effective career transitions, livelihood planning, entrepreneurship and in increasing labour market participation. They are instrumental in promoting skills utilization, recognition (RPL), as well as in improving enterprise human resource management.
Career development activities encompass a wide variety of support activities including career information and advice, counselling, work exposure (e.g. job shadowing, work experience periods), assessment, coaching, mentoring, professional networking, advocacy, basic and employability skills training (curricular and non-curricular) and entrepreneurship training. It is often an area which is fragmented across different ministries (e.g. education, TVET, employment, youth) requiring an effort to achieve the necessary coordination to provide adequate support to individuals during learning, employment and unemployment/inactivity periods.
Skills policies and strategies
Skills and employment policies should be viewed together. The full value of one policy set is realized when it supports the objectives of the other. For investments in education and training to yield maximum benefit to workers, enterprises, and economies, countries’ capacities for coordination is critical in three areas: connecting basic education to technical training and then to market entry; ensuring continuous communication between employers and training providers so that training meets the needs and aspirations of workers and enterprises, and integrating skills development policies with industrial, investment, trade, technology, environmental, rural and local development policies.
In face of labour markets disrupted by changing work organisation, digitalisation, the greening of economies and the COVID-19 pandemic, career-related decision-making has become more challenging for both young people and adults. Growing evidence shows that effective career guidance can be expected to help individuals to better navigate towards and through labour markets, but too few people have access to it, and in particular to high quality services. Career guidance practitioners, like teachers in the education system, are at the heart of quality services. Therefore, this regional event shall focus on practitioner competencies. Evidence that this is a key concern in the region comes from recent reviews of national career development support systems.
The topic of professionalization/practitioner competences further relates to wider challenges in the various countries: some aim at rolling out career education in formal education, but what skills do teachers and counsellors need? other countries need to deliver services to displaced, what skills are needed for counsellors? Outreach to all from vulnerable groups to workers, including in the informal economy is required, but what skills do practitioners need? Increasing need to work in partnership (PES and SCOs; school and PES etc.) is required, but what skills are needed to deliver on this? etc.
Objective of the event
The objective of the event is therefore threefold: identifying the challenges related to practitioner competences, showcasing solutions and overall valuing the qualification of Career Guidance Practitioners, represent the importance of their activity, cooperation and collaboration across education, employment and youth sectors scope, and the required impact of quality career guidance services in a rapidly changing world.
Target audience
Career guidance practitioners, researchers, NGOs, social partners, donors, development cooperation partners, technical experts from Ministries
Time: 11:00-13:10 CET
Link for registration: https://www.eap-events.eu/career-guidance
Career guidance
Europe and Central Asia
