Supporting lifelong career guidance in the EU neighbourhood

Highlighting the importance of the topic, the Inter-Agency Career Guidance Working Group (which includes the ILO, OECD, the World Bank, UNESCO, the European Commission, Cedefop and the ETF) is organising the first Global Careers Month in November.  A series of global and regional events will be held to raise awareness about the role and importance of effective career guidance, identify shared challenges in the field, and showcase high-quality, innovative solutions.

The ETF’s Torino Process, in its analysis of vocational education and training systems in the EU's neighbouring regions, highlights a growing demand for career development support from participating countries and increasing recognition of its contribution to economic recovery and societal transition, as highlighted in a recent report Investing in Career Guidance prepared by six international organisations, including the ETF.

Career guidance is the services provided to individuals, groups and their families, typically as part of, or following, mandatory education. It can help to open up the world of work, especially to those who might be excluded, such as young people, migrants, women, and other vulnerable groups, as well as to opportunities offered by new sectors arising from the digital and green transition. Career development, on the other hand, is a lifelong process of managing learning, work and leisure, as well as the transition from education to work in order to achieve a personally determined and evolving future. 

One of the key challenges to improving the system is to increase access for adult learners to help them navigate evolving labour markets, with career guidance having been traditionally focused on young people. SMEs are the largest employer, and their competitiveness depends on the skills of their workers. Access to career guidance and continuing vocational training for workers in SMEs plays a crucial role in tackling unemployment, providing employment opportunities, and boosting the productivity of SMEs.  

How best to implement career development guidance and support raises some difficult questions, such as the need to diversify funding if budgets cannot be increased. Frameworks may also have to be hybrid to support both students and workers, as well as the way in which skills are obtained, either through workplace learning and/or traditional education. Career guidance and development is a key priority of the EU Skills Agenda in Member States, neighbouring regions and beyond through its external relations, supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

Working in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders at national, regional, European and international levels, the ETF supports EU neighbouring and Central Asian countries to further develop national career development support systems following a structured and systematic approach. In 2022, the ETF has reviewed the state of career development support systems in 10 of its partner countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine.  

These reviews build on a joint ETF and International Labour Organisation report (2021) Developing national career development support systems which discusses how career development support systems can be developed. The approach relies on the assessment of key reference points, with strong contextual analysis, avoiding universal solutions for existing challenges. National stakeholder engagement is recommended to develop effective reviews and work towards a shared vision, priorities and planning for system development.

Lifelong career guidance is an integral part of many ETF activities in partner countries. The European Framework for Quality And Effective Apprenticeships puts ‘career guidance and awareness raising’ as an essential framework condition. The ETF supports partner countries in its development for work-based learning and apprenticeship schemes (including through membership of the European Alliance for Apprenticeship), which are essential for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee in the Western Balkans. Lifelong career guidance is key to building Centres of Vocational Excellence and therefore a priority area of the ETF’s Network for Excellence (ENE). Moreover, it features strongly in sectoral skills development and implementation of smart specialisation strategies.  In 2022 the ETF launched a regional project ‘Skilling up Western Balkans agri-food sector: digitalising, greening’ which includes an analysis of the role of career education and career guidance offered by public employment services, educational institutions, and social partners – which will inform peer learning activities from 2023 onwards. 

The ETF works to strengthen knowledge exchange and the building of professional networks across its partner countries in the EU's neighbouring regions and connects them with EU networks such as Careersnet. Open-source materials and tools from the EU are readily available and shared with partner countries to support individuals making career decisions and the professional development of career guidance counsellors, such as Europass.