Plan

1
Career Development and Public Policy Two worlds,
two realities that need to talk Points of view
from 14 OECD countries Presented by Michel
Turcotte, CC Human Resources Development
Canada Vice-President of the Ordre des
conseillers et conseillères dorientation et des
psychoéducateurs et psychoéducatrices of
Québec E-mail mturcotte_at_sympatico.ca
2
Plan

• The Symposium why, when, who, how
• Defining career development services
• Public policy
• Programs and services offered
• Organization of services
• Staff training
• Issues identified by each country
• Symposium conclusions

3
Organization of SymposiumWhy?

• Career counsellors felt there was a need for this
  Symposium they tend to pay little attention to
  policy issues.
• Career development services depend on public
  policy and vice versa policies that regard these
  services as important should have a better
  understanding of what they are.

4
Organization of SymposiumWhen, who, why?

• May 1999 in Ottawa.
• Participants from 14 countries (Argentina,
  Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France,
  Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, New
  Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom, United States)
  including members of the policy making community
  (decision makers) and the counselling community.
• Preparatory work country documents on the career
  counselling situation in each country.
• Two-day closed Symposium, think tank format.
• Proceedings of the Symposium.

5
Career Counselling Myths

• Give informed advice, can accurately foresee
  where the jobs will be and help people make the
  ideal choice.
• Taking a battery of tests enables people to
  choose the ideal career.
• Intended only for students, the unemployed and
  the underemployed.

6
Definition

• For the purposes of the Symposium, the general
  term career development services refers to the
  set of psychological and educational resources
  that help individuals to make life transitions
  and changes, and to develop and consider
  appropriate vocational development projects and
  strategies by which they can acquire new skills
  as they plan their educational or occupational
  future
• Self-knowledge
• Awareness of job prospects
• Learning about decision-making and transition
  processes.

7
Definition

• In the Netherlands and Finland, individuals must
  learn how to manage their own careers
• What kind of person am I when it comes to
  motivation, interests, strengths and weaknesses?
  (personal identity)
• Given my qualities, in what field can I make a
  contribution to society? (choose a career path)
• In what type of occupation can I establish
  meaningful relations with others? (working
  identity)

8
Public Policy

• All the countries have policies that entitle
  people to free career development services. What
  varies are the resources invested, the level of
  service, control and co-ordination measures, and
  consultation mechanisms with the career
  counselling community. In Spain and Argentina,
  there is little consultation. In Finland,
  Denmark and the Netherlands, career development
  experts are consulted.

9
Programs in the schools

• Career education
• Basically, information on occupations and study
  programs (in Argentina, Germany, Australia, New
  Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom)
• In the other countries, career plan/portfolio
  development is added.

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Programs in the schools (1 of 2)

• Career counselling
• In some countries, basically an information
  service (Argentina, Spain, Australia, Germany,
  New Zealand).
• The Netherlands and Finland emphasize the
  development of personal and working identity.
• Placement services in the universities.

11
Organization - Argentina

• Very decentralized services.
• In the schools, counsellors try to train the
  teachers responsible for providing career
  guidance.
• Guidance services are most effective in the
  universities. Sometimes, universities offer
  services to the general public.

12
Organization - Spain

• In the high schools, the counselling service
  supports teaching, academic and career guidance,
  and tutors. It also co-ordinates with other
  services and establishes links with the
  community. The guidance counsellors are part of
  the teaching staff and generally teach psychology
  and the transition to the labour force.
• Most universities have established career
  guidance services.

13
Organization - Australia

• Services are very decentralized (states, school
  boards) and diverse
• One state has a statement of results for career
  education but no curriculum for career education
  teachers.
• In another, career counsellors play a leading
  role.
• In another, teachers incorporate people and
  work into the curriculum at least every second
  year from kindergarten through Grade 10.
• The Government of the Commonwealth produces and
  distributes a variety of information products on
  occupations and the labour market, in print and
  on the Internet.

14
Organization - United States

• An un-co-ordinated mosaic. The system in the
  United States is largely decentralized, resulting
  in uneven provision of career development
  programs and services.
• National Occupational Information Coordinating
  Committee (NOICC) and State Occupational
  Information Coordinating Committees

15
Organization - Ireland

• The law does not spell out what students are
  entitled to it is left up to school
  administrations.
• Guidance services are virtually non-existent in
  community, literacy and adult education programs.
• Some private counselling organizations provide
  paid services.

16
Organization - Denmark

• Decentralization is the guiding principle
• University the State
• Adult education and high school counties
• Immigrants and refugees municipalities
• Approximately 15,000 professionals,
  para-professionals and non-professionals, mostly
  half-time (teaching/guidance).
• There are many career development services, but
  they are scattered and do not form a coherent
  organization.

17
Organization - Finland

• Until recently, the structure for providing
  guidance services within the school system was
  clearly prescribed by the Ministry of Education.
  There was a strong insistence on including career
  education classes in the curriculum. Now, the
  time allotted to those classes has been reduced.
• The municipalities and the schools now control
  the curriculum and distribute resources. The
  provision of guidance services has become more
  diversified as a result.

18
Organization - Hong Kong

• Career counselling and employment services for
  high school students and the general public are
  provided by the Education Department, the Labour
  Department, and the Hong Kong Association of
  Careers Masters and Guidance Masters.
• The latter creates, supervises and supports
  career preparation teams in each high school,
  trains teachers, and provides resources and
  information services on careers and training.

19
Organization - France

• Teachers play a key role in career education.
  Guidance counsellors/psychologists act primarily
  as the institutions technical advisors in this
  area, and also hold one-on-one counselling
  meetings in the French school system, the
  teachers are the primary decision-makers on
  guidance for their students.

20
Organization - FranceAdvisory and information
organizations (2)

• 518 information and guidance centres (CIOs),
  under the Ministry of Education.
• 322 local missions (MLs) and 308 assessment,
  information and guidance offices (PAIOs) these
  generally have the status of associations and are
  headed by a local elected official 37 of their
  funding comes from the State and 63 from the
  regions.
• Information organizations two public bodies
  produce information
• National Employment and Training Information
  Bureau (ONISEP) (National Ministry of Education)
• Youth Information and Documentation Centre (CIDJ)
  (Ministry of Youth and Sport)
• Private firms also design and disseminate
  information.

21
Organization - Germany

• The Federal Labour Office Exchange (Arbeitsamt)
  had exclusive authority (until 1997) to offer
  career counselling and employment services to all
  clients (700 branches 350 major branches
  including an occupational information centre).
• Private and voluntary organizations are now
  appearing. Fees for the services offered can
  legally be charged only to the employer.
• Universities offer students counselling services
  and high schools generally have a
  teacher/counsellor.

22
Organization - Netherlands

• From regulation to deregulation, centralization
  to decentralization non-interference policy
  loss of control and of quality evaluation.
• Each school is responsible for career education
  and guidance.
• The subject teachers, the homeroom teacher, the
  counsellor and the career education teachers have
  complementary responsibilities. The school
  administration develops a vision and policy on
  the organization of career education and guidance
  in the school but does not prescribe how it is to
  be dispensed.
• Linkages are made between the subject being
  taught and the occupations in which it is used.
• External guidance services can be purchased.

23
Organization - Netherlands (2)

• National Continuous Learning Action Program
• Self-management of employability by the
  individual
• To provide a starting point, businesses are
  required to invest in worker employability.

24
Organization - New Zealand

• In 1990, the government created Career Services
• Government departments (Education, Labour),
  school boards, universities became clients.
• Career Services offer information, counselling
  and guidance services clients can go to an
  office, phone or send a fax to receive careers
  advice.
• An accurate information system is a key component
  of all government guidance and information
  initiatives.
• Concern with impartiality.

25
Organization - U.K.

• The Ministry of Education and Employment (MEE) is
  responsible for the education and training system
  in the U.K., including career information, career
  education and career guidance.
• In the early 1990s, the MEE awarded a series of
  contracts to 66 local occupational services, most
  of which are corporations with a Board of
  Directors. The directors represent various
  community interests.

26
Personnel - Denmark

• The people involved in guidance are teachers or
  administrators, who take on career guidance in
  addition to their responsibilities.
• In almost all cases, the individuals assigned to
  career guidance receive brief training once they
  are on the job.
• It is possible to earn a graduate degree in
  education with a career guidance specialization.
  However, there are few students entering the
  field.

27
Personnel - Australia

• People enter the field by various pathways in
  education and training (teaching, psychology,
  social service or human resources management).
  There are some nine undergraduate programs that
  include a specific career education or career
  guidance component.
• In 1992, the National Board of Education,
  Employment and Training (NBEET) defined a set of
  professional skills for guidance counsellors.

28
Personnel - Germany

• The Ministry of Employment has a monopoly on
  training. Its staff takes a three-year program
  at the Ministrys private university. To be
  admitted, students must have an apprenticeship
  diploma in a trade and two years of work
  experience.
• To fill training needs, a six-month program was
  developed to qualify office employees to become
  career guidance counsellors.

29
Personnel - Ireland

• Some universities offer a one-year full-time
  post-graduate program. To get a job in a
  second-level school, the Department of Education
  requires a Masters degree in education with a
  specialization in guidance counselling.

30
Personnel - Argentina

• While almost all the on-site profesionals are
  psychologists, school psychologists or
  educational specialists, the training they
  receive is generally insufficient.
• Demand for qualified specialists has increased in
  recent years, and some state universities have
  created graduate programs for career counsellors.

31
Personnel - Spain

• Career counsellors are university trained
• diploma in education, psychology or
  psychoeducation
• a program of only two years, after completion of
  a minimum three-year program in a related field
• need to pass a state exam in order to work in a
  high school guidance department.
• In institutions of higher learning, however,
  counsellors have qualifications of all kinds.

32
Personnel - France

• Information and guidance centres (CIOs) staffed
  by career counsellors/psychologists.
• Local missions (MLs) and assessment, information
  and guidance offices (PAIOs) 6,000 employees
  with a wide variety of qualifications.

33
Personnel - United States

• Training varies widely, from brief on-the-job
  training to a Ph.D.
• NOICC has developed the National Career
  Development Guidelines for the development of
  full programs in career development at all levels
  of education.
• NOICC and the National Career Development
  Association offer a 120-hour para-professional
  program for professional career counsellors.
• The National Board for Certified Counselors
  (NBCC) is a national voluntary body which
  certifies counsellors.

34
Personnel - Finland

• Finland has a highly professionalized guidance
  and counselling system. There are career
  counsellors who came out of the Labour
  administration and also career guidance
  psychologists in the school system, particularly
  in the higher grades at comprehensive high
  schools. In both cases, a Masters diploma is
  required. Both groups are highly qualified by
  international standards.

35
Issues - Hong-kong

• To meet employers expectations, career
  development specialists will have to change their
  roles and act as trainers rather than career
  counsellors
• turn out graduates who can use information
  technologies to full advantage, are infused with
  a spirit of exploration and discovery, and are
  committed to self-improvement through continuous
  knowledge acquisition
• help young people understand the culture, history
  and political, economic and social systems of
  mainland China

36
Issues - Argentina

• Create a system to guarantee universal access to
  career counselling in the schools and the
  community create regional information and
  counselling centres.
• Promote the creation of a national computerized
  data bank connected to educational and employment
  organizations.
• Implement remote information and guidance
  systems.
• Implement retraining and ongoing training
  programs for counsellors.

37
Issues - Denmark

• Professionalization.
• Quality assurance and evaluation.
• An individualized approach.
• The environmental impact of occupational choices
  should be factored into career counselling.

38
Issues - Finland

• Rethink the concept of career. New careers are
  more fragmented and evidence the need for
  lifelong learning and an appropriate career
  development strategy. Individuals must acquire
  not only specific occupational skills but also a
  working identity. Todays world seems to require
  people to manage their own lives and careers.
  Career planning is being replaced by career
  management.

39
Issues - France

• The career information and counselling services
  offered to students are woefully inadequate
  (approximately one counsellor per 20,000
  students).
• Create synergies between the different
  organizations and offer equivalent services to
  different client groups.
• Certify career counselling practitioners and
  professionals. Supervise practices. Should a
  professional corporation be created?
• Give everyone access to accurate, relevant
  information about training and careers.

40
Issues - Germany

• How can people be prepared to manage their own Me
  Incorporated? Self-management and
  self-employment.
• Factor environmental issues into counselling.

41
Issues - Ireland

• A coherent policy framework for counselling
  services (education and the labour market).
• Promote social inclusiveness to keep people from
  dropping out of advanced studies.
• Lifelong counselling (in connection with the EU).
• A national framework for practitioners roles and
  training (certification and diplomas).
• National strategy to exploit the potential of
  information and communication technologies.

42
Issues - Netherlands

• Career guidance in academic subjects.
• Career guidance in school policies.
• Greater expertise on the part of subject
  teachers, homeroom teachers, career education
  teachers, counsellors and the administration.

43
Issues - New Zealand

• The concepts of lifelong learning and investment
  in training are at the core of counselling-related
  concerns and policy development.
• Access to information.
• Impartial career counselling.
• Access to career counselling for target groups.
• Quality of career development services
  regulation, control and quality issues.

44
Issues - Spain

• The number of specialized career development
  professionals is small compared with the high
  demand for their services. Practitioners do not
  all have specific training in the field.
• Policies on guidance are uneven in the different
  educational levels. There is no continuity from
  one stage to another, which gives an impression
  of a piecemeal approach to guidance rather than a
  holistic process.

45
Issues - United States

• Policies are often dependent on the values of the
  governing party and the influence of lobbies.
• Career development services can be viewed as a
  way to achieve a specific policy objective or as
  a component of a more complex intervention
  program.

46
Issues - Summary

• Quality assurance and funding What is the best
  way to ensure that career counselling
  organizations funded by the State provide service
  of superior quality?
• Technology How can providers of career
  counselling services most effectively use new
  technologies to dispense their services?
• Staff training and qualifications
• Increase resources (France, Argentina, Spain)
• Access to impartial, accurate information
  France, N.Z.

47
Issues (2)

• Lifelong career development and overlapping
  responsibilities Finland, Netherlands, N.Z.,
  France, Ireland.
• Maintaining an individualized approach to career
  development Denmark, Germany.
• Market-driven approach Hong Kong.
• Green approach Denmark, Germany.
• Incorporate career development into academic
  subjects to a greater extent Netherlands.

48
Symposium Conclusions1. Lifelong career
development

• The purpose of career development services today
  is to help individuals not to choose careers but
  to construct them.
• It is important that career development services
  be offered on an ongoing, lifelong basis. In
  Europe, the popular terms are
• Lifelong learning
• Lifelong career development

49
Symposium Conclusions 2. Partnership

• Governments are increasingly promoting enabling
  processes, i.e. they seek out and capitalize on
  the influence, collaboration and energy of many
  individuals and organizations.
• Governments must consider what career development
  services they should offer themselves and what
  their role should be in relation to the services
  provided by others.

50
Symposium Conclusions3. Professionalism

• In many countries, there is concern about the
  poor quality of much of the career education
  services provided in the schools, the fact they
  are taught by teachers inadequately trained for
  such work and with inadequate support in the form
  of quality standards, inspection mechanisms and
  performance measurement.
• There is also a need to define the skills
  expected of career development professionals at
  all levels
• IAEVG
• Canadian Standards Committee

51
Symposium Conclusions4. Technology

• Role of information and communication
  technologies
• It is easy to use technology to get around access
  problems. For example, the U.K. has just
  launched a major initiative to fund career
  development services for adults. However, the
  decision was based exclusively on the
  availability of resources, which means more
  attention is being paid to the information side
  than to career counselling per se. No
  cost-benefit analysis was performed.

52
Symposium Conclusions5. Crossing administrative
boundaries

• One of the major problems raised by policy-making
  in the career development field is the fact that
  policy tends to cross administrative boundaries,
  particularly the boundary between education
  policy and labour market policy.
• What is the impact on a lifelong career
  development policy?

53
Symposium Conclusions6. Raising the profile of
career development

• Policy makers, including politicians and their
  advisors in the public service, need to have a
  more accurate idea of what career development
  involves. Policy makers offered five pieces of
  advice
• Dont underestimate the press
• The phone has to ring
• Recognize the importance of personal experience
• Provide the sound bytes
• Counsellors need to overcome their ethical
  reluctance to use their skills for political as
  well as helping purposes.

54
Next Symposium - March 20015 discussion points

• Describe the policy models for career development
  services in your country.
• In your country, what quality outcomes for career
  development services for all age groups are
  endorsed by both policy makers and practitioners?
  
• For your country, what are the costs and benefits
  of career development services?

55
Next Symposium - March 2001

• The public sector, employers, unions, the private
  sector, community organizations and the voluntary
  sector all have a role to play in providing
  career development services.
• What does your country consider to be the
  appropriate level of professional training,
  qualifications and skills for career development
  practitioners?