June 2009

Light and dark times – the value of career education in an economic crisis

After its conference in Finland earlier this month, the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) executive committee released a statement on the value of career guidance in times of economic crisis.

Jyväskylä/Finland, June 5th 2009

The latter part of the 20th Century and the beginning of this century produced a prolonged period of economic prosperity in many countries around the world. However, at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century the world is unexpectedly experiencing a deep recession, similar to that experienced in the late 1920s. The threat of job loss, unemployment, vocational dequalification, poverty and social exclusion has already affected a growing number of the world’s population. The impact of the ongoing crisis on people’s lives, their personal, educational and vocational career development, as well as their social inclusion and active participation in society, is very serious and will affect social and political stability in many countries for years to come.

Career guidance and vocational counselling, based on personal need, interests and abilities, is primarily designed to assist individuals in shaping and managing their careers throughout their lives.  However, careers guidance also has a vital role to play in maintaining a highly qualified and economically viable society, as well as playing an important role in supporting sustainable economic growth and social stability.

In recognition of the potential positive effect of guidance, in 2008 the then European Ministers of Education signed a resolution that highlighted the positive impact of careers guidance on the functioning and efficiency of the educational system, the labour market and on active citizenship and social inclusion.

Since then, the challenges faced by practitioners and providers of career guidance have multiplied and they now face an increasing task directly arising from the current economic crisis. Whilst they are not in a position to create new jobs or training opportunities, and are powerless to alter the overall economic and financial situation, they can help to address the expanding and changing needs of the growing numbers of clients and customers that approach them for guidance and counselling at this particularly difficult time in their lives. To provide the support and confidence-building that many clients will seek, it will be important for countries to be prepared in terms of having sufficient resources available to meet the need, as well as ensuring that they have enough qualified and competent guidance practitioners available to help unsupported individuals to cope with the problems they face.

AIOSP/IAEVG, as the largest worldwide guidance practitioners association, appeals to providers, practitioners and policy makers to increase their efforts to provide a service that helps people overcome the impact of the current crisis, adapt to the rapid changes in the labour market, and to contribute to the long-term societal and economic outcomes of economically focused guidance.