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Abstract
The Nordic countries have a tradition of experience-based career guidance activities. One such activity is taster programmes, which, to varying degrees, allow young people in all the Nordic countries to experience different educational and career paths. The chapter explores the participation of lower secondary students in taster programmes and their meaning-making processes in relation to the programmes. We argue that there is a need to shift the focus of taster programme activities, as well as of school-based career guidance in general, from the students’ educational choices to supporting young people’s learning about education and career.
Abstract
This chapter examines the role of career guidance (CG) provided by trade unions for their members and the ways in which this guidance contributes to people’s plans for and access to funds for competence development, adult education and further training. In Denmark, trade unions’ contribution to career guidance has gained importance following the establishment of labour market competence development funds during the last decade. These funds are established through collective bargaining, placing trade unions in a key role. However, there is little systematic knowledge of the guidance provided by trade unions, and large sums have remained unused in the funds. In this chapter, we explore this phenomenon through a case study of the ways in which career guidance functions in trade unions. We have conducted interviews with a number of CG-practitioners working in trade unions for professional and skilled workers and here describe their work through practice portraits. These yield information on the practice and organisational framework of guidance in unions. We analyse models and strategies to support members’ career development. Furthermore, we discuss the rise in career guidance activities in trade unions as a response to a fragmented public ‘system’ for adult career guidance and a highly complex framework (the competence development funds) for economic support for competence development. Besides the practice portraits, the chapter draws on existing empirical documentation, much of it produced in relation to tripartite negotiations between the state and the social partners.
The Nordic region encompasses an area in Northern Europe and the Northern Atlantic comprising Denmark, Sweden, Norway as well as Finland to the east and Iceland in the Atlantic. It includes also the self-governing areas of Åland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. This region has long been seen as a source of progressive policy innovation in education and employment and this book focuses and explores the place, the enactment and the theories of career guidance in these Nordic countries.
The Nordic region encompasses an area in Northern Europe and the Northern Atlantic comprising Denmark, Sweden, Norway as well as Finland to the east and Iceland in the Atlantic. It includes also the self-governing areas of Åland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. This region has long been seen as a source of progressive policy innovation in education and employment and this book focuses and explores the place, the enactment and the theories of career guidance in these Nordic countries.
Abstract
The introduction to this volume discusses the importance of situating career and career guidance in context. It makes a connection to wider research and writing that challenges the idea that career theory can be global and universal and argues that there is a need for attention to local context and culture. It then moves on to set the scene for a volume focusing on the Nordic countries, by defining the ‘Nordic’ and exploring key features of the region including the Nordic welfare model and the history of collaborations in career guidance across the region. It proposes the four ‘COs’ of Nordic career guidance (context, community, co-construction and collaboration) before outlining the structure of the volume and looking to the future.