Norway in 2011: In a survey recently conducted by Vox (the Norwegian Agency for Lifelong Learning) 22 % stated clearly and distinctly that they needed career guidance. We also know that one in three young people in Norway who commence upper secondary education do not complete their course within 5 years. They drop out. At the same time work patterns are changing. We no longer train once and stay in the same job for 40 years. The workforce is much more dynamic. We have to learn, up-date our skills and change direction all through our lives. The need for career guidance would appear obvious.

Who needs guidance?

Career guidance is, according to the Norwegian authorities, a key tool for achieving educational and employment objectives.  “As I see it, career guidance and careers centres exist because the issues associated with career development and choice are becoming increasingly relevant”, says the director of Telemark Careers Centre, Kjersti Isachsen. “For various reasons professional careers are not hard and fast and predictable in the sense that they once were. This means that making a new career choice again, and perhaps even more than once, is something we may have to deal with right up to our retirement”, she claims. In a survey conducted by Vox in 2010, it emerged that 22 % had found that they needed career guidance, and 39 % were interested in getting it. Kjersti Isachsen maintains that career guidance is something we may all need in the course of our lives. “Those of us working in this sector see our work as a form of healthcare provision”, she says, and explains “It’s good for people’s health if they feel they are on the “right track”. Career guidance is therefore one of several things which can help to promote robust activity on the labour market and prevent people being excluded from working life”.

Enquiries

The authorities’ action on a national level has primarily focussed on setting up enquiries. After an OECD report identified a number of shortcomings in 2002, several enquiries were conducted into the guidance situation in Norway. The challenges which have been highlighted are primarily the need for better coordination across the sectors, skills development for counsellors, inadequate facilities for adults and a weak knowledge base. These are the same challenges that Kjersti Isachsen has on her list of problems which have to be dealt with. The responsibility for career guidance lies with the Norwegian counties and there are established regional partnerships for careers guidance in all counties aiming to promote regional coordination. The partnerships are however organised in different ways and they have different ways of approaching tasks, target groups, organisation and financing. This means the service varies considerably! Kjersti Isachsen sees the main challenge as the fact that access to guidance is not very good. “The facilities in schools are limited, not all counties have a service up and running for all adults, and there is no advanced telephone/internet based guidance system to give people in more rural areas easy access to a service” she maintains.

A national unit – a good innovation!

Against this backdrop, in 2010 Vox was given a mandate from the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research to set up a national unit for career guidance. The unit opened in May – and there are high expectations of the director, Ingjerd Espolin Gaarder, and her team. The centre has been established as a resource for everyone who counsels young people and adults in their career choices. Such as Kjertsti Isachsen, for example. “I have absolute confidence in the unit” she replies. “It will have an important role to play both in terms of coordination in the field and by being a driving force for knowledge development, professional development, professionalization and formulation of policies in the sector”.

Does a national unit meet the challenges?

According to the remit of the Ministry of Education and Research the aim of the national unit is “to promote quality and professionalism in career guidance, increase basic knowledge, stimulate the development of standard services and promote access to career guidance for young people and adults in the various phases of their lives, while adding a national and international perspective to the regional partnerships. The unit will help to strengthen cooperation and coordination in career guidance between the various stakeholders in schools, vocational schools, the university and technical college sector and NAV (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Organisation), while at the same time involving the stakeholders in the labour market and industry.” If the unit is successful in achieving these goals, it will be a big step towards meeting the challenges that Kjersti Isachsen, and many like her, have pinpointed for guidance in Norway.

Knowledge about benefits and effects

Kjersti Isachsen stressed the need for more knowledge. “We know too little about how the end users benefit from the guidance”, she says. “Not much research has been done on this subject and many players have no user surveys to track what the users have actually got out of the guidance.” But Kjersti Isachsen has done precisely that of her own accord. She has conducted a user survey at the Telemark Career Centre.  And she has got extremely good feedback! “I’m really pleased to have found a structure with ideas and needs which are important for my choice of profession.", "Great to establish my strengths and weaknesses as a manager, and identify further opportunities.", and ”It opened my eyes to the various opportunities I have professionally, and gave me a bit more confidence in myself” are three examples of the feedback she has obtained. So perhaps the national unit can help to spread this knowledge. To enable other career centres and other counties to learn from Kjersti Isachsen’s and Telemark’s experiences. So more people can have access to good quality guidance – and more can get on the right track.