Together we support the development of career guidance in the Czech Republic and European-wide

Together we support the development of career guidance in the Czech Republic and European-wide

The current changes in the labour market and the challenges brought by online forms of interaction, bring new demands, as well as new opportunities for education and guidance. The National Career Guidance Award 2021 perfectly exemplifies how career guidance and career education are developing dynamically and reacting flexibly to the current societal situation. As part of the November 30, 2021 Conference, organised by the Euroguidance Center (based in the National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic), the representatives of awarded practices were publicly recognized with the National Career Guidance Award 2021. More so, the National Career Guidance Awards from Slovakia and Serbia were also presented at the event. The winning practices will be promoted through the database of good practices to be found at Euroguidance.eu. Finally, during the round table held at the conference, the need to strengthen the personal and career development of pupils in schools and the Framework Education Programmes were discussed, both within the Czech Republic and European-wide.

What practices were awarded?

The statutory city of Ostrava won one of the most prestigious awards for their role in the development of career counselling in Ostrava schools. In Ostrava, the position of career counsellor in schools was successfully and systematically introduced.

EKS, an educational and consulting organisation, also highly awarded for their role in supporting school career counsellors. In cooperation with foreign partners within the Erasmus+ program, they have created the publication “A Practitioner's Guide to Uncharted Waters of Career Counselling. Critical reflection perspective.” The methodological manual exists in a printed and electronic version, and has been translated in 5 languages.

Lucie Václavková and Petra Drahoňovská were recognized with a main prize for promoting career counselling. They created a series of webinars called “Ask a Career Counsellor”, which stand to support anyone interested in their own career development, as well as career counsellors or HR professionals.

The Vysočina Education organisation too was awarded with a major prize for the systematic development of career counselling and education in the Vysočina Region. Their framework for career guidance and education in primary schools, which arose as a result of cross-border cooperation, was piloted in several primary schools in cooperation with school career guidance coordinators.

Richard Nevšímal, a representative of the Counselling and Career Centre UCT Prague, together with other university career centres, won a preeminent prize for supporting the systematic cooperation of university career centres. The Counselling and Career Centre UCT Prague initiated the 4th meeting of career centres from all over the Czech Republic, which significantly enhanced the capacity for cooperation among them.

Other examples of good practices that received special recognition from the expert jury:

• Local Action Group Šternbersko, for an interactive program for primary school pupils;
• Andrea Csirke and Petra Šnepfenbergová, for the electronic publication "How to manage a career choice with a child?";
• Institute of Career and Development, for the continuous development of the karierko.cz  platform;
• Statutory city of Děčín, for the development of a career counselling system at primary schools;
• Jan Zeman, for creating the online peer tool "Jakouvysokou.cz"; 
• Dorota Madziová, for her contribution to online career education;
• Local Action Group Opavsko, for the development of career counselling in the Opava region;
• Veronika Motlová, for her contribution to the field of career counselling. 

The conference mainly took place online with the support of the modern Next Zone studio for the implementation of hybrid conferences from the Smíchov Secondary Industrial School and Grammar School. Participants were connected via an interactive online platform, where the conference’s presentations and resources are still available. Video recording in Czech and English is also available on the YouTube channel of the Euroguidance Center.   

In addition to the awarded Czech contributions, the winners of the National Career Guidance Awards in Slovakia and Serbia were presented at the conference by representatives of the respective Euroguidance Centers. This year the Slovak contest awarded projects that prioritized: the development of skills and the promotion of socially responsible career choices among young people; cooperation between the labour office and schools; the support of employment of disable people; and, finally, skill development for refugees. The practice of a single career counsellor at primary schools was also recognized. More about the winners can be found on the website of the Slovak Euroguidance Centre. The national prizes in Serbia were awarded to cooperation programs among employers, universities and higher education institutions; to the organisation of online student meetings with employers and career counsellors; and to a career counselling development program for disadvantaged pupils; Equally recognized by the Serbian awards was a project supporting girls in science studies, among others.

Round table on the development of career education in the Czech Republic and Europe 

The conference also held a round table on the development of career education in schools with the participation of foreign guests. Ronald Sultana presented the key trends in career education in Europe. According to Sultana, career education should not only be organised cross-sectionally, but it should also take the form of a comprehensive field, with an assigned hourly subsidy in the curriculum. Furthermore, it should be continuously available for pupils during school education. The content should then correspond to the career development of pupils at a given age. Dorianne Gravina of the Maltese Ministry of Education presented the anchoring of career education in educational documents and laws in Malta. More so, it was explained how to design and implement the educational field of "career development" in schools. Here, it was emphasised how to structure continuous learning outcomes within the hourly allowances in each year of primary and secondary school. In Malta, career education is part of the educational area "Personal, social and career development".

Mihai Jakob from the University of Bucharest spoke on the introduction of a similar subject in the Romanian curriculum, covering similar topics of personal and emotional development of students, including career development. The course in question also has an hourly allowance in each year of primary and secondary schools.    

Iva Kirovová shared her long-term experience with career education of university students, which are transferable to the primary and secondary school levels.

At the end of the conference, a debate with representatives of Czech schools took place. The school representatives presented practices in the field of career education in their schools and discussed its future and needs. The debaters Vít Beran, Jitka Kmentová, Radko Sáblík, and Martin Provazník represented a diverse group of schools: primary schools, grammar schools and secondary vocational schools. The leaders of these schools stressed their focus on the development of the pupil's personality. Further, elements of career education are seen as fundamental by these schools. In the course of the debate, it also became clear that personal and career development should be prioritised in ongoing revisions of the Framework Educational Programmes. In the final remarks of the debate it was emphasised the need to prepare younger generations for the ongoing changes of our time, allowing them to adapt to the challenges, and reap the rewards of life-long learning, while strengthening their resilience when facing a demanding and often uncertain future.