Career Advice and Guidance in a World Where Vocational Skills Matter

Abstract

Career advice and guidance needs to meet the demands of the whole labor market, but all too frequently it can neglect to share with potential learners the benefits of participating in vocational education and training. In this chapter we explore career guidance for vocational education from the perspective of young people, their parents, and prospective employers, drawing on international evidence from studies conducted in nine different countries (Skills development: Attitudes and perceptions, London, England). We examine current theories on how young people make their educational choices, assess their relevance to developed and developing country contexts, and discuss the implications of our findings for career advice and guidance. We show that hybrid decision-making models could be relevant to Western contexts and discuss the importance of taking into consideration the collectivist orientations seen in non-Western cultures. We argue that, despite the differing contexts, career advice and guidance has a key role to play in helping young people to navigate the different needs and pressures driving the decision-making process, raising awareness of the vocational education options available to them, and signposting the new occupational opportunities which are constantly emerging in an era of rapid economic and technological change. We also argue that policymakers and teachers have an important role in challenging perceptions of vocational education and training.