Peter Plant

An die Freude?

Abstract

The role of career guidance in a turbulent European labour market is to solve problems, to prevent problems occurring, or to help people get by and manage their lives under difficult circumstances and on the margins of society. This article explores the links between career guidance and current challenges on the European labour market. The European anthem ‘An die Freude’ includes this line: ‘Alle Menschen werden Brüder’. Perhaps not.

Introduction

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, ‘An die Freude’, is the official anthem of the European Communities. It has lyrics by Schiller. In one of the important lines the text reads: ‘Alle Menschen werden Brüder’: we are all equals, all brothers. This is the ideal society in four words. But there is still some way to go before this goal is reached. Indeed, working and living conditions still differ hugely across nations and within nations. The gap between rich and poor is still there.

Competition States

As part of this diverse picture the European labour market is not just turbulent, it is in constant flux, and it calls for a flexible workforce. Labour markets, globally, are linked, both in terms of a mobile workforce and in macro-economic terms, where the global market sets the scene for economic interdependence and global competition among what have been labelled ‘Competition States’ (Cerny, 1997; Pedersen, 2011). Thus, many different trends are in operation at the same time: underemployment, unemployment, overdemand in some sectors, huge differences between the conditions in different EU member states, substantial work-related migration and integration issues, early school leaving, massive youth unemployment in some EU member states, and an ageing workforce that is expected to stay in work longer. A plethora of reports and statistics on labour market conditions in Europe are continuously produced; one such recent EU Commission Report (EU Commission, 2014) stated that:

‘A significant increase in poverty among the working age population is one of the most tangible social consequences of the economic crisis. A gradual reduction of unemployment levels may not be enough to reverse this situation if wage polarisation continues, notably due to a rise in part-time work. The review shows how taking up a job can help people to get out of poverty, but only in half of the cases: much depends on the type of job found, but also on the household composition and labour market situation of the partner.’

The review highlights that:

•   contrary to commonly held beliefs, people receiving unemployment benefits are more likely to get a job than people not receiving benefits;

•   in some countries (e.g. Poland, Bulgaria) a significant proportion of unemployed people are not covered by standard safety nets (unemployment benefits, social assistance), and tend to rely on family solidarity or informal work;

•   although the crisis saw a contraction of some gender gaps historically faced by women (largely due to male-dominated sectors being most hit by the crisis), gender differences still persist in labour market participation and pay, and in the risk of poverty; and

•   the still-growing macroeconomic, employment and social divergences threaten the core objectives of the EU as set out in the Treaties, namely to benefit all its members by promoting economic convergence and to improve the lives of citizens in the member states.

These are important comments to make about a labour market in flux. They point to the fact that no single remedy will cure all predicaments, which cover a multitude of policy areas, ranging from labour market issues to social, inclusion, and educational issues. Nonetheless career guidance, as a societal instrument, is often expected to be a societal cure. General EU guidance policies, for instance, show how guidance is supposed to be simultaneously both a vehicle of economic growth and global competitiveness as well as an instrument of social compensation and inclusion (EU, 2004; EU, 2008). Adding to the complexity, guidance encompasses a range of activities and approaches. In these terms guidance is a soft societal steering instrument, an intervention based on the idea of governmentality (Rose, 1999), often using guidance methods (e.g. individual client-centred interviews) with approaches that, interestingly, resemble those of religious confessions (Fejes & Dahlstedt, 2012).

EU Resolution

The above-mentioned EU Council Resolutions on Lifelong Guidance aim at better integrating lifelong guidance into lifelong learning strategies. In the most recent Resolution EU member states were encouraged to give special attention to four key areas, namely:

[a] lifelong acquisition of career management skills;

[b] facilitation of access by all citizens to guidance services;

[c] quality assurance in guidance provision; and

[d] coordination and cooperation among various national, regional and local stakeholders.

This puts an emphasis on active citizenship, quality assurance and cooperation, and calls for policy development on the basis of informed evidence.

The definition of career guidance adopted for a vast number of OECD/EU/World Bank reviews a decade ago was this:

‘Career guidance refers to services intended to assist individuals, of any age and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices and to manage their careers. These may include services in schools, in universities and colleges, in training institutions, in public employment services, in companies, in the voluntary/community sector and in the private sector. The services may be on an individual or group basis, and may be face-to-face or at a distance (including helplines and web-based services). They include career information (in print, ICT-based and other forms), assessment and self-assessment tools, counselling interviews, career education and career management programmes, taster programmes, work search programmes, and transition services’ (OECD, 2004: 10).

Definition

This definition is wide and it encompasses a number of activities, often conducted in formal settings such as schools or public employment services (PES), although social media, games, roleplaying, work experience programmes and other activity-based approaches are increasingly part of these efforts. In short, guidance is much more than face-to-face interviews. It includes:

•   Informing

•   Advising

•   Assessing

•   Teaching

•   Enabling

•   Advocating

•   Networking

•   Giving feedback

•   Managing

•   Innovation/System change

•   Signposting

•   Mentoring

•   Sampling work experience or learning tasters

•   Following up

This list points to the many roles and functions of career guidance, many of which go far beyond direct client work and well into feedback and system changes, and thus into policy-making on the ground. In this respect collaboration, network-building and partnerships are essential, as no single guidance practitioner can fill all these multiple roles. It is to these roles that we now turn, recognising that in these definitions and activities the more subtle aspects are of fundamental importance.

Solving, preventing and coping

If in fact career guidance is to counteract social exclusion under the present unstable labour market conditions, it needs to come out of the conventional boxes in which most guidance activities are caged, for example the bureaucratic environment of which guidance is an integral part. It is surprising how much guidance is based on the assumption that people will come voluntarily to the office. This may well be the case, but will this kind of guidance reach out to the marginalised? Hardly. This point leads to the view that guidance may take three approaches, as pointed out in ‘Eurocounsel’, a pan-European action research project (Watt, 1998):

•   Solving – a reactive approach

•   Preventing – a proactive approach

•   Coping – helping people get by and cope in difficult situations

Thus, in terms of social inclusion, guidance may have a role in patching up the malfunctions of the educational system and of the labour market. This is the solving part of guidance. Guidance practitioners spend most of their time doing this, like firefighters running from one urgent labour market fire to another.

Proactive approaches may have a more preventive scope. This includes early guidance interventions, outreach services in communities and in workplaces and user-friendly information materials – accessibility in the widest sense.

Coping strategies are more controversial, or even a blind spot in guidance. This may include helping marginalised people to find some way back into mainstream society, for example through turning criminal activities into more socially acceptable ones. If guidance is to play a more significant role in terms of formulating and implementing social inclusion policies, it may need to play...