Service provision
In education sector, career services are provided as part of non-formal and formal education.
The national basic school curriculum and national upper secondary school curriculum include eight compulsory cross-curricular themes, one of them is the topic which supports pupils' career planning – “Lifelong learning and career planning”. In addition, the curricula are accompanied by the syllabi of the elective subject on careers education, which enhance the use of this possibility in the school curriculum. The national curricula define the school’s obligation to ensure the availability of career services to the pupils. Most national curricula of the vocational education training include the theme of lifelong learning and career planning.
In many cases, it is often an additional task of an individual staff member to be responsible for the co-ordination of the career management activities at school.
Career co-ordinator’s tasks include co-operation with other service providers and class teachers, supporting subject teachers in the implementation of the cross-curricular theme, organisation of site visits and, in some cases, delivery of an elective subject on career education.
Within non-formal education, the most important provider of career information and career counselling is the network of regional youth information and counselling centres (YICCs). The centres provide career services on site as well as at schools by information specialists and counsellors. The quality requirements for the service provision in YICCs are described in relevant guidelines.
Career information specialists help to fulfil the target groups’ need for information concerning education, labour market and professions. They deliver career lessons, instruct clients’ career information search, manage information flows and co-operation with relevant networks, organise thematic events, conduct client satisfaction surveys etc.
The aim of the
career counsellors’ work is to help and support people in career planning, including in making decisions about choosing a profession, work, training and education, developing job search skills and forming an effective personal career planning style. The services are provided as face-to-face and distant sessions on an individual or group basis.
Career information and counselling are also provided by the
career centres in higher education institutions and
regional employment offices. Higher education institutions are focused on current students, employers and alumni. The provision of national labour market services and the payment of labour market benefits is organised by the
Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund (the Fund) through its regional departments, which are located in every county. Career counselling is targeted only at registered unemployed people. As a new initiative career information points are opened for everybody.
The main focus of guidance in the private sector tends to be on job mediation and personnel recruitment. Links with the public sector are rather rare. Within companies, human resource managers sometimes address staff career management issues but it is not happening on regular basis.
Career practitioners co-operate with a wide network of service providers (i.e. school psychologists, logopedists, social workers, social-pedagogues, health consultants, special pedagogues etc).
