Abstract:

In this paper career guidance in education and training will be discussed. Bottom line is that learning itself is viewed as a career.
Educational career counseling is being perceived as consisting of three kinds of counseling or guidance: intake guidance, “flow” guidance, and graduation guidance. Each of these types of counseling will be discussed, using particular sets of examples. Also, the paper will introduce certain hypotheses that will be bases for discussion.

When preparing for their intake in a certain educational programme, students make choices based on information from several perspectives. The guidance that is being offered to them makes them want to choose for a particular education or training programme. Here we talk about self tests, assessments and remedial processes in or outside the programme.
“Flow” guidance, defined as choices a student has to make during his education or training, moving on from one educational programme (part) to another, can take several forms, from structurally anchored to trajectories of choice.
Graduation guidance, concerning choices a student makes at the end of his education or training programme, may have to do with his graduation option (the subject in which the student chooses to specialize in the final period before graduation), with optional courses in the Master year, or with thesis subjects in Professional Bachelor and Master.

All in all, students are offered numerous types of guidance or counseling during their time of study. The issue is to what extent students are prepared for and interested in some kind of ‘self regulation’. This means they choose consciously for, amongst others, an educational programme, optional course, thesis subject, all with a clear vision of a certain professional career or of an extra degree. Guidance or counseling: the question is how far academic staff should go in doing this

Keywords:

Student guidance, counseling, self regulation, conscious choices.