ACADEMIC AND CAREER GUIDANCE: FROM PURPOSE TO ACTION
Sofía Genta and Andrea Ortega, Project Manager and Vocational Technician.
“They gave us a lot of talks about whether we wanted to do Bachillerato or a Ciclo, and about having to choose what you liked. […] But they didn’t ask you personally, what do you like? What are your hobbies? […] They just saw the grades where you excelled and assumed you were going to do that.”
Excerpt from an interview with Bruno, a student of the Artistic Baccalaureate (Tarabini & Jacovkis, 2024).
AEP, an urgent challenge
When we talk about early school leavers (ESL), we often get lost among figures and statistics. However, behind every percentage there are stories like Bruno’s: young people who do not find their place in the education system or who do not receive the support they need to make informed decisions about their future.
Early school leaving persists as one of the main challenges of contemporary educational policy agendas, representing a central concern for the Catalan educational system. Despite general progress, Spain remains in a worrying situation, with notable disparities between autonomous communities ranging from 6.5% to 19.2% (INE, 2024). These differences highlight the need for customized solutions adapted to the local context, especially for those young people in a situation of educational vulnerability.
In Catalonia, the progress made is significant: we have gone from 33.2% school dropout rate in 2005 to 14.8% in 2023 (IDESCAT, 2024). This improvement, although notable, still leaves us far from the 9% target set by the European Union for 2030. As Tarabini and Jacovkis (2024) point out, these figures hide complex and diverse realities that require equally nuanced and personalized responses.
Academic and vocational guidance as a strategic vector in secondary education
Faced with this scenario, schools face the challenge of developing academic and professional guidance strategies (OAP) that go beyond specific interventions. The reality in many schools shows a fragmented guidance, limited to moments of transition and disconnected from the professional world. As Bruno’s initial testimony reflects, we need to go beyond the model of informative talks to build a deeper and more personalized accompaniment.
Educational guidance must be adapted to each stage of student development. In the early stages of kindergarten and primary school, the focus is on prevention and the strengthening of personal resources, anticipating possible difficulties and ensuring successful transitions. When reaching secondary school, without abandoning this preventive work, academic and professional guidance takes on special importance, requiring a continuous and proactive accompaniment that transcends specific interventions (Anaya, 2023). This evolutionary and sustained approach is essential to reduce early school leaving and ensure that more young people find their place in the education system.
This approach is supported by the current legal framework. The LOMLOE (2021) recognizes educational and vocational guidance as a fundamental right of students. This recognition is not merely declarative: the law establishes guidance as a shared responsibility between teachers, tutors and guidance professionals, in close collaboration with families.
The law, in force since January 2021, is based on three fundamental pillars: equity, inclusion and excellence. Together with Organic Law 3/2022 on the Organization and Integration of Vocational Training, it introduces significant measures to improve accessibility and equal opportunities, making educational itineraries more flexible and facilitating lifelong learning.
The Government of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2024), recognizing this need, is developing a new regulatory framework to strengthen educational guidance services. The new decree will seek to improve academic and vocational guidance through five fundamental lines of action:
- Personalized orientation for all students.
- Integration of guidance in the school daily life.
- Facilitation of educational transitions.
- Reduction of school failure and dropout rates.
- Optimization of resources allocated to guidance.
With a time horizon until the academic year 2030-31 and a planned investment of more than 232 million euros, this regulatory framework represents an opportunity to rethink and reorganize educational guidance in Catalonia, establishing for the first time a continuous process covering all educational stages. The new decree can be a good opportunity to rethink and reorganize educational guidance to meet the needs of the different stages and transitions of all students.
The importance of a guidance strategy in secondary schools
An effective academic and career guidance strategy is a fundamental tool to facilitate students’ transition to working life and prevent early school leaving. OECD studies (2024) reveal that young people who drop out of school face a higher risk of social exclusion, with significant difficulties in obtaining and maintaining employment, which can lead to long-term socioeconomic disadvantages. Paradoxically, this situation has a more pronounced impact on those most in need of support: socioeconomically vulnerable students are precisely those who encounter the greatest barriers to accessing quality guidance activities, thus perpetuating a cycle of educational inequality that must be broken as a matter of urgency.
Adolescence, as a stage of transformations and crucial decisions, requires an accompaniment that allows students to understand their interests, skills and values, linking them with the different academic and professional options available. This accompaniment must be based on a holistic view that considers the identity, interests, abilities and context of the students, generating spaces for reflection and trust based on affection and empathy.
So what are the key elements of an effective orientation strategy?
The educational center as a guiding ecosystem
Guidance should be part of the school’s DNA, being integrated into the School Educational Project (PEC) and transcending the exclusive responsibility of the guidance department. As argued by Manel Merino (2020), the success of guidance depends on the creation of an ecosystem where each educational agent has a defined and significant role in the guidance process.
Leadership and coordination
The management team plays a key role in establishing guidance as a strategic priority of the school, allocating the necessary resources and promoting a culture that actively supports it. In this context, the guidance team acts as a catalyst, coordinating the different actions and providing the necessary advice to the teaching team for an effective implementation of guidance strategies.
Collaboration and support network
The creation of a strong network involves the development of systematic collaborations with families, who provide key knowledge about the students. This network extends to local business and community organizations, establishing effective communication channels that enrich the guidance process. Current research shows that these connections are essential to provide students with a realistic and up-to-date view of their options.
Student empowerment
The orientation process must place the student as an active protagonist of his or her own development. This empowerment requires providing specific tools for self-exploration and informed decision making. Students need spaces and opportunities to reflect on their interests, develop their skills and plan their future with autonomy and confidence.
Evaluation and continuous improvement
The monitoring and evaluation of the guidance strategy must be carried out systematically, establishing clear indicators that allow measuring its real impact. This evaluative process should involve all the agents involved, from teachers to students and their families, allowing adjustments to be made based on concrete evidence. The collection of data and its regular analysis allow us to identify areas for improvement and adapt strategies according to the changing needs of the educational community.
Challenges in its implementation from a critical and constructive point of view
The implementation of an effective guidance strategy in schools faces a number of challenges that require in-depth analysis. These challenges are not merely operational, but reflect deeper tensions in our educational system.
The gap between resources and needs
The first significant challenge lies in the limitation of human and material resources. Guidance departments are often overwhelmed, with ratios of attention that make it difficult to provide the personalized accompaniment that each student needs. This situation not only affects the quality of guidance, but can also perpetuate existing inequalities in the educational system.
Teacher training
Effective guidance requires trained and committed teachers, which is especially crucial in the case of teachers who assume tutoring functions. Often, these professionals find themselves managing tutorials without the necessary resources or preparation to offer quality guidance. This lack of training, which goes beyond technical aspects and includes socioemotional competencies, can result in fragmented interventions that do not respond to the real needs of students at critical moments in their educational trajectory.
Resistance to change
One of the most subtle but persistent obstacles is the resistance to change within the traditional school culture. Many secondary schools maintain a predominantly academic approach, relegating career guidance and the development of transversal competencies to the background. This institutional inertia hinders the implementation of more holistic approaches adapted to the current needs of students.
The challenge of effective coordination
Effective guidance requires joint actions among multiple agents: teachers, guidance teams, families and external actors. The absence of fluid communication channels and clear coordination protocols can result in disjointed interventions and contradictory messages to students. This challenge requires not only adequate organizational structures, but also a change in the culture of collaboration within schools.
From reflection to action
Let’s return to Bruno’s testimony with which we began this article. His experience reminds us that academic and career guidance is not just another tool in our educational system: it is a fundamental element in preventing early school leaving and ensuring that each young person can develop a clear purpose and a sense of self-efficacy to continue their educational or employment path.
It is essential to establish a shared framework of orientation that clearly defines the objectives, methodologies and roles of the different agents involved. This framework should promote coherence between the different strategies and actions implemented, ensuring that all efforts are aligned towards a common goal.
The construction of this shared framework requires the active commitment of all stakeholders: from the management teams who must lead the change, to the teachers who must integrate guidance into their daily practice, to the families and external agents who enrich the process with their different perspectives and resources.
Educational administrations have a crucial role to play in providing the necessary resources and establishing the conditions for developing effective guidance strategies. This includes the provision of specialized personnel, continuous teacher training and the establishment of effective coordination structures.
Educational guidance represents a strategic investment in our educational system. Every school has the potential to become a space where young people can explore who they are, what they want to do with their future and how they can achieve it. This goal requires the coordinated effort of the entire educational community, working collaboratively to support guidance and accompaniment initiatives.
It is time to transform good intentions into effective practices, to consolidate an educational system that truly supports and accompanies each student in his or her path. A system where each young person can discover his or her purpose and explore his or her vocational interests with confidence. Where decision-making about educational and professional futures is not conditioned by socioeconomic barriers, but driven by the aspirations and potential of each student. Only in this way will we build a truly equitable education system, where guidance acts as a bridge to the opportunities every young person deserves.
References:
Aina Tarabini and Judith Jacovkis. (2023). Zero Dropout. Perduts pel camí: desigualtats en les transicions educatives després de l’ESO.
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The Problem – L’AEP A CATALUNYA. (2023). Zero Abandonment Platform. Bofill Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.zeroabandonament.cat/el-problema/
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Marius Martínez. The teacher as an ally of the orientation. Retrieved from https://www.fundacionbertelsmann.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Guia_OPC_Profesor_Orientador-1.pdf
OECD. (2023). Proposals for an action plan to reduce early school leaving in Spain (No. 71). OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9bc3285d-es
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UNESCO, European Commission, OECD, ILO, European Training Foundation, & CEDEFOP. (2021). Investing in career guidance (Revised edition 2021). Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000378215_spa
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Organic Law 3/2020, of December 29, 2020, amending Organic Law 2/2006, of May 3, 2006, on Education, BOE No. 340, of December 30, 2020.
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