https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/33993 2026-04-09T20:43:23Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/34382 Title: Futures for career education and guidance in the Mediterranean? Implications, challenges, and prospects Authors: Sultana, Ronald G. Abstract: This chapter reflects on the fund of regional and international knowledge about career guidance that this volume has contributed to. It highlights the opportunities for learning that can result from such comparative study, not only for those inhabiting the contexts that have been the object of analysis, but also for career guidance and development specialists further afield. The chapter then goes on to pull together the different themes and issues raised by the authors, identifying common concerns and challenges, and teasing out the implications that these have for understanding career guidance, especially in relation to youth transitions, across the Mediterranean region. In doing so, the chapter notes some of the more salient gaps and absences, signposting areas for further research in the quest for a more meaningful articulation of context-sensitive career guidance policy and practice. It is argued that the project of developing regional perspectives on career guidance can generate fresh insights into ways transitions throughout the life course can be supported, ensuring that aspirations for social justice and wellbeing are fulfilled. Description: Includes notes on contributors. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/34378 Title: Career education and guidance services in Portugal : deeds and needs Authors: Do Ceu Taveira, Maria Abstract: This chapter starts off by providing an account of the historical development of career guidance in Portugal, acknowledging the contributions of early pioneers in the field. It highlights some of the more important initiatives implemented after the installation of democratic government in 1974, noting developments in schools, at universities, and in employment services for adults. Many of these initiatives, including the recognition and certification of competences, specifically set out to address key challenges in Portugal’s education and training system, which include high levels of early school leavers without any formal qualifications. The chapter also provides an overview of more recent developments in the provision of career guidance services, giving due attention to the way in which economic and political contexts impact on policies, especially during a period marked by high unemployment and draconian austerity measures. The different entities providing elements of career guidance are described, with the lack of a comprehensive career guidance policy being a significant obstacle in ensuring equitable provision across the different regions of the country. Finally, a project that brings together universitybased career guidance researchers and school- and community-based practitioners is presented as a possible way forward to address the problem of unevenness of provision across the different regions. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/34377 Title: Guidance in Catalan secondary education : main features and challenges in a Spanish region Authors: Martinez-Munoz, Marius; Martinez-Roca, Carme Abstract: This chapter provides an account of the development of career education and guidance in the region of Catalonia in Spain from the early 1930s onwards. It details the services currently in place, while pointing out the gaps in provision for particular groups of citizens and the weaknesses in the current system, particularly in as far as it concerns secondary education. Data generated by recent research projects is used in order to outline the structural constraints limiting the development of effective career guidance, highlighting in particular the absence of career education from the formal curriculum, the ad hoc and uncoordinated nature of services offered, and the lack of specialised training of school staff with guidance responsibilities at school level. Quality and impact of guidance services are not monitored, and little if any research is carried out about student satisfaction with guidance-related activities. The chapter concludes by presenting four promising initiatives that point the way towards addressing the gaps and weaknesses identified. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/34375 Title: Young adults of Maghrebi descent in France : guidance and the challenges to educational and labour market integration Authors: Cohen-Scali, Valerie; Hafsi, Alma; Werquin, Patrick Abstract: France has been a host country to immigrants from the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) for more than a century. This chapter focuses on the children of these migrants, most of whom were born in France and have French citizenship. And yet, as first or second generation citizens with a Maghrebi background, they nevertheless manifest particular patterns when it comes to school achievement and subsequent inclusion in the labour market, areas in which educational and occupational guidance play a mediating role. The chapter shows that this particular group experiences cultural and linguistic difficulties at school, as well as discrimination, resulting in socially inequitable outcomes. Educational and guidance policies and practices aimed at addressing and reducing such inequalities are described, noting, however, that such efforts have a paradoxical effect: by identifying this group as targets for specific and compensatory support, policies end up reinforcing stigmatisation processes. Students with a Maghrebi background are confronted with all sorts of difficulties throughout their years in education and training, starting from the first years of schooling onwards. Most end up unfavourably positioned when it comes to making a transition to the labour market, particularly given limited opportunities in a competitive environment. The ways guidance, as part of a broader range of strategic interventions, can be mobilised to address such a situation, are examined. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z