Flexibility and security? ‘Flexicurity’ and its implications for lifelong guidance

Abstract

This article sets out to trigger research and policy attention among the career

guidance community to the increasingly important notion of ‘flexicurity’. It first

explores the different meanings of the term, particularly as these have evolved in

discussions across the European Union. It then goes on to consider why

‘flexicurity’ has attracted so much policy interest, particularly in its promise to

both support labour market competitiveness and increase economic efficiency on

the one hand, while protecting the interests of workers on the other. Next, the

article documents some of the key debates around the notion of flexicurity,

highlighting the fact that any consideration of ‘flexicure’ arrangements needs to

be empirically grounded in time and space, and carefully contextualised. The

article concludes by making a series of critical reflections on the need to ‘insert’

career guidance in the European discourse on ‘flexicurity’.