Career orientation and guidance.

What is career orientation and guidance?

At secondary school, students get information and support with choices for their future career. Schools call this career orientation and guidance. Career orientation is about everything that helps students prepare for choices about their future study or job. Career guidance is about the people who help them and talk with them about this. The video below explains career orientation and guidance in vmbo: https://youtu.be/sNmwRORc0DQ

What do you learn?

With career orientation and guidance, students learn to think about their study and possible job. It starts in the second or third year with choosing a profile. Later, students face an important choice about further education. Important goals of career orientation and guidance are:

• The student learns what career skills they have
• The student sees career development using a career portfolio

Career skills

Each student looks at what they can do and want using career skills, and how this can become a job or study. With five career skills, students can make choices and guide their own career. The five career skills are:

• quality reflection: what am I best at and how do I know?
• motive reflection: what do I want, what do I stand for and why?
• work exploration: what kind of work suits me and why?
• career direction: how do I reach my goal and why this way?
• networking: who can help me reach my goal and why those people?

Career portfolio

In a career portfolio, a student writes what they have done to find out their own career skills. Career orientation and guidance is required in vmbo vocational programs. It is also an important part of study and career orientation in havo and vwo.

The role of parents

How schools fill in career orientation and guidance depends on their own vision and policy. Schools can involve parents by:

• giving information about career orientation and guidance
• using parents to inform students
• giving parents tips for talks at home about career orientation and guidance

Program of testing and completion

Career orientation and guidance is a required part of the exam program. It is in the program of testing and completion. That shows how the school works with students on career orientation and guidance, what the final result is, and how it ends. There are many options, like a presentation about future plans during a parents’ evening, a poster presentation, a video, or a final talk.

Career guidance and citizenship in mbo

Mbo trains students for a job or further education. The school also focuses on developing students into citizens who fully participate in society. Career and citizenship is therefore part of the basic section in mbo.

This part of career orientation and guidance helps students see their qualities, options, and motives better. This way, your child can choose a tailored education and succeed later. It also helps with choices within study, like for an internship. Because students know better what suits them, what they are good at, and their options, the chance for a successful career grows.

The citizenship part prepares students to participate fully in society and work well in their job. This includes skills, knowledge, and attitudes in different areas. For example, a student learns about their rights in society, like freedom of speech and equal treatment.

Each mbo program has a duty of care for career and citizenship. Every student has a career and citizenship document. This shows agreements on what the student must do. For example, talks about career orientation or writing about the social impact of the job. The school puts these agreements in the education and exam rules. Your child must do these activities to get the diploma. How the school fills this in varies. Some have a personal document per student, others make general rules per program.