NICE HANDBOOK – Academic training of Career ... - Nice-network.eu

EditorialDear Readers,This handbook for the academic training of career guidance and counselling 1 professionals isa joint production of 40 partners of a European academic network, partly funded by the EuropeanCommission. It is less a report on the work we have undertaken in our network over thepast three years, than a framework for setting up and developing degree programmes in careerguidance and counselling in Higher Education Institutions in Europe.“We” – that is the “Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe”(NICE), the academic network which is publishing this handbook. NICE was founded in 2009with substantial funding from the European Commission and comprises partners from 28 Europeancountries (find a list of all partners at the end of the handbook). Most of us offer degreeprogrammes in career guidance and counselling, are currently setting up such programmes, orconduct research related to this practice. As the science and science-based practice of careerguidance and counselling is still comparably young, it isn’t surprising that in some countriesno degree programmes in our field exist up to date, while education in this field has a relativelylong tradition in other countries.As a consortium of experts in the academic training of career guidance and counselling (CGC)professionals and in CGC-related research, our mission is to promote professionalism and excellencein career guidance and counselling. In NICE, we do so by supporting the quality ofeducation in our field – primarily as teachers, programme leaders and managers of degreeprogrammes –, and by enriching the political discourse on career guidance and counsellingin Europe through an academic perspective. Over the past three years, we have cooperatedstrongly on a number of important projects to provide a basis for sustained networking andexchange in the future. Through three international conferences, several workshops andmany virtual meetings we have had the chance to analyse the diversity of higher education inguidance in Europe, identify international trends in our field, and reach consensus on commonpoints of reference 2 in regards to the design and development of degree programmes in careerguidance and counselling. On the basis of our joint learning experience – which is compiled inthis handbook – we want to cooperate even more closely in the future.1 In NICE we have agreed to generally refer to “career guidance and counselling” as a fixed term. Both “career guidance”and “career counselling” are important and widespread terms used for referring to our field worldwide ininternational research, study programmes and policy-making – at least in English language where such duplicityexists. When not directly referring to “career guidance and counselling” as a field or practice, we use the abbreviation“CGC”, for example in “CGC professional” or “CGC services”.2 Definitions of the words marked in blue at the beginning of chapters can be found in the glossary at the end ofthe NICE Handbook.