Euroguidance study visit in Turkey

Turkish Euroguidance Centre organised a study visit for other Euroguidance staff under the title “Vocational Training and Career Guidance System in Turkey”, in Ankara between 13-17th of May, 2008. 

The visit’s main aim was to provide detailed information about the guidance and counselling system in Turkey for the participants. It was also an interactive programme to share practical information and knowledge. There were 9 participants of the programme from 6 different countries: France, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Ireland, Poland and Lithuania.

The programme provided detailed and comprehensive information about the Turkish guidance and counselling system, such as the balance of private and public sector service. It was not only a chance to examine the Turkish vocational training and counselling system, but also sharing experience and knowledge in an interactive way.
Euroguidance Turkey is planning to organise a similar 3 day programme, with an additional one day cultural event option to welcome other Euroguidance colleagues in 2009.

Yavuz Moran, Euroguidance Turkey

Career Guidance in Turkey

According to the Basic Law on National Education No.1739, the Turkish education system comprises three main levels: pre-school education; basic (compulsory) education; and general and vocational secondary education.

Guidance  services are implemented at different levels by the Ministry of National Education (MONE), the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) and it’s subsidiary, the Turkish Employment Institution (İŞKUR), universities, private sector establishments, trade unions and NGO’s.

Guidance and psychological counselling services are also provided in universities all over Turkey.
The MONE and İŞKUR are the most active in their services, both providing services free of charge. Furthermore, the Career Information, Guidance and Counselling Services Cooperation Protocol signed in 2004 between 9 agencies and organisations represents a significant step for the cooperation of these organisations and the industrial sectors.

Guidance Services in Education

The basic strategy employed by MONE to reach their target groups is to establish service provision units in educational institutions on a local basis (such as school guidance and psychological counselling services) and employ qualified personnel. Primary education programmes include guidance integration as an intermediary discipline. The duration of secondary education is 4 years with guidance from 9th to 12th grades. Moreover, in the 9th grade, an “Information and Guidance” program has been introduced for both general and vocational secondary education.

Apart from interview techniques used in individual guidance interviews in schools, some measuring and evaluation instruments are utilized. In spite of all efforts, career guidance is usually geared towards the transition to higher education.

In higher education, guidance and psychological counselling services are provided, along with the support of career planning centres at some universities. All universities are required by law to provide guidance and psychological counselling services for their students. Although the objective is set to make these services standard in the 95 state and 36 foundation universities, this is not currently the case.

Services tend to be more efficiently provided in state and foundation universities which have education faculties and/or academic programs in psychological counselling and guidance within their structures. Some universities have career planning centres which provide services for explaining job opportunities and offering job placement.

Career guidance on the labour market and employment services

İŞKUR offers systematic support through The Employment and Career Counselling Services. It tries firstly to determine the most appropriate field of employment according to the requests and situation of the individual and the skills required by the employer. It offers support to training opportunities and the adaptation to the workplace and finally solves problems associated with starting a new job.

The target groups are youths in the process of choosing an occupation and adults who want to acquire or change their  profession, advance in their profession or who are having adaptation problems in their current profession. In the İŞKUR’s e-Transformation Project, the “self-service” job search approach has been adopted.

Also, cooperation opportunities and projects are being prepared between various companies and labour market institutions with employment support. Many of these are implemented in the scope of various EU projects such as the Leonardo da Vinci Programme or local-sectoral support programs. Career guidance and counselling services provided by the private sector have significantly increased. Also, various NGO’s collaborate with public institutions (especially MONE) to organize training programs.

The way forward/policy recommendations

The content of the current guidance service policies in Turkey is based on three main movements:

1.    The adoption of the lifelong learning approach, focused especially on increasing the skill levels of the workforce. It is known that this approach requires much more flexible teaching methods. Furthermore, this approach requires that individuals take charge of their own learning processes and manage them while taking the needs of the labour market into consideration. This also means that high-quality guidance is a necessity throughout the lifetime of the individual.

2.    The movements toward the formation of a flexible labour market that can keep up with global competition and technological advances and allow individuals to move more freely between jobs, companies and occupations. The unemployment benefit system, required for supporting such a flexible structure, is being implemented. The most important role, the provision of career guidance and job-hunting services, required the creation of occupational and employment dynamism from which both employed and unemployed individuals would benefit. This will be assumed by İŞKUR, together with the other partners.  

3.    The establishment of stronger, broader and more flexible career guidance systems in the education system

Compiled by Ömer Aycicek, Euroguidance Turkey