Contemporary Lifelong Guidance Policy Updates

A strengthened system of lifelong guidance in Ireland has been underworks for the past several years. An Indecon Review of Career Guidance (2019), recommended that a National Policy Group should be appointed to develop a coherent, long-term strategy for lifelong career guidance.

In answer to this recommendation a National Policy Group for Lifelong Guidance was established in March 2022. This group comprises senior officials from the Department of Education and Youth, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Department of Social Protection, Department of Children, Disability and Equality, and the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. The Department of Education and Youth chairs the group.

Since the establishment of the Policy Group, extensive national and international policy research has been undertaken, and a National Consultation on Lifelong Guidance has been conducted. These activities culminated in the development and publication of the National Strategic Framework for Lifelong Guidance 2024-2030 and its accompanying Strategic Action Plan (2024-2030). The aim of this framework is to bring a focus and a coherence to the existing services and structures, in particular in schools, Higher Education, the Further and Higher Education System, and Adult Guidance Services that are key supports to young people and those entering the workforce in making initial decisions about their educational journeys and career pathways.

The Strategic Action Plan (2024-2030) outlines the strategic actions that are being undertaken at a national level, to achieve the identified outcomes. This Strategic Action Plan provides a roadmap for lifelong guidance.

The strategic actions outlined are presented under each of the four pillars supporting the framework:

1. Visibility and awareness of lifelong-guidance services and information provision;
2. Standards and quality throughout the lifelong-guidance system;
3. Access, inclusion and universal design and;
4. Career-management skills and lifelong career mobility.

In addition, each strategic action is linked to one of eight specific objectives listed in the framework

• Press release: Minister McHugh launches Report of Independent Review of Career Guidance Tools and Information
• Indecon Review of Career Guidance

Lifelong Guidance Implementation