Career guidance in Quebec, Canadá

First, the guidance counselor profession in the province of Quebec will be described: the professional association to which it belongs, the required in- struction, the counselors' tasks and the institutions for which they work. There follows the description of the main current tendencies in career guidance devel- opment in this French-speaking area of Canada with about 7.2 million inhabit- ants, approximately one fourth of the total country population. Finally, a brief description of the Center for Research on Education and Labor of the University of Shebrooke as well as of some instruments that one of the teams is constructing will be provided.

International governmental agencies and career guidance

The international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop-ment (OECD), like many national and international organizations concerned with economic development believes that career guidance has an important role in promoting the development of a country's human resources. (Mapping the future: Young People and career guidance OECD, 1996). Generally the economic development agencies always recommend that career guidance services should be strengthened. Too frequently, however, they do not recognize the difficulties facing counselor in the schools and do not give clear and specific recommendations, yet they appear to believe that the education or other au thorities who are responsible to guidance will quickly agree and provide more resources for guidance. In addition to economic development agencies, social and educational development agencies also make important recommendations concerning the provision of guidance services. UNESCO, for example, has published two re- cent reports (Policies and Guidelines for Educational and Vocational Guidelines for Equal Access and Opportunity for Girls and Women in Technical and Vocational Education.) It is interesting to compare the OECD and UNESCO rec- ommendations and note that the relative strengths of each set of recommenda- tions, and to imagine how they might be combined in advocating changes in policies and programs.

Career Guidance: Challenges for the New Century under an International Perspective

This paper is dedicated to key issues of the actual challenges in all societies regardless their developmental level and how the international guidance community is coping with these challenges. It deals with the importance of guidance in a changing society, quality assurance, access to services and qualification of guidance practitioners under an international perspective.

A model of career training in international contexts

Este artículo describe un modelo para la capacitación de practicantes de orientación ocupacional en contextos internacionales. Este modelo utiliza un enfoque de "compromiso activo" y se fundamenta en los siguientes factores: 1. Relativos a Competencia/Habilidad; 2. Aprendizaje Experimental; 3. Desafío de Fortaleza; 4. Pensamiento Crítico; 5. Intervenciones y Procesos Dinámicos; y 6. Aprendizaje e Innovación Integradas. También se incluye un debate sobre otras cuestiones prácticas relativas a la capacitación.