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Perhaps no other challenge preoccupies governments and citizens in the Mediterranean region than the mass unemployment of young people, many of who have invested in higher education in the hope that ability and effort lead to fulfilling lives. Transitions to independent adulthood are, however, frustratingly long drawn-out, and often jeopardised by labour markets that are neither youth-friendly nor meritocratic. While such challenges require structural responses at the macro-economic level, career education and guidance have an important role to play in addressing both the public and private good, and in furthering the social justice agenda. This volume provides a review of career education and guidance in Southern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa Region, presenting a multi-faceted portrayal of the situation in each country as well as overviews of cross-cutting themes that are especially relevant to context, such as women's career development in the Arab states, job placement support for refugees, and the impact of faith on livelihood planning.

Abstract from publisher's website.

The chapters are as follows: Introduction: Anchoring career guidance in the Mediterranean?: in search of southern perspectives / Ronald G. Sultana (pages 3-15); Part one, 'Context', contains the following chapters: Contexts matter: factors influencing career guidance in the Mediterranean countries / Ronald G. Sultana (pages 19-53); Debunking myths surrounding women's careers in the Arab Region: a critical reflexive approach / Fida Afiouni and Charlotte Karam (pages 55-70); Career guidance: perspectives from Islam and from Muslim cultures / Aboubakr Abdeen Badawi (pages 71-85); Syrian refugees in Jordan: providing career guidance services and enhancing access to employment / Maha Kattaa (pages 87-104); Part two, 'The Maghreb', contains: Educational and career guidance in Morocco: vision, plans and projects / Aziza Chbani and Amina Jaouane (pages 107-122); Education and career guidance in Algeria: recurrent dysfunctions / Rosa Mahdjoub and Mohamed Miliani (pages 123-137); Careers information and guidance in Tunisia: institutional and societal challenges / Ammar Mejri and John McCarthy (pages 139-150); Career guidance in Libya: small steps forward, still a long way to go / Ali Elhawat (pages 151-157); Youth education and guidance for employment in Libya: an evolving scenario (pages 159-170).

Part three, 'The Mashrek', contains the following chapters: Career guidance in Egypt: partnership in international cooperation for national development / Shahinaz Khalil (pages 173-186); Exploration process and future plans of Arabs and Jewish Israeli young adults: implications for career interventions / Rachel Gali Cinamon (pages 187-202); Career education and guidance under occupation in Palestine: factors affecting young people's aspirations / Mazen Hashweh (pages 203-224); Career development services in Jordan: international consultants review past efforts and future prospects / Michel Turcotte, Celine Renald and Lynne Bezanson (pages 225-237); Career services in Syrian higher education: policy articulations / Batoul Diab and Neruda Barakat (pages 239-254); The Lebanese education system: heavy on career orientation, light on career guidance / Barend Vlaardingerbroek, Anies Al-Hroub and Cyrine Saab (pages 255-265); Career counselling services in Turkey: building on the past and constructing the future / Binnur Yesilyaprak (pages 267-282); The Saudi experiment with career guidance: borrowing policy and managing the clash of context and theory / Tristram Hooley (pages 283-300); Part four, 'South Europe', contains: Career counselling and guidance in Greece: past, present and future / Michael Kassotakis (pages 303-322); Guidance and counselling in Cyprus: multiple roles, challenges and achievements / Antonis Antoniou (pages 323-335); Career education and guidance in Malta: development and outlook / Manwel Debono (pages 337-350); Career guidance in multicultural contexts: an Italian case study / Roberta Piazza, Paola Magnano and Andrea Zammitti (pages 351-370); Young adults of Maghrebi descent in France: guidance and the challenges to educational and labour market integration / Valerie Cohen-Scali, Alma Hafsi and Patrick Werquin (pages 371-388); Guidance in Catalan secondary education: main features and challenges in a Spanish region / Marius Martinez-Munoz and Carme Martinez-Roca (pages 389-400); Career education and guidance services in Portugal: deeds and needs / Maria Do Ceu Taveira (pages 401-416); Conclusion: Futures for career education and guidance in the Mediterranean?: implications, challenges, and prospects / Ronald G. Sultana (pages 419-437). Show less

This chapter provides a more detailed account of some of the key characteristics that mark the Mediterranean region, which shape and define career education and guidance, its appeal as a policy tool to address, in particular, youth transitions, and the context-sensitive forms it might take in order to serve private and public good. More specifically, such factors as economic inequality, demography, migratory flows, the structure of the labour market, the nature of political regimes, socio-cultural environments, education, and globalisation are examined in detail. In outlining some of the more relevant aspects of context, the chapter pulls together important insights provided by the contributors to this volume, complementing these by drawing on an extensive literature base that provides a wider canvas against which the different chapters can be read. While attention is given to both European and Arab Mediterranean countries, the focus is mainly on the latter, with efforts made to highlight similarities and differences between the two shores when such comparisons serve to generate relevant insights.

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This chapter provides an in-depth view of the situation of Palestine under occupation, highlighting the restrictions occupation imposes on young people's aspirations for decent work. It draws on a number of survey results in order to explore various facets of young people's study- and work-related aspirations, choices and decisions during different phases of the process of transition to adulthood, while reflecting on the potential of information, advice and guidance in supporting students living under adverse conditions. Endogenous aspects of Palestinian culture that shape and have an impact on the journey to independent living are also discussed. It is argued that while the challenges that Palestinian youths have to face can only be comprehensively addressed through political and economic emancipation, career education and guidance have nevertheless a role to play in supporting their quest for dignified living and a decent livelihood.

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This chapter provides an historical overview of the development of career guidance in Turkey, from its inception over fifty years ago, through the different phases of establishment, exploration, and consolidation. Key landmarks in the provision of services in both the education and labour market sectors are described, while also outlining the challenges that have had to be faced. Due attention is given to the drivers of change, including the influence of North American and European approaches to career guidance, and the impact of international funding and aid agencies that have supported the development of local expertise and the professionalisation of services. The chapter concludes by highlighting the main issues that need to be addressed in order for Turkey to build on its past efforts and to construct a future for career guidance based on a more appropriate paradigm, one that truly supports the career development process throughout the life span.

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This chapter sets out to provide an overview of the career guidance and counselling field in Cyprus. It first of all describes service providers in the education sector. Here, school counsellors have to face a number of challenges given the multiple roles they are required to fulfil. They are not only concerned with work that is normally associated with guidance and counselling, such as seeing students individually and in groups and administering and interpreting tests, but are also tasked with dealing with a range of duties that are more managerial in nature. Despite becoming increasingly qualified, skilled and professional, Cypriot school counsellors find themselves in a constant battle with time, in an effort to give students a better service. Such efforts are strongly supported by the Career Education Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture, where, in the context of a small state, it makes sense to have a central unit that promotes the professionalisation of the field through training programmes and resource development. The chapter also details other guidance service providers in Cyprus, including those for youth and adult job seekers in both the public and private sector. The Youth Board, the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance, and District Career Counselling Centres are also making a significant contribution in implementing a national strategic plan for the field, elaborated in response to the recommendations of an external evaluation team.

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The wave of migrants and refugees arriving in Europe presents a challenge not just for society as a whole, but also for the response that career guidance can make. Over and above humanitarian measures, the welfare and integration of the new arrivals requires the putting into place of appropriate training and job placement services, with career guidance potentially playing a valuable role. Guidance can help reduce the initial disorientation that inevitably affects displacement, ensuring that the migrants' cultural, emotional and intellectual resources are acknowledged, valued, and deployed in ways that open up opportunities to make a living and to flourish in the host country. Such career guidance needs to be attuned to the cultural differences, and to tailor services in ways that respect diversity. Italy, however, has not drawn benefit from the experience of other countries, nor drawn lessons from the long-standing international literature on successful multiculturalism. Not only have few institutions taken up the challenge of developing bespoke guidance programmes for migrants, but those that have been developed often lack the advanced and specialised competences that are required. This chapter casts a critical eye over the situation in Italy, highlighting in particular the fate of the growing number of unaccompanied minors who disembark on the peninsula in search of a new life and work opportunities. Going beyond critique, the chapter also describes a programme that has been put into place specifically to address the needs of this group who make it to the Italian island of Sicily.

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This chapter introduces the goals and aspirations for this volume, showing how the different chapters build on earlier studies of career guidance in the region in an effort to develop theoretically informed accounts of the field as it is conceived and practised in context. The value of using the Mediterranean as a lens through which to consider career guidance is discussed, suggesting that by so doing, new insights can be generated that promote a deeper understanding of what career guidance might involve, and the forms and shapes it can assume. Such intellectual labour, it is argued, is necessary if we are to develop Southern perspectives, which can serve to trouble mainstream understandings of what career guidance entails, particularly if context-sensitive accounts of the public and private benefits of guidance are to be articulated.

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The Lebanese education system is structured in such a way that potential career options for students are restricted by the tracks they are assigned to after the middle secondary level. A large number of students are diverted into vocational and technical education after Grade 9, while students who advance to upper secondary schooling are channelled into tracks that align with tertiary education and training pathways. Career orientation is thus built into the Lebanese education system. The history of career guidance in public sector education is a meagre one as there appears to be little political will to enact this aspect of education. What formal career guidance exists is largely located in the non-government sector. The chapter includes reference to career guidance services provided by [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] UNRWA for Palestinian refugees residing in Lebanon.

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This chapter starts off by providing an account of the historical development of career guidance in Portugal, acknowledging the contributions of early pioneers in the field. It highlights some of the more important initiatives implemented after the installation of democratic government in 1974, noting developments in schools, at universities, and in employment services for adults. Many of these initiatives, including the recognition and certification of competences, specifically set out to address key challenges in Portugal's education and training system, which include high levels of early school leavers without any formal qualifications. The chapter also provides an overview of more recent developments in the provision of career guidance services, giving due attention to the way in which economic and political contexts impact on policies, especially during a period marked by high unemployment and draconian austerity measures. The different entities providing elements of career guidance are described, with the lack of a comprehensive career guidance policy being a significant obstacle in ensuring equitable provision across the different regions of the country. Finally, a project that brings together university-based career guidance researchers and school- and community-based practitioners is presented as a possible way forward to address the problem of unevenness of provision across the different regions.

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In this chapter I will discuss how the term 'career', which was born in a western, individualistically oriented, industrialised context, travels to other cultural and economic contexts where the notion of 'career' is not indigenous. Career guidance can thus be theorised as a globally travelling idea which, however, must materialise in a narrative permitting a mediated interpretation and experience, and converted into actions that are meaningful in the new context that they become embedded in. During this process of global movement, meanings and practices change, new constructions emerge, and different orientation patterns become evident. These shifts and changes play out at national level, particularly in the context of international cooperation projects. Such projects have development as a common target, and yet they may differ in regard to the values they promote, and whether their view of development is more labour market and GDP-oriented or adopts a more holistic and societal approach. Such differences impact on the way they conceptualise the individual, and whether the programmes implemented adopt a competence-based or a capability-oriented approach. International actors introducing development programmes to promote sustainable futures need to carefully consider the cultural fit aspect. If this is not taken into account, efforts are likely to lead to rejection of reforms proposed. This chapter addresses such issues by critically considering the career guidance project implemented by the Employment Promotion Programme of the German Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Egypt.

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