Joining forces with professional associations in Central and Eastern Europe

Career guidance is a key tool for improving access to educational and employment opportunities. It helps people make informed decisions throughout their lives, manage changes in the labor market related to green and digital transformation, and effectively and meaningfully engage in economic and civic life. There are significant differences between European countries in access to career guidance and in comparatively, access to quality career counseling is often limited in Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, in these countries with a similar historical and institutional context, professional associations play an important role in the development of career counseling systems, the professionalization of counselors, quality management…

Professional associations from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania have jointly decided to launch the initiative CEE Career Guidance Associations Forum. The aim of the cooperation of professional associations from four countries is to create a space for sharing best practices and improving career guidance for all. The initial project financed by the Erasmus+ program started in September 2024 and will last for two years. Similar forms of transnational cooperation exist in various regions, for example in the Nordic countries .

What are the goals of the project?

The main idea of this project is cooperation and sharing of good practice regarding various activities of the associations (relations with members, training, quality assurance, relations with stakeholders, participation on policy making) but also sharing of good practice between career counselors from the participating countries. Our associations can learn a lot from each other and look for new ways to bring added value to their members and contribute to the improvement of career guidance systems in their countries. The main objectives of the project include:

• Strengthen partnerships between career counseling associations in the CEE region.
• Identify and share best practices to improve the functioning of associations and the quality of services they provide to members.
• Encourage innovation in the functioning of associations through the transfer of successful initiatives, activities and strategies between countries.
• Support the exchange of international professional experience through webinars, educational activities and mobility opportunities.
• To create a long-term platform for permanent cooperation between experts in the field of career counseling in Central and Eastern Europe.

Project activities

In the first phase of the project, data collection on the activities of professional associations and consultation with members and interested parties will take place. This step will form the basis of the project, gathering information on how the individual associations operate, what they are doing well and where there is room for improvement. The goal is to benchmark the activities of associations, identify good practice and support its transfer between participating associations. Identified best practices and good practice will be documented and made available online to all members. Educational activities are also planned in the project – a series of workshops and events for counselors, but also policymakers and interested parties, as well as a comparison of existing professional standards and their implementation in practice . One of the last steps will be the creation of a formal platform that will ensure the continuation of cooperation between professional associations in our geographical area and its eventual expansion to other countries.

Who is involved?

The activities involve the Association for Career Counseling and Career Development (Slovakia) , which has extensive experience in career counseling, the Hungarian Pedagogical Association ( Magyar Pedagógiai Társaság ) with more than a hundred years of experience in the field of education and career guidance, the Czech Association for Career Counseling and the Career development , especially in the field of professionalization of counselors , and the Romanian Association of Career Counselors ( Asociația Consilierilor Romani ), the leading Romanian association that tries to professionalize this field and gain national recognition for it. This initiative will contribute to a stronger and more inclusive future of career guidance in Central and Eastern Europe.