Materials

1. Personal guidance
   
   • guidance to support the pupil’s growth and development
   • guidance in how to learn to learn, be goal-oriented and acquire learning skills
   • guidance in self-knowledge, decision-making skills and making choices of optional subjects
   • guidance related to joint and other application procedures, vocational choices and career planning
   • guidance in special situations as well as guidance of pupils in need of special support and immigrants
   • guidance related to the work practice programme (TET) and job search skills, encouragement to seek summer jobs
   • guidance and follow-up of those at the point of transition from one educational institution to another
2. Teaching
   • lessons in educational guidance according to the national core curriculum
   • organisation of study visits and excursions
3. Guidance in small groups
   • Guidance in small groups may be implemented according to pupils’ needs
4. Information and communication
   • guidance-related information and communication within the school, drawing up a school-specific guidance curriculum
   • communication with pupil support systems and guardians as well as organisation of parents’ evenings
   • assistance in the process of choosing optional subjects
   • TET arrangements and implementation
   • information on arrangements related to the joint application procedure
   • reception of new pupils and communication with the different levels of education, especially at the points of transition
   • development of entrepreneurship education and cooperation with working and business life
5. Pupil welfare services
   • participation in collective pupil welfare services
   • individual pupil welfare service in multiprofessional cooperation with other players
6. Maintenance and development of professional competence
   • follow-up of continuous changes in the educational system, matriculation examination, student admissions, application systems, working life and society as well as anticipation of needs of working life
   • keeping abreast of development in information and communication technology
   • planning, preparation, development and evaluation of his/her own guidance work and teaching as well as guidance curriculum
   • participation in briefings and trainings according to the needs of pupils in his/her school
7. Other tasks
   • break supervision and other supervision tasks assigned to all teachers
   • participation in common occasions of the school and their arrangements when necessary

1.Teaching

• courses in educational guidance according to the national core curriculum
• organisation of study visits and excursions

2. Personal guidance

• guidance to support the student’s growth and development
• guidance of how to learn to learn and how to acquire learning skills

• guidance related to drawing up and implementation of a personal study plan (PSP)
• guidance related to planning of and choices in the matriculation examination, guidance related to drawing up and updating matriculation examination plan
• guidance in special situations, for example students joining in the middle of term, those continuing their studies, students studying more than three years in general upper secondary school, those suffering from learning disabilities, those having difficulties due to life changes, exchange students etc. (By virtue of the General Upper Secondary Schools Act also post-graduation)

• guidance related to further studies, career choices and career planning

• guidance related to joint application procedures and student admissions
• guidance related to drawing up and updating of plans for further studies and career plans
• guidance of those at the point of transition from one education or educational institution to another
• work practice programme (TET) and related guidance

3. Information and communication

• internal information and communication tasks

• guidance-related information within the school and information on guidance services, for example visits, fairs, general briefings
• information related to choices, courses and subjects, matriculation examination
• choice of subjects, choice of educational programme
• information related to students’ transition to further studies or working life
• information on matters emerging at the points of transition
• information on parents’ evenings

• external information and communication

• cooperation with comprehensive schools, upper secondary schools and higher education institutions as well as liberal adult education
• cooperation with business life and enterprises
• cooperation with TE Offices (public employment and business services)
• cooperation with the authorities and social and health services
• cooperation with organisations

• building and maintenance of guidance-related networks and network-based cooperation

• information and communication tasks related to student admissions

• information related to student admissions
• information related to education and schools
• information cooperation with partners and stakeholders, such as the Finnish National Agency for Education, the Finnish Labour Administration, vocational guidance, working life and education and training providers

4. 
   Student welfare services

• participation in the work of a multiprofessional student welfare group in the guidance counsellor’s own school
• negotiations and consultations related to student welfare services
• participation in the cooperation between home and school

5. Maintenance and development of professional competence

• participation in briefings and training
• follow-up of continuous changes in education, the educational system, student admissions, application systems, matriculation examination, working life and society
• planning, preparation, development and evaluation of work supporting his/her own guidance work and teaching
• following professional literature
• maintenance, updating and development of his/her own guidance work by participating, for example, in further education and training, and job supervision (työnohjaus)

6. Planning, development, coordination and evaluation of guidance in the school

• Planning, development and evaluation of a school-specific guidance system in collaboration with the school community
• implementation and evaluation of the school’s guidance curriculum
• collaboration with the principal, tutors and subject teachers
• participation in the school’s guidance curriculum work as well as planning, development and evaluation with respect to guidance

(updated 07 Jun 2019)

The scope of work of a guidance counsellor in vocational education varies widely depending on the education provider. Even differences between units may be large. It is important that the guidance counsellor maintains and develops his/her professional competence  in the constantly changing field of vocational education, and he/she should also be given a realistic opportunity to do this.

Core tasks and some concrete examples

Guidance of application – joint application procedure and continuous admission

• Participation in marketing of education and training
• Information, advice and guidance of applicants
• Processing of applications (in student affairs offices or the specific field), applications and interviews in continuous admission, student admission

Personal guidance, guidance in groups or small groups

• Personal guidance of students aiming at a qualification (participation in HOKS procedure, identification and recognition of prior learning usually for common qualification units, and provision of support to a vocational teacher in other units), assessment of guidance and support measures as well as of measures to support learning skills (together with, e.g. a special needs teacher) and referral to these support services, presentation of social benefits for students, multicultural competence
• Participation in implementation of optionality
• Career counselling (guidance related to transition to further studies or working life, career advancement)
• Guidance in higher education studies when a student in upper secondary vocational education is already studying at a university of applied sciences or university (e.g. introductory courses)
• Learning and career planning skills 1 cp (varies widely from school to school, sometimes entirely the responsibility of a guidance counsellor, elsewhere a task of other teachers, or an arrangement in between)
• Guidance of students applying for, transitioning to and dropping out of education
• Post-school guidance

Multiprofessional cooperation

• Tutors-in-charge/course coordinators/teachers and other teaching staff in the school
• Student welfare service staff
• Study secretaries, customer service secretaries
• Guardians and other family members
• Application services
• Communication and marketing
• Other vocational upper secondary schools
• General upper secondary education in the region
• Studies to support learning and studying skills
• Providers of further studies, universities of applied sciences, universities, etc.
• Ohjaamo (“one-stop guidance centre”, guidance counsellor in an expert role), outreach youth work
• TE Offices (public employment and business services)
• Working life, workshops, organisations
• Project work
• etc.

Cooperation with basic education, higher education and working life

Introductory days, open house, parents’ evenings, Taitaja9-SkillsFinland event, technology days, educational guidance information events, fairs, etc.

Student welfare services individual student welfare, collective student welfare

Pedagogical support pedagogical and special support as well as collaboration related to discipline (hearings)

Involvement in inclusion of students, tutor activities

If the guidance counsellor’s work includes special tasks, they are to be taken into account when performing job evaluation (TVA). Special tasks may be, for example:

1. guidance in different forms of education (double qualification studies, paths to higher education, application services, Ohjaamo work, etc.)
2. guidance of students in several fields of study (different operational cultures of the fields, several supervisors or cooperation partners)
3. responsibility, more than average, for special groups in need of a lot of personal guidance, such as multicultural clients, clients in need of special support
4. responsibilities and development tasks related to student association and tutor activities
5. development work related to tools and methods of educational guidance
6. tasks related to international activities (project work, exchange students, etc.)
7. organisation of different events (theme days, events, festivities, etc.)
8. regional and/or national development work
9. other special responsibilities and development tasks.

(updated 18 May 2019)

1. Study guidance

a) guidance to support the student’s growth and development

• support in different phases of life (e.g. moving from home, becoming responsible for own life, reconciliation of family and/or work and studies)
• support of professional growth

b) guidance in how to learn to learn and how to acquire learning skills

• drawing up and implementation of a personal study plan (PSP)
• guidance in special situations (e.g. students joining in the middle of term, those continuing their studies, those studying longer than normal, students suffering from learning disabilities, those having difficulties due to life changes, exchange students)

c) guidance related to further studies, career choices and career planning

• guidance related to application procedures and student admissions
• career counselling.

2. Teaching

• holding lessons and courses in study guidance
• organisation of study visits and excursions 

3. Information and communication

a) internal information and expert tasks

• guidance-related information within the university and information on guidance services
• information related to student admissions

b) external information and expert tasks

• cooperation with other higher education institutions
• cooperation with schools of other levels of education
• marketing of the application and recruitment of students (fairs, secondary schools, events, days for future students) 

4. Student welfare services

• participation in the work of a multiprofessional study guidance and student welfare group
• involvement in the planning of special support
• advancement of an accessible studying environment as well as of availability
• negotiations and consultations during studies 

5. Maintenance and development of professional competence

• participation in briefings and training, following professional literature
• follow-up of continuous changes in education, student admissions, application systems, matriculation examination, working life and society as well as updating and development of their professional competence
• planning, preparation, development and evaluation of work supporting their guidance work and teaching 

6. Planning, development, coordination and evaluation of guidance

• planning, development and evaluation of a university-specific guidance system
• implementation and evaluation of the guidance curriculum
• collaboration with supervisors, teacher and peer tutors, student tutors and other teachers
• participation in the university’s guidance curriculum work 

7. Networking

• building and maintenance of a network outside the university and network-based cooperation
• cooperation between educational institutions
• employment authorities, Ohjaamo, outreach youth work, ELO (ELGPN) networks, TNO networks
• Finnish employers and employees’ organisations (Akava, OAJ, EK, KT, etc.)
• cooperation with business enterprises and working life
• entrepreneurs and entrepreneur forums
• international guidance networks (IAEVG, NFSY)
• guidance projects