Recommendations for Policy Makers
Markus Ammann
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Lea Avguštin
National School for Leadership in Education, Slovenia
Tatjana Ažman
National School for Leadership in Education, Slovenia
Alma Rovis Brandić
Education and Teacher Training Agency, Croatia
Vesna Ivasović
Education and Teacher Training Agency, Croatia
Werner Mauersberg
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Polona Peček
National School for Leadership in Education, Slovenia
Inga Seme Stojnović
Education and Teacher Training Agency, Croatia
Mihaela Zavašnik Arčnik
National School for Leadership in Education, Slovenia
The following recommendations for policy makers represent the
Intellectual Output (io) 4 of the Erasmus+ project LeadCareer. They are
based on three previous outputs: Comparative Study (io1), Curriculum
(io2) and Educational Material and Sample Activities (io3). More than a
decade ago, the eu as well as other organisations came to acknowledge
the importance of career guidance. Various programmes fostering this
idea were established at different levels, including at the European
Council and Parliament. In 2007, the European Lifelong Guidance Policy
Network (elgpn) was incorporated into this effort. It aimed to assist
member countries and the European Commission in the development of
a Europe-wide cooperation in lifelong guidance within the education
and employment sector. Career guidance is an important issue in various
areas and for different professions at all career stages. It is a way of
dealing with newly arising challenges in a changing world. Pressing
issues, like unemployed youth, employees who want to change their
profession or find new or different ways of handling different challenges
in life, are being addressed. The recommendations herein address the
abovementioned key issues and encourage the implementation of the
I Am a Teacher – I Create My Career curriculum at the supranational
vodenje 2|2017: 83–95
Markus Ammann et al.
as well as national, the organisational as well as individual levels.
These recommendations are intended to convince policy makers on
these different levels to advocate changes concerning career
guidance policies and take actions for the implementation of the
curriculum. The main part of the article describes the potential use
of the curriculum for different key stakeholders. Furthermore, the
most relevant issues related to the underlying assumptions, effects
on and roles of key stakeholders, as well as the implications of issues
are discussed. The recommendations follow a specific structure
which divides them into four chapters: Abstract of the Curriculum,
Aim of the Curriculum, Content of the Curriculum, Stakeholders
and Potential Users of the Curriculum.
Keywords: policy, recommendations, career development, curriculum
I Am a Teacher – I Create my Career! Curriculum
In 2007, the European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network (elgpn)
was established. It aimed to assist the eu member countries and
the European Commission in the development of a European co-
operation concerning lifelong guidance in the education and em-
ployment sector. The programme is now closed and it is necessary
that these ideas and recommendations are implemented at the na-
tional levels. On this level, the implementation of the elgpn res-
ults has proceeded differently across member states.
In the course of their career, headteachers as well as teach-
ers and other educational staff experience challenges they have
to overcome. These include the challenges of improving their ca-
reer competences, finding a good work-life balance, developing
their own career, finding new ways for their career development if
they want to leave the profession, taking responsibility, managing
transitions or bringing about decisions.
Therefore the LeadCareer project, funded by the eu, was estab-
lished within the Erasmus+. It focuses on the educational sector
with all of its stakeholders and aims to help spread knowledge and
skills for the career development of educational staff. The main
goal of the project was to develop a curriculum which fulfils these
special requirements by building up participants’ competences re-
garding their career.
These recommendations constitute the Intellectual Output No.
4 of this project. They address policy makers on all levels of the
system in order to implement the proposed curriculum and de-
scribe the benefits of such implementation for all system levels.
The curriculum is designed for every educational staff mem-
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Recommendations for Policy Makers
ber, from pre-school up to secondary school and even beyond,
for everyone who is willing to reflect on their current career re-
gardless of their career stage or years of experience. The I Am
a Teacher – I Create My Career! curriculum is at the core of the
Output.
Aim of the Curriculum
The main aim of the I Am a Teacher – I Create My Career! cur-
riculum is to increase participants’ career competences regard-
ing the guidance of their career so that they see it as ‘a continu-
ous process that enables citizens at any age and at any point in
their lives to identify their capacities, competences and interests,
to make educational, training and occupational decisions and to
manage their individual life paths in learning, work and other
settings in which those capacities and competences are learned
and/or used’.1
The curriculum is based on the belief that the kind of educa-
tional staff member who has the basic up-to-date knowledge of
career decisions, is regularly gathering information on the labour
market and actively comparing information to his or her career
situation, makes not only better career decisions for himself or
herself but also provides better support for developing the career
competences of his or her students. The idea is to guide parti-
cipants through different challenges in their career, which might
also have an effect on their private life.
Content of the Curriculum
The I Am a Teacher – I Create My Career! curriculum consists of
five modules. Each module is further divided into two or three
topics.
The title of the first module is My Career – My Dream. Module
1 provides an introduction to the topic in general, an overview of
the structure of the curriculum, and enables a deeper understand-
ing of the present situation of participants’ careers. At the begin-
ning of Module 1, participants get a general introduction to the
curriculum. It outlines the curriculum and explains the outcomes
1 ‘Resolution of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the
Member States, Meeting within the Council of 21 November 2008 on Better Integ-
rating Lifelong Guidance into Lifelong Learning Strategies.’ Official Journal of the
European Union, 13 December 2008, c 319.
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Markus Ammann et al.
that the participants will achieve. In this module, the focus is on
‘me’ and ‘my career’ over the course of time.
The title of the second module is I Am the Leader of My Ca-
reer. Module 2 introduces participants to the basics of career guid-
ance and career management skills. Relevant theoretical models
are presented, basic terminology is explained and applicable skills
for a 21st Century career management are described. Participants
are informed about contemporary career guidance policies and
the labour market. They relate the received knowledge to their
own career development.
The third module is titled My Personal Mastery. Module 3 aims
to empower its participants in their career development. Each par-
ticipant identifies values, skills and goals in relation to his or her
career development, then compares and contrasts them with the
findings of the self-analysis. Participants use these insights to en-
hance their future career path.
The title of the fourth module is I Plan My Career. Module 4
is based on the previous modules (1, 2 and 3). In this one, parti-
cipants work with the current concepts of career guidance. They
focus on the specific planning of their career and personal plan-
ning, while keeping in mind the work-life balance aspect. In ad-
dition, Module 4 approaches the different activities of a potential
transition.
The title of the fifth module is My Learning Process. The main
content of Module 5 lies in the evaluation of participants’ learn-
ing path throughout the curriculum and the possible transfer of
knowledge and skills.
Stakeholders and the Potential Users of the Curriculum
The curriculum is important for different organisations, groups
and people on all levels of the educational system. Below, its use
for selected target groups on the national, supranational, organ-
isational and individual levels is presented.
Supranational and National Level
On the supranational and national levels, the curriculum I Am a
Teacher – I Create My Career! tackles those issues that were raised
by the oecd and eu institutions and governments in the past. The
curriculum contributes to good career decisions by headteach-
ers, educational staff in schools and students, and therefore helps
to improve employability in all areas of the society from young
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Recommendations for Policy Makers
people to older generations. Additionally, the issue of early school
leavers is worked on by teachers who support these people in their
career decisions.
Being able to influence or decide about career decisions is im-
portant to prevent burnouts and other illnesses, which happen
very often within this profession due to several challenges. Good
career decisions are important for a clear work-life balance and
therefore for the health and satisfaction of different people in the
society. All of this is consequently significant for national budgets
due to a reduction in costs for unemployment benefits and the
health system.
Recommendations: Austria
In Austria, the government is the first contact at the national
level when it comes to the implementation of international ini-
tiatives. In this case, the matter concerns the Ministry of Educa-
tion (Bundesministerium für Bildung), which has the power to
implement this curriculum through law proposals and decrees.
Financial support, the encouragement and possibility of the parti-
cipation of headteachers and educational staff would also be help-
ful.
Moreover, by encouraging those who want to take part in a ca-
reer guidance programme, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social
Affairs and Consumer Protection (Bundesministerium für Arbeit,
Soziales und Konsumentenschutz) can support people who are un-
employed and looking for work.
Recommendations: Croatia
It can be claimed that rich countries are groups of successful in-
dividuals. At the European and global levels, it is important for
every country to have successful individuals who can manage
their career for their own good and the prosperity of the state
they live in. The main purpose of the I Am a Teacher – I Have a
Career curriculum is to improve teachers’ competences for lead-
ing their own career. It is therefore important that the Ministry of
Science and Education and the Education (Ministarstvo znanosti
i obrazovanja) and Teacher Training Agency (Agencija za odgoj i
obrazovanje) both support such a career curriculum. Its use and
dissemination should also be fostered because one of the main
aims of the curriculum is to strengthen teachers’ competences in
leading their career in the educational and private context. Again
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Markus Ammann et al.
we can point out that a successful career on the individual level
has a great impact at the supranational level: employment, na-
tional budget, prosperity etc.
An approval on the supranational level opens the way at other
levels.
Recommendations: Slovenia
In Slovenia, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport (Min-
istrstvo za šolstvo, znanost in šport) is the authority responsible
for the implementation of teacher and headteacher education and
training initiatives at the national level whenever in-service train-
ing is required due to reforms or substantial changes in curricula.
The Ministry needs to establish the newly designed 5-day cur-
riculum as compulsory or recommended, and through this clas-
sification insert the programme in the so-called commissioned
and priority programmes of in-service training for teachers and
headteachers.
In addition, the National Professional Commission for Lifelong
Career Guidance (Nacionalna strokovna komisija za vseživljenj-
sko karierno orientacijo) is responsible for the implementation of
quality assurance guidelines related to lifelong career guidance
which exist nationally. The Commission shall be informed about
the newly proposed curriculum and trigger the initiative for its
implementation.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs
(Ministrstvo za delo, družino in socialne zadeve) is, in accordance
with the law, responsible for strengthening and enhancing career
management competence for adults, especially adult employment
seekers. The curriculum can serve as an encouragement for the
competent Ministry to allocate financial means to support the im-
plementation of the curriculum in public institutions responsible
for training and education of employed and unemployed adults.
Organisational Level
Recommendations: Austria
In Austria, it is the University College of Teacher Education (Die
School of Education – Fakultät für LehrerInnenbildung) that is re-
sponsible for further teacher training. It would prove favourable if
it included this curriculum in its yearly advanced trainings, so that
school staff members can enrol in this class.
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Recommendations for Policy Makers
The Public Employment Service (Arbeitsmarktservice) provides,
in cooperation with other private institutions, numerous work-
shops for people who seek new jobs. This curriculum would act
as an enrichment for these institutions, since it helps work applic-
ants reflect on their past career in order to adopt new possibilities
or readjust to follow a new direction.
Another related institution is the bfi institute (Bildung. Freude
Inklusive) that is run by the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Ös-
terreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund) and the Chamber of Labour
(Arbeitskammer). This institute also provides advanced trainings
in all sorts of fields across Austria. The employment of this cur-
riculum in this context would mean having an advanced nation-
wide option for all workers and employees in the field of career
guidance.
Recommendations: Croatia
According to the available findings of different studies on career
development in the Republic of Croatia (Strategy for Lifelong Ca-
reer Guidance in the Republic of Croatia 2016–2020), there is a
need for a career curriculum aimed at teachers, educational staff
and citizens.
Such a curriculum offers a chance to different organisations
to draw benefit from it. Preschool institutions and schools can
be identified as the main beneficiaries. The identification of the
strengths and weaknesses of their staff will help headteachers del-
egate tasks and activities better and plan teacher career develop-
ment. This should lead to a more conscious approach in career
guidance and to a better recruitment of teachers. Headteachers
can use this curriculum as a source for strategic and career plan-
ning. All of this together can contribute to an enhancement of
the school culture and therefore to school improvement aimed at
school excellence, especially in regard to students’ outcomes.
Additionally, the curriculum offers a chance to be implemented
as a whole or in parts in the curricula of other organisations, e.g.
at universities in teacher training courses to improve the career
competences of future teachers. Other organisations, like the Na-
tional Association of Headteachers (Hrvatska udruga ravnatelja),
could use the curriculum to offer seminars to headteachers, teach-
ers and interested freelancers to improve their career compet-
ences and to empower them to become more confident with ca-
reer guidance. It could also be used by private organisations for
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Markus Ammann et al.
further education or by public institutions e.g. the National Em-
ployment Service (Zavod za zapošljavanje).
On the organisational level, the career curriculum can facilitate
changes in educational institutions, support quality management
in organisations, help set goals in the organisations that deal with
the career development of staff, etc. In Croatia, this curriculum
can be used by teachers, preschool and school staff, who want to
change their job or career. It should be emphasised that teachers
are not simply invited to change their career because of burnouts
or illness. Many are not running away from their current jobs –
the primary purpose of the curriculum is the development of their
own career. Headteacher or educational staff associations as well
as the institutions (preschools and schools) themselves can use
this career curriculum for their own development and improve-
ment.
Recommendations: Slovenia
The National School for Leadership in Education (Šola za ravn-
atelje) is the institution that develops and implements trainings
for (aspiring) headteachers in Slovenia. The proposed curriculum
could be adapted by the School to build leadership capacity in
terms of career management skills. Also, the School can establish
a new ‘train the trainers’ (i.e. train the headteachers) programme
for the use of the curriculum with the educational staff in schools
and kindergartens. Additionally, the School can establish closer
links with the already existing programmes for headteachers, e.g.
offer certain parts of the curriculum as elective subjects within the
Headship Licence Programme.
The National Education Institute of Slovenia (Zavod RS za šol-
stvo) and the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational
Education and Training (Center za poklicno izobraževanje RS)
are both development, consultancy and training institutions for
the members of the educational staff in kindergartens, primary
schools, secondary schools and colleges of higher education. They
can adapt and use the curriculum in their training programmes in
order to strengthen the career management competences of edu-
cational staff and thus support the implementation of career man-
agement skills in kindergarten and school curricula.
The Slovenian Institute for Adult Education (Andragoški cen-
ter RS) offers trainings in basic competences that are necessary
for adult life and work in the 21st Century. One of the basic com-
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Recommendations for Policy Makers
petences relates to career planning and other career management
skills. The institution can adapt and use the curriculum within the
framework of their existing programmes.
The Employment Service of Slovenia (Zavod RS za zaposlov-
anje) is the key Slovenian labour market institution. Its main activ-
ities include employment advice, job broking and lifelong career
guidance. The curriculum can be used by the Service in parts
or as a whole for implementing the measures of active employ-
ment policy and programmes for the unemployed. In the recent
years, they have also been actively involved in trainings for career
counsellors (funded through the European Social and Structural
Funds); the curriculum can be partly included in the existing train-
ing curriculum and, in the future, in close cooperation with other
institutions serve as a means to establish a competency framework
for career counsellors.
The newly established curriculum can also serve the faculties
who are responsible for pre-service teacher training. Parts of the
curriculum (e.g. in the form of obligatory or elective subjects)
would be an enrichment for the students to get to know and be-
come trained in career management.
Another beneficiary of the curriculum are career centres at uni-
versities and faculties. The majority of them organise workshops,
conferences, fairs, career days, networking activities, speed dat-
ing with employers, etc., all with the aim to help students man-
age their career paths and facilitate transitions to employment.
The curriculum and the materials can be adapted and used by
the centres’ career counsellors and trainers in their training and
counselling sessions with students.
There are also a number of various associations who can bene-
fit from the use of the curriculum or promote the initiatives for the
spread of career management knowledge and skills. In Slovenia,
such associations include:
• Association for Lifelong Career Guidance (Društvo za kari-
erno orientacijo), who can inform its members about the
curriculum, form ideas for the further use of the curriculum
(e.g. organise professional discussions), disseminate the cur-
riculum and materials through their official communication
channels (e.g. through its membership in national working
groups).
• Associations of (kindergarten, primary school, secondary
school) headteachers, who organise conferences and train-
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Markus Ammann et al.
ing for headteachers; the curriculum and materials can serve
as a starting point for discussion with their representatives
to organise trainings and conferences related to the develop-
ment of teacher and headteacher career management skills.
• Association of Parents Councils (Zveza aktivov svetov star-
šev), which is very active in forming positions regarding sev-
eral issues and collaborating in the preparation of school
legislation. Informing the Association about the newly es-
tablished curriculum in career management skills and the
provided materials can be a means of dissemination and
could lead to an enriched discussion among the Association
members regarding the strengthening of career manage-
ment skills in schools (with teachers and students).
Last but not least, there are numerous private organisations of-
fering trainings in career management skills. The curriculum and
the materials enable them a direct access to the content and the
materials necessary for the implementation of their training pro-
grammes.
Individual Level
Recommendations: Austria
It is recommended that headteachers complete a course follow-
ing this curriculum, so that they become more knowledgeable in
the field of career guidance. Moreover, at any given school, there
should be at least one educational staff member who has com-
pleted this curriculum, in order to make sure that each location
has at least one ‘expert’ available.
Recommendations: Croatia
By knowing and using the curriculum, headteachers get a chance
to learn more about career guidance, which in turn enables
them to design and advance their own careers. Furthermore, they
are empowered to help their teachers develop their own career
competences. Headteachers as responsible school leaders sub-
sequently benefit from an improved (job) satisfaction of the staff.
Teachers who participate in the curriculum learn to handle
their own career and gain a better insight into the basics of guid-
ance, which gives them a chance to plan and manage their careers
in order to achieve a good work-life balance. They are further en-
abled to develop their own career, find new ways for their career
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Recommendations for Policy Makers
development if they want to leave their profession or to manage
the transitions.
These teachers’ career management skills are then passed on to
pupils to support them in managing their own career paths. This
is especially important considering the current issue of high youth
unemployment rates in Europe.
The curriculum envisions different activities by means of which
teachers and other citizens of all ages and at any given period
of life can: determine their own capacities, competencies and in-
terests; make rational decisions regarding their own education,
career development and training; take steps to change their own
career. For example, if you are a pedagogue, psychologist, social
pedagogue, teacher, headteacher, etc. an individual approach in
the career curriculum can help you understand where your career
is at this point in time, what is influencing your career, whether
your wishes are realistic or not, how you can improve your com-
petences in decision making, set goals etc.
Recommendations: Slovenia
Headteachers who are trained and qualified in career manage-
ment skills can use this curriculum and its materials to develop
and train their educational staff in career management skills. The
list of 21 competences within the curriculum ideally serves as
a suitable starting point for needs analysis. Whenever need be,
headteachers can also seek support from external qualified train-
ers.
Headteachers and other members of educational staff can be-
come trained and qualified in career management skills if the in-
stitutions mentioned at the organisational level provide the imple-
mented curriculum through courses and trainings.
In addition, trainers and lecturers from other public and private
institutions (who are responsible for the implementation of career
management skills) can become trained and qualified in career
management skills if the institutions mentioned at the organisa-
tional level provide the implemented curriculum through courses
and trainings.
Conclusion
The aim of this paper has been to provide a short introduction to
outline and illustrate the recommendations of three participating
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Markus Ammann et al.
countries – Austria, Croatia and Slovenia. This shows that the dif-
ferent governmental institutions have to acknowledge the need for
and, as their next step, approve a sustainable implementation of
the curriculum. What is particularly necessary is to establish sup-
port on supranational and national levels so that, subsequently, a
broad variety of institutions as well as individuals can benefit from
the implementation.
Priporočila za oblikovalce politik
Obravnavana priporočila za oblikovalce politik tvorijo Intelektualna
spoznanja (is) 4 projekta Lead Career v okviru programa Erasmus+.
Temeljijo na treh prejšnjih sklopih spoznanj: Primerjalna študija (is1),
Kurikul (is2) in Izobraževalno gradivo s primeri aktivnosti (io3). Pred
več kot desetletjem je eu skupaj z drugimi organizacijami prepoznala
pomen karierne orientacije. Razne programe, ki to idejo razvijajo,
organizirajo na različnih ravneh, tudi ravni Evropskega sveta in
Evropskega parlamenta. Leta 2007 se je prizadevanjem pridružila
Evropska mreža za politike v vseživljenjski karierni orientaciji (elgpn).
Njen namen je bil pomagati državam članicam in Evropski komisiji pri
razvijanju vseevropskega sodelovanja pri vseživljenjski orientaciji v
sektorju izobraževanja in zaposlovanja. Vprašanje karierne orientacije
je pomembno na številnih področjih in za razne poklice v vseh obdobjih
kariere. Gre za način spopadanja z izzivi, ki se v spreminjajočem se
svetu na novo pojavljajo. Loteva se perečih vprašanj, kot so
nezaposlenost mladih, zaposleni, ki želijo spremeniti poklic ali najti nove
ali drugačne načine ravnanja z raznimi izzivi v življenju. Priporočila v
članku načenjajo omenjena ključna vprašaja in spodbujajo izvajanje
kurikula Učitelj sem – ustvarjam svojo kariero na naddržavni kot tudi
državni ravni, ravni organizacije in posameznika. Namen priporočil je
prepričati oblikovalce politik s teh različnih ravni k zavzemanju za
spremembe v zvezi s politikami karierne orientacije in k ukrepom za
izvajanje kurikula. V glavnem delu sestavka opisujemo možnosti
uporabe kurikula za različne ključne deležnike. Obravnavamo tudi
relevantna vprašanja, povezana z domnevami deležnikov, z vplivi na
deležnike in njihovimi vlogami, pa tudi posledice vprašanj. Priporočila
so organizirana v štiri poglavja: Abstrakt kurikula, Namen kurikula,
Vsebina kurikula, Deležniki in Možni uporabniki kurikula.
Ključne besede: politike, priporočila, razvoj kariere, kurikul
Markus Ammann is an Assistant Professor at the University
of Innsbruck. markus.ammann@uibk.ac.at
Lea Avguštin is a Project Coordinator and Lecturer at the National
School for Leadership in Education, Slovenia.
lea.avgustin@solazaravnatelje.si
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Recommendations for Policy Makers
Tatjana Ažman is a Senior Lecturer at the National School for
Leadership in Education, Slovenia. tatjana.azman@guest.arnes.si
Alma Rovis Brandić is a Senior Adviser for defectologists at the
Education and Teacher Training Agency, Croatia.
alma.rovis-brandic@azoo.hr
Vesna Ivasović is a Senior Adviser for psychologists and
psychology teachers at the Education and Teacher Training
Agency, Croatia. vesna.ivasovic@azoo.hr
Werner Mauersberg is a teacher at a secondary school
and a1researcher at the University of Innsbruck.
werner.mauersberg@uibk.ac.at
Polona Peček is a Senior Lecturer at the National School
for Leadership in Education, Slovenia.
polona.pecek@solazaravnatelje.si
Inga Seme Stojnović is a Senior Adviser for Preschool Principals
at the Education and Teacher Training Agency, Croatia.
inga.seme-stojnovic@azoo.hr
Mihaela Zavašnik Arčnik is a Programmes and Project Manager
at the National School for Leadership in Education, Slovenia.
mihaela.zavasnik@solazaravnatelje.si
95