An Innovative Career Guidance Package tailor-made for Viet Nam was introduced at a workshop co-organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Viet Nam Institute for Education Sciences in Hanoi on 6 December.

Entitled "Innovative Career Guidance Model for Schools in Viet Nam", the event introduced the career guidance package, discussed its impacts and heard thoughts shared by students and their parents on career guidance approaches and their effects on students’ future plans.

The Innovative Career Guidance Package was especially designed for Viet Nam based on the realities of the country with application from some of international best practices in career guidance. It was developed by the ILO in consultation with educational experts in Viet Nam since November 2013 and later appraised by the Ministry of Education and Training in August 2014 for expanded application.

Comprised of workbooks and guide books for students and teachers, a career dictionary and a tool kit, the package is expected to help students have a better understanding about future careers, job opportunities, their strengths and weaknesses and thus make decisions based on better information.

“Better career guidance can connect the dots between schools, parents, enterprises and the students themselves so that young people can make the right choices for their own future,” said ILO Country Director for Viet Nam, Gyorgy Sziraczki.

The package was piloted for application with 2,000 secondary schools and high school students and 300 non-student youths in Phu Tho, Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, mostly in rural areas, during the first half of 2014. It is now being replicated to serve 12,700 students in the three provinces.

Addressing the workshop, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien said: “Although pilot period in the three provinces was quite short, it
is enough to see the initial result and the application of the Innovative Career Guidance Package has proved to be of significant value. The books designed for students and teachers and the accompanying tool kit has initially triggered changes in the attitudes and viewpoints of the students, parents and teachers.”

According to the 2013 Labour Force Survey, nearly half (47 per cent) of the unemployed in Viet Nam were women and men aged between 15 and 24. Young people were nearly 5 times more likely to be jobless compared to those aged 25 and above.

However, a new research – the School-to-Work Transition Survey 2013 – shows that the quality of jobs is even a bigger problem for young people. Among those who were employed, the majority did not receive entitlements, as 59 per cent were not paid for sick leave, 54 per cent were not paid for annual leaves, and 56 per cent did not entitle to social security policies. Furthermore, only 55 per cent of young employees have a written contract.

“Improving the quality of jobs, especially for young people, and promoting opportunities for the “future of the country” to access decent jobs are key to inclusive growth. Career guidance is a practical tool to turn this into reality,” said the ILO Viet Nam Director.

The development of the new career guidance package is part of the ILO’s Rural Youth Employment Programme which was implemented during 2012-2014 with a view to addressing the issue of youth unemployment and underemployment in Viet Nam.

This is not the first time the ILO introduced an educational programme for application in Viet Nam’s schools. Since 2013, the organization’s “Know about Business” (KAB), an entrepreneurship education programme has been adopted as an optional course in some secondary schools. The programme will become part of the national curriculum at secondary-school level by 2015 as the Vietnamese Government hopes to gradually introduce it to 11,000 schools nationwide.