Innovative Career Guidance to connect the dots for better jobs for young people in Vietnam
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.