The professionalization of the counsellor role – a comparative study of Finland and Norway
Career guidance counsellors’ competence requirements in Norwegian schools have been the subject of decades-long discussion. Practitioners, experts, and stakeholders have called for precise requirements and professionalized status for counsellors, but with little results. In the Finnish context, howe...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20020317.2024.2348033 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849737863095123968 |
|---|---|
| author | Ingrid Bårdsdatter Bakke Samira Harjula |
| author_facet | Ingrid Bårdsdatter Bakke Samira Harjula |
| author_sort | Ingrid Bårdsdatter Bakke |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Career guidance counsellors’ competence requirements in Norwegian schools have been the subject of decades-long discussion. Practitioners, experts, and stakeholders have called for precise requirements and professionalized status for counsellors, but with little results. In the Finnish context, however, career guidance is more professionalized, and the counsellor competence requirements are defined by law. Why have the two systems developed differently? In this research, we used ‘historical institutionalism’ as our lens and compared the two developmental histories of the counsellor role and the reasoning behind these differentiating systems. By utilizing Toulmin’s model of argumentation, we analysed rationales in policy documents from ministries to expert groups to reveal how the policy rationales have formed the different statuses of the career counsellor profession in the 1950s, 1960s and 1990s. Norway and Finland saw the counsellor role similarly, but eventually, decisions on qualifications and competency were made from different perspectives. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5fe0108cfb2f4e118c04fe64c4df9767 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2002-0317 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy |
| spelling | doaj-art-5fe0108cfb2f4e118c04fe64c4df97672025-08-20T03:06:47ZengTaylor & Francis GroupNordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy2002-03172025-01-0111141810.1080/20020317.2024.2348033The professionalization of the counsellor role – a comparative study of Finland and NorwayIngrid Bårdsdatter Bakke0Samira Harjula1Faculty of Social and Health Sciences, Section for Guidance Studies, The Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, NorwayFaculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, FinlandCareer guidance counsellors’ competence requirements in Norwegian schools have been the subject of decades-long discussion. Practitioners, experts, and stakeholders have called for precise requirements and professionalized status for counsellors, but with little results. In the Finnish context, however, career guidance is more professionalized, and the counsellor competence requirements are defined by law. Why have the two systems developed differently? In this research, we used ‘historical institutionalism’ as our lens and compared the two developmental histories of the counsellor role and the reasoning behind these differentiating systems. By utilizing Toulmin’s model of argumentation, we analysed rationales in policy documents from ministries to expert groups to reveal how the policy rationales have formed the different statuses of the career counsellor profession in the 1950s, 1960s and 1990s. Norway and Finland saw the counsellor role similarly, but eventually, decisions on qualifications and competency were made from different perspectives.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20020317.2024.2348033Competencecareer guidanceguidance counsellor qualificationprofessionalization |
| spellingShingle | Ingrid Bårdsdatter Bakke Samira Harjula The professionalization of the counsellor role – a comparative study of Finland and Norway Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy Competence career guidance guidance counsellor qualification professionalization |
| title | The professionalization of the counsellor role – a comparative study of Finland and Norway |
| title_full | The professionalization of the counsellor role – a comparative study of Finland and Norway |
| title_fullStr | The professionalization of the counsellor role – a comparative study of Finland and Norway |
| title_full_unstemmed | The professionalization of the counsellor role – a comparative study of Finland and Norway |
| title_short | The professionalization of the counsellor role – a comparative study of Finland and Norway |
| title_sort | professionalization of the counsellor role a comparative study of finland and norway |
| topic | Competence career guidance guidance counsellor qualification professionalization |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20020317.2024.2348033 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ingridbardsdatterbakke theprofessionalizationofthecounsellorroleacomparativestudyoffinlandandnorway AT samiraharjula theprofessionalizationofthecounsellorroleacomparativestudyoffinlandandnorway AT ingridbardsdatterbakke professionalizationofthecounsellorroleacomparativestudyoffinlandandnorway AT samiraharjula professionalizationofthecounsellorroleacomparativestudyoffinlandandnorway |