Career guidance takes place at the intersection of society’s and individuals’ needs for guidance relating to work and education. Career guidance encompasses the entire lifespan and has a particular focus on transition processes, changes and planning of the individual’s career path.
- Youth and education
- Dropout/exclusion, social inclusion
- Career learning, educational choice
- Guidance theories and methods
- Career guidance policy
- Identity issues related to education and work
- Various life areas related to career guidance
- Quality and professionalism in career guidance
- Migration, integration and career guidance
- Career guidance in a multicultural context
- Constructivist and narrative career guidance theory and methodology
- Emotional competence among career counsellors
Only the University of Inland Norway (INN) and the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) offer master's programmes in career guidance. We have worked closely in the establishment and development of the programme.
How do we conduct our research?
We are particularly interested in participatory research methods, where practitioners in the field are included in various ways in the research as co-researchers. This can be done through research circles and different approaches within action research. Additionally, we use ethnographic approaches such as participant observation and individual and group-based research interviews as methods.
Methodologically and analytically, the group employs a range of different approaches including narrative, phenomenological, poststructuralist, and postqualitative methods.
The group has very strong expertise in qualitative research, including participatory research, ethnography, narrative analyses, and policy analyses.
Research disciplines
The research group in career guidance is interdisciplinary, and the field has its roots in psychological, educational, sociological, philosophical and historical perspectives.
Research partners and network
We collaborate with actors in the field of practice such as public career centers, county-level advisory networks, basic education, adult education, Viken fylkeskommune, Nav and municipalities (including the introduction program for refugees), Karriereenheten i Oslo, Partnerskapet for karriereveiledning i Viken, Buskerud Fylkeskommune and Telemark Fylkeskommune.
University of Inland Norway
We have a close collaboration with the academic group for the master's programme in career guidance at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN). We have worked closely together in the establishment and development of the Master in Career Guidance programme. The collaboration includes development of teaching methodology, joint academic seminars, operation of a shared Facebook page, and more.
The Directorate for Higher Education and Skills
Many of the researchers in the group work in the field between research and policy development, and have among other roles been experts in HK-dir's work on developing the National Quality Framework in Career Guidance.
Networks
We are members of and contribute to the following international networks, including through abstracts and papers at conferences:
- NoRNet (NoRNet) – CoFounder and board members
- International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) - Petra Røise is a member of Board of Directors
- Network of Career counseling and guidance programs at higher education institution in the Nordic and Baltic countries (VALA) – Member of the steering committee
- European Doctoral School for Career Counseling (ECADOC) – Scientific coordinator and alumni
- National Institute for Career Guidance and Counseling (NICEC) – Rie Thomsen is an international member and the group contributes with publications in NICEC Journal in NICEC Journal
- Network for Innovation in Career Guidance & Counselling in Europe (NICE)
- KarriereForsk
- NordicCareerEd: network for Nordic scholars interested in career education in Nordic countries and self-governing areas.
- CareersNet Cedefop's expert network for lifelong guidance and career development]
- Career Lead - Sanna Toiviainen is a member
- Critical perspectives on career and career guidance (COCAG)
- UNITWIN/UNESCO Chair on Lifelong Guidance and Counseling
Journals
We are affiliated as «scientific reviewers» with the following journals:
- British Journal of Guidance and Counseling (BJGC) Member of international advisory board
- International Journal of Vocational and Educational Guidance (IJVEG)
- Nordic Journal of Transitions, Careers and Guidance (NJTCG) Sanna Toiviainen og Rie Thomsen er del av Editorial Board
- NICEC Journal
We write to forums for practitioners, such as:
- Veilederforum (Norge)
- Vejlederforum (Danmark)
Current research projects
Rie Thomsen
Working on topics such as:
- The importance of communities for and in guidance
- The possibilities of guidance in relation to social justice and social mobility
- Career education and emancipation
- Career guidance in rural areas
Examples of research projects:
- Roots and routes – Young people's career expectations in island and rural communities
- Collaboration on leadership and development of learning-oriented educational guidance
- Next Step, Reducing inequality in access to higher education
- Collective Academic Guidance – a student-active learning form (the KAV project)
- The future of career education in the Nordic countries and self-governing areas (NordicCareerEd)
Anne Holm-Nordhagen
Working on the following topics:
- Interdisciplinary collaboration on career guidance
- Career guidance in professional networks
- Ethics, professionalism and quality in career guidance
- Collective academic guidance
- Career guidance for those on sick leave at NAV
Commissioned research
- Studies of educational provision for career guidance in Norway (HK-dir)
- Investigation of quality in career guidance in schools (HK-dir)
- Development of new ambitions for career guidance in schools (HK-dir)
Kirsten Marie Dalene
Working on the following topics:
- Emotional competence among career counsellors and other professionals
- Feelings in career guidance
- Career guidance for people with ADHD
- Narrative and constructivist career guidance, with the doctoral thesis Meaning-making career guidance: Career counsellors’ understandings and experiences with Life-design guidance in a Norwegian context (Dalene, 2022)
Petra Røise
Working on the following topics:
- Career education in Norway and the Nordic countries
- Didactic understanding in career education and career learning
- Developing competence through practice-based research in the classroom and professional networks
- Critical analyses of teaching practices in the subject educational choice
- The future of career education in the Nordic countries and self-governing areas
Anette Vaage Slåtto
Working on the following topics:
- Career guidance for refugees, including both the structural frameworks for the work and the counsellor's experiences. Central here is culture-oriented career guidance and sociological perspectives.
- The social justice perspective within career guidance and traces of this in practice.
Sanna Toivanen
Working on the following topics:
- Career development for women with migration or refugee backgrounds
- Guidance and interdisciplinary support for individuals and groups considered vulnerable (e.g. NEET)
- Intersectionality, power and agency in careers and transitions
- Career guidance in communities, co-agency
- Posthumanist approaches in career theories and guidance methods
Kristina Mariager-Anderson
Working on the following topics:
- to get closer to the possibilities of guidance in relation to social justice and social mobility – as an extension of perspectives from previous research projects and a focus on developing practice (for teachers, counsellors, students)
- The Governance of Career Guidance Systems in Nordic Countries (NOS-HS project)
- Justice in and through the policies and reflexive practices of guidance and counselling in Nordic countries? (JustReflex)
Lis Montes de Oca
Working on a PhD project linked to the project Collective Academic Guidance – a student-active learning form (CAS), based on impact evaluation and programme theory.
Oda Notevarp Paulsen
Working on the following topics:
- Career guidance in Nav
- Professionalisation and professional identity for career counsellors
- Career guidance in professional networks
Ida Holth Mathiesen
Working on the following topics:
- The role of the career counsellor in schools, focusing on how different expectations help shape how individual career counsellors prioritise their role.
- PhD: Mathiesen, I. H. (2022). Balansekunst - The school's counselling at the intersection of contextual, relational and political expectations (Publication Number 660) University of Stavanger]. Stavanger. https://uis.brage.unit.no/uis-xmlui/handle/11250/3014171
- The implementation of public health and life skills in schools and how career guidance and life skills are seen in connection in the implementation work.
