One of the aims of Guidance is to support a student in a new learning environment and develop his transversal competencies including learning-to-learn skills and learning skills. A rapidly changing society demands increasingly transversal skills and competencies from its citizens in order to cope with personal and work life also in the future. These transversal skills are in many ways similar to the IBDP’s Learner Profile and Approaches to Learning.

In Guidance, students are supported to perceive the impact of their own choices on their studies and future endeavours. Together with other subjects, it clarified the meaning of these subjects in terms of further education and work-life skills. The aim is to familiarise a student with work-life, work-related skills, entrepreneurship, and the skills needed in the future.

Why should students study career guidance?

The aim is to develop the student’s competencies to cope with changing life situations when starting, for instance, new studies or entering the work-life for the first time. 

There is a world-class university and careers guidance platform BridgeU for global secondary schools at use in VFIS. BridgeU is focusing on the 10th grade on career and subject exploration. BridgeU is being embedded into the school curriculum from the start, with free teaching resources and continuous training. A range of personality assessment and career tools helps students in their self-discovery in order to understand who they are with their strengths and aspirations. 

How do VFIS students study career guidance?

Working methods of Guidance are being utilised diversely taking into consideration the needs and preparedness of individuals and groups. Different forms of guidance are personal guidance focused on individual questions, small group guidance, and class-based guidance. The groups will be formed in a flexible manner taking into consideration content and possibilities for peer group support. In Guidance, it is taken into account each student’s individual premises and needs. The guidance is being differentiated by taking into consideration the student’s personal goals, experiences, hobbies, points of interest, knowledge areas as well as factors having an impact on life situations. 

The main aim of Guidance is to strengthen a student’s self-knowledge. The student is being guided to recognise his own strengths and opportunities. The student is planning his own future and how to execute the plan at the concrete level and what sort of commitment the execution will demand from him. In order to make informed decisions, the students must be able to find and utilise needed information. In addition to information search, the student will be familiarised with the education opportunities as well as career choices in the work-life. The aim is that the student is able to estimate realistically his own preconditions and possibilities in his career planning and decision making.