The role of learning and career guidance for managing mid-career transitions – comparing Germany and Denmark

Abstract

In Germany and Denmark, the systems of further education and career guidance are well developed, offering a wide range of services and learning opportunities for targeted, specific and also general skills development. Based on an empirical study with mid-career individuals in both countries, the article investigates how the different systems support individuals to manage a career transition and develop their individual pathways. Mid-career transitions can be considered particularly challenging as they often reflect a more profound crisis and major concerns about future career opportunities. Constraints that prevent individuals in mid-career to fully benefit from the learning and guidance offers available can be identified in both countries. These range from the availability of programmes and accessing funding to getting the ‘right’ information. These constraints partly derive from adult education and guidance systems presupposing linear careers rather than disruptive trajectories and horizontal mobility.

Keywords:

• mid-career transitions
• career guidance
• labour market activation policy
• horizontal mobility

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Simone R. Haasler is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Bremen, Germany. Her research interests include labour markets and training systems, learning, careers and identity. Before joining the University of Bremen in 2001 she worked as Education Specialist for the Human Development Network of the World Bank in Washington, DC, USA.

Antje Barabasch is Project Manager at the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) in the area Research and Policy Analysis. She is currently overseeing projects on career transitions and lifelong learning, low-skilled workers and their approaches to learning as well as on governance and financing of apprenticeships. Since more than 12 years she has been working as a researcher in the field of vocational education and training and has been involved in many comparative studies. Prior of coming to Cedefop, she was a lecturer and researcher at the Universities of Magdeburg and Heidelberg, Germany as well as at Universities in Canada and the USA. Her areas of expertise include: school-to-work transition, VET teachers, VET governance and VET system analysis.

Notes

1. In Germany, the vocational route is still being taken up by almost 60% of a school leaving cohort (BMBF, 2012), while for Denmark the figure is just above 50% but with lower completion rates.

2. For example, in 2012, women held 87% of all regular part-time employment of less than 20 hours per week and 81% of all marginal employment contracts (Fromm & Bartelheimer, 2012).

3. The German sample comprised 11 male and 14 female participants aged between 30 and 48 years; the Danish sample included 10 male and 12 female participants ranging in age from 34 to 49 years.

4. Unions in Denmark are to provide career guidance, partly marketing access to career guidance services as one of the advantages of becoming a union member. Since the unions also administer the competence funds, they strongly support their members’ lifelong learning, too.

5. AS3 is an outsourcing company that provides coaching and counselling for employees who have been laid off (http://www.as3companies.com/).