Lifelong Guidance: Europe's strategic learning imperative

This evolution is driven by the fast-paced transformation of labour markets, technological disruptions, new forms of work organisation and changing patterns of engagement in one's career journey. These developments signal a fundamental shift in: 

• how career and professional development are understood, and
• how learning is positioned as central to all sectors and population groups, including corporate employees, skilled trades workers, young people in education, adults navigating career transitions, participants in vocational training, and people facing unemployment.

Growth is no longer just "up" the corporate ladder or advancing through pre-defined steps—it's life-wide, extending beyond work and toward learning. This expanded concept encompasses civic participation, personal satisfaction and individualised paths that defy conventional categorisation and depend on the interplay of systems, contexts and opportunities. 

This transformation partly explains why lifelong guidance (LLG) has become more essential than ever before. Unlike traditional career guidance services that focused on single transition points, LLG represents a continuous process that enables individuals at any age and at any point to identify their capacities, competences, and interests, make educational and occupational decisions, and manage their individual life paths across learning, work, and other settings.

LLG supports lifelong learning by helping individuals continuously revisit and reshape their career paths
as they progress from school into adulthood and through different phases of life. This approach recognises that in an increasingly complex world, learning and working pathways are challenging to navigate, often fragmented and are not always accessible or visible to those who need them most. 

These pathways depend heavily on social interactions with institutions and services that may lack consistent quality standards or equitable access. Given that people differ significantly in their skills, capacities and access to the resources and networks needed to manage their careers effectively, professional guidance and career education have become not merely helpful, but crucial for ensuring equity and inclusion.

The European Union has recognised LLG's strategic importance within its broader policy framework. The approach aligns with the Union of Skills agenda, the European Pillar of Social Rights and the drive toward economic resilience in an era of demographic shifts and sustainable transformation. President von der Leyen's call for "more investment in people and their skills" and embedding "lifelong learning into education and careers" underscores how empowerment through guidance systems combined with other measures, creates positive ripple effects for society and the economy. 

Improving lifelong guidance policies and systems

For over two decades, Cedefop has been at the forefront of this evolution, leading cooperation activities and collaborating in inter-agency work, contributing to the field with: 

• Guiding principles to improve lifelong guidance policies and systems, which supported EU Member States and other countries gathered in the ELGPN (European lifelong guidance policy network), in developing the Guidelines for systems and policies development for lifelong guidance (2015).
• The online Inventory of lifelong guidance systems and practices -through CareersNet network of experts - containing cross-sectoral overviews with 20 sections per country.

LLG systems face significant challenges in meeting evolving user demands and Cedefop is currently revisiting its reference tools and resources, including developing a renewed framework with the support of CareersNet and other experts at the Finnish Institute of Educational Research (FIER), with guidance by the European Commission and contributions of international partners.