The General Conference of the International Labour
Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the
International Labour Office, and having met in its Thirty-second Session on 8
June 1949, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals
concerning vocational guidance which is the ninth item on the agenda of the
session, and
Having determined that the proposals shall take the form of
a Recommendation,
adopts this first day of July of the year one thousand nine
hundred and forty-nine, the following Recommendation, which may be cited as the
Vocational Guidance Recommendation, 1949:
For the purpose of this Recommendation the term
vocational guidance means assistance given to an individual in solving problems
related to occupational choice and progress with due regard for the individual's
characteristics and their relation to occupational opportunity.
Vocational guidance is based on the free and voluntary
choice of the individual; its primary object is to give him full opportunity for
personal development and satisfaction from work, with due regard for the most
effective use of national manpower resources.
Vocational guidance is a continuous process, the
fundamental principles of which are the same irrespective of the age of the
individuals being counselled. These principles have an immediate importance for
the welfare of individuals everywhere and for the prosperity of all countries.
Facilities for vocational guidance should be adapted to
the peculiar needs of each country and be adopted progressively. Their
development within each country should proceed from a widespread understanding
of the purpose of vocational guidance, the establishment of an adequate
administrative structure, and the provision of technically qualified personnel.
To the maximum possible extent consistent with national
and local policy and resources, public vocational guidance facilities should be
provided for all persons requiring such assistance.
Special provision should be made for:
programmes suitable for young persons, including those
in school, who require counselling on problems related to entering occupations
or planning careers, and
programmes suitable for all other persons who require
counselling on employment and related vocational problems; such persons are
referred to hereafter in this Recommendation as adults.
Vocational guidance policies and programmes should be
determined through the co-operative efforts of the schools and other
organisations and services concerned with young persons in the transition from
school to work, and the representative organisations of employers and workers,
to the end that each young person receiving vocational guidance may have the
benefit of unified and co-ordinated assistance.
These co-operative efforts should also include
consultation and co-operation with the parents and guardians concerned and with
associations of parents where such exist.
In applying these general principles, due account should
be taken of the principles of administrative organisation set forth in Part V of
this Recommendation.
During the period of general education, preliminary
vocational guidance should be included within the educational programme. Such
guidance should be primarily designed to make the young person aware of his
aptitudes, qualifications and interests and of the various occupations and
careers so as to facilitate future vocational adjustment.
The preliminary vocational guidance should receive
increasing emphasis at those stages of schooling at which the young person may
choose to enter special vocational courses or seeks other training or employment
on leaving school.
The preliminary vocational guidance should include--
the provision, in suitable form, of comprehensive
occupational and industrial information;
whenever possible in the national and local
circumstances, visits, adequately supervised, to industrial and commercial
establishments and other workplaces; and
counselling by means of personal interview supplemented
by group discussions or talks.
The methods of vocational guidance for young persons set
forth in Paragraphs 10 to 15 should be given particular attention and their use
encouraged to the widest practicable extent.
Each young person seeking vocational guidance should be
provided with adequate opportunity for a counselling interview with a vocational
guidance officer, more particularly at the time he may be able to choose
specific vocational courses, or to leave school for other occupational training
(including apprenticeship) or for work.
Methods of interview should be continuously adapted with
a view to ensuring the most complete analysis possible of individual ability in
relation to occupational opportunities and requirements.
Records of school progress, including, as desired and as
appropriate in individual cases, an elevation of capacity, educational
attainments, aptitudes and personality, should be used as may be considered
appropriate for vocational guidance with due respect to the confidential
character of the information contained therein.
The facilities for the medical examination of young
persons should be utilised as appropriate and developed as necessary for
purposes of vocational guidance.
Advice for remedial action and such other help as may be
possible and useful for the purposes of vocational adjustment should be provided
as needed in each individual case.
Wherever practicable, appropriate tests of capacity and
aptitude and, where so desired, other psychological tests should be made
available for use in vocational guidance as appropriate to the needs of
individual cases.
Advice for remedial action and such other help as may be
possible and useful for the purposes of vocational adjustment should be made
available in individual cases.
Suitable and reliable information regarding careers in
the different occupations and industries and regarding employment and training
opportunities should be made available to young persons through counselling
interviews and otherwise, with due regard for the aptitudes, physical
capacities, qualifications, preferences and personality of the young person
concerned and the prospective needs of the economy.
In this connection the competent authorities should
maintain continuous co-operation with such other public and private bodies,
including more particularly the representative organisations of employers and
workers, as are able--
to provide information concerning probable future
openings in each industry, trade or occupation, and
to assist with the preparation and conclusion of
contracts of apprenticeship and to supervise their application.
Consideration should also be given to the desirability
of ascertaining the aptitudes of young persons by providing opportunity for
appropriate work experience and by other similar means.
Special attention should be given to the development,
within the framework of the general vocational guidance services, of adequate
and appropriate arrangements for the vocational guidance of young persons in
rural areas.
Special attention should be given to the development,
within the framework of the general vocational guidance services, and in
co-operation with the appropriate rehabilitation services, of adequate and
appropriate arrangements for the vocational guidance of young persons--
who have physical or mental handicaps or limitations, or
who manifest personality disorders of such a nature as
to prevent or make specially difficult their vocational adjustment.
The competent national and local authorities should
encourage full voluntary use of vocational guidance facilities, more
particularly in the case of--
young persons who may choose among several vocational
courses within the school;
young persons who are near school-leaving age;
young persons who are entering the employment market for
the first time;
young persons who are seeking admission to
apprenticeship or other vocational training;
young persons who are unemployed, who are employed in
declining industries or who are likely to become unemployed;
young persons who have physical or mental handicaps or
limitations; or
young persons who manifest personality disorders of such
a nature as to prevent or make specially difficult their vocational adjustment.
The competent authorities should take the necessary
measures to facilitate the execution of the young persons' vocational plans
wherever these are feasible;where appropriate in individual cases suggestions
should be made for carrying out these plans and assistance should be provided in
making the necessary contacts with other services or persons also concerned with
placing the young person in training or employment in the occupation chosen by
him.
The competent authorities should take measures to
organise follow-up aimed primarily at assisting in so far as possible the young
person to overcome any difficulties he may be experiencing in following his
vocational plans and ascertaining whether the occupation selected is proving
suitable.
Wherever possible, methods of follow-up should include
general enquiries on a sampling basis to measure the results of vocational
guidance in individual cases and to evaluate vocational guidance policy and
methods. Such enquiries should permit of securing medical information in
co-operation, where possible, with the medical facilities existing at
workplaces.
Appropriate arrangements for adults should be made
within the framework of the public vocational guidance services to assist any
person requiring aid in choosing an occupation or in changing his occupation.
The process involved in rendering this assistance is
referred to in this Recommendation as employment counselling.
The process of employment counselling should include, as
far as practicable in the national circumstances and as appropriate in
individual cases--
interview with an employment counsellor;
examination of record of work experience;
examination of scholastic or other records relating to
education or training received;
medical examination;
appropriate tests of capacity and aptitude, and, where
so desired, other psychological tests;
ascertainment of aptitudes by appropriate work
experience and by other similar means;
technical trade tests, either verbal or otherwise, in
all cases where such seem necessary;
analysis of physical capacity in relation to
occupational requirements;
provision of information concerning employment and
training opportunities relating to the qualifications, physical capacities,
aptitudes, preferences and experience of the person concerned and to the needs
of the employment market;
follow-up, on a sampling basis, aimed at discovering
whether satisfactory placement in employment, training or retraining has been
achieved and at evaluating employment counselling policy and methods.
The competent national and local bodies should take all
necessary measures to encourage the extended use, on a voluntary basis, of
employment counselling services in the case of--
persons entering employment for the first time;
persons unemployed for a long period;
persons unemployed or likely to be unemployed, as a
result of declining industries or changes in the technique, structure or
location of industry;
persons living in rural areas who comprise surplus
manpower in the light of current or prospective employment opportunity;
persons desirous of benefiting from public facilities
for vocational training and readjustment.
All necessary and practicable measures should be taken
to develop, within the framework of the general vocational guidance facilities
and with the co-operation of any appropriate rehabilitation services when the
person requires such assistance, specialised employment counselling for
physically disabled persons and those having personality disorders that hinder
their vocational adjustment.
All necessary and practicable measures should be taken
to develop, within the framework of the general vocational guidance facilities,
specialised employment counselling for technicians, professional workers,
salaried employees and executive staff.
Special attention should be given, in connection with
employment counselling, to the development of appropriate methods for the
technical selection of workers for particular occupations and industries.
Vocational guidance and employment counselling should be
organised and co-ordinated on the basis of a comprehensive general programme,
established and developed in the light of regional and local conditions and
adaptable to changes in such conditions.
In order to encourage the development of vocational
guidance and employment counselling facilities, provision should be made by the
central authorities (including, where appropriate, the central authorities of
the federated units of federal States) for--
adequate financing of such facilities;
appropriate technical assistance; and
development of methods and materials suitable for use on
a nationwide basis.
All necessary and desirable measures should be taken by
the competent authorities to secure effective co-operation, nationally and
locally, between the public and private bodies engaged in vocational guidance or
employment counselling activities.
The competent authorities should make appropriate
arrangements for the co-ordination, nationally and locally, of policy and action
in the field of vocational guidance, due regard being paid to the responsibility
of the parents and to the appropriate functions of private vocational guidance
bodies.
These arrangements should be directed more particularly
towards--
maintaining effective public service to young persons,
in co-operation with other interested agencies as appropriate without
duplication of effort; and
facilitating, as may be desirable and with due respect
for confidential data, the exchange of information concerning--
the extent and character of the need for vocational
guidance services and of the facilities already available;
the young persons applying for vocational guidance;
industries, trades and occupations;
employment and training opportunities; and
the preparation and use of vocational guidance materials
including appropriate tests.
National and local administrative responsibility for
vocational guidance should be clearly defined.
With due regard to this division of authority, primary
responsibility should be entrusted either--
jointly to the education and employment service
authorities; or
to one of these authorities working in close
co-operation with the other.
Appropriate arrangements should be made through advisory
committees for the co-operation of representatives of employers and workers in
the development of vocational guidance policy.
Such committees should be maintained nationally and as
far as possible locally and should normally include representatives of the
public and private bodies concerned with education, training (including
apprenticeship), vocational guidance and other questions directly affecting the
vocational adjustment of young persons.
Administrative responsibility for employment counselling
should be entrusted primarily to the public employment service, with due regard
to the administrative responsibility assigned by public authority to educational
or other agencies.
The offices of the public employment service should
include, at each administrative stage so far as practicable, specialised
employment counselling units or officers.
Administrative arrangements should be made to ensure, as
may be necessary or desirable, co-operation by the public employment service
with specialised employment counselling services maintained for special groups
or persons.
Appropriate arrangements should be made, nationally and
locally, to ensure that employment counselling is organised in close relation
with--
all other activities of the employment service;
other vocational guidance services;
educational and training institutions;
the administration of unemployment insurance and
assistance schemes;
the administration of training and retraining schemes
and of other plans to promote occupational or geographical mobility of labour;
the representative organisations of employers and
workers; and
public and private organisations providing
rehabilitation services to disabled persons.
In order to secure the efficiency of the vocational
guidance services, the competent authority should ensure the employment of an
adequate number of officers with suitable training, experience and other
qualifications, and should organise, to the fullest possible extent and in
co-operation where appropriate with other bodies concerned, specialised
scientific and technical training for vocational guidance staff.
The measures to be taken should include, for example:
the establishment by the competent authority of minimum
qualifications for vocational guidance officers;
the establishment by the competent authority of
regulations for the selection of officers on the basis of such qualifications;
the organisation of specialised training courses for
persons seeking to undertake the work of vocational guidance;
the provision of supplementary training and refresher
courses for all officers; and
the maintenance by the competent authority of conditions
of appointment and employment sufficiently attractive to provide an inducement
to qualified persons to undertake and continue in such work.
Consideration should be given to--
the interchange of vocational guidance officers among
the different branches of the services with which they are respectively
concerned;
the publication of technical material suitable for
developing the professional skill of officers.
Where useful, the Members should co-operate for the
purposes of training staff, availing themselves of the help of the International
Labour Office if they so desire.
Special measures should be taken on a co-ordinated
basis, to promote public and private research and experiment in methods of
vocational guidance.
The public employment service should co-operate in such
research.
Wherever appropriate in the circumstances such research
should include examination of such questions as--
methods of interviewing;
the analysis of the requirements of the different
occupations;
the provision of industrial and occupational information
appropriate for vocational guidance;
aptitude and other psychological testing;
the development of model vocational guidance forms; and
the measurement of the result of vocational guidance.
Systematic efforts should be made by the authorities
responsible for vocational guidance in co-operation with employers' and workers'
organisations and where appropriate with other bodies concerned, to promote wide
public understanding of the purposes, principles and methods of vocational
guidance.
