Published in Via Vejledning (2009), http://www.ug.dk/Videnscenter%20for%20vejledning/Forside/Virtuelt%20 tidsskrift/2009%20nr,-d,%2018/The%20marketisation%20of%20career%20guidance% 20services% 20in%20The%20Netherlands.aspx
The marketisation of career guidance services in The Netherlands
Frans Meijers
In 1991 the Dutch Department of Education concluded that the existing career guidance services were fixated on the interests of the individual and were insufficiently aware of the needs of employers (Ministerie van Onderwijs en Wetenschappen, 1991). The interests of the latter should be integrated more visibly into career guidance services and, according to the Ministry, this was best done by allowing the market to play a more important role in the provision of such services.
Until that time, career guidance was traditionally been concentrated on and closely connected to the educational system. In the Netherlands, qualification for labour was - and still is - almost completely realised through full-time education (CBS, 2008). A system of qualifying adult education is almost non-existent.
The organisation of career guidance before marketisation
Up until the late sixties, guidance services were provided by completely subsidised independent offices. The services of these offices were focussed on the last years of primary and secondary school in order to facilitate the transition of pupils to secondary or post-secondary education. Children from higher social classes tended to benefit most from such career guidance services (Pere, 1986). By the late sixties, every school for secondary education was, therefore, legally required to appoint at least one career counsellor or so-called career teacher.
In the early eighties, it became apparent that huge quantitative and qualitative discrepancies existed between the educational system and the labour market. In addition to the independent offices for careers guidance and career teachers, two new players therefore entered the field of career guidance. First, so-called contact centres for education and work (COAs) were founded in 1985 to improve the relations between schools and the regional labour market mainly by arranging for expanded and better placement of pupils within labour organisations. Second, regional offices for the apprenticeship system started providing pupils with information on the dual learning system in 1980 and thereby offering minimal guidance for those pupils following such a dual learning route.
Adults could obtain free career guidance via yet another player: the employment office, but only when they were unemployed and the employment office decided that such career advice was clearly necessary. Adults could also consult an independent office for careers guidance but at their own cost and, as Wolf (1994) has shown, very few adults were willing to do this.
Marketisation
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the main aim of the educational policy is to create a qualification structure that allows as many individuals as possible to obtain a basic qualification. This aim must be given shape within a decentralised policy climate. This means that the central government only takes responsibility for the establishment of the necessary preconditions and that the regional and local authorities are responsible for the rest. A decentralised policy climate also means that educational institutions have primary responsibility for the quality of the education they provide. The institutions are given a lump sum of money and decide themselves - but within the framework of the national qualification structure - on how to provide the best education.
Already in the late 1980s the Employment Service changed as a result of a policy of deregulation and decentralisation. The Employment Service was part of the Ministry for Employment. Since then, the Employment Service has been divided into 28 regions run by tripartite boards (RBAs in which representatives of trade unions, organisations of employers and regional government cooperate). The 28 regional boards are accountable to the Central Employment Board (CBA), which is also tripartite. Within the so-called long-range policy-making framework of the CBA, the tasks for each of the RBAs are individually set on an annual basis. In practice this means not only the amount of money granted to each of the RBAs is determined but also the number of job-seekers divided into such categories as the long-term unemployed, immigrants, etc. Output-financing is also the case here: If an RBA does not accomplish its tasks, it may be financially punished. Just as the schools, every RBA also decides how much money will be spent on career guidance, if and where to purchase specialised assistance, and how to organise their career guidance.
Independent of, but nevertheless in close connection with the deregulation and decentralisation of both education and the employment service, the field of career guidance services was also completely reorganised. In 1993, the independent offices for career guidance, the contact centres for education and work (COAs) and the regional offices for the apprenticeship system were forced to merge into 16 regional guidance centres (Advice Offices for Education and Occupation or so-called AOBs in Dutch). The explicit purpose was to abolish all direct grants for the newly formed AOBs. They had to earn every penny on the 'free market'. After a fierce struggle between, on the one hand, the Department of Education and the Central Employment Board and, on the other hand, the AOBs, a compromise was reached. Until the year 2000 a certain amount of money – that became every year smaller – was ear-marked for AOBs.
The situation after marketisation
The 1993 grant scheme created a kind of market for career guidance services; the schools and regional employment boards received money formerly channelled to the AOBs directly. The money for career guidance services is simply part of a lump sum, which means that the schools and regional employment boards must develop their own views and policies with respect to career guidance services and what they see as their main task: to educate, in the case of schools, and find employment for the unemployed, in the case of regional employment boards.
Schools
All of the research studies carried out since 1992 point out that no such policies with regard to career guidance exist in most schools. In the first study, conducted by the Education Inspectorate, it was found that the integrated career guidance (attention for guidance and counselling in all subjects) required by law in 1992 was still on the drawing board. Consensus on the content of career guidance appears to be very difficult to achieve, and schools therefore seem to be giving priority to the innovation of subject content rather than the identification of the goals of career guidance. “In quite a few schools, a culture change appears to be needed to give meaning to the involvement of teachers in career guidance” (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 1994:11). Since 1994, the Inspectorate has conducted several studies and continually found schools to lack still a career guidance policy. “The quality of the school-organised measures is still insufficient” was the conclusion in 1996 (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 1996: 7), and the absence of clear policy was again noted in 1997 (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 1997).
It is hardly surprising that most schools indicate that they like to maintain their contracts with the AOBs but in a reduced form when they receive their own money for career guidance services. School principals, in particular, want to spend less money on career guidance by AOBs because, in their opinion, at least the same quality service can be generated “on their own.” Vermeulen (1995) asked those school principals with a desire to reduce their existing AOB contracts how they would spend their funds after the abolition of ear-marking and found 34% of the school principals to indicate that they would continue to use the money for career guidance, 6% to indicate that they would put the money to a completely different use and no less than 60% to indicate that they simply did not know yet.
Recently, Meijers, Kuijpers & Bakker (2006) and Kuijpers & Meijers (2008) conducted a large-scale national study of career learning in Dutch vocational education. There were two key questions: (a) to what degree are students developing career competencies and (b) in what kind of learning environments promote the development of career learning competencies in vocational education? The research shows that:
· most schools do not have policies in place with regards to career guidance (despite the fact that more emphasis is being put on successful progression to higher levels of education);
· most schools do not succeed in creating a good environment for career development and as a consequence, most students barely develop any career competencies;
· regardless, the role of AOBs in vocational education is completely played out. Schools trust that they will able to create strong learning environments for career learning, independently;
· the governments supports them in this by providing subsidies for innovations whereby no demands are made with regards to the quality of career guidance and counselling interventions or of the learning environment that is required to make those interventions a success.
Employment Service
As of 1993, only a single study of the manner in which the Employment Service viewed and undertook career guidance is available (Verijdt & Hövels, 1995). Career guidance generally has very low priority within the employment service: "It is clearly in the background; it is an activity to support placements. In fact, there is no broader view on career guidance within the employment service than that" (Verijdt & Hövels, 1995: 32). Almost none of the regional employment boards (RBAs) have a clear view of the significance of career guidance. Just like the schools, the majority of the RBAs are also not in a position to articulate a clear demand for the AOBs. Once again, the co-operation between the RBAs and the AOBs is mainly a consequence of the ear-marking of funds for AOB services. Without this ear-marking, the contact is likely to dwindle. Individuals who desire guidance but are not registered as unemployed at the Employment Office are therefore falling increasingly between the cracks. That is, the RBAs are devoting more and more of their resources to the unemployed only.
Since 1995 the employment service has undergone a substantial reorganization and become the Centrum voor Werk en Inkomen (i.e. The Centre of Work and Income) (http://www.werk.nl). Together with the Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen and municipal social services, the CWI has become the ‘chain for work and income.’ CWI is the first link in the chain. Every person looking for work first registers with the CWI and if necessary applies for social assistance. This reorganization resulted in a minimal focus on career guidance and counselling. Finally the whole career guidance system was automated. Those seeking work can make use of an internet-based program that keeps track of the competencies and wishes of the person seeking work and summarizes this and then links this to jobs or positions. With this the service is back at the old “trait and factor” model. Only for long-term unemployed there are special reintegration projects for which even AOBs can bring out proposal.
AOBs
Since 1993, the AOBs are under enormous economic pressure and thus have had insufficient opportunities to develop a new “corporate culture and identity.” Each year, the amount of money ear-marked for the AOBs has declined. The schools and employment offices, which have traditionally been almost the only clients of the AOBs, have no clear policy with regard to career services and are either devoting less and less time and attention to career education and guidance or trying to perform these tasks more and more on their own.
Research done by Meijers (2001) revealed that:
· between 1993 and 1999 the number of personnel and the number of AOBs has shrunk by more than 50%: from 16 to 7 AOBs which can be expected to drop to 4 in 2001. With approximately 600 employees and 35 offices, these 4 AOBs still provide a national network (Ten Asbroek & Versloot, 1999: 13).
· at those AOBs which have managed to successfully operate on the market, the client groups have not changed much. The AOBs still obtain most of their business from collective means (primarily schools and municipalities while the employment service also continues to make considerable use of the services of AOBs).
· the content of the services has changed. The majority of the turnover still comes from psychometric services (i.e., the administration of tests). Prior to 1993, the test was nonetheless part of a broader advice trajectory in which the interests of the individual client stood central. At this moment, the tests serve primarily the interests of organisations: the test has determine whether and in what manner the individual fits into the organisation in question (for example, tests of the educational level of newcomers or the skill level of dropouts, long-term unemployed or disabled (Breed & Kooreman, 1996: 79ff).
· the availability of the career guidance services provided by an AOB has declined for individual clients (although individual clients also constituted a relatively small group of clients in 1993).
· the AOBs have had insufficient financial space in the period 1993-99 to develop innovative services and products; the most important reason for this is that their most important clients (schools and employment services) have not succeeded in the development of a policy and adequate practices with regard to career education and guidance. The result is that one can speak of under-investment on the part of schools and regional employment services in career guidance services.
Since 2001 the remaining AOBs have merged into 2 organisations: Compaz (http://www.aobcompaz.nl) and the Geldergroep (http://www.octant.nl). Both organisations have a stable market position. They earn their money not in the educational system (as they used to) but especially in reintegration trajectories for the long-termed unemployed and in the business sector (where a lot of HRM/HRD is outsourced to cut expenses).
Some concluding remarks
It is difficult to judge the effects of the marketisation of career guidance services. In the debate surrounding the issue, people tend to be either strongly in favour of or strongly opposed to the creation of a (quasi-) market situation. Evidence supporting both of the positions can be found. Marketisation has had some clearly negative effects. First, it has basically destroyed the old infra-structure and resulted in a loss of expertise. Second, marketisation presupposes an “articulated demand” for services while the schools and regional employment boards have not articulated such a demand (the same holds true for the UK; see PA Cambridge Economic Consultants, 1993; see also Bartlett, Rees & Watts, 2000). The result is a quantitative decrease in the services offered by AOBs to schools and employment offices at this time. Third, it has become increasingly difficult for those seeking work and the unemployed to obtain career advice because the regional employment boards have not invested in career guidance (in fact, the services provided are reduced since 1993). And, last but not least, marketisation has failed to produce better quality services up to now.