In accordance with the ideas underlying the guidance reform, guidance is regarded
as a continuous process that should help young people become more conscious of
their abilities, interests and possibilities, thus enabling them to make decisions
regarding education and employment on a qualified basis.
The 46 youth guidance centres are distributed among the 271 municipalities in
Denmark. Each centre covers a "sustainable" area in terms of geographical distance
and quality; quality referring to number and variety of youth education institutions
in the area as well as the management structure of the centres. The municipal
youth guidance centres provide guidance services for young people up to the
age of 25 years, focusing on the transition from compulsory to youth education or,
alternatively, to the labour market. Their main target groups are:
. Pupils in lower secondary school – forms 6 to 10.
. Young people under the age of 19 outside education, training or employment.
. Young people between the age of 19 and 25 who seek out guidance in relation
to youth education programmes or employment.
. Young people with a special need for guidance concerning choice of education,
vocation and career – a transverse target group of young people with various
problems related to the continuing or completion of an education programme.
In cooperation with the school principals, the youth guidance centres organise
guidance activities at schools – close to the pupils. Teachers are still responsible for
the provision of general careers education from form 1 to form 10 but the youth
guidance centres should serve as a source of coordination, inspiration and further
development in this area. Guidance specifically related to the transition from compulsory
to youth education is the responsibility of the youth guidance centres –
but it is provided at the pupils’ schools. The pupils’ educational logbooks are
important in this connection. Through a learning process based on dialogue with
the guidance counsellor, each pupil starts developing a logbook in form 6. The aim
of this process is to develop the pupils’ self-knowledge and ability to make