In French speaking Belgium school guidance has been integrated in the school curriculum as a means to ensure lifelong guidance and to equip young people with necessary skills to develop sustainable careers in a VUCA world. Sustainable careers has been defined as a dynamic, cyclical and self-regulatory process that evolves thanks to the interplay between the person, context and time (De Vos et al., 2020). Sustainable careers also depend on the interaction between factors related to health, happiness and productivity (De Vos & al, 2020). However, in current times sustainable careers cannot be limited to ensuring personal development, it also needs to be guided by principles of social justice, decent work and sustainable development (Carosin et al., 2021).
Integrating these principles into school guidance raises complex issues (Ketschau, 2015), not least because of the lack of a holistic and integrated approach in current educational practices (Sinakou et al., 2019), but also because of the limited attention given to careers driven by sustainable development. Although these themes are increasingly present in political discourse and global objectives (Reynaud, 2018), they struggle to be translated concretely into school reference systems and curricula (Canzittu, 2022), especially because school guidance often remains compartmentalised and focused on linear pathways (Hughes et al., 2017), focusing on individual rather than collective development. The communication presents an operational framework that can be used to train teachers (initial training and continuous) while considering the challenges in revising teaching practices and reference frameworks (Canzittu, 2024; Canzittu & Demeuse, 2019; Carosin & Canzittu, 2021; Lothaire & Canzittu, 2020; Pannier & Michaut, 2024). It builds on key concepts, such as green guidance (Di Fabio & Bucci, 2016; Plant, 2014, 2015), the collective model of guidance (Carosin et al., 2021) or the educational approach to guidance (Carosin & Canzittu, 2019).