The EU has strengthened its focus on inclusive education and training and labour market access for people with disabilities. Together with the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the European Commission adopted in March 2021 the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-30.
To accompany this renewed policy process, Cedefop (in English, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Education and Training), together with its CareersNet partners in EU Member States and beyond, has collected examples of lifelong guidance policies and practices that support the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities. These are presented in Cedefop’s online Inventory of lifelong guidance systems and practices.
Career guidance for people with disabilities has evolved in recent years to be linked to an increasingly wide range of career support measures: assessment and skills development, career guidance, confidence building, career planning, reasonable accommodation of workplaces and ‘supported employment’. All of these aim to enable people with specific needs to participate in learning opportunities and ultimately in the open labour market. Sheltered employment is seen, as far as possible, as a transitional step on their way to this goal. So-called twin-track approaches offer services specifically tailored to the needs of people with disabilities alongside more universally oriented measures, inclusive by design, in mainstream settings.
In addition to easily accessible on-site services for all, professional guidance and support is offered in different virtual formats. Increasingly, single-access portals serve clients with disabilities as well as their trainers, employers and professionals. Portals often include self-help videos in national sign language or with plain language subtitles. Some offer digital resources and tools specifically tailored to family members supporting persons with disabilities.
To reinforce these inclusive virtual services, the Commission has recently revised its Directive on the accessibility of websites. The potential risks of discrimination that professional self-help services and other digital tools may pose are addressed in the EIA.
Some guidance tools are developed with or by people with disabilities, e.g. in the framework of civil society projects funded by national or European programmes.
This helps to build confidence in the user-friendliness and relevance of the tools.
“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.”
Project No. 2022‐2‐ES01‐KA210‐VET‐000096341
Project No.
2022‐2‐ES01‐KA210‐VET‐000096341