Career Guidance  
                 IN SWEDEN
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        Introduction
        Sweden has a long history of offering public guidance 
        services. The underlying principle has always been that 
        everyone is entitled to guidance, which should be free of 
        charge and available to as many groups as possible. 
        Educational and vocational guidance      There are several publicly funded 
        is offered through the entire            websites that offer information 
        educational system, as well as by the    about education and working life 
        Swedish Public Employment Service        to Swedish citizens. These online 
        (PES). The Swedish Education Act         services mainly provide information 
        states that all school pupils should     and advice, rather than eGuidance, 
        receive guidance before making           but online career guidance tools are 
        choices about their future, and          also available.
        higher education institutions are 
        legally obliged to offer students        Career fairs are held regularly 
        study and career guidance.               and are often organised by local 
        Guidance is also part of the PES´s       employers and upper secondary 
        mission, and is regulated in several     schools, with the target group being 
        ordinances; the PES must provide         pupils in year nine. The national 
        guidance to young people, recent         SACO and Nolia fairs are organised 
        immigrants and people outside the        annually and provide information 
        labour market.                           about opportunities after upper 
                                                 secondary education. 
        Private sector guidance is quite 
        limited in Sweden, but there are 
        private job agencies and companies 
        that specialise in career guidance 
        and coaching.
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                  Arenas for guidance
                  DECENTRALISED ORGANISATION                    published general guidelines for career 
                  The provision of guidance is part of          education and guidance, providing 
                  broader education and employment              recommendations about how statutes 
                  initiatives; it is not treated as a separate  (laws, ordinances, rules and regulations) 
                  political area.                               can be applied. 
                  Sweden has a decentralised system for         Similarly, guidance that takes place in 
                  decision-making, so municipal authorities     higher education is the responsibility of 
                  plan their career and educational             each institution, to comply with national 
                  guidance services to meet the needs of        goals and ordinances. Counselling 
                  school curricula and their budget. To         services for jobseekers are mainly run 
                  promote the uniform use of legislation        by the local employment offices, in 
                  within the school system, the Swedish         accordance with the guidelines from the 
                  National Agency for Education has             PES’ head office. 
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