Understanding the Ethical Guidelines
The ethical guidelines describe what characterises responsible and professional career guidance practice. They are not intended as a checklist to be followed step by step, but as a framework for reflection, awareness, and professional judgement.
The guidelines are organised into three main areas that reflect different aspects of practice:
Competence
This section focuses on the practitioner’s professional responsibility in the guidance process. It includes using up-to-date knowledge, recognising one’s competence and limitations, and choosing methods that are appropriate for the client’s situation.
Relation and cooperation
This section highlights the relational and ethical foundation of guidance. It emphasises respect, confidentiality, openness, and awareness of power and responsibility in the interaction with the client.
Reflection
This section focuses on continuous professional development. It underlines the importance of reflecting on one’s values, attitudes, competence, and the broader context of guidance practice.
How to understand and use the guidelines
The three areas are closely connected and should be seen as a whole. Ethical practice emerges in the interaction between:
- what you do as a professional
- how you relate to the individual
- how you reflect on and develop your own practice
The guidelines can be used:
- as preparation before guidance sessions
- as support in demanding or uncertain situations
- as a basis for reflection, individually or with colleagues
They are particularly useful when navigating dilemmas, where different values or responsibilities are in tension.
A key perspective
Ethical guidelines do not provide ready-made answers.
They support you in asking better questions, making conscious choices, and acting with integrity in complex situations.
Ethics in Career Guidance – How the Models Connect
The four models in the theme Ethics together describe what ethical practice in career guidance is, what it requires, and how it can be developed in practice. They can be understood as complementary perspectives that support ethical awareness before, during, and after guidance.
Ethical Guidelines
The guidelines describe what responsible practice looks like in action. They bring together professional standards related to how guidance is conducted, how we relate to clients, and how we reflect on our own practice.
They answer the question:
What is expected of me as a professional?
The framework for ethical practice
This model shows that ethical practice is shaped by more than the individual practitioner. Organisational structures, regulations, target groups, and societal contexts all influence what is possible, expected, and appropriate.
It answers the question:
What influences and frames my practice?
Reflection Model
This model provides a tool for working through ethical dilemmas in practice. It supports structured reflection when values or responsibilities are in tension and helps practitioners make informed and responsible decisions.
It answers the question:
What do I do when I am unsure what is right?
Ethical Commitment
This model represents the foundation of ethical practice. It expresses the core values and intentions that guide the relationship between practitioner and client—such as respect, confidentiality, professional responsibility, and acting in the client’s best interest.
It answers the question:
What do I commit to when I meet a client?
How they work together
Together, the models form a coherent approach to ethics in career guidance:
- The Ethical Commitment provides the value-based starting point
- The Ethical Frameworks highlight the context and conditions
- The Ethical Guidelines describe professional practice
- The Ethical Reflection Model supports decision-making in complex situations
Used together, they help practitioners:
- prepare for guidance with ethical awareness
- navigate responsibilities and constraints
- act in line with professional standards
- reflect on and learn from challenging situations
A shared purpose
Ethical practice is not a fixed set of rules, but an ongoing professional responsibility. These models support practitioners in developing the awareness, judgement, and reflection needed to act with integrity in a complex and changing context.