Welcome to the Guidance room

About The Guidance Room

This resource is designed to support reflection and discussion based on the cases in The Guidance Room. The films offer insight into different guidance situations and are intended to be used as a starting point for professional dialogue and learning.

Its purpose is to strengthen practitioners’ ability to reflect on real-life guidance situations and to explore how different competence areas, defined in the Norwegian National Quality Framework for Career Guidance, are applied in practice. 

This international edition includes background information about the Norwegian guidance system, English subtitles for all films, and reflection questions adapted for use across countries. 

The translation is founded by Euroguidance.

Structure of the Resource

The Guidance Room consists of two thematic editions:

1. The School Edition – cases featuring students in lower and upper secondary education.
2. The Adult Edition – cases featuring adults in diverse life situations.

The films show selected moments from guidance processes and do not represent complete sessions. This opens up space for interpretation, critical reflection and discussion of alternative approaches.

The guidance sessions are not intended to represent a definitive model of best practice. Rather, they serve as examples of how practitioners apply their competencies in diverse situations - and are designed to spark reflection around the Norwegian national competence standards. 

How to use The Guidance Room

The resource can be used in a variety of ways, depending on context and purpose. It is suitable for:

• individual reflection
• group discussions
• teaching and training
• professional development activities

Suggested approach
1. Start with Episode 1

Identify the main challenges and key aspects of the situation.
• What stands out? 
• What seems most important at this stage? 

2. Watch Episode 2

Observe how the practitioner approaches the situation.
• What methods are used? 
• How is the conversation structured? 
• How does the practitioner respond to the guidance seeker? 

3. Work with the reflection questions

Use the questions to deepen your analysis.
• What works well? 
• What would you have done differently? 
• What dilemmas or considerations arise? 

Individual use
When used individually, the resource can support:
• reflection on your own practice
• awareness of different approaches
• development of professional judgement

Group use
When used in groups, the resource can support:
• discussion of different perspectives 
• sharing of experiences from practice 
• collective reflection on methods and approaches 
• deeper understanding of professional dilemmas 

A Norwegian Resource - Adapted for a Global Audience  

The Guidance Room was originally developed as a professional learning resource for career guidance practitioners in Norway. Eight constructed cases were developed, each featuring a career seeker introduced through a short film. These cases include selected moments from their career guidance sessions. The purpose was to foster reflection on real-life counseling situations and support engagement with Norway’s national competence standards for career guidance. 

In this version of The Guidance Room, we’ve included additional information about the organization and structure of career guidance in Norway. The films are subtitled in English, and the accompanying reflection questions have been adapted to ensure relevance for career guidance practitioners beyond the Norwegian context. 

Competence Standards for Career Guidance

The Guidance Room is grounded in the Norwegian Competence Standards for Career Guidance, which describe the knowledge, skills, and professional judgement required to deliver high-quality services across sectors and contexts.
 
The standards include seven competence areas:
1.          Guidance
2.          Ethics
3.          Career-related theories and methods
4.          Career learning
5.          Education and work
6.          Target groups and context
7.          Development, networking and system-level work
 
Practitioners may use the self-assessment tool «My Competence» to assess their strengths and areas for development in relation to the seven areas. 

How the Cases Were Developed

Background
The cases are based on real-life experiences from career guidance practice, but are presented as constructed scenarios.
• The guidance seekers are portrayed by actors
• The scripts are developed by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir)
• Development has taken place in collaboration with experienced career guidance practitioners
The purpose is to create recognisable and relevant situations that can serve as a starting point for reflection and learning.

Contributors

All the career guidance practitioners featured in The Guidance Room are professionals working in public career centers, schools, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (Nav), or in higher education institutions. The individuals seeking guidance in the films are portrayed by professional actors, based on scripted scenarios.

Credits
Season 2 of The Guidance Room – School Edition has been partially funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufdir).

Special thanks to Marius Enge Bøe for valuable collaboration and contribution as a subject expert.

Career guidance practitioners participating in Season 2:
Ingunn Carling, Mimount Elatyaoui Kristensen, Lars Sandlie, Nils Reitan, Jama Philip Korn, Aud Jorunn H. Hagesveen, Cathrine Holje, Tone Vassbotn, Vibeke Solberg, Eigil Møller.

Career guidance practitioners participating in Season 1:
Lisa Quagliata, Jeanette Ringvoll Wærsted, Vivienne Lumayag, Synne Strøm Astad, Robin Vikaune Ciovina, May-Jorunn Barlien, Adine Dørum, Aina Engan Døhl, Elise Fosby Jaavall, and Kiya Ahmed.

The career guidance seekers stories and the guidance moments are fictional, but the scripts were developed collaboratively by the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir) and the participating guidance professionals. These scripts draw on real experiences from the field.