The purpose of guidance and counselling is to support students in their studies during general upper secondary education and ensure that they acquire the knowledge and skills required for moving on to further studies and the world of work.

Guidance and counselling should form a continuum from the beginning to the end of general upper secondary education. It should provide students with sufficient basic knowledge and skills for planning their general upper secondary and further studies and reflecting on the direction of their career. Guidance and counselling should support students’ well-being, growth and development, offer material for increasing self-knowledge and self-regulation, and encourage students towards active citizenship.

During general upper secondary education, students receive

  • personal guidance
  • guidance in groups / guidance within a subject
  • guidance in small groups and peer guidance.

These forms of guidance support students in identifying their interests and strengths, in career planning and in making choices and resolving problems. In personal one-to-one guidance and counselling, students should have opportunities for discussing questions related to their general upper secondary studies, career planning, choices of further education, life situation and future. In small groups, students have opportunities to discuss issues that they can share with their peers and that are considered to be meaningful topics for group discussion.
 

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Educational institutions draw up a guidance plan as part of the local curriculum. The guidance plan serves as a means of developing guidance and counselling in the entire educational institution and describes

  • the guidance activities and its objectives
  • the division of responsibility for the guidance tasks and guidance work
  • the guidance provided in the transition points of the education
  • guidance cooperation with the key partners.

The guidance plan is drawn up in cooperation with students, guardians and stakeholders and the realisation of its objectives is assessed on a regular basis.
 

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Guidance and counselling in general upper secondary education provide students with information about the employment and business sector and entrepreneurship. During their studies, students are given the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the world of work and further studies (familiarisation with higher education studies). These familiarisation periods support students in making their own plans and choices by enabling them to compare different options for further studies and career planning. Guidance and counselling helps students perceive the impacts of the different choices made during general upper secondary education on their career and further study opportunities.

In general upper secondary education, students are given guidance related to the planning of further studies and application procedures. The aim is that they plan their upper secondary studies and make choices that enable them to apply for a place in further studies immediately upon the completion of general upper secondary education. Students are supported in identifying their strengths and development needs as learners as well as in using the study techniques best suited for them also in their further studies. They are guided in planning and making their own choices and taking responsibility for them. The aim is that the students internalise the importance of lifelong learning.

Students are supported in drawing up and updating a personal study plan, a matriculation examination plan, a plan for further studies, and a career plan. Special attention is paid to the transition to further studies especially towards the end of general upper secondary education.

Under the Act on general upper secondary education, the general upper secondary education provider must offer guidance in career planning and applying to further studies to a student who has graduated from the educational institution for one year following the student’s graduation if the student has not obtained a study place after general upper secondary education.

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Good guidance criteria is a recommendation that has been made for the purpose of developing and ensuring the quality of guidance in basic education, general upper secondary education and VET. The aim of the criteria is to promote the high quality and diverse range of guidance as well as to ensure the availability of high-quality guidance for children and adolescents, regardless of their place of residence and circumstances. Furthermore, the criteria are used to ensure the equality, quality and availability of guidance services for pupils and students throughout Finland.

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