This succinct and comprehensive Briefing Note draws attention to the importance of career practitioner professionalism in career guidance delivery, to the need to continually redefine practitioner competences and occupational profiles in response to societal and technological changes, and consequently the need for continuing government investment in re-skilling and up-skilling of practitioners as well taking a greater interest in initial training.

The provision of all forms of publicly funded formal learning necessitates attention to teaching, learning, and assessment strategies, and this equally applies to all forms of practitioner-led career learning (experiential, virtual, material, physical, and their blending) with individuals and groups in education, employment service, and community sector settings. Effective learning also depends on the characteristics and qualities of the career information that is used in such learning (not addressed in this Note).

The Briefing Note rightfully stresses the importance of the practitioner competence to retrieve, interpret, and communicate labour market information. This fits well in a career learning paradigm in which the practitioner has the competence to teach individuals (counselling) and groups, both online and offline, and in blended modes, and has the competence and interest (if there is no formal requirement) to assess the efficacy of such career learning.

While this Briefing Note has its background in EU experiences, it is a thought provoking paper that should give rise to many national, institutional, and professional association discussions in the EU and beyond.