Low qualified and low skilled: the need for context sensitive careers support

The research investigation into the career trajectories of low-skilled, mid-career individuals in Europe, on which this symposium focused, has emphasised the importance of career support. Participants sometimes had not even completed their initial school qualifications. Often, though not always, they had significant skill deficits. The majority of participants typically had not had any consistent access to high-quality support services at critical turning points in their career trajectories. In some cases, the inappropriate and/or poor quality of the career support had become part of the problem. Findings indicate that career support services for these individuals must be based on context-sensitive frameworks for practice, which integrate knowledge and understanding of the broad social and economic factors that impact their career trajectories.