Outlining the multifaceted question of impact in the Finnish lifelong guidance ecology

This article examines how the impact of lifelong guidance is understood, constructed and negotiated within the Finnish lifelong guidance ecology. Drawing on a multilevel ecological framework and diverse qualitative data from national policymakers, public officials, local service providers and guidance practitioners, the study conceptualises impact as a socioculturally and discursively produced process rather than a linear outcome. The analysis identifies four impact policy threads – employability, social integration and inclusion, individual development and guidance as a socially constructed collective effort – and explores their entanglements across policy and practice contexts. The findings demonstrate that employability dominates the guidance ecology, shaping and often constraining other understandings of impact. This study contributes to theorising guidance impact as a relational and processual phenomenon and highlights the interpretive and ethical responsibility placed on guidance professionals and experts within impact-driven governance.