American International Journal of Social Science

Career Guidance in Secondary Schools - A Literature Review and Strategic Solutions for Vietnamese Rural Areas
Do Thi Bich Loan, Nguyen Thuy Van

Abstract
This paper reviews the role of career guidance and counseling at schools across the globe. The aim of this paper is to overview the career guidance in schools through literature review in order to bringthis field into perspective.Furthermore, it attempts to find orientation and solutions in rural Vietnamese contexts. With the socio-economic development in rural areas and increasing rural to urban migration, it is necessary to enhancethe quality of education in career value, based on the students’ interests, abilities and passion, with more students switching to vocational education for their future career opportunities. It will not only decrease the number of undergraduate unemployment rate as indicated by the statement “excess of higher education degrees but lack of skilled workers”, but also provide enough skilled workers for several projects ventured by foreign companies in rural Vietnam.This paper explores the existing literature and analyzes a plethora of studies done about the importance of establishing career guidance at schools, and finds that Vietnam is still deprived of the true spirit of career guidance. Similarly, there is a lack of rigorous research on the topic. International comparison showed that the key differences between guidance systems in different countries are related to experiences of economic development, political system, socio-cultural factors, the education and training system as well as professional and organizational structures.While comparing the context of Vietnam with other countries, it is found that career has not yet been paid proper and adequate attention. Hence,it has not yielded its desired objectives. The current study recommends that willing and motivated staff should be recruited and given professional training so that the desired goals and objectives be achieved.

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