Analyzing teachers’ competencies in career guidance: a systematic review

Joho, Corinne; Mok, Sog Yee; Hoffelner, Christine; Düggeli, Albert

doi:10.3389/feduc.2024.1488662

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Educ., 12 December 2024

Sec. Teacher Education

Volume 9 - 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1488662

Analyzing teachers’ competencies in career guidance: a systematic review

Corinne Joho¹^*

Sog Yee Mok²

Christine Hoffelner¹

Albert Düggeli²

¹School of Education, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Brugg, Switzerland
²University of Teacher Education of the Grisons, Chur, Switzerland

While it is recognized that teachers play a vital role in supporting students in the career-planning process, their competencies in school-based career guidance remain underexplored. Understanding these competencies is important for enhancing the effectiveness of the career guidance provided by teachers. The aim of this systematic review was to collate the empirical evidence regarding teachers’ competencies in career guidance, to situate these findings within the context of a professional-competence model, and to identify significant gaps in the research. We conducted a systematic literature search in six different databases, targeting studies that focused on secondary-school teachers involved in career guidance. From an initial pool of 4,768 studies, 31 remained for a further analysis after we double coded 15 percent of the studies. This study shows that while secondary-school teachers generally hold positive attitudes toward career guidance in schools, they recognize shortcomings in their own knowledge and skill sets and express a need for further training. In contrast to teachers’ knowledge and attitudes, other aspects of professional competence, such as motivational orientations and self-regulation skills, received less attention in the analyzed papers. Finally, this review highlights a notable lack of theoretical modeling regarding teachers’ competencies in career guidance.

1 Introduction

Teachers not only play an important role in subject-related learning but also significantly contribute to supporting students in the career-planning process (Lam and Hui, 2010; Lai-Yeung, 2014; Hearne and Galvin, 2015; Parola et al., 2022; Wong et al., 2022). On the one hand, teachers can have official tasks and responsibilities in career guidance within schools (Hooley et al., 2015). This may encompass providing career-related information, promoting career-related skills, integrating career-related topics into subject lessons, organizing career-related activities, offering individual career counseling, or collaborating with the world of work and other stakeholders (Cedefop et al., 2021; Stalder et al., 2023). On the other hand, when teachers are not explicitly tasked with such responsibilities, they are still part of adolescents’ immediate social environment and can serve as an informal source of advice and support in the career-planning process (Hutchinson, 2012; Thurnherr et al., 2013). Such social support and appropriate career preparation are essential for students’ successful transition from school to work or tertiary educational paths (Steiner et al., 2019). The recognition of schools’ essential part in supporting and preparing adolescents for career choices dates back to the 1970s (Guichard, 2001). Since then, the importance of school-based careers guidance has continued to grow, as adolescents need to be prepared to navigate a constantly changing world of work (Watts, 2013; Mann et al., 2020; Cedefop et al., 2021). In the school context, the term career guidance refers to interventions aimed at providing students with information, support, and resources to help them make informed career decisions, prepare them for the transition to postsecondary school life and empower them to succeed in their careers and personal lives (Dodd et al., 2021; Wong et al., 2022). Nowadays, career guidance in schools is recognized in many countries as a multiprofessional activity that may involve teachers, counselors, career professionals, psychologists, and other specialists (Hearne and Neary, 2021; Hooley, 2022). The significance of teachers’ involvement in career guidance is underscored by empirical studies that show teacher support on career-related topics has significant impacts on various aspects of students’ career planning (Wong et al., 2021) and career development (Zhang et al., 2018), such as work-outcome expectations (Ali and McWhirter, 2006) and career-decision self-efficacy (Metheny et al., 2008). In a recent study, Parola et al. (2024) demonstrated that career-related teacher support indirectly influences students’ career decision self-efficacy through the mediating role of career adaptability. However, the specific roles and responsibilities of teachers in career guidance vary significantly across countries due to differences in organizational structures and school policies, making career guidance programs highly context-specific (Watts and Sultana, 2004; Pham et al., 2024). For example, in Switzerland, career guidance is systematically anchored in the curriculum at lower secondary level and is a mandatory responsibility for class teachers (Kamm et al., 2020). Conversely, in the United States, school counselors are often primarily responsible for career guidance, with teachers playing a supplementary and supportive role in these efforts (Chen, 2005). According to Hooley et al. (2015), teachers’ roles in career guidance can be categorized as follows: first, if responsibilities for students’ career planning are outsourced to external organizations, teachers may only have an informal role. Second, teachers may assume partial responsibility for students’ career planning, although this area is not highly professionalized. Last, teachers may receive specialized training to perform a wide array of tasks related to students’ career planning. Overall, there is a growing trend toward involving teachers more extensively in career guidance and increasing their responsibilities in this area, although they often lack sufficient training (Kuijpers and Meijers, 2017). As with other aspects of education, the success of career guidance in schools depends on teachers’ competencies for this task (Koch, 2019; Jentsch and König, 2021). Although teachers contribute significantly to career guidance and affect students’ career development, there is limited knowledge about their professional competence in this area (Dreer and Weyer, 2020).

Consequently, from the perspective of teacher education, it is important to examine what is empirically known about the level of teachers’ competencies in the context of career guidance in schools. Gaining insight into these competencies is vital for creating further and effective training programs for teachers. Previous reviews have focused on the influence of teacher support on students’ career decision-making and development (Zhang et al., 2018), as well as the roles teachers play in supporting students’ career development (Wong et al., 2021). In contrast, our systematic review specifically aims to identify empirical evidence related to teachers’ competencies in career guidance and situate these findings within a professional-competence model. Additionally, we seek to highlight significant research gaps, and provide information for teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers to enhance teachers’ competencies.

2 Conceptual framework

In this section, we define the term career guidance and clarify its application within the context of this paper. We then justify our selection of Baumert and Kunter’s (2013) multidimensional model of professional competence as the theoretical framework for this systematic review and present the research questions.

2.1 Clarification of terminology

Internationally, various terms such as career guidance, career education, career counseling, and vocational guidance are used to describe students’ career preparation within the school context (Sultana, 2013; Pham et al., 2024). In the literature these terms are often used interchangeably (Hughes et al., 2016). The lack of terminological consensus has led to confusion and research challenges (McMahon, 2014). In the early 20th century, vocational guidance aimed to support students in making occupational choices. Due to changes in the world of work and theoretical approaches since the 1960s, the focus has shifted, and career has been increasingly favored over vocational. The term career guidance now broadly refers to services designed to assist individuals in making career choices and managing their careers (OECD, 2004). In the school context this comprehensive definition includes career information provision, skills assessment and development, and curriculum-based interventions often referred to as career education (Hooley et al., 2015). In this study, we understand career guidance broadly, using it to describe a multifaceted series of career-guidance activities within schools, such as addressing careers in the curriculum, providing information on possible career paths, and conducting guidance dialogues (Dodd et al., 2021).

2.2 Teachers’ professional competence

There is broad consensus that teacher competence is essential for professional success and is an important goal for the professional development of teachers (Cochran-Smith and Zeichner, 2005; Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia et al., 2017; Jentsch and König, 2021). Competence is a multidimensional construct encompassing the learnable individual resources needed to meet specific professional demands, including knowledge, skills, attitudes, and motivational variables (Weinert, 2001; Kunter et al., 2013; Blömeke et al., 2015; Ufer and Neumann, 2018). Teacher competence significantly influences instructional quality and students’ learning outcomes, so developing competencies through teacher education is essential (Kunter et al., 2013; Jentsch and König, 2021). Identifying which competencies are pivotal for effective professional performance is therefore of paramount importance. Shulman (1987) emphasized the necessity of both content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical-content knowledge (PCK) for teachers. However, Baumert and Kunter (2013) argued that knowledge alone does not sufficiently explain differences in teachers’ success (Kunter et al., 2013). They identified three additional core aspects of competence and proposed a multidimensional model of professional competence that includes (1) knowledge, (2) beliefs, (3) motivational orientations, and (4) self-regulation, as shown in Figure 1. According to this model, teachers are considered competent when their professional knowledge is coupled with productive beliefs, appropriate motivational orientations, and effective self-regulation. This model of professional competence has been applied, in particular, to model and measure the competencies of mathematics teachers (Kunter et al., 2013). Due to its generic structure, it is also suitable for research in other subject areas, such as bilingual education (Scherzinger and Brahm, 2023) or education for sustainable development (Lohmann et al., 2021). We therefore assume that Baumert and Kunter’s (2013) multidimensional model of professional competence can be applied to the field of career guidance as well. Whether formally or informally involved in career guidance, teachers require specific cognitive and affective-motivational competencies to support their students (Dreer and Weyer, 2020). Currently, there is a notable lack of theoretical models that specifically address the competencies needed for teacher training in career guidance. Although competence frameworks exist for career-guidance professionals (Cedefop et al., 2021), they are not tailored to the teaching profession. Baumert and Kunter’s (2013) professional-competence model provides a comprehensive framework for integrating various aspects of teachers’ professional competence, making it suitable for systematically reviewing existing empirical findings. In German-speaking countries, this model has already been used to model or investigate teachers’ knowledge and beliefs in career guidance (Dreer, 2013; Fletemeyer, 2021; Lembke, 2021).

Figure 1

Figure 1. Model of teachers’ professional competence (Baumert and Kunter, 2013); beliefs domain adapted from Calderhead (1996) and Eagly and Chaiken (1993) (dotted outline).

In the following sections, we describe the four core aspects of the model in more detail and provide examples of how they apply to career guidance.

The aspect of knowledge is pivotal to teachers’ professional competence (Shulman, 1987; Blömeke et al., 2011). It encompasses content knowledge (CK), pedagogical-content knowledge (PCK), pedagogical-psychological knowledge (PK), organizational knowledge (OK), and counseling knowledge (CoK). In the context of school-based career guidance, content knowledge encompasses understanding adolescent career planning, while pedagogical-content knowledge relates to the ability to design a lesson on a career-related topic. Organizational knowledge includes an understanding of how career guidance is integrated into the overall school framework, and counseling knowledge encompasses coaching techniques that support students in their career-planning process (Dreer, 2013).

Beliefs form the second aspect of teachers’ professional competence; they differ from knowledge in their subjectivity and reliance on perception rather than accuracy (Richardson, 1996). These beliefs, which are shaped by significant social experiences, influence teachers’ pedagogical perspectives and impact classroom practices (Skott, 2015). Various classification approaches have been proposed for outlining the domains of teachers’ beliefs; this review adopted Calderhead’s (1996) classification, which has also been applied in career-guidance research (Fletemeyer, 2021). Additionally, we examined attitudes, which are defined as psychological tendencies toward liking or disliking something (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993). In the context of career guidance, this could mean that teachers have a positive attitude toward careers guidance in schools and hold productive beliefs about supporting students in this area (Fletemeyer, 2021).

Third, motivational orientations are crucial for psychological functioning and significantly influence behavior and intention maintenance. These orientations can be operationalized in different ways; this review focuses on the control and self-efficacy beliefs of career-guidance teachers. The self-efficacy construct covers teachers’ beliefs regarding their ability to support and enhance students’ learning and behavior (Bandura, 1977; Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). In the context of career guidance, this could mean that teachers feel confident in supporting students throughout the career-planning process.

The fourth aspect, self-regulation, has a specific meaning in Baumert and Kunter’s (2013) professional-competence model that differs from its use in the context of student learning (Kunter, 2013). Self-regulation encompasses the ability to maintain engagement while controlling one’s own behavior and developing adaptive strategies for stressful situations. It allows teachers to manage personal resources and balance involvement with disengagement (Klusmann et al., 2008). In the context of career guidance, self-regulation could mean that teachers manage stress factors such as limited time or students’ unrealistic career aspirations (Stalder et al., 2023).

2.3 Research questions

This systematic review was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of what is empirically known worldwide about teachers’ competencies in career guidance. The following research questions (RQs) guided the study:

• RQ1: What knowledge and skills do teachers have for providing career guidance?

• RQ2: What are the beliefs and attitudes of teachers toward career guidance?

• RQ3: What is known about teachers’ confidence in their ability to engage with students regarding career guidance?

• RQ4: What self-regulatory skills do teachers use to manage their resources in career guidance?

3 Methods

To address our research questions, we conducted a systematic literature review. To ensure the identification of all relevant studies, we adopted a mixed-studies-review approach (Thomas et al., 2017). The systematic review followed general PRISMA guidelines for systematic literature searches (Page et al., 2021). The procedure started with a nonsystematic exploration to identify various terminologies in the field and to clarify the search terms. Subsequently, inclusion and exclusion criteria were formulated. Following this, we conducted a systematic search. Studies were located through an advanced literature search of databases and then screened and selected. The gathered information was coded and synthesized (Gough et al., 2017).

3.1 Search terms

Given the multitude of terminologies used in the research field (McMahon, 2014), it was crucial to employ a broad definition of career guidance in this study and to use a range of search terms. A narrow understanding could have resulted in the exclusion of relevant studies. The search terms, including their combinations and derivatives utilized in the electronic-database search, are presented in Table 1. Slight modifications were made to the search terms to align them with the functionality of each database.

Table 1

Table 1. Keywords.

3.2 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

The boundaries for the systematic review were set by defining inclusion and exclusion criteria. These can be seen in Table 2. Studies were included if they met the following criteria: (a) publication in a peer-reviewed journal, (b) availability in English or German, (c) application of a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approach, (d) focus on academic or vocational teachers at the secondary school level, and (e) investigation of at least one core aspect of professional competence as outlined by Baumert and Kunter (2013). Studies were excluded if they focused on higher education or primary school levels, special education contexts, pre-service teachers, or the assessment of students’ opinions or performance. No restrictions were placed on the year of publication, resulting in a coverage of articles published from 1972 to 2022. In our study, we concentrated on teachers from secondary schools, including upper secondary levels such as programs for vocational education and training (VET), because in some countries such as Germany or Switzerland with a dual-education system, adolescents enter vocational programs at a relatively young age (Masdonati, 2010).

Table 2

Table 2. Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

3.3 Study selection, coding, and interrater reliability

The search was conducted in major electronic databases in April 2023, including PsycINFO, ERIC, Web of Science, Scopus, and PSYNDEXplus. Additionally, the German database Education Research Portal was searched. Figure 2 provides an overview of each stage of the selection process and the search results. The search returned 4,768 records. In the first step, the first author screened all the abstracts for eligibility based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. After the availability of full text was checked, this screening resulted in 43 studies. 15% of the abstracts were independently coded by a second author. The interrater reliability was good (Cohen’s Kappa = 0.85). The few discrepancies were discussed until mutual agreement was reached. In a second step, the full text of the remaining studies was examined, resulting in 31 eligible studies for our review. Reasons studies were excluded from the review are, e.g., wrong focus. Finally, 31 studies met all inclusion criteria. A descriptive summary of study characteristics is provided in Table 3.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Flowchart of the literature search.

Table 3

Table 3. Studies reviewed in this paper on teachers’ competencies in school-based career guidance.

3.4 Data extraction and analysis

The data were extracted from the results and discussion sections of the studies. Special care was taken to ensure that any additional interpretations in the discussion section of a study would not influence the results. To analyze both qualitative and quantitative data, we adopted a content-analysis method (Elo and Kyngäs, 2008). The MAXQDA 2022 software package (VERBI Software, 2021) was selected due to its flexibility, especially when subcoding was needed. In the first round, the data were analyzed by employing deductive content analysis based on the predefined categories from the theoretical framework outlined by Baumert and Kunter (2013). To structure the findings within the main categories, an inductive content analysis was carried out in a second round, in which the subcodes emerged from the data. This process aimed to create a manageable set of subcategories that accurately represented the diversity of topics covered within the data. To ensure transparency and replicability, two authors independently performed all the coding. They held regular meetings to address coding queries, to resolve any disparities in their analyzes, and to maintain the code book. If necessary, a third author was consulted to resolve disparities.

4 Results

This section provides an overview of the descriptive characteristics of the included studies and summarizes the main findings of the systematic review with regard to the research questions. Figure 3 displays the examined aspects of teachers’ professional competence, and the related themes identified in the study. Table 4 provides an overview of the coded domains and related themes in each study.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Extended model of four domains of teachers’ professional competence (Baumert and Kunter, 2013) in providing career guidance; beliefs adapted from Calderhead (1996) and Eagly and Chaiken (1993) (dotted outline) with two newly identified related themes (dashed line).

Table 4

Table 4. Coded domains and related themes.

4.1 Study characteristics

The 31 included studies involved a total of N = 4,872 participants. There were 3,166 participants in the quantitative studies, 230 participants in the qualitative studies, and 1,476 participants in the mixed-methods studies.¹ The studies were conducted in the United States (11), Europe (9), Asia (5), Africa (3), and Australia (3). Fifteen studies were published between 2011 and 2022, six between 2001 and 2010, one between 1991 and 2000, another six 1981 between 1990, and three between 1971 and 1980. Thirteen studies had a quantitative design based on surveys, eight studies had a qualitative design based on interviews or focus-group interviews, and ten had a mixed-methods design, most of which included both interviews and surveys, sometimes in combination with additional data-collection methods such as group discussions. The studies examined the experiences of secondary- (24) and middle-school (2) teachers, and four studies covered multiple levels. Five studies targeted vocational teachers, and four included mixed samples of teachers and educational staff.

4.2 RQ1: teachers’ knowledge and skills

Six quantitative and mixed-methods studies, plus one qualitative study, assessed teachers’ knowledge and skills in career guidance based on self-reported data. These studies offered little theoretical clarification on the specific kinds of knowledge and skills teachers should possess to adequately fulfill their roles in career guidance. No findings related to pedagogical-psychological knowledge emerged. Two studies focused on general career-guidance knowledge: In a German study by Dreer and Kracke (2011), 135 teachers estimated that 54% of their peers had the necessary knowledge to provide career guidance, but “necessary knowledge” was not defined. Gross and Kaplan (1975) discovered that teachers were less informed about career education than about drug, ecology, and sex education, with lower-level teachers feeling less knowledgeable than their higher-level counterparts.

4.2.1 Content knowledge

Content knowledge encompasses knowledge about students’ career planning and career and study options. With a focus on the former, Myrick and Carrow (1987) found that half of the 248 teachers surveyed agreed that they knew career theories. In an exploration of the latter with 300 teachers, Fuller et al. (2014) revealed their limited awareness of the spectrum of career options available to students; they were particularly unaware of vocational routes and local providers, and only half of the teachers were aware of apprenticeships.

4.2.2 Pedagogical-content knowledge

Only one study by Myrick and Carrow (1987) has examined teachers’ knowledge about designing career planning activities. They found that half of the surveyed teachers agreed that they knew how to work with students about career planning.

4.2.3 Organizational knowledge

Organizational knowledge encompasses an understanding of how career guidance is integrated within the broader school framework and how teachers can effectively collaborate with other stakeholders. Myrick and Carrow (1987) found that less than half of 248 teachers were aware of their schools’ career centers, while Modiba and Sefotho (2019) observed low networking skills among teachers in South Africa, suggesting a gap in organizational knowledge.

4.2.4 Counseling knowledge

In a study on the career-counseling skills of 115 Vietnamese teachers, Nguyen Thi (2017) distinguished between basic (e.g., relationship building, questioning, feedback) and particular counseling skills (e.g., working in groups, analyzing information). Teachers rated their basic skills positively and no skill below satisfactory, but they showed lower ratings for their counseling skills. A training course improved particular counseling skills for 30 participants. In contrast, Karacan Ozdemir et al. (2022) found no improvement in communication skills among 48 Turkish teachers after a training program.

4.2.5 Training needs

To conclude the findings on teachers’ knowledge and skills, we also looked at their training needs in career guidance, which are depicted as related themes in the extended professional-competence model in Figure 3. Research has indicated that teachers agree that they need further training and information (Smith, 1982; Myrick and Carrow, 1987; Osoro et al., 2000; Fuller et al., 2014; Nguyen Thi, 2017). Olehnoviča and Kravale-Pauliņa (2008) surveyed 205 Latvian teachers regarding their educational needs concerning students’ career development. The teachers exhibited a strong preference for theoretical knowledge over practical skills, suggesting a lack of emphasis on theoretical knowledge in teacher education. According to Smith (1982), science teachers need information about objectives, materials, techniques, and careers related to their subject area and the world of work to incorporate career education into their courses. Qualitative data offer insights into additional training needs, including vocational and higher-education options, employer perspectives (Fuller et al., 2014), labor-market trends (Olehnoviča and Kravale-Pauliņa, 2008), computer-literacy skills to aid learners with online applications (Modiba and Sefotho, 2019), increased dialogue about career guidance (Magee et al., 2022), and more training options and feedback (Draaisma et al., 2018).

4.3 RQ2: teachers’ attitudes and beliefs

While 11 studies referred to a concept of attitudes, none explicitly formulated a research question referring to the concept of beliefs. Five studies mentioned beliefs when presenting results (Mittendorff et al., 2008; Irving, 2009; Watermeyer et al., 2016; Karacan Ozdemir and Aydın, 2022; Karacan Ozdemir et al., 2022). However, a substantial number of studies analyzed teachers’ perceptions or views on specific aspects of career guidance.

4.3.1 Teachers’ attitudes toward career guidance

Eleven studies assessed teachers’ attitudes toward school-based career guidance, employing both quantitative (9) and qualitative (3) methods. The quantitative research predominantly utilized questionnaires to examine attitudes toward various aspects of career guidance; these studies exhibited heterogeneity in the construction of attitudinal items. Two studies developed and evaluated instruments to assess attitudes toward career guidance (Smith, 1982; Dodd and Hooley, 2018).

The majority of studies (9) on teachers’ attitudes toward school-based career guidance reported positive perceptions (Baker, 1972; Gross and Kaplan, 1975; Pershing and Demetropoulos, 1981; Smith, 1982; Oppenheimer and Flum, 1986; Myrick and Carrow, 1987; Akos et al., 2011; Dodd and Hooley, 2018). However, one study identified predominantly negative attitudes among STEM teachers toward the UK’s policy of integrating career guidance into schools (Watermeyer et al., 2016). Additionally, six studies examined moderation in teachers’ attitudes toward career guidance by gender, age, years of teaching experience, grade taught, or subject taught (Baker, 1972; Gross and Kaplan, 1975; Pershing and Demetropoulos, 1981; Smith, 1982; Oppenheimer and Flum, 1986; Akos et al., 2011). Qualitative findings indicated that teachers’ attitudes toward career guidance are influenced by school conditions (Dixon, 2001; Dama et al., 2019) and teachers’ own career satisfaction or dissatisfaction (Oppenheimer and Flum, 1986).

4.3.2 Teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching in career guidance

In the domain of teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching in career guidance, three subcategories emerged through inductive content analysis. The results of six studies were coded to the subcategory “family influence and expectations.” They examined teachers’ perspectives on how families impact the career planning process. Two studies indicated that when presented with a list of potential factors, teachers considered family the most significant factor influencing career choices (Munro, 2007; Billett et al., 2022). Conversely, when questioned about the key contributors to career guidance, teachers ranked subject teachers and school career advisers higher than parents (Fuller et al., 2014). The qualitative findings highlighted teachers’ concerns about parental expectations, noting negative impacts, such as pressure to pursue unwanted or unsuitable educational paths (Osoro et al., 2000; Dama et al., 2019). A small-scale qualitative study from New Zealand emphasized potential conflicts in beliefs, such as the dilemma teachers face in trying to remain impartial regarding parents’ cultural expectations when they believed that individual students should be free to choose their own paths (Irving, 2009). Lindstrom et al. (2020) emphasized the influence of family circumstances on career planning. Through focus-group discussions with 47 teachers and education personnel², they found the shared belief that daily challenges like poverty or unstable family environments impact the ability of underserved youth to learn or benefit from college- and career-readiness programs.

The outcomes of five studies were categorized under “significant learning activities.” They focused on teachers’ perspectives regarding relevant activities in students’ career-planning process. Fuller et al. (2014) found that teachers highly valued employer visits and taster days for aiding positive decision-making. Qualitative studies (Munro, 2007; Draaisma et al., 2018; Dama et al., 2019; Lindstrom et al., 2020) supported this, emphasizing the importance of exposing students to career opportunities through field trips to local businesses, career exhibitions, college tours, and real-life work experience. As an interview participant noted: “These exhibitions help them get information from the horse’s mouth, instead of relying on what we teach them in class” (Dama et al., 2019, p. 59). However, there were concerns that students misuse activities like job shadowing to skip school (Munro, 2007).

Limited focus was placed on teachers’ beliefs regarding teaching “methods, strategies, instruments” in the examined studies; only three addressed this. Mittendorff et al. (2008) explored the divergent views of vocational teachers regarding portfolios and personal career-development plans. Some teachers believed that it is essential to combine portfolios with personal conversations and an investment in the relationship to the student, while others believed that the assignments in the portfolios are sufficient. Similarly, in a study by Lindstrom et al. (2020), interviewed teachers and education personnel identified strategies like fostering connections with trusted adults and providing career-related learning experiences as important ways that positive relationships can guide career-planning processes. Recent research from China (Szeto, 2022) has highlighted teachers’ recognition of the significance of aligning personalized career guidance with students’ abilities and interests.

4.3.3 Teachers’ beliefs about career guidance as a subject matter

In the domain of teachers’ beliefs about career guidance as a subject matter, two subcategories emerged through inductive content analysis. The results of five studies were coded to the subcategory “understanding and objectives,” which addresses teachers’ assumptions about the meaning and objectives of career guidance. Smith’s (1982) survey revealed that science teachers and education personnel do not equate career education with vocational education. However, the qualitative research (Oppenheimer and Flum, 1986; Magee et al., 2022) exposed teachers’ struggles to grasp the concept fully. A recent interview study by Magee et al. (2022) found that the 32 vocational teachers involved had varying views about career guidance and often did not differentiate between educational, vocational, and career guidance, indicating a stagnation of sense-making at the level of assimilation and a lack of accommodation of the comprehensive concept of career guidance. Additionally, Oppenheimer and Flum (1986) noted that teachers tried to assimilate the new concept of career education into existing schemes, some interpreting it as fostering good work habits or directing students toward suitable further study or work paths. Karacan Ozdemir and Aydın (2022) showed that motivational interviewing training can change teachers’ views; posttraining interviews indicated a shift toward seeing career counseling as empowering students to choose their own path rather than directing them toward a specific direction. Dixon (2001) explored the meanings teachers and education personnel constructed for career and vocational education, finding that they viewed it in terms of real-life relevance, curriculum structure, and their teaching philosophy. This often led to confusion due to its mismatch with familiar curriculum structures. Two American studies from the 1980s indicated that teachers considered predetermined career-education objectives important (Russell and Bailey, 1982; Oppenheimer and Flum, 1986).

The qualitative results of three studies were coded to the subcategory “status within the school.” The findings indicated that teachers assigned lower status to career-related courses and assignments, either because they viewed career guidance as an additional task rather than a core pedagogical priority (Dixon, 2001; Watermeyer et al., 2016) or due to inadequate teaching conditions (Dama et al., 2019).

4.3.4 Teachers’ beliefs about themselves and their own roles in career guidance

In the domain of teachers’ beliefs about themselves and their own role in career guidance as a subject matter, two subcategories emerged through inductive content analysis. Nine studies in the subcategory “teachers’ role and responsibilities” found that teachers perceived their role in career guidance differently. While the quantitative research suggested that teachers viewed themselves as having a certain role in students’ career development (Oppenheimer and Flum, 1986; Myrick and Carrow, 1987; Fuller et al., 2014; Dodd and Hooley, 2018), qualitative insights showed varying perceptions from informal to formal responsibilities (Munro, 2007; Fuller et al., 2014; Watermeyer et al., 2016). Vocational teachers saw career guidance as a key part of their job (Magee et al., 2022), but general teachers viewed it as part of their broader supportive role and not as a central teaching element (Dodd and Hooley, 2018). In a survey of 94 general science teachers, Watermeyer et al. (2016) found that a third were ready to assume responsibility for providing STEM-career guidance due to relational proximity with students, insight into students’ abilities, or self-identification as a STEM ambassador. Other qualitative findings underscored that teachers’ relationship with students and knowledge about their backgrounds, abilities, and aspirations justify their involvement in career guidance (Fuller et al., 2014). Conversely, dissenting teachers have raised concerns about potential biases due to close relationships, outdated information, and limited resources (Watermeyer et al., 2016). Similarly, Fuller et al. (2014) found that some teachers felt unprepared and hesitant about providing career guidance due to their reliance on their own outdated experiences. The idea that teachers’ professional identities as career educators is shaped not only by official guidelines but also by personal experiences and their biographical backgrounds was examined in a case study by Irving (2009). Additionally, Krivas’s (1986) quantitative study of 503 Greek teachers found that self-perception influenced their involvement in career guidance; those who saw themselves as “educators” were more willing than those who identified as “knowledge disseminators.” Krei and Rosenbaum (2001) identified four roles among 80 vocational teachers regarding providing career guidance: “diplomats” balance encouragement with realism, “straightforward” teachers offer realistic advice, “hands-off” teachers avoid involvement in future planning, and “college-for-all” advocates promote college for all students.

The results of three studies coded to the subcategory “required teachers’ competence” revealed that teachers prioritized personal-pedagogical qualities and general coaching skills, including asking questions and active listening, as essential for providing career guidance (Resnick and Malyn-Smith, 1979; Krivas, 1986; Magee et al., 2022).

To summarize teachers’ attitudes and beliefs toward career guidance, teachers generally hold positive attitudes toward school-based career guidance. They see family as a critical, though sometimes restrictive, influence on students’ career choices. Teachers also believe that hands-on experiences, such as employer visits and work experiences, are essential for helping students explore career options. However, teachers hold varied and often limited views on career guidance itself and have diverse perceptions of their roles in it, shaped by personal experience, self-perception, and perceived competence.

4.4 RQ3: motivational orientation

Five studies coded to the category “control and self-efficacy beliefs” demonstrated that while most teachers felt confident in providing career guidance (Myrick and Carrow, 1987; Fuller et al., 2014), their confidence diminished when delivering information, advice, and guidance beyond their specialization and experience (Fuller et al., 2014). The qualitative evidence highlighted that vocational teachers’ confidence came from up-to-date professional knowledge and employer connections, which surpassed that of guidance counselors (Krei and Rosenbaum, 2001). Karacan Ozdemir et al. (2022) and Draaisma et al. (2018) studied the impact of training programs on teachers’ confidence in career guidance. The former used a pretest–posttest design to evaluate a training intervention and found increased self-efficacy in 48 teachers after training on topics like career development and motivational interviewing. Draaisma et al. reported (2018) that vocational teachers felt more confident in career dialogues after training, though some found it hard to express how their skills had improved.

4.5 RQ4: self-regulation skills

None of the 31 studies provided direct results on teachers’ self-regulation skills in managing their resources in school-based career guidance. However, according to Baumert and Kunter (2013), research on the experience of strain and challenging work situations is relevant to the aspect of self-regulation, as these factors can affect teachers’ self-regulation skills. Understanding which areas of their work teachers find particularly demanding is a first step toward exploring how they cope with these demands. Therefore, within this review, it seemed valuable to document which specific aspects teachers perceive as stressful in the context of career guidance as a related theme. While we did not find specific results on teachers’ self-regulation skills, we can at least identify and discuss areas of strain in career guidance. These have been depicted as a related theme in the extended professional-competence model in Figure 3 and are further described below.

4.5.1 Teachers’ experience of strain

A total of 15 studies reported on teachers’ experiences of strain and challenges related to career guidance. Some of the most prevalent challenges were related to a lack of resources, such as time or capacity (Smith, 1982; Mittendorff et al., 2008; Fuller et al., 2014; Watermeyer et al., 2016; Draaisma et al., 2018), or deficiencies in infrastructure (Dama et al., 2019) and information materials (Watermeyer et al., 2016). Other challenges were related to working conditions, including insufficient support from schools or state authorities (Smith, 1982; Osoro et al., 2000; Fuller et al., 2014; Watermeyer et al., 2016), limited access to career-guidance training (Watermeyer et al., 2016; Dama et al., 2019), a lack of shared understanding or information within the school (Munro, 2007; Draaisma et al., 2018), and high teacher turnover (Dama et al., 2019). Magee et al. (2022) found that school-leadership styles posed a challenge; teachers were divided between wanting autonomy and desiring structured support, clear expectations, and guidance. Several studies identified challenges in delivering career-related support, including limited parental involvement (Munro, 2007; Dama et al., 2019), parental preferences concerning school education (Krei and Rosenbaum, 2001), and concerns regarding influencing students’ choice of subjects (Dama et al., 2019). Teachers also articulated concerns regarding students’ circumstances, including their career development beyond secondary education (Szeto, 2022), challenging home environments, and the inadequacy of career-preparation experiences (Lindstrom et al., 2020).

4.6 Summary

To address RQ1, results related to teachers’ knowledge were identified in seven studies, revealing significant gaps across all domains of professional knowledge about career guidance. Furthermore, nine studies highlighted a need for additional training and information.

Regarding RQ2, 26 studies reported findings related to teachers’ attitudes and beliefs, indicating that teachers generally held a positive attitude toward school-based career guidance. Findings related to teachers’ beliefs emphasized the importance they placed on the central role of family in students’ career planning and the significance of providing students with direct exposure to a variety of career opportunities for making informed choices. Furthermore, the results indicated that teachers struggled to fully comprehend the concept of career guidance; they often interpreted it through familiar frameworks rather than recognizing its overall significance. Research on teachers’ beliefs about their roles in career guidance revealed a range of viewpoints, from informal to formal engagement.

Regarding RQ3, five studies reported findings on teachers’ confidence in engaging with students in school-based career guidance, indicating that teachers generally exhibited confidence, although this was closely related to their specialization and experience. Training programs aimed at boosting self-efficacy showed positive results.

Regarding RQ4, none of the studies specifically addressed teachers’ self-regulation skills, although 12 studies highlighted challenges such as limited resources, inadequate institutional support, and difficulties in delivering career-related support.

5 Discussion

This systematic review based on 31 studies is the first to summarize teachers’ competencies in school-based career guidance. As career guidance has become increasingly important in schools due to the need to prepare adolescents for an even more complex world of work (OECD, 2004), regular teachers have taken on more significant roles in these efforts, contributing to varying extents (Hearne and Galvin, 2015; Hooley et al., 2015; Kuijpers and Meijers, 2017). This underscores the necessity of understanding the essential competencies required for teachers to contribute to effective career guidance. In our review, we adopted Baumert and Kunter’s (2013) professional-competence model as a guiding framework and identified two related themes that expanded the model. The analysis indicated that a substantial number of studies (26) have focused on teachers’ attitudes and beliefs. In contrast, fewer studies have examined knowledge and skills (7) or motivational orientation (5), the latter defined in terms of self-efficacy beliefs. Notably absent was research addressing teachers’ self-regulation. A closer examination of the comparatively high number of findings on attitudes and beliefs revealed two main observations. First, since the 1970s, quantitative research on teachers’ attitudes toward career guidance has increased in the United States, a trend linked to the period’s introduction of career education as a component of education reform (Hoyt, 1977). Second, the operationalization of attitudes and beliefs across studies varied significantly and lacked a theoretical underpinning. In particular, the theoretical modeling of beliefs conducive to effective career guidance by teachers remains a substantial gap in the literature. The absence of theoretical modeling applies not just to beliefs but to all areas of professional competence in career guidance. Theoretically and empirically, there is a limited understanding of the professional knowledge, constructive beliefs, appropriate motivational orientations, and adequate self-regulation that teachers need to contribute to effective career guidance. It is also important to note that the organization of school-based career guidance is highly dependent on national educational policies and, as such, varies contextually. The roles, responsibilities, and training received by teachers differ across countries (Watts and Sultana, 2004; Pham et al., 2024). Consequently, these contextual differences must be taken into account when modeling teacher competencies in career guidance. Different competencies are required, for instance, when teachers are expected to deliver career-related information as part of a subject or to support students in their career-planning process within their broader general supportive role. Initial efforts to model competencies for teachers with broader responsibilities in career guidance have been made, particularly in German-speaking regions (Dreer and Weyer, 2020). Modeling teachers’ professional competence in career guidance is vital, as such models serve as foundations for both empirical research and systematic training in teacher education.

Our review highlights that teachers generally have positive attitudes toward school-based career guidance and see themselves as having a role in it. However, it also reveals significant gaps in knowledge and skills, with teachers expressing a need for further training. This suggests that teacher education must incorporate specific courses on career guidance, tailored to the contextual requirements of the career guidance setting. As Watts and Sultana (2004) emphasize, many countries increasingly aim for career guidance in schools to not only help students with immediate choices but also lay a foundation for lifelong learning and continuous career development. To achieve this, teachers need to understand these broader goals and be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to support them. In teacher training, it is therefore essential to help teachers develop a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in career guidance within their specific educational system. Training should also address potential tensions that may arise between teachers’ primary roles as subject teachers and their roles in career guidance (Mittendorff et al., 2011; Dreer and Weyer, 2020; Stalder et al., 2023). Reflection on the specific roles teachers take in career guidance, along with the challenges associated with these roles, should be an integral part of teacher education. Alongside courses for pre-service teachers, training programs for in-service teachers are also important, as they address the ongoing professional development needs of practicing teachers. These programs are particularly valuable, as they have been shown to enhance teachers’ confidence and self-efficacy in career guidance (Draaisma et al., 2018; Karacan Ozdemir et al., 2022). Such courses and professional development programs can be built on previous research findings in our review concerning knowledge, attitudes/beliefs, and motivational variables. However, due to the limited research on self-regulation in career guidance among teachers, future studies on this topic are urgently needed before self-regulation suggestions can be effectively integrated into teacher education.

Our review also reveals that teachers encounter numerous challenges in career guidance, including limited resources and time. Additionally, teachers face a variety of demands and expectations that may conflict with each other, such as divergent career expectations between students and parents or the need to support individual student processes while also meeting system-oriented outcomes (Hughes et al., 2017; Stalder et al., 2023). These conditions can lead to considerable strain on teachers. Addressing the issue of teacher strain cannot be limited to teacher education but must also be approached at the system level. National educational policies need to consider how career guidance is structured within the school context and determine effective ways to involve teachers. Approaches that frame career guidance as a collaborative, multi-professional responsibility—involving frontline teachers, counselors, career specialists, school principals, and external stakeholders—may be particularly promising (Hughes et al., 2017; Hearne and Neary, 2021; Parola et al., 2024). In Switzerland, for example, career guidance is a collaborative effort involving divers stakeholders, both within and outside the school, who work toward a shared goal, each with distinct and clearly defined roles and responsibilities (Kamm et al., 2020; Stalder et al., 2023).

As mentioned in the introduction, teachers play an important role in their students’ career-planning process, even when they are not explicitly assigned tasks and responsibilities in this area (Song et al., 2022; Wong et al., 2023). Our review clearly showed that teachers have a positive attitude toward this supportive role. Accordingly, it is advisable that teachers develop an awareness during their training of the vital role they play, for example, through their career-related emotional support in their students’ school-to-work transition. Overall, our findings emphasize the importance of equipping teachers with competencies, to support students in their career-planning process. Addressing these challenges requires a concerted effort from researchers, policymakers, and teacher educators alike.

5.1 Limitations

This review has limitations, including a narrow focus on English- or German-language studies. Despite the authors’ comprehensive search across various databases and efforts to minimize publication bias by including a wide array of publication criteria, it is possible that pertinent studies were overlooked.

6 Conclusion

This systematic review provides comprehensive insights into the empirical evidence on teachers’ competencies in career guidance. By employing the professional-competence model as a guiding framework, our analysis identified significant research gaps, including the direct and valid measurement of knowledge, the assessment of self-regulation, and the theoretical modeling of teachers’ beliefs. The findings highlight the pressing need for theoretical modeling of teachers’ professional competence in career guidance and call for further systematic research. Our extended model of teachers’ professional competence provides a foundation for subsequent discussions and research on how comprehensive teacher training can enable teachers to be better prepared for the diverse tasks in the field of school-based career guidance.

Data availability statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author contributions

CJ: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Formal analysis. SM: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. CH: Formal analysis, Validation, Writing – review & editing. AD: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

Funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Footnotes

1. ^Because the studies by Karacan Ozdemir et al. (2022) and Karacan Ozdemir and Aydın (2022) used the same sample, they were only counted once.

2. ^We use the term “teachers and education personnel” when a study’s sample includes not only teachers but also other educational staff such as instructional assistants, counselors. Specialist or principals. Studies with mixed samples are indicated in Table 3.

References

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