Í greininni er rakin saga náms- og starfsráðgjafar á Íslandi frá upphafi á sjötta áratug síðustu aldar og fram að aldamótunum 2000. Sérstök áhersla er lögð á að segja frá frumkvöðlum náms- og starfsráðgjafar og frá athöfnum stjórnvalda. Þetta var skrykkjótt ferli, til dæmis hófst lagasetning um náms- og starfsráðgjöf á framhaldsskólastigi árið 1970 en ekki fyrr en árið 1991 á grunnskólastigi. Af stjórnvaldsathöfnum má þó ráða að þörfin fyrir þessa þjónustu hafi farið vaxandi allt þetta tímabil og í lögum, reglugerðartextum, námskrám og ráðuneytisskýrslum voru sett fram skilgreind markmið náms- og starfsráðgjafar á hverjum tíma, sem falla að hugmyndum um velferð þegnanna í námi og starfi. Í greininni kemur fram að viðvarandi verkfæraskortur var í faginu, til dæmis vantaði heildstætt upplýsingakerfi um nám og störf og færni- og áhugakannanir. Með tilkomu náms í námsráðgjöf við Háskóla Íslands árið 1990 skapaðist grunnur að faglegri og almennri þjónustu í náms- og starfsráðgjöf.
The history of policy making in school and career guidance in Iceland from its beginnings
in the 1950s to the year 2000 is the focus of this research. Legislation and directives at
different levels in the education system are described over a long period of time, as well
as ministerial reports. These documents tell us that policy makers have been interested
in the career development of citizens, and hence their welfare in education and work.
Another research focus was the contribution of three pioneers of career guidance in
Iceland: Ólafur Gunnarsson (1917‒1988), Stefán Ólafur Jónsson (b. 1922) and Gerður G.
Óskarsdóttir (b. 1943). They all worked at the Ministry of Education for shorter or longer
periods and had training in guidance or counselling psychology. All three were authors
of teaching materials in career education. Gerður led the ministerial project or campaign
from 1989–1991 as an assistant to the Minister of Education and his chief advisor in
educational affairs. Another related focus point of this research is the slow emergence of professionalisation
in guidance and counselling; the history of school counselling and career education
has had its highs and lows. The question is what fuels development in the making of a
new profession and what hinders it? An example of a hindrance in the development of
guidance is from the year 1973. Career education was by then quite developed in lower
secondary schools. The development of career education ended quite abruptly in 1974
due to new legislation for the compulsory school (I. grunnskóli) that placed no emphasis
on career education. This legislation also led to structural changes in the schooling of
young adolescents and abolished the curriculum on career education. The draft preceding
this legislation in 1974 presented a guidance system, where 26 guidance counsellors
would be of service to young adolescents in the compulsory school. Parliament removed
this guidance system from the draft for financial and ideological reasons, and it was only
20 years later that guidance counsellors started working at the compulsory level. A likely
explanation for this blockage in 1973 was the absence of professional guidance counsellors
in the country. The weak presence of career education in compulsory schools ever
since probably has its roots in this unsuccessful policy making. According to a study from
2014 only 20% of compulsory schools have career education on their agenda. This situation
is very different from our neighbouring countries, such as Norway and Finland,
where career education is a mandatory subject in the two last grades of compulsory
education.
An example of a rapid development in guidance and counselling services was the ministerial
project or campaign from 1989–1991, fuelled by a small but enthusiastic group of
professionals. As a result, counsellor positions were increased at both compulsory school
level and upper secondary school level and the one year post-graduate diploma course
in school counselling was launched in 1990 at the University of Iceland. This counsellor
education course paved the way for professionalism in the field.
As reflected by the quote in the title of the article, the lack of counselling tools has
been a major drawback in the history of school and career guidance and counselling in
Iceland. The feeling that Stefán Ólafur Jónsson describes in the words “I had to start from
nothing” well describes the situation in guidance and counselling for the most part of the
20th century, since materials like occupational descriptions or interest inventories were
very scarce. To this day, a comprehensive career information database has never existed
neither on paper nor on the web and teaching materials in career education are rare.
Legislation on counsellors in upper secondary schools developed from the early seventies,
with numerous laws and regulations. School counselling in compulsory schools
started 20 years later. This uneven development raises the question as to whether comprehensive
legislation is necessary for those two school levels, centering on the preparation
and readiness for studies in upper secondary schools.
