TRAINING
All counsellors working in the National Employment Service have qualifications in psychology and counselling. However, the qualifications of practitioners working in other sectors vary substantially. For example, in primary schools, teachers and pedagogues/psychologists underwent additional training in professional orientation. Additionally, many teachers, psychologists and pedagogues from secondary education underwent seminars on career guidance developed by Euroguidance centre, Belgrade Open School, GIZ, and many others. There have been 14 accredited programmes for continuous professional development in educational sector. In addition, there are 6 accredited programs for supporting professionals working with vulnerable groups in social services. The Standards of career guidance and counselling services, which has been adopted in 2019, defines general and specific competencies of career guidance practitioners.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
One of the latest initiatives in the area of career guidance was the adoption of the Bylaw on Standards of Career Guidance and Counselling services by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development in 2019. This document serves as a guideline for career guidance services providers regarding the organization of quality activities for their users. In November 2025 the updated version of the Bylaw on Standards of Career Guidance and Counselling services was presented.
There are several studies on the guidance system generally and the provision of services in specific sectors. One of them, “Feasibility study regarding the founding of the national resource centre for career guidance and counselling in Serbia and further development of career guidance and counselling system in Serbia” was conducted in 2014 as a part of the project funded by the European Delegation to the Republic of Serbia. There have been several other research studies conducted mostly in the NGO and academic sectors. One example of such a study was “Career Guidance in Secondary Schools – Current State and Further Steps” by Belgrade Open School. Belgrade Open School also conducted a study in 2016 in secondary schools which aimed to investigate types of activities represented in school career guidance programme. Most recent study “Implementation of Career Guidance and Counselling Services” was conducted in 2023 by Institute for Pedagogy and Andragogy – University of Belgrade.
ETHICS
The Ethical Principles for Career Practitioners were developed during 2025 within the cross-sectoral working group for improving the quality of CGC services. Those principles are developed to ensure the professionalism of providing CGC services and support the career practitioners in their everyday practice. The three main areas covered with those principles are working with clients, responsible practice and community engagement.
