Breaking Down Barriers to Career Development

Springboard’s Jasmine Irwin, Adrienne Lipsey and Samantha Coronel on ways to break down barriers to career guidance in order to achieve equity.

The benefits of career guidance are not equally available to all Canadians. Historically marginalized groups face compounded barriers to both the labour force and access to career guidance. These barriers magnify social inequality and deprive the workforce of people’s best contributions. Career guidance systems in Canada need to adapt to break down barriers that prevent people from getting the support they need. Doing this means critically examining who is being shut out and what barriers are preventing them from getting help.

As part of the Future Skills Centre’s (FSC) Responsive Career Pathways initiative, this paper considers promising practices in breaking down barriers to career guidance to highlight areas for action and evidence gathering on the part of governments and organizations like the FSC.