Funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and organized by the Department of Social Work, CUHK, the CLAP@JC Community of Practice Session on “Good Career and Life Development (CLD) Policy Practice for Youth: The Experiences in OECD Countries and European Countries” was held successfully on 29 March 2022 via Zoom.
Over 150 participants from different parts of the world, including Cambodia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, South Korea, Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam, attended the event.
It was an honor to have Dr. Anthony Mann, Senior Policy Analyst (Education and Skills), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Prof. Howard Williamson, Professor, European Youth Policy, South Wales Business School, University of South Wales, as our guest speakers. They shared good practices from OECD countries - early and integrated career guidance that emphasizes employers’ engagement in facilitating youth’s career readiness and transitions to employment, as well as the development and implementation of youth policy in Council of Europe member states in the past two decades. The presentations were eye-opening and brought in different perspectives from regional and global contexts and can provide valuable references to the policy practice for youth’s CLD in Hong Kong.
We are also delighted to have commentators Prof. Bong-joo Lee, Professor, Department of Social Welfare, Seoul National University, and Prof. James Côté, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, gave insightful reflections on the topic. Their sharing offered more experience in facilitating youth’s school-to-work transition and elaborated on the important roles of different stakeholders including family members, employers, researchers, and policymakers in youth’s identity formation and career awareness. Moreover, meaningful discussions on good practices in the business and education sectors to promote good CLD for young people, especially in the post-Covid era, were made by guest speakers, commentators, and participants during the roundtable discussion.
Group photo with participants