This report presents findings from the first six months of the pilot project in Sierra Leone and is based on data collected through documented career counselling sessions with participating students. It provides early insights into student aspirations, perceived barriers, and patterns in career decision-making, and serves as an evidence base for improving practice and informing future scale-up.
Download: Pilot in Sierra Leone – Data Report (June 2025, PDF)
Career counselling in a highly constrained context: ethical reflections from a school-based pilot in Sierra Leone
Here is an article published in the NICEC Journal Vol. 56 No. 1 (2026): Ethics, philosophies and principles (EPPs) that explores the intersection of career guidance, ethical practice, and contextual constraints in low-resource settings. It examines how universal principles of career counselling, such as informed choice and individual agency, are tested and adapted in environments where opportunity structures are limited. Through a practice-based ethical analysis of the school-based counselling pilot in Freetown, Sierra Leone, the article highlights the need to interpret professional standards locally, arguing that ethical career counselling in such contexts depends on grounding universal ideals in practical, community-specific approaches.
Other resourcesThere are currently limited published resources focused specifically on school career counselling in West Africa. However, the African Journal of Career Development offers relevant research and perspectives on career guidance across the African continent and is a valuable reference point for practitioners and researchers.
From a European perspective, the International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS) at the University of Derby conducts leading research on career guidance policy and practice. iCeGS has played a central role in the development of the Gatsby Benchmarks, a widely used framework for high-quality career guidance in UK schools, and their work provides useful comparative insights for strengthening career counselling systems in other contexts.