From 03 to 05 April 2013, the Asia-Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA) organized its first annual conference in Seoul, South Korea. APCDA wants to provide an international forum for sharing career development ideas and experience in the Asia Pacific region with global perspectives.
Two representatives of the Ministry of Education and Training as well as seven direct programme beneficiaries Nghe An and Quang Nam province were – with the support of VVOB - able to participate in this regional milestone event. At this 2013 conference, Ms Nguyen Thi Chau (VVOB) and Ms Phoenix Ho (RMIT) provided one of the key presentations, highlighting initial achievements of the ongoing Career Guidance programme of VVOB in Vietnam in their action research paper “Bringing Career Guidance to Vietnam Secondary Schools: A Story of Hope”.
This was a unique opportunity for Vietnamese participants to get more exposure on career guidance in Secondary Education as well as to visit best practices in Korea. This included exciting visits to Job World and Gyeonggi Women's Development Centre. Job World is a comprehensive and exciting career development promotion centre, which targets children and young adults in making their career choice. The internationally awarded Gyeonggi Women's Development Centre is a career and development centre that specifically focuses on the advancement and integration of women into the labour market.
Following the APCDA conference, the Vietnamese participants not only take back several ideas to diversify modalities for career guidance in the schools but they also have recommendations to higher level. The Vietnamese delegation will report back to MOET leadership and respective provincial managers to share lessons learned and innovative ideas and to explore the possibility of hosting the APCDA conference in Vietnam by 2016.
