The results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) from 2018 indicate that as fewer than 10% of students in Bosnia and Herzegovina attend schools that provide career guidance, which is substantially lower than the OECD average of 60%–65% (Schleicher, 2019, p. 44). Earlier analyses (Biavaschi et al., 2013, p. 23) showed that youth in transition countries widely experience the sense of insecurity in the competencies they acquire in formal schooling. Additionally, it has been noted that societies with weaker social systems provide less support to the youth during the transitional points, making their choices more uncertain and their capacities less acknowledged (Reifman and Niehuis, 2023). In Bosnia and Herzegovina this may be related to the weak links between education institutions and labor market, in addition to the shortages in the implementation of outcomes and competencies-based learning (Pašalić Kreso, 2021; ETF, 2020; Bartlett et al., 2016). The consequences are visible in high share of NEET individuals (Not in Education, Employment or Training) in the country, which is currently estimated to 17.2% (World Bank, 2024). While the value is at historically lowest, it is still higher than the EU average of 11.2% (Eurostat, 2024). These figures raise questions about the policy arrangements, institutional frameworks and pedagogical design that shape the current provision of career education in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Recent scholarship emphasizes the importance of local socio-political and cultural contexts in shaping career guidance policy and its measures (Hooley and Godden, 2021; Sultana, 2024). However, research on career education in Bosnia and Herzegovina is still very scarce. There are attempts at examining application of specific vocational psychological theories in career guidance (Husremović et al., 2024), but the research attention was not so far directed to the question of how career guidance is embedded in the school curriculum, how it is conceptualized by policy or how it aligns with broader pedagogical objectives.

As part of the lifelong career guidance system (Kettunen et al., 2025), schools have a strong role in providing for career learning and support, and in some countries (e.g., Iceland, Norway, Denmark, inter alia), it is acknowledged that students have the right to receive career counselling from a competent specialist during compulsory schooling (Einarsdottir et al., 2023). Evidence from previous research confirms that school-based career education positively influences later life outcomes, including increased life satisfaction, more optimistic future outlooks, and a greater sense of preparedness for life transitions (Moote et al., 2024). However, cross-national studies reveal substantial variation in how career education is implemented, underscoring the importance of developing context-sensitive approaches that align with both systemic structures and the diverse needs of learners (Moote and Archer, 2017; Hooley, 2022; Sundelin and Lundahl, 2022; Gewirtz et al., 2024).

Career education is here defined as a systematic endeavor encompassing a wide range of formal and informal activities and experiences, both school-based and community-based, designed to support individuals navigate their careers (Hoyt, 2005). Career education seeks to make academic learning more relevant by infusing career-related themes into the compulsory curriculum and across all grade levels. The goal of career education is to offer a process of learning that integrates personal development and career awareness.

Career education is part of the wider concept of career guidance, which refers to a range of career support activities and services, besides career education (Patton and McMahon, 2021). While career guidance often includes counseling with the aim of supporting persons in making decisions, career education is a learning process, which can include processes of identity formation as well as gaining information and awareness of the environment and future prospects. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the term professional orientation is commonly used, reflecting a somewhat outdated notion that a career specialist’s role is to help individuals find an occupation that best matches their personal characteristics, which is rooted in the traditional person-environment fit paradigm. However, despite today’s more modern views on career development, professional orientation—now more commonly referred to as career orientation in policy documents and curricula—remains an essential component of career interventions (Husremović et al., 2024). Only recently, career education has become a part of the school curriculum in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but still in the field of practice not much concrete steps have been made in terms of training teachers or preparing the learning resources for integrating Career Orientation into everyday teaching. Nonetheless, it is relevant to see how is the new paradigm of career orientation established in the Core Curriculum and whether it aligns with the trends existing in the international context or is still referring to the old models of matching and decision-making. This intention informs the first research question, which will be elaborated in more detail later.

Competencies acquired or developed in career education are widely regarded as career management skills (CMS), aiming to “develop resources and competencies in people to better manage their life course” (Sultana, 2012, p. 229). CMS bring a paradigm shift in career guidance by abandoning “test and tell” or matching paradigm in favor of a learning and development paradigm (Jarvis, 2003). Developing a shared CMS framework internationally has remained a challenge over the past decades given peculiarities in socio-economic, epistemology and curricular traditions across countries (Neary et al., 2015). However, most common components of CMS across various contexts include: career learning areas (skills, attributes, attitudes and knowledge), the learning model and the levels describing the development process (Neary et al., 2015, p. 15), which are operationalized according to an individual system’s needs. Despite the growing emphasis on CMS (Kettunen et al., 2020), it is still not completely clear how this concept is translated (or not) into concrete learning outcomes and pedagogical practices within formal education. Existing research highlights gaps between the intended goals of career guidance and its actual implementation in practice (Magee et al., 2025).

The most common approaches to implementing school-based career education include (Collins and Barnes, 2017; Kettunen, 2024): (1) offering it as a standalone subject, (2) integrating career-related content within existing subjects and (3) embedding it across the entire curriculum through a comprehensive “whole school” approach.

Some education systems have a distinct subject dedicated to acquiring career-relevant knowledge, skills, attitudes and personal attributes (e.g., Personal, social, health and economic education in England). The second approach intends to support students’ career development through subject learning by demonstrating real-world application of school content and its use in everyday life (Collins and Barnes, 2017), e.g., financial planning is addressed in mathematics, self-presentation skills are covered in language classes. The third mode approaches career education as a transversal theme across all subjects and acquisition of career management skills as a learning objective is the shared responsibility of all school staff members (Kettunen, 2024). This can also include informal and voluntary activities strongly connected to the curriculum, like after-school clubs (Collins and Barnes, 2017). Due to its value for students’ wholistic development, the third approach is considered to have the highest pedagogical value (Kettunen, 2024). Each of the approaches implies a set of organizational and pedagogical challenges leading to the question of how the curriculum for career learning is designed; what are its purposes and aims, values, contents and outcomes (Simpson et al., 2011).

Cross-curricular teaching and learning is considered interdisciplinary (Dewey, 2021) and specific challenges related to this feature lay in finding balance between the perceptions of various actors about the subjects’ links. Additionally, teachers’ collaboration and school support are considered as a necessary prerequisite for such an approach (Rowley and Cooper, 2009). Cross-curricularity is widely utilized in education reforms and introducing curriculum innovations (Reid and Scott, 2005) enabling integration of competencies that are needed in a number of life and professional areas, and whose content is not limited to a specific subject (Peschar, 2000). It is regarded as the most meaningful (McCowan et al., 2023) for developing students’ functional competences. Yet, there are obvious challenges observed in implementing cross-curricular teaching (Reid and Scott, 2005). The first one is related to differing degrees of support among subject teachers for this approach due to the fact that they are not necessarily specialized in the given cross-curricular area resulting in possible lack of competencies for achieving the full educational outcomes. Subject teachers’ role and their ability to integrate the curriculum into their everyday teaching practice (Felby, 2022) is crucial for the implementation of this approach.

The cross-curricular approach gives the central role to students’ experiences and expected outcomes can be only achieved through constructive alignment, when “all components in the system become aligned to the objective” (Biggs, 1996, p. 360). Constructive alignment is described as a method to enhance students’ learning experiences and promote self-regulated learning, bridging the gap between intended and actual learning outcomes (Stamov Roßnagel et al., 2020). In this approach, teachers begin with specific concepts and align them with intended outcomes, which are then delivered through carefully adjusted activities.

Numerous initiatives have produced reference tools and publications to support the development of career guidance systems, policies and practices at both national and EU levels, such as The European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network. Although the Network ceased to exist in 2015, The Glossary (ELGPN, 2015) produced as the output of its activities still serves as a frequent reference point both in policy, practice and scholarly work.

This article seeks to contribute to the growing international literature on career guidance and curriculum studies by offering an in-depth analysis of how Career Orientation is represented in the Core Curriculum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It does so by employing a theoretical framework grounded in neo-Deweyan curriculum theory (Simpson et al., 2011), which emphasizes four dimensions of curriculum analysis and development; epistemological, pedagogical, anthropological and ecological. Career Orientation has only recently been formally introduced in the Core Curriculum, and its integration into educational practice remains yet not explored. With the aim of addressing this gap and based on the conceptualizations outlined earlier as well as the theoretical framework to be presented in the following section, three main questions have been formulated for this research:

In the following, we first outline the institutional context of career education in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then we describe theoretical framework to analyze the position of Career Orientation based on neo-Deweyan theory of curriculum analysis and development and outline the methodological framework for the present research. The results section explores how Career Orientation is conceptualized and integrated as a cross-curricular area within the Core Curriculum in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Finally, we present a discussion of the key challenges and propose directions for improving the current approach to Career Orientation in schools.

The comprehensive review of the career guidance system in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Markuš et al., 2022) showed that this area is insufficiently addressed through the legal framework, with the scope of career guidance issues varying from one administrative unit in the country to another. Therefore, the analysis in this paper was based on the Core Curriculum passed at the state level, which is the guiding document for all 12 education authorities responsible for designing specific curricula.¹ The Core Curriculum represents the overall state-wide orientation, at least declaratively. It sets recommendations that are further translated into curricular documents at lower levels of education administration, and this is still an ongoing process, as educational authorities progress at different pace.

Career orientation is traditionally considered a common task within the annual work plan of school counselors (pedagogues) who are graduates of Pedagogy, trained for the general competencies needed in the guidance process. In some cases, school counselors have completed dual study program in Pedagogy and Psychology. Still, career orientation activities represent a small part of the overall school counselors’ workload encompassing whole range of activities directed to supporting students, teachers, parents and cooperation with the local community (MOOKS, 2023). A typical way of implementing career orientation in schools throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina is through activities organized during specific classes in the final years of elementary (grade 9) or secondary school (grade 3 or 4) through workshops and using various assessment instruments. Additionally, guest lectures and visits to other educational institutions or companies are organized. However, the intensity, type of activities and approaches to career orientation are the choice of school counselors and vary across schools, which is difficult to identify due to non-existing evaluation, monitoring and review of career education practices.

The initial steps to integrate career education in the Core Curriculum have been made with the enactment of a regulation in 2015 (Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2015), leading to the development and finalization of the document in 2018 which integrates Career Orientation as a Cross-Curricular area. This means that learning objectives related to this area are met by connecting different school subjects through thematic integration and activities within the regular teaching process (APOSO, 2018). Subjects involved in this integrated approach include Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language, Biology and Sports, Social Sciences, Foreign Languages, Arts, Mathematics, and STEM. Some activities are also conducted through workshops by class headteachers or school counselors. Career Orientation in the Core Curriculum is designed to span from preschool through the end of secondary school, with age specific attainment definitions.

Given the country’s aspirations for the EU membership and its tendency to align its documents with EU practices, it is expected that there is a congruence between the concepts related to career education in the Core Curriculum and those in the ELGPN Glossary, which represents the reference for the wider EU framework. Given the declared orientation of educational authorities at various levels to reform curricula based on outcomes and competencies (Guthrie et al., 2022), it can also be expected that the Career Orientation area in the Core Curriculum would follows this direction. Furthermore, ongoing curricular reforms at various levels of educational administration aim to forge a more competency-based and outcomes-oriented approach to learning in schools (OSCE, 2020). The results of this analysis provide insights into what is a declared orientation of the curriculum and what are the existing practices enabling the implementation of cross-curricular, outcome-based teaching.

Theoretical framework for this research comes from the neo-Deweyan theory of curriculum analysis and development as described by Simpson et al. (2011). The particular theoretical framework offers an expanded understanding of curriculum that moves beyond conventional, subject-based definitions to include broader look rooted in Dewey’s educational philosophy. The neo-Deweyan theoretical approach acknowledges four curricular dimensions:

Dominant curricular messages within each of the domain can be systematically identified on the basis of the Heuristic Instrument for the Analysis of Curriculum Emphases (HIACE). The application of such an instrument would require language adaptation and validation in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which can be an impetus for initiating new research dedicated to this. Instead of translating and adapting the HIACE for this research, we used secondary data from the official analysis conveyed by the Institute for Development of Pre-University Education (Džumhur et al., 2024). The selected data sets are aligned with the descriptions of epistemological, pedagogical and ecological curriculum dimensions, while anthropological is missing and would be difficult to grasp unless ethnographic research is conveyed.

The new-Deweyan theoretical framework is particularly suited to the second and third research questions, which examine how the curriculum for career learning is conceptualized and operationalized, but also how the broader curriculum is perceived to be functioning. Career Orientation, as defined in the Core Curriculum, requires a curricular perspective that captures its interdisciplinary and experiential character. The neo-Deweyan framework allows for an exploration of how Career Orientation is enacted not only through explicit subject matter (epistemological), but also through pedagogical methods, cultural responsiveness and the educational environment itself. It provides a basis to question whether Career Orientation in the Core Curriculum is designed with coherence between its stated aims and actual practices, and whether it reflects a commitment to providing students meaningful career learning experiences.

To address the defined research questions, the method of document analysis was used. It can be triangulated with other methods or act independently. Document analysis has been selected for this research due to its relevance within qualitative, interpretive paradigms and its strong alignment with the aims of curriculum analysis (Bowen, 2009; Cardno, 2018; Gross, 2018). Document analysis enables a systematic examination of official documents such as curricula, policy frameworks and guidelines, as well as secondary data collected through surveys. In this research, the aim is to explore the integration of career orientation within the Core Curriculum, but also its epistemological, pedagogical and ecological foundations. This aligns closely with the neo-Deweyan perspective where documents, persons and practices are treated as carriers of meaning that require contextual and conceptual interpretation (Simpson et al., 2011). Documents offer stable, non-reactive data that can be revisited multiple times, allowing for in-depth analysis of curricular intentions, terminology and underlying assumptions. In this context, the Core Curriculum serves as a bounded case, and document analysis provides a direct insight into how career learning is framed by educational authorities and curriculum developers.

The analysis is based on two curricular documents and secondary analysis of data set evaluating the Curriculum implementation by students and teachers in Sarajevo Canton (Džumhur et al., 2024). This particular part of the country was chosen for the ongoing processes of curricular reform initiated in 2020, which has gone the furthest compared to other parts of the country. Secondary data analysis utilizes existing or primary datasets to answer new research questions (Kelly et al., 2024). According to the same authors, it can include any previously collected data for different purposes. In this case, datasets were obtained by a public institute through their regular evaluation procedures. Urick (2018) describes the use of secondary analysis of large data sets obtained through international and national programs (e.g., Schools and Staffing Survey in the USA) for analyzing processes and characteristics of school contexts to build frameworks of systems through which schools operate.

Documents included in the analysis:

The Guidelines for Implementation of Cross-Curricular Areas are focused on activities and practical recommendations for teachers, while the Core Curriculum contains outcomes and attainment indicators. For comparison purposes regarding expected results, the ELGPN Glossary (2015) was also analyzed as a reference to the EU policies and practices context.

Aligned with the research questions, the units of analysis included:

Quantitative data were extracted from the existing report (Džumhur et al., 2024) and interpreted according to the given research questions. Qualitative data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis in Atlas.ti 24 software. This method involves a category-driven coding process to identify, analyze, organize, describe and report themes within a dataset. Categories were data-driven and developed through a step-by-step open coding process (Kuckartz, 2019, p. 184). While no predefined analytical framework was applied, some concepts were defined based on prior theoretical knowledge. This sensitizing framework consisted of general concepts, rather than those with specific, precise meanings (Charmaz, 2015, p. 405), which was particularly sought in this research.

Intensive data analysis resulted in analytical categories that extended beyond mere data description to include comparison and concept mapping using Atlas.ti 24 software. Concept mapping primarily involves visualizing the interconnectedness of concepts found in empirical material. It serves as both a method of data collection and data analysis (Morgan and Guevara, 2008). When applied in data analysis, concept mapping helps synthesize, organize, and identify relationships and meanings between different concepts (Conceição et al., 2017).

To address the two research questions, the qualitative analysis process described by Kuckartz (2019) was adapted as follows;

In the concept mapping stage, it was also necessary to code the identified relationships based on the data from the Core Curriculum and CMS documents.

This paper aimed to examine how Career Orientation as cross-curricular area is embedded within the Core Curriculum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, focusing on three research questions. The first question addressed whether the curriculum reflects a new paradigm of career orientation, in line with recommendations in EU policy, or whether it remains rooted in traditional approaches based on person-environment fit and decision-making. The second question explored how the curriculum for career learning is pedagogically designed in terms of learning outcomes and teaching guidelines drawing on the neo-Deweyan theoretical framework and its two dimensions—epistemological and pedagogical (Simpson et al., 2011). The third questioned students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the overall school’s capacity for implementing cross-curricular approach including student-centered learning, collaborative and participatory teaching practices.

Findings from the document analysis indicate a partial but incomplete shift toward the new paradigm of career learning. On the surface, the Core Curriculum has adopted terminology and structural elements that resonate with the EU discourse (ELPGN, 2015; Neary et al., 2015; Mackay et al., 2021; Einarsdottir et al., 2023). However, a deeper analysis reveals that the conceptualization of career orientation within the Core Curriculum is still largely influenced by traditional paradigm. The emphasis on assessing individual characteristics and matching them to suitable occupations echoes the long-standing person-environment fit model (Husremović et al., 2024). While the presence of workshop scenarios and experiential learning activities points to an attempt to incorporate more learner-centered approaches (Biggs, 1996; Simpson et al., 2011; Stamov Roßnagel et al., 2020), the underlying logic of these interventions often remains anchored in a prescriptive and cognitively focused model of career learning.

In terms of curriculum design, the most elaborated epistemological and pedagogical dimensions of Career Orientation are learning areas and learning outcomes. Learning outcomes are structured around knowledge and focus on students’ ability to understand career-related concepts, identify occupational options and make informed decisions. What appears to be lacking is a more dedicated engagement with the practical skills and affective domain; values, attitudes, stereotypes, which are critical components of meaningful and transformative career learning (Neary et al., 2015). Life courses have become increasingly less structured and predictable. There is a growing awareness that career decisions are not a one-time event and that there will be a need for various decisions based on changes and learning throughout one’s lifetime (Marciniak et al., 2020). This notion challenges the stability of the career construct and highlights the importance of gaining skills for lifelong career management and adaptability. Moreover, youth face increased challenges when transitioning from education to the workforce (Reifman and Niehuis, 2023).

The Core Curriculum acknowledges that career orientation is a lifelong process, while decision-making and maturity are identified as key career learning outcomes in this document. On the other side, career readiness and career adaptability are more often present in the international context (cf. Marciniak et al., 2020). Career learning competencies are implicitly defined through general career learning areas and expected learning outcomes, following a general approach of three main topics: understanding and developing oneself, exploring life and developing and managing one’s career. Descriptors for specific competencies are missing in the context of career learning, and it is still not possible to speak of a CMS framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

All these suggest that while the Core Curriculum of Bosnia and Herzegovina is moving toward alignment with EU recommendations in career education, the transition is not yet fully implemented. Therefore, Career Orientation curriculum reflects a hybrid model, where new terminology and methods are introduced but not fully embedded within a new paradigm of career learning and development. This underpins the need for a more integrated and holistic approach that embraces all four curricular dimensions (Simpson et al., 2011) and places greater emphasis on the emotional, ethical and social aspects of career learning. Future revisions should aim to deepen the pedagogical and anthropological components of career learning and to design learning outcomes that address not only what students should know, but also how they feel, who they are and how they relate to different relationships and roles in society.

There are still no indicators on how Career Orientation is implemented in practice and what its outcomes are. The entire education system is undergoing curricular reform, which progresses at different paces in different parts of the country, and it is too early to assess the results of Career Orientation integration into the national Core Curriculum. Therefore, we included data providing insight into the current implementation of the overall curriculum by students and teachers in Sarajevo Canton. The data cover main prerequisites for career education as a cross-curricular approach (Rowley and Cooper, 2009; Collins and Barnes, 2017): a shared school vision and strong collaboration, a well-designed curriculum, trained staff and a strong focus on the learning process.

Findings from this analysis suggests that students perceive student-centered practices to be present sometimes to most of the time, but not consistently. The most frequent teacher actions are traditional, teacher-controlled practices such as giving instructions and asking content-related questions. Meanwhile, elements like student agency, differentiation, motivation, and feedback are less visible, indicating a gap in the full implementation of core student-centered learning principles. However, in previous studies this proved to be a cornerstone of career education (Marciniak et al., 2020).

The data suggest that while teachers show moderate levels of engagement in curriculum implementation, significant barriers remain that limit the full realization of a paradigm shift toward student-centered and integrated learning. One of the key obstacles identified is the lack of adequate educational resources. In the context of a cross-curricular and interdisciplinary approach, this limitation is particularly constraining, because for new learning areas as Career Orientation, completely new teaching resources need to be designed. Interdisciplinary teaching requires not only subject-specific resources but also materials that support thematic, project-based and integrative learning experiences (Peschar, 2000). This suggests a gap between the intentions of curriculum reform and the structural conditions necessary for its successful implementation, also documented in other contexts (Magee et al., 2025).

The relatively low frequency of joint planning and collaboration highlights the underdeveloped culture of professional cooperation. Interdisciplinary teaching and cross-curricular integration depend heavily on collaboration among teachers, including co-planning, shared reflection and alignment of goals and assessments (Biggs, 1996; Reid and Scott, 2005). Without structured time and institutionalized support for these processes, cross-curricular efforts risk remaining isolated or superficial, rather than transformative.

Teachers’ moderate understanding of learning outcomes and their implementation in classroom practice also speaks to the persistence of a traditional subject-based paradigm. Many teachers still operate within a framework focused on content delivery, individual responsibility and fragmented subject areas. The fact that many teachers express uncertainty regarding learning outcomes and indicators suggests that the conceptual and pedagogical shift required for cross-curricular teaching has not yet been internalized at scale. The evidence from education systems with higher degree of resources and development show that implementation of career learning into the everyday school practice can bear multiple challenges (Moote and Archer, 2017; Felby, 2022; Einarsdottir et al., 2023). However, this reinforces the notion that introduction of Career Orientation into the curriculum will not bring fast solutions, even more, can generate further challenges that should be dealt with pedagogical attention.

Furthermore, limited professional support and ongoing challenges with implementing learning outcomes in practice reflect a broader tension between curriculum innovation and systemic readiness. A true paradigm shift from transmission-based teaching to constructivist, student-centered and interdisciplinary learning requires more than just curricular documentation. It demands comprehensive capacity building, including in-service teacher education, school-level leadership and policy alignment across all levels of the education system. In light of these findings, it is clear that the implementation of an interdisciplinary, outcome-oriented curriculum must be supported by enabling conditions: accessible and relevant materials, institutionalized structures for joint planning, professional development aligned with curricular philosophy and a school culture that values collaborative inquiry and shared responsibility.