In Slovenia, there is no institution that would promote the development of career guidance in terms of programme development as well as implementation in form of curricular and extracurricular activities or provide training for guidance workers. In fact, one also cannot say that government realizes the importance of developing this field for personal and occupational development of youth, which would also contribute to the long-term economic development of the country.

There are numerous incentives on the nongovernmental as well as governmental side - some schools are very active and innovative. However, different career guidance providers often work separately, rediscovering what has already been discovered. There is an absence of coordination, ideas and knowledge exchange. As the nongovernmental sector remains unexploited, numerous ideas and programmes remain implemented only on the local level. This sector also faces many difficulties in providing their services in schools.

There is a significant lack of literature in Slovenian language on career guidance. One of the reasons is that this field is not extensively researched and there are no university programmes or research institutes dealing with this field. There are no resource centres available on line, where information on labour market demand and prognosis of future trends would be available.

Reasons:

• In Slovenia, career guidance is not perceived as important;
• The system is probably still under the influence of oriented education and vocational guidance, which was supposed to be the responsibility of decision makers on the national level. However, career guidance should be a mutual responsibility of school system, individuals (the youth), their parents and companies. Nevertheless, such complex organization is difficult to coordinate;
• Current situation is the result of absence of coordinating institution on the national level in the field of career guidance;
• Inadequate financing of the non-governmental sector. This sector does not have enough employees to finish some of career guidance projects that work well in local environments;
• Disproportionate public funding: too much for working with the unemployed and too little for preventive activities;
• Some public tenders are set too narrow and open public tenders for developing career guidance do not yet exist.

Consequences:

• The school curriculum does not clearly foresee timeframe for career guidance;
• The youth are deciding on their study programmes at the last moment and then often decide for "fashionable" programmes instead of those that match their interest and capabilities best;
• The youth can not make the best use of their potential;
• School counsellors are left to their own originality in initiating career guidance;
• The youth are not sufficiently prepared for labour market entry after finishing school. 

Possible solutions:

• Establishment of an nationally coordinated institution in the field of career guidance;
• Introduction of a study programme at university level;
• Improved co-ordination of NGOs to improve employability of the youth;
• More emphasis on nonformal education as an important element of life-long learning and career guidance;
• Establisment of monitoring system on the labour market trends and enabling wide access to these information.