Green guidance training in Nancy: Reimagining the future of career practice
From 8 to 12 September 2025, Nancy hosted ten career guidance practitioners from Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Latvia and Slovakia. They came from diverse settings – schools, employment services, universities and adult guidance centres – but shared the same interest: how to connect sustainability and career practice. Over five days, participants explored Green Guidance, a growing approach that brings ecological transition, social justice and sustainability into the heart of guidance work. The intensive five-day training dedicated Green Guidance – from theory to practice, focused on two new resources developed within the Exploring Green Guidance project: the Green Guidance Handbook and its practical
The week was structured around the five dimensions of green guidance: discovering and learning about the sustainable world, reconnecting with the world, deciding with the needs of the world in mind, reimagining the world, and changing the world. Each dimension was explored through a blend of theoretical input, experiential exercises, and demonstrations of tools designed to be directly transferable into practice. The training used also nature as a setting for some of the activities.
The opening day set the tone: participants introduced themselves not only with words but also through childhood photographs and outdoor reflections. The first activities invited them to consider their own motivations and values as future “green guidance ambassadors.” An icebreaker built on the animated film Wall-E led to reflections about work, technology and the ecological crisis, followed by a lively quiz on climate change. What could have remained abstract quickly became personal, as participants were asked to describe their purpose as guidance practitioners in a world facing planetary limits.
The second day shifted the focus towards ethical reflections, drawing on critical texts and small-group dialogues. Participants explored dilemmas around neutrality in guidance, individual versus systemic responsibility, and the courage it takes to raise ecological issues with clients. These conversations laid the groundwork for a shared ethical framework and highlighted that green guidance is not just about tools, but about values, commitments and goals of our career practice.
As the week unfolded, the rhythm alternated between practical workshops and conceptual discussions. Participants tried out methods from the Handbook, role-playing with each other as counsellors and clients. This hands-on experimentation was repeatedly highlighted as one of the strongest aspects of the training. As one participant put it: “The training as a whole gave lots of inspiration but I think a key was to actually try out different activities. It will (hopefully) make it easier to green my daily practice.”
The third and fourth days were especially dense. They combined tool demonstrations with theoretical sessions on green jobs, labour market transformations, the concept of resonance, the role of robustness in careers, utopian thinking and the critique of “zombie narratives” that still dominate our views on work. Several participants noted that they would have appreciated more time to dive into these concepts, and perhaps to move theory earlier in the week to make the practical exercises even more meaningful. Others valued the balance: “For me it was a perfect mix of theory, experimenting with different methods, and group reflections. Don’t change this training week!”
What was most agreeable throughout was the atmosphere of trust and openness. The group quickly built a safe environment where doubts and ethical dilemmas could be voiced. Environmental crisis is not an easy topic to bring into career conversations, and many practitioners struggle with how to raise it without creating guilt or resistance. One participant reflected: “It was necessary to get to know each other better, to open our minds to environmental needs, and also to discover the possibilities we have within our work with clients and groups. A crucial part was dealing with our commitment to speak about climate change, opening the discussion with our clients, being able to work with the ethical point of view, and also gaining courage.”
A distinctive feature of the programme was the “greening” of participants’ own tools. Everyone had brought along methods they normally use in their daily practice—worksheets, card sets, question frameworks—and throughout the week they worked on adapting them by applying the five principles of green guidance. This exercise made the approach tangible, showing how sustainability can be woven into existing guidance practices rather than added as an extra layer.
The week ended with action planning. Participants were invited to place themselves on a “readiness scale” as ambassadors of green guidance and to identify concrete steps they would take after returning home. The closing ritual, a collective mandala made of natural objects, symbolised the diversity of perspectives and strengths that each practitioner brought to the group.
Like any pilot training, there were also suggestions for improvement: slowing down the pace on some theoretical inputs, leaving more time for reflection, or even adding an extra day to reduce the intensity of the schedule. A few also suggested a preparatory online meeting before the face-to-face week, to allow participants to arrive with a common grounding. But overall the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. As one participant concluded simply: “I found all of them very helpful. I would not like to have missed one single part of the whole week!”
The training in Nancy was only the beginning. The next international session will take place from 2–6 March 2026 in Bratislava, Slovakia, where practitioners from across Europe will gather again to deepen the practice and continue building a community of green guidance ambassadors.