Careers guidance in a developing country: Malaysia

Formal careers guidance services are a product of economic and social development. In relatively primitive societies, allocation to adult roles is determined largely by the family, caste or class into which one is born. As the society becomes more complex, these systems start to break down, and careers guidance services are needed to lubricate—and, perhaps, catalyse (Daws, 1977)—increasing levels of social and occupational mobility. How then is the role of careers guidance evolving in those Third World countries that are trying so to accelerate the pace of economic and social development that they will be able to catch up with the living standards attained by the Western world? How far are they being influenced by the approaches to careers guidance that have evolved in such countries as the USA and Britain? How applicable are these approaches to cultures that in many ways are very different? An opportunity to examine these questions in the context of one developing country—Malaysia—was afforded by a visit carried out in February-March 1977. This article outlines some impressions of the careers guidance system that seems to be emerging there.