FinnFram is a doctoral school focused on career learning, career guidance and transitions between school, further education and work.

The doctoral school is organised in collaboration between Umeå, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö universities and includes nine doctoral students altogether. The doctoral school runs until and including 2026.

The doctoral school's goals

Based on the curriculums' "quality in the study and career guidance - the responsibility of the whole school", the first goal is to develop teacher educators' ability to analyse to what extent and how career guidance is directly or indirectly involved in all the school's activities. Career paths have become more complex and fraught with risk, which has particularly affected individuals without a high school education, whose parents are poorly educated, who have a non-Nordic background and individuals with functional diversity. Young people are expected to make important decisions early on about the choice of school and education, and by extension professional direction, and unconsidered decisions are associated with more significant risks than before. It takes significantly longer to establish yourself in the labour market today than it did 30 years ago. That teaching has content that includes career guidance has thus probably never been as important as it is today, especially for those in vulnerable positions. The research school must therefore provide teacher educators with a solid scientific basis to prepare teachers and career counsellors for this assignment.

The doctoral school's second goal is to make a substantial contribution to the international research field in career learning, guidance and transitions between school, further education and work. The research field is generally small and an organization that involves international collaborations broadens the opportunities for knowledge exchange and thus the opportunities to push the research front forward.

Umeå University coordinates the doctoral school – read more