Professional Guidance Counsellor Education
Field of studies
- Professional Student Counsellor Education
- Teacher Education
Registration period
- Teacher's education - Joint Application 2025
Teaching language
- English
Type of education
- Professional Teacher Education Qualification
Academic level
- Teacher's Pedagogical Qualifications
Campus
- Online
Teaching format
- Online Learning
Become a Bettermaker – Get a guidance counsellor’s qualification!
In HAMK’s Professional Guidance Counsellor Education programme, you study flexibly online. The programme provides you with a broad foundation and qualification to work in study and career counselling across various educational fields. The programme is a continuing education programme for teachers, particularly aimed at those working in vocational institutions and universities of applied sciences.
During the studies, you will build your own guidance counsellor identity and expand your professional skills as a guidance counsellor. You will learn to examine, assess, and develop study and career counselling, and to work within national and international networks. Throughout the programme, you will develop your own counselling framework, which you will reflect on in relation to your counselling expertise and society.
The Professional Guidance Counsellor Education programme takes approximately 13 months to complete. You can study and work at the same time, or you may study full-time if you prefer. The programme has 1-2 days per month when lectures take place online. In addition to the lectures, the programme includes independent and group work.
Find more about our programme below and apply! Welcome to HAMK, you’re here to make a change.
Objective
Becoming a guidance counsellor starts with continuous professional growth. Your background and experience as a teacher will gradually develop into counselling skills. During the studies, you will build a framework for guidance and counselling, helping you examine the key questions in study and career counselling and apply them to your work as a guidance counsellor. You will also gain skills that support lifelong learning and the development of your counselling competence in culturally and linguistically diverse environments.
As a guidance counsellor, you will face the constantly changing demands of the evolving working world. You will help students and clients build their own study paths and careers. The professional guidance counsellor education provides a broad foundation and conceptual tools for a unique and meaningful role focused on interaction.
Qualification provided by education
The programme provides you with broad qualifications for positions as a guidance counsellor in higher education, vocational education, upper secondary schools, and basic education. The programme also provides skills for entrepreneurship in career counselling.
Career opportunities
Professional guidance counsellor education graduates typically find employment in expert roles related to study and career counselling within educational institutions. As a guidance counsellor, you can also work in career counselling specialist roles or in human resources and development positions, including in the corporate sector. The education equips you with counselling skills suited for various roles in the education and employment sectors.
Apply to study
Separate and Transfer Application
Professional Guidance Counsellor Education
- Application begins:
- Application ends:
- Studies begin:Spring 2025
- Places of Study:55
Shortcuts
Browse our website or jump directly to one of the following sections:
Study methods
Read more about the study group for the academic year 2025-2026 on the right.
All the online meeting dates for 2025-2026 will be published on this website in December 2024.
You can read more information about the study practical matters on the Student Pages.
Professional Guidance Counsellor Education is a continuing programme for teachers. The programme is aimed at those working in vocational education institutions and universities of applied sciences. The entry requirement is qualification as a vocational education teacher.
In order to study online, you must have a computer equipped with a camera, a headset and a microphone combination, preferably a fixed internet connection and master user rights to the computer or the employer’s IT support. The camera connection is important in online learning as all the meetings and lectures take place online. Online meetings are held in a secure Zoom environment. The learning environment is Moodle.
Study group for 2025-2026
Professional Guidance Counsellor Education online programme, 13 months (separate admission group)
- The programme is recommended for individuals who have gained a teacher’s pedagogical qualification in Finland, and wish to complete their professional guidance councellor education in English.
- The programme provides you with broad qualifications for positions as a guidance counsellor in higher education, vocational education, upper secondary schools, and basic education.
- Applicants will be ranked and selected based on their application scores regardless of their fields of education.
- The teaching language of the programme is English. The applicant’s English language level must be IELTS 6/CEFR B2 plus.
- The studies include a total of 12 online workshop days and two supervised small group meetings, which will take place on weekdays between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM (Finnish time).
- Attendance at the online workshop days and small group meetings is mandatory. Learning together is an essential part of the studies.
- Studies begin on 9th of May 2025, and ends on 5th of June 2026.
Three reasons to study the Professional Guidance Counsellor Programme!
You will find truly individual and flexible study paths with us. We focus on personalized guidance.
You can study the whole programme online.
Our programme is based on current topics related to guidance, examining phenomena, learning from others, and sharing knowledge collaboratively.
Contact information
Ask about applying
Admission Services of Professional Guidance Councellor Education
Eligibility criteria
The eligibility criteria for the Professional Guidance Counsellor Programme is a teacher qualifications for teaching vocational or common units in vocational education. This means that you must have completed
- teacher’s pedagogical studies (60 ECTS) at a professional teacher education institution or as part of university studies.
- degree required for eligibility
- work experience required for eligibility.
The eligibility criteria must be met by the end of the application period.
If you have completed your teacher’s pedagogical studies at a university, you may need to verify your work experience in the field. The work experience is required if your degree’s major is vocational. Those who have completed teacher’s pedagogical studies at a professional teacher education institution have had their work experience checked when applying to the professional teacher education studies.
Teachers of vocational units are required to have a minimum of 3 years of work experience that corresponds to the content of their degree. Teachers in the field of social services and health must have a minimum of 3 or 5 years of work experience, depending on their degree. Professional work experience is not required of teachers of common units.
Work experience can be verified if necessary during the student selection process.
Those, who aim for student counselling positions at primary schools or uppder secondary schools can also apply for the Professional Guidance Counsellor Education Programme, if their education and work experience meet the eligibility criteria.
Admission criteria
The selection procedure is based on national selection criteria agreed on and used by all professional teacher education institutions participating in the joint application process. The professional teacher education institutions involved are Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Häme University of Applied Sciences, JAMK University of Applied Sciences and Oulu University of Applied Sciences, but only Häme University of Applied Sciences offer the programme in English.
Students are selected for study places in the order of their admission points within a specific admission group. No entrance exam is used in the student selection.
In 2025, 55 new students will be selected for guidance councellor education, of which 12 study places are reserved for the Professional Guidance Counsellor Education programme in English. Those applying to this group will form a separate selection group, and students will be selected in order of application points.
The education and experience must be acquired by the end of the application period.
Admission Point Scoring System:
Educational studies completed since 1 January 2015 when the scope of an individual course is at least 1 ECTS, 1 competence point or 27 hours
| Sum of completed credits | Points |
| Less than 1 ECTS | 0 points |
| 1 to 3 ECTS | 1 point |
| 4 to 7 ECTS | 1,5 points |
| 8 to 11 ECTS | 2 points |
| 12 to 15 ECTS | 2,5 points |
| 16 to 19 ECTS | 3 points |
| 20 to 23 ECTS | 3,5 points |
| 24 to 27 ECTS | 4 points |
| 28 to 31 ECTS | 4,5 points |
| 32 ECTS or more | 5 points |
| Experience in months | Points |
| less than 3 months | 0 points |
| 3 to 6 months | 0,5 points |
| over 6 to 12 months | 1 point |
| over 12 to 18 months | 2 points |
| over 18 to 24 months | 3 points |
| over 24 to 30 months | 4 points |
| over 30 months | 5 points |
Those who have worked under the title of guidance counsellor and/or have given guidance counsellor lessons as specified in the working hours plan
| Experience in months | Points |
| less than 3 months | 0 points |
| 3 to 6 months | 0,5 points |
| over 6 to 12 months | 1 point |
| over 12 to 18 months | 2 points |
| over 18 to 24 months | 3 points |
| over 24-30 months | 4 points |
| over 30 months | 5 points |
| Duration of experience | Points |
| No experience or less than five (5) months of study guidance and counselling experience from a vocational institution, university of appiled sciences and/or university | 0 points |
| At least five (5) months of study guidance and counselling experience from a vocational institution, university of appiled sciences and/or university. | 5 points |
Guidance and counselling work carried out in a place other than an educational institution. Guidance and counselling must be aimed at those over the age of compulsory education.
| Experience in months | Points |
| less than 6 months | 0 points |
| 6 to 12 months | 1 point |
| over 12 to 18 months | 2 points |
| over 18 to 24 months | 3 points |
| over 24 months | 4 points |
More detailed information on the admissions criteria and point scoring system guidelines can be found on Studyinfo:
Further information about applying
Fill out the online application form during the application period in the Opintopolku service.
Schedule for student selection in 2025:
- The application period of 2025 runs from 8 to 22 January 2025 until 15.00 (EET).
- All documents must be attached to the online application by 29 January 2025 at 15.00 (EET)
- Results of the student selection will be published on 19 March 2025 in the My Studyinfo service.
- Confirmation of study places by 2 April 2025 at 15.00 (EET) in the My Studyinfo service.
- Studies begin in May 2025.
The admission process to professional guidance counsellor education is part of a national joint application process of professional teacher education institutions. With one application, you can apply to two professional teacher education institutions but please note that HAMK is the only institution that offers the programme in English!
We will organise an online info session for those interested in professional guidance counsellor education. The info session will take place on Zoom Workplace on
- Monday 13 January 2025 at 16-17 (EET).
If you participate in the admission info session on a computer, you can join directly through the following link:
If you are participating with a smart device (phone or tablet), first install the free Zoom Workplace application on the device, and then join the session using the meeting ID number 620 9344 4262.
Welcome to the admission info session!
Professional Guidance Counsellor Education is available for the first time in 2025. Therefore we have no prior statistics regarding the admission in English.
Over the past five years, we have had 200 to 350 applicants to the professional guidance councellor education programme in Finnish. The score threshold has been around 7-9 points.
The results of the student selection process will be published at the My Studyinfo service (www.opintopolku.fi) according to the schedule set in the admission criteria. Applicants will also be notified of the results by email.
Each student offered a study place must confirm the study place by the due date using the My Studyinfo service. When you log in to My Studyinfo service, you need Finnish online banking credentials, a mobile certificate or a microchip identity card. If you cannot confirm the study place in the service, you must confirm the study place in writing (for example by email) by the deadline. If you don’t confirm the acceptance of the study place by the deadline, the study place offer will automatically be withdrawn.
All eligible applicants who have not been offered a study place will be placed on a waiting list. If you applied to two institutions, you will be placed on waiting lists at both institutions. Supplementary selections will take place if vacancies arise due to approved candidates rejecting the offer of a study place. If a study place becomes available, the institution will contact the applicant at the top of the waiting list.
The application period takes place annually in January. You can order a reminder to your email when the next application period starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions about the Professional Guidance Counsellor Education programme!
The eligibility criteria must be met by the end of the application period. If you apply in the 2025 admission period, the eligibility criteria must be met by 22 January 2025.
General subjects and common units teachers can be eligible to apply when they have a master’s degree and have completed their teacher’s pedagogical qualification.
If you are teaching biology and/or geography, you are considered a teacher of vocational units as these subjects are taught as vocational units in FInland’s vocational education system. In this case, you would need 3 years of professional work experience along with a higher education degree. The required work experience should be other than teaching experience.
To determine the eligibility, it is relevant to know what subjects are taught as vocational subjects and what are taught as general subjects in vocational education in Finland.
The number of applicants vary each year, which can affect the score thresholds. There are also occasional changes made to the admission criteria, meaning the score thresholds from previous years are not entirely comparable. Therefore, it is recommended to apply for the programme to receive confirmed information about your application score. If you do not get a study place, it will be easier to plan what you need to do to secure a place the following year.
Yes, you can. Experience in guidance counselling provides application points, but this is only part of the scoring, and the admission is based on the total points. Each year, about half of the students have no prior experience in guidance counselling, or they have accumulated less than three months of experience.
Experience as a group leader, class teacher or tutor teacher is not regarded as study counselling work for this purpose. Only working in the role of a guidance counsellor is considered relevant experience. The role of a guidance counsellor is more broadly defined as engaging in various counselling tasks, and this must be described in the work certificate.
Once you have submitted your application, you should receive a confirmation email. This email will contain a link that allows you to make changes to your application during the application period. If you used your Finnish ID credentials to log in to the Studyinfo portal (My Studyinfo), you can also modify your application by logging in and accessing your application there. You can modify your attachments up until 29 January 2025 at 15:00 (EET).
Unfortunately, you can’t. The waiting list is for those who have not received any study places.
Curriculum
The Professional Guidance Counsellor Education curriculum is competency-based. During the studies, you will build your own guidance counsellor identity and expand your professional skills as a guidance counsellor. The studies consists of the following modules and courses:
Professional Guidance Councellor’s Self-Development Competences (5 ECTS)
- Self-knowledge, guidance councellor identity and professional ethics, 5 credits
Study and Career Counselling Competence (20 ECTS)
- Guidance and career theory competence, 10 credits
- Guidance methodology skills, 10 credits
Guidance Counsellor’s Operational and Working Field Competences (23 ECTS)
- Education, social and working life competence, 5 credits
- Communication, profiling and marketing skills in digital guidance environments, 5 credits
- Educational institution competence in guidance counselling, 8 credits
- Networking competence, 5 credits
Competences in Managing, organising and developing guidance counselling processes (12 ECTS)
- Competences in managing, organising and developing guidance processes, 12 credits
More detailed curriculum will be available through the following link:
Graduate faster?
Are you already familiar with the field by previous higher education studies and have gained expertise through work? For students who are independent learners and have great studying skills, we offer opportunities alongside traditional studies that allow you to accelerate your study progress.
24 / 7 – Fast tract for studies
If you have competence that corresponds to the competence objectives of the courses, you can apply for the recognition of prior learning (RPL). This way, you don’t have to re-learn the same thing you already know and have the opportunity to progress your studies faster than the group programme. In professional teacher education studies, recognition of prior learning can be applied for either through credit transfer or skills demonstrations. Before starting the RPL process, discuss with your tutor teacher. More detailed information about the RPL process can be found on the Student page.
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