WELCOME TO the iCCDPP SYMPOSIUM 2026
Kia Ora and very warm Pacific greetings from Aotearoa, New Zealand
NAVIGATING NEW HORIZONS
10TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY
It is our pleasure to host the ICCDPP International Symposium on Career Development and Public Policy in Auckland, New Zealand, from the 22nd - 24th of November 2026.
The theme for the symposium is 'Navigating New Horizons' and draws on the idea of our Pacific forebears and their journey using the stars to find their way. These wayfarers were pioneers of the Pacific, and we look to their inspiration to guide us in our work.
For the Symposium, we have framed ‘Navigating New Horizons’ under three subthemes:
- Productivity and the inclusive economy
- Enhancing skills and developing technical and vocational education
- Ensuring disadvantaged groups can thrive.
It will be organised by ICCDPP, CATE New Zealand, The Tertiary Education Commission NZ (TEC), and supported by the member organisations of the Inter Agency Group on Career Guidance (ILO, OECD, UNESCO, EC, ETF, CEDEFOP, WB) , and by the World Association of Public Employment Services (WAPES).
We look forward to welcoming you to New Zealand in 2026.
SYMPOSIUM FORMAT
The Symposium is a unique invitational event that brings together small country teams to exchange on innovations and common challenges for the purpose of advancing career guidance policy and systems development, and policy implementation.
Members of these teams comprising leaders in guidance policy development, systems, research, and practices (n=approximately 3-6 team members per country) collaborate in working sessions to maximize exchange and learning. The Symposium is the only worldwide international forum for national policy developers and relevant stakeholders in career guidance to meet, to share ideas, and to learn from each other in focussed discussion groups on how best to develop policies and systems for career guidance in the education and employment sectors.
An online country questionnaire on the themes of the Symposium: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ICCDPP_NavigatingNewHorizons/ must be completed by country teams in advance of the Symposium. The results of this survey will be used to inform discussion at the Symposium which is really a participant working event rather than listening to presentations.
The Symposium results in a Communique reflecting the collective conclusions and recommendations of participating countries and includes the opportunity to create specific country plans.
Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi
"With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive."
Māori whakatauki (saying) emphasising that working together leads to prosperity and survival for the group, as opposed to isolated efforts.
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