Today, educational and career guidance is increasingly conceived as an accompaniment process that supports young people in building coherent, realistic, and meaningful life projects ( Guichard, 2016 ; Savickas, 2013 ). Beyond helping students choose tracks, it contributes to identity development and agency, especially in unstable socio-economic contexts ( Arulmani & Nag-Arulmani, 2014 ). This is particularly relevant in Lebanon, where traditional occupational reference points are collapsing and pathways are increasingly uncertain. In many schools, particularly in the public sector, the absence of internal structures forces reliance on one-off external interventions ( Shuayb, 2016 ), which prevents the establishment of sustained, personalized accompaniment.

Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1986, 1997) emphasizes the interaction between the individual, behavior, and environment, introducing self-efficacy as central to human agency. Lent, Brown, and Hackett (1994) extended this into Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), which explains how career interests, choices, and persistence are shaped by the interplay of:

Applied to Lebanon, SCCT sheds light on the tensions revealed in this research: students doubting their chances in creative fields tend to fall back on “safe” options, while parents reinforce traditional careers in the name of stability. In this framework, the counselor becomes a key actor in strengthening students’ self-efficacy, reframing barriers, and mobilizing supports.

Savickas’ Career Construction Theory ( Savickas, 2005, 2013 ) complements SCCT by shifting the focus to adaptability and the active construction of meaning. Guidance is not limited to matching individuals with existing opportunities but to developing capacities for resilience, exploration, and life design. This is particularly pertinent to Lebanese youth who, as shown in the focus groups, seek autonomy and creative exploration yet face strong parental and economic pressures. The counselor’s role here is to nurture adaptability and empower students to see themselves as authors of their trajectories, capable of designing futures that balance aspiration and context.

Bronfenbrenne’s ecosystemic model ( Bronfenbrenner, 1979) provides a broader lens for situating guidance within interrelated systems: the microsystem of family and school, the mesosystem of their interactions, and the macrosystem of socio-economic and cultural forces. In Lebanon, this framework helps explain how parental concerns about emigration, schools’ fragmented guidance provision, and the pressures of an unstable labor market jointly shape decision-making. It also highlights the need to embed counselors not only within schools but within networks linking education, families, and the labor market.

Taken together, these frameworks offer complementary insights for analyzing the empirical findings of this study. SCCT explains the role of self-efficacy and contextual barriers in shaping choices; Career Construction Theory highlights the demand for adaptability and identity construction; and the ecosystemic model situates these dynamics within Lebanon’s fragile institutional and socio-economic environment. Together, they provide a multi-level analytical lens, psychological, relational, and structural, through which the empirical findings of this study will be analyzed in the following section.

This study used a mixed-methods design in two private Catholic schools in the Metn region, combining a parent survey with separate focus groups for parents and secondary-level students to triangulate perspectives on the counselor’s role ( Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018 ). Ethics approval was granted by the USJ Ethics Committee; participation was voluntary, anonymous, and confidential, with informed consent collected online from parents and parental consent plus student assent obtained for minors.

Survey (parents). A total of 197 parents completed the online questionnaire: 82.2% mothers (n = 162) and 17.8% fathers (n = 35). Education levels were Licence 46.5%, Master 20.1%, Doctorate 4.1%, and Other 28.4%. Employment status was 69.5% employed and 28.4% not employed. To characterize the sample, we recorded age, sex, education level, and employment status (descriptive statistics reported in Results).

Focus groups (parents). Twelve parents of secondary students participated (10 mothers; 2 fathers), all university-educated, with varied occupations (social work, teaching, engineering, marketing, entrepreneurship, medical; three not currently employed).

Focus groups (students). Three groups were conducted: 8 students in Secondary 2; 12 in Secondary 3 (Life Sciences and General Sciences); and 6 in Secondary 3 (Sciences Économiques et Sociales), for a total of n = 26. Stratification maximized variety in year and academic track.

The parent survey covered: 1) expectations of the counselor’s role (informational vs. psychosocial), 2) stressors/concerns around career choice, and 3) views on parental involvement. Construct quality was examined via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with KMO = .870 and Bartlett’s test p < .001 across dimensions; retained components explained up to 75.93% of variance, and Cronbach’s α = .563 - .920 indicated acceptable–excellent internal consistency ( Field, 2018 ; Kline, 2016 ). The focus-group guides mirrored the survey domains (parental role, decision conflicts, expectations of counselors) and were piloted for clarity.

Parents were recruited through school channels and completed the online consent and questionnaire. Focus groups (parents and students) followed a semi-structured guide, were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and anonymized.

Focus-group transcripts were analyzed thematically using a combined inductive–deductive strategy aligned with the theoretical framework. To enhance trustworthiness, two researchers double-coded a subset with ~85% intercoder agreement (percent agreement), resolving discrepancies by discussion. Coding followed a documented codebook and was conducted manually using a matrix spreadsheet to organize excerpts, codes, and memo notes ( Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2021 ).

All procedures followed institutional standards: ethics approval, informed consent, anonymity/confidentiality, and secure data storage.

Given the single-region focus on two private schools and voluntary participation, findings may be affected by self-selection and limited generalizability; quantitative results are interpreted as exploratory.

Here, “institutional weakness” denotes the lack of national policies, fragmented counselor roles, and insufficient systemic support within schools (e.g., limited time, unclear mandates, sporadic activities).

Career guidance in Lebanon operates within a fragile institutional framework. In most public schools, the counselor position is absent or limited to sporadic information-sharing activities ( Shuayb, 2016 ). This situation is compounded by the absence of a national policy on guidance and the lack of specialized training pathways for professionals ( CRDP, 2020 ). In the private sector, some schools have developed internal mechanisms to support students, as observed in the two institutions studied, but these remain isolated initiatives rather than elements of a coherent national strategy.

The findings of this doctoral research confirm these institutional gaps. Parents in focus groups repeatedly reported feeling “disoriented” when trying to advise their children, pointing to the lack of institutional support and the absence of reliable labor market information. One parent explained: “At school, I don’t even know what the counselor does.” (Parent, focus group).

Students also voiced dissatisfaction, particularly with external counselors. As one recalled: “She was using her computer without even looking at me.” (Student 2). Another added: “I felt she was helping my mother during the interview rather than supporting me directly.” (Student 3). These accounts point to the limited visibility of counselors and the perception that students’ needs are not always prioritized.

Without a structured and recognized counseling role, parents’ and students’ perspectives rarely meet in a constructive dialogue. As a result, guidance remains fragmented, uneven, and highly dependent on family resources, echoing international findings that weak institutionalization undermines both equity and effectiveness ( Goyer et al., 2021 ).

The quantitative survey highlights parents’ explicit recognition of the counselor’s importance in supporting their children ( Figure 1 ). More than 66% “strongly agree” and 27.6% “somewhat agree” on the value of structured dialogue and active support. Expectations focus above all on psychosocial functions: 71% of parents want counselors to foster motivation, self-confidence, and personal development, while 66.7% emphasize support for informed decision-making. By contrast, the strictly informational role is less central, with only 49.2% considering the transmission of data on academic tracks and professions essential. Even fewer parents (35.2%) attach importance to being personally supported or trained by counselors.

Survey results also reveal the emotional burden parents associate with career choice: 61% describe it as a source of anxiety, 69% as a personal challenge to mobilize resources, 37% as a period of conflict, and over 80% as a time of disorientation. Only a minority frame it positively, linking it to aspirations (46%) or scholarship opportunities (40%). These findings confirm that career choice is not merely an informational process, but one laden with strong emotional and psychosocial weight ( Figure 2 ).

This gap between high expectations for children and limited engagement for themselves reflects a broader ambivalence. International research shows that parents often adopt a “delegator” stance, entrusting professionals with motivational and developmental tasks while remaining hesitant to assume an active role ( Grolnick & Pomerantz, 2022 ).

Focus group discussions help illuminate this ambivalence. For some parents, the counselor is perceived as a mediator capable of bridging generational gaps: “I would like someone to explain the new tracks and the jobs of the future. We don’t always understand what our children want.” (Parent, focus group 1). Others, however, emphasize the lack of visibility or clarity surrounding the function: “I don’t even know whether my child has met the school counselor. They never mentioned it.” (Parent, focus group 2).

Taken together, these results underline a paradox. Parents clearly recognize the counselor’s role in motivating and guiding their children, yet often encounter this role as peripheral, inaccessible, or undefined. This reinforces the need for a more structured, transparent, and collaborative framework that clarifies responsibilities and makes the counselor’s presence both visible and meaningful.

Statistical anchors. On the parent survey (N = 197), parental stress correlated positively with expectations for counselor involvement (r (195) = .41, p < .001). Parents’ education level was associated with expectations for personalized counselor support, χ² (1, N = 197) = 5.87, p = .015, V = .17.

“Guided autonomy” refers to structured accompaniment that preserves students’ ownership of choices while scaffolding exploration, planning, and decision-making.

Students’ accounts reveal strong and consistent expectations of the counselor. Above all, they look for an adult who listens attentively, is available, and remains neutral. Several emphasize the importance of being taken seriously in their aspirations: “I would need someone at school who listens without judging” (Student 12).

Others underline the gap between their own projects and parental ambitions: “My parents want me to study law, but I want to pursue media studies (radio/TV). I wanted her to help me convince my parents” (Student 7). In such cases, the counselor is imagined as a guarantor who can both validate young people’s projects and reassure families.

This mediating role is particularly valued as some students express feelings of isolation when confronted with complex choices. What they seek is neither direction nor control, but a form of guided autonomy: progressive accompaniment that helps them clarify and structure their trajectories while respecting their individuality. Focus-group accounts consistently emphasized a desire for personalized support to explore careers and plan futures, while 65% of parents considered the counselor’s mediation essential to harmonize aspirations with family expectations.

Framed within SCCT, this demand highlights the need to reinforce students’ self-efficacy and reduce perceived barriers. From the perspective of Career Construction Theory, it reflects a search for adaptability and identity construction in contexts of uncertainty. In the Lebanese setting, “guided autonomy” thus emerges as a key dimension of the counselor’s role as an intergenerational mediator.

“Mediator” designates the counselor’s bridging function between parents’ expectations, students’ aspirations, and school-labor market interfaces (dialogue, negotiation, referral).

The convergence between parents’ expectations and students’ needs highlights a pressing need to reinforce the counselor’s role within the Lebanese education system. As the survey data confirm, 71% of parents expect counselors to foster motivation and self-confidence, while the majority of the student participants call for personalized support to explore careers and plan their futures: “Tests are not enough, personal exploration and discussion helps more,…” (student 6) Both groups thus anticipate much more than the simple transmission of information: they look to the counselor as a trusted mediator and an ally in navigating complex choices.

Positioning the counselor as an integrated member of the educational team would make it possible to establish structured dialogue between generations, support the co-construction of meaningful life projects, and reduce tensions that often arise when decisions are made in isolation. International research underscores that when counselors are institutionally embedded and professionally recognized, they contribute not only to smoother educational transitions but also to the prevention of disengagement and dropout ( Whiston et al., 2017 ; Goyer et al., 2021 ).

In the Lebanese context, the challenge of school guidance is therefore not limited to aligning education with labor market demands. More fundamentally, it involves creating human, contextualized, and sustainable mediation at the heart of students’ trajectories. Recognizing and professionalizing the counselor’s role emerges as a precondition for equitable access to opportunities and for preparing youth to face uncertain futures. The following section develops this perspective by examining how the counselor’s role is currently defined and the obstacles that prevent its effective implementation.

The data confirm that the counselor’s role in Lebanese schools remains peripheral and poorly institutionalized. Rather than being integrated into a coherent pedagogical framework, their work is often confined to sporadic initiatives such as forums, brochures, or end-of-cycle interviews. This marginalization reflects both the absence of a national policy and the lack of specialized training for professionals ( Shuayb, 2016 ; CRDP, 2020 ). Symbolically and physically sidelined within school structures, counselors are frequently isolated from collaboration with teachers, administrators, and families, which limits their impact on students’ educational trajectories.

Parents seek reassurance and informed advice, while youth call for attentive listening, neutrality, and validation. These expectations are undermined by structural weaknesses. Counselors often lack continuous training on labor market changes or psychosocial accompaniment, and their effectiveness depends more on individual initiative than on systemic support. This mismatch between expectations and available resources underscores a structural gap: the counselor is viewed as essential but remains insufficiently professionalized to fulfill the role effectively.

This research shows a shift from viewing counselors as information providers to recognizing them as mediators and partners. Parents and students implicitly define guidance as accompaniment: dialogue, recognition of aspirations, and intergenerational mediation. International research confirms this evolution: Whiston et al. (2017) demonstrate the positive impact of structured career counseling on persistence and motivation, while Goyer et al. (2021) highlight the benefits of professional recognition in reducing dropout. Repositioning the counselor as a mediator aligns with these findings and situates the Lebanese case within broader debates on the professionalization of guidance.

Beyond individual expectations, the Lebanese socio-economic context weighs heavily on guidance processes. Families under financial pressure tend to prioritize “safe” professions that ensure stability or facilitate emigration, while households with more cultural and economic capital encourage exploration of new fields. As one parent explained: “We prefer our children to follow safe professions that guarantee a future abroad. It is not the time to experiment.” (Parent, focus group). The economic collapse has eroded traditional occupational reference points and intensified fears about stability. In contrast, students often aspire to creative, digital, or alternative pathways, diverging from parental logics.

Students, on the other hand, articulate aspirations that often diverge from these parental logics, expressing interest in creative, digital, or alternative pathways. This divergence highlights the structural weaknesses of a system that leaves the mediation of such tensions largely unaddressed. Moreover, the reliance on external or non-specialized staff further fragments provision, limiting equitable access to sustained support. In this fragile context, the counselor’s role becomes not only desirable but essential: a recognized professional embedded in school structures could help transform these tensions into constructive dialogue and empower young people to pursue meaningful life projects.

Taken together, these findings show that the guidance counselor in Lebanon occupies a paradoxical position: perceived as essential by parents and students, yet structurally marginalized and poorly supported by the education system. The role, when recognized, is often reduced to fragmented tasks and deprived of the professional and institutional conditions necessary to ensure equity and sustainability. Repositioning the counselor as a mediator and educational partner requires not only a change in practices but also a coherent national framework that integrates guidance into the core of the school project. Such recognition would align Lebanon with international trends while responding to the urgent needs expressed by families and youth in a context of profound social and economic uncertainty.

Our results align with recent regional studies reporting enhanced readiness and self-efficacy when guidance is formalized within schools ( Alnajjar & Abou Hashish, 2024 ; Yamani & Almazroa, 2024 ). Methodologically, emerging school-based models (e.g., teacher-facing training frameworks) further illustrate feasible implementation pathways ( Parola et al., 2024 ), while synthesis work confirms consistent effects of secondary-level career interventions on motivation and decision outcomes ( Wang et al., 2024 ).