School Counseling in North Macedonia: The Design, Implementation, and Sustainability of the YES Network

• In Event: Topics in educational research on schools: smart educational systems, digital technologies in Indian schools, school counselling and harnessing process data

Proposal

Overview
This paper examines a case of an international development initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the United States and implemented in North Macedonia. The specific initiative was a youth development program including a substantial career counseling component called the Macedonia Youth Employability Skills (YES) Network. Historically, international development initiatives funded by USAID have struggled with implementation with fidelity to policy prescriptions and sustainability (AKIpress, 2020; Drummond & DeYoung, 2003; Gubser, 2017; Stromquist, Klees, & Miske, 2000). While the United States continues to fund numerous international initiatives through USAID, at a substantial cost to American taxpayers, projects are typically implemented and sustained with highly variable, and often disappointing, success in the recipient nation (AKIpress, 2020; Drummond & DeYoung, 2003; Gubser, 2017; Stromquist, Klees, & Miske, 2000; USAID, 2022). Consequently, in this paper, I trace the development of a specific career counseling program, the extent to which it was implemented with fidelity, and the extent to which it was sustained over time in order to illuminate rationales for the variable degrees of success experienced by this particular initiative in each of the aforementioned areas.
Drawing from institutional theory, specifically, the concepts of institutional logics, institutional complexity, and institutionalization, I assess the components of a new educational initiative, the process by which it was implemented, and the extent to which the initiative was sustained. The paper is based on interviews with 62 stakeholders located in both the United States and in North Macedonia, 11 months of fieldwork in North Macedonia, and substantial document analysis. The following sections highlight the findings regarding the implementation and sustainability of the YES Network.

Implementation and YES Network Practices
This research found that career counselors implemented the YES Network as designed with varying degrees of fidelity according to the goals, practices, and assumptions identified. Specifically, practices were largely implemented as intended during the design of the YES Network, while the goals of many career counselors were more limited than those established during the creation of the program. Additionally, some assumptions included in the design of the YES Network were found to be present during implementation while others were not. This demonstrates that the practices of career counselors utilized at the time of implementation were largely in alignment with those of the YES Network. However, many of the goals indicated by career counselors, and some of the assumptions, either deviated from or were derivatives of the goals and assumptions as intended by the YES Network.

Institutional Logics and the Implementation of the YES Network
Multiple institutional logics and stakeholder interests influenced the practice of career counseling at the time of implementation. Despite facing the same or similar logics, individual career counselors experienced different environments of institutional complexity and thus created different practices from one another. The logics and interests that career counselors balanced included the career counseling logic of the YES Network, the incumbent professional logic, the state inspection board, school administrators, students, teachers, and parents, and autonomous interests. Because the YES Network trained existing educators to practice career counseling in addition to their other responsibilities, the professional logics of teaching or psychology and the professional logic of career counseling represented by the YES Network were the two most prominent sources of conflict during implementation. Depending on the extent of conceptual overlap and format of the occupational structure, career counselors implemented the new career counseling logic of the YES Network in one of four ways: hybrid psychologist, differentiated psychologist, hybrid teacher, and differentiated teacher. Each implementation type involved different degrees of conflict. The conflict faced by each career counselor during the effort to implement two independent professional logics played a substantial role in how the YES Network influenced each counselor’s practices.

The Sustainability of the YES Network
The sustainability of career counseling goals, practices, and assumptions at present varies substantially according to each specific element. In general, career counseling is currently less prevalent than at implementation with the exception of career inventories and career selection activities which, if anything, have increased in prevalence. However, the popularity of such direct and efficient methods also speaks to the necessity for efficient, solution-oriented, and easily routinized career counseling techniques given the status of career counseling as in a developing stage of institutionalization. This stage of institutionalization incentivizes quick and results-driven practices as there is a limited amount of time available for such activities.

Conclusion
This research found that while career counseling was implemented originally with some degree of fidelity, this soon waned as competing logics maintained priority over practices. Specifically, counselors were pulled away from their career counseling tasks by other responsibilities which were often prioritized by counselors. These competing interests often led to conflict for counselors and as such, career counseling remains in a developing stage of institutionalization. Thus, the sustainability of career counseling practices from the YES Network was fairly minimal.

Recommendations
Given these results, future career counseling interventions can focus on developing a new position of career counseling as opposed to training existing educators. This practice would likely reduce the conflicting institutional logics for career counselors and lead to more consistent practices. Additionally, this would lead to increased institutionalization and sustainability of practices.

References
AKIpress. (2020). Kyrgyz education ministry announces tender for national admissions test. https://akipress.com/news:633512:Kyrgyz_Education_Ministry_announces_tender_for_national_admissions_test/

Drummond, T., & DeYoung, A. J. (2003). Perspectives and problems in education reform in Kyrgyzstan. In S. P. Heyneman & A. J. De Young (Eds.), The challenges of Education in Central Asia, 225–242.

Gubser, M. (2017). The walls of Kano: USAID education programming in North Nigeria and the problem of sustainability. In J. Keilson & M. Gubser (Eds.), The Practice of International Development (pp. 95–128). Routledge.

Stromquist, N. P., Klees, S., & Miske, S. (2000). USAID efforts to expand and improve girls’ primary education in Guatemala. In R. Cortina & N. P. Stromquist (Eds.), Distant Alliances: Promoting Education for Girls and Women in Latin America, 239–260.

USAID. (2022). Fiscal Year 2023 president’s budget request: Statement by Administrator Samantha Power. https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/mar-28-2022-fiscal-year-2023-presidents-budget-request

Author

• Richard Hall, School for International Training