This contribution is framed within Spanish national project "Rethinking the role of guidance practitioners: building and validating a competency framework for guidance in the digital society" (PID2023-148173NA-I00).

Building a professional career requires dedication and is shaped by various internal and external factors, including the economic conditions of one's country (Greenhaus et al., 2008). Our society is complex, marked by numerous transitions (Savickas, 2013) and a shrinking job market (Blustein et al., 2019). Individuals need personal resources to navigate environmental changes and adapt to new contexts (Savickas et al., 2009). Furthermore, perceptions of work and decent work influence how individuals respond to employment unpredictability (Di Fabio & Blustein, 2016). Consequently, recent research has increasingly focused on analyzing these concepts.

An individual's concept of work influences their career decisions (Ferrari et al., 2008). The past few decades have seen a growing interest in analyzing work and its theoretical underpinnings (Rapaport & Bailyn, 1996), making a reassessment of the concept of work crucial. Currently, work is defined in various ways. Drenth (1991) defines it as an activity that enables individuals to meet their needs and achieve personal fulfillment. Richardson (1993) emphasizes work's impact on personal satisfaction, self-affirmation, and social connection. Warr (1984) acknowledges the positive aspects of work but also highlights negative aspects such as stress and physical and psychological strain. Blustein (2001, 2008) suggests that work is a multifaceted construct through which individuals address three fundamental needs: survival, social relationships, and personal satisfaction. However, perceptions of work vary. For some, it may be a source of professional fulfillment, while for others, it is perceived as a source of stress (Blustein, 2006).

In relation to the concept of work, the concept of decent work emerged in 1999, defined as the opportunity for individuals to obtain productive employment under conditions of freedom, equity, security and respect for human rights (Anker et al., 2003). According to Duffy et al. (2016), decent work includes: "(a) physically and interpersonally safe working conditions (e.g. free from physical, mental and emotional abuse); (b) schedules that allow for adequate leisure and rest; (c) organisational values that complement family and social values; (d) adequate pay; and (e) access to adequate health care" (Duffy et al., 2016, p. 130). These principles are universally shared across political, economic, social and scientific spheres, but are often disregarded in the current labour market (Magnano & Zammitti, 2020). In our society, the pursuit and promotion of decent work has become a global goal (Haiming & Yan, 2020). The promotion of decent work has become an important concern reflected in the literature (Di Fabio et al., 2016; Di Fabio & Blustein, 2016), especially after the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This need has become more pronounced due to increased uncertainty, instability and insecurity in the socio-economic and labour context (Blustein et al., 2019; Zammitti et al., 2023). The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on people's lives, affecting and changing habitual livelihoods (income reduction, job loss, reinvention of professional careers, etc.).

Taking into account the aspects highlighted, we formulated the following research questions:

1. What is the conception of future guidance counsellors about work and decent work?
2. Do future guidance counsellors consider themselves sufficiently trained to design counselling actions aimed at decent work?

This is a multi-case qualitative study (Yin, 2014), where semi-structured interview was used for information gathering. The analysed data were obtained from students who had completed the Master’s degree in Secondary Education and Baccalaureate Teaching, the Master’s degree in Vocational Training and Language Training (MAES in Spanish) or the Master’s degree in Training and Counselling for Work (FOT in Spanish) at the University of Seville (Spain). Sample A total of 95 students (79 women and 16 men) participated in this study, with an age range of 22-53 years. Of the total sample, 65% were FOT students and 35% were MAES students. In general lines, there is a predominant profile of a student aged 25-32 years with working experience in different scopes (experience not related to their initial training in most cases). With the completion of the MSc, the participants aimed to improve their careers, in the search of greater stability. This study followed the internal regulation in Social Sciences by the Research Ethical Committee of the University of Seville. Information-gathering procedure The participants completed a data sheet about their identity and personal information, as well as questions related to their academic and professional careers. This sheet gathered the following information: personal data (sex, age, and family situation), information about the MSc (speciality), previous academic career (studies completed, type of student during the MSc, type of access to the MSc, etc.), and a brief synthesis of their professional career. The information was gathered through a semi-structured interview, where the following open questions were asked about work and decent work: P1-. What image of work did you grow up with? What is your current definition of work? P2-. What is your definition of decent work? P3-. Do you feel capable of counselling for the construction of the career of young people from a perspective of decent work? The interviews were carried out face to face and recorded in video and audio format. Then, they were transcribed for analysis. Data analysis The analysis conducted in this study followed a double deductive and inductive perspective. Text fragments were selected, and an emergent categorisation was performed from the narratives generated by the participants. Then, a series of categories were designed according to the research objectives: work, decent work, and counselling for decent work. Once the different parts were coded, we selected the most identifying fragments. In order to systematise the segmentation process, the NVivo 12 programme was used.

The results of this study show some implications in relation to the training of future educational and professional counsellors. On the one hand, there is scarce knowledge regarding the perspective of counselling committed to sustainability and decent work. This demonstrates the need to rethink the study plans of the professionals who are trained with the aim of being counselling agents throughout life. The struggle for the promotion of decent work becomes a fundamental tool for equality and social justice, with education being a crucial way of attaining this objective. Considering that the development of a career begins during childhood, people must have appropriate resources from the beginning of early childhood education in order to build sustainable professional and life projects. Research has shown that young people with greater knowledge on decent work develop careers that are more committed to social justice and, therefore, more sustainable. Counselling is a learning process that takes place throughout life to construct, de-construct, and co-construct individual and group projects, as a way of being in the world (Romero-Rodríguez & Moreno-Morilla, 2022). Consequently, Higher Education must integrate these aspects as part of the curriculum. Given the training divide observed (which is corroborated in our study for the Spanish context), universities could also offer options that facilitate on-service training in this area (e.g., microcredentials). This training must contribute to the updating of the competencies of counsellors in relation to the current social demands, specifically according to the 2030 Agenda, which establishes the objective of attaining decent work and social inclusion for everyone. Thus, the important role of counselling professionals will be guaranteed: to promote the development of sustainable careers.

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