The 5 Tools I Would Recommend to Every Guidance Counsellor in Ireland

Being a guidance counsellor in an Irish secondary school means trying to keep up with an enormous amount of information.

CAO courses are changing. Entry requirements change. Apprenticeships are constantly expanding. Students have different interests, abilities and circumstances, and then there is the small matter of trying to help someone make one of the biggest decisions of their life at 17 or 18.

There is no single website that does everything perfectly, but there are definitely some tools that I find myself coming back to.

Here are five that I think are worth having in your guidance toolkit.

1. Course Compass

Course Compass is probably the newest tool on this list, but I think it has a genuinely interesting place in guidance.

What I like about it is that it starts with the student rather than simply starting with a list of courses.

Students complete assessments looking at things like interests, personality, aptitudes, values and learning preferences before being given course recommendations.

The feature I particularly like from a guidance perspective is the ability for students to flag their results.

That might sound like a small thing, but I actually think it could be really useful.

If a student gets a result they don't understand, disagree with, or simply want to discuss, being able to flag it gives us something concrete to talk about.

It changes the conversation from:

"I don't know what I want to do."

to:

"This result says I'd be suited to this area, but I'm not sure about it. Can we look at it?"

That's a much better starting point for a guidance appointment.

Course Compass isn't a replacement for a guidance counsellor, and I wouldn't want it to be. I see it more as another piece of information that can help us have better conversations with students.

2. CareersPortal

CareersPortal is probably one of the most established resources in Irish guidance.

It is particularly useful because it goes well beyond just CAO courses. There is information on careers, apprenticeships, courses, career sectors, occupations and more. Its Career Explorer covers more than 1,000 occupations and apprenticeships.

For a student who says, "I want to work in healthcare," for example, you can start exploring the different careers within that area rather than immediately jumping to Medicine or Nursing.

That breadth is extremely useful.

3. Qualifax

Qualifax is another one that I would consider essential.

It is particularly useful when a student has started narrowing down their options and wants to compare courses, entry requirements and pathways.

I also like the practical tools, including the CAO points calculator and subject requirements information.

Sometimes students don't need another personality test.

They need to know whether the course they are interested in actually accepts the subjects they are taking.

That's where resources like Qualifax are invaluable.

4. CAO

It might sound obvious, but the CAO website itself should never be forgotten.

There is a tendency for students to get information about CAO from TikTok, Instagram, Reddit or somebody's older brother.

That can get dangerous very quickly.

The CAO's own handbook contains the official information on applications, points, course changes and the offer process.

For anything involving an actual CAO application, I always want students checking the official source.

5. StudyClix

StudyClix has also become a really recognisable name for Irish students, particularly around exam preparation and Leaving Cert content.

From a guidance perspective, I think there is value in platforms like this because students don't necessarily separate "study advice" and "career advice" in their heads.

The same student who is asking how to improve their Maths grade might five minutes later be trying to figure out whether that grade will get them into their first-choice course.

The more useful Irish educational content students have access to, the better.

The important thing

None of these tools replaces a proper conversation with a student.

That's actually the point.

Technology should give us better information, not remove the human element from guidance.

A student might get a list of ten courses from a website, but they still need someone to ask:

"Why do you like these?"

"Would you actually enjoy this?"

"Have you considered what the day-to-day job looks like?"

"What happens if your points are lower than expected?"

"What other routes could get you there?"

The best guidance, in my opinion, is going to come from combining good information, good technology and good conversations.

And thankfully, there are more tools available to us now than there were a few years ago.