You mentioned the assistance provided by guidance counsellors. You also said that the program in Germany steers students at too young age, about 12 or 13.
When I was in school, there were technical courses in secondary 1 and 2, which is the same as Grade 7 and 8. This is probably still the case. Through these courses, we were able to see if a specific trade was going to interest us. In secondary 3, so the equivalent of Grade 9 or thereabouts, we could even take a long or short technical course.
There isn't much difference between Grade 7 and Grade 9. If the German model works, why not try to incorporate it and make our program more flexible?