Professional standards and professional identity: perspectives of career development practitioners in Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

School career development practitioners facilitate the career development learning ofyoung people in schools through activities such as career assessment, career counselling,career education, and workplace preparation. Provision of school career developmentservices requires highly specialised as well as broad-based knowledge and skills tosupport students to manage their lives, learning, and work. To date there is no requirementin Australia or New Zealand for training or qualifications explicitly in career development toenter employment in the field. Consequently, although career development practitioners inschools engage in support and guidance of young people for careers that typically involvetraining and qualifications, some school career development positions are filled byindividuals without training or qualifications specific to the field.A shared understanding of specialised career development knowledge exists acrosscountry contexts. Some countries have introduced professional regulation of their careerdevelopment industry through professional standards. Australia’s career industry has anational peak body, the Career Industry Council of Australia (CICA), which introduced andoversees the professional standards. New Zealand does not have an equivalentprofessional body. Unlike established professions such as teaching and psychology, thecareer industry remains largely unregulated in most countries. In established professionsthere are clearly defined entry pathways that assist individuals to construct theirprofessional identity, whereas the entry pathway is less defined for career developmentpractitioners and constructing a professional identity may be more challenging.Greater understanding is needed about the influence of professional standards on theprofessional identity of individual career development practitioners. To address this gap inknowledge, this research investigated school career development practitioners’perspectives of professional standards and professional identity in two country contexts;Australia where professional standards were introduced in 2006, and New Zealand, whichto date has no nationally agreed career development professional standards. Australia hasgreater professional regulation of the career development industry through the CareerIndustry Council of Australia and its professional associations and professional standardscompared to New Zealand. However, neither country has government policies thatregulate the industry. The aim of the present research was to investigate the similarities and differencesbetween Australian and New Zealand school career development practitioners’understanding of their professional identity. The research investigated the characteristicsof the participants’ professional context in Australian and New Zealand schools, and theinfluence of professional standards on participants’ understanding of professional identity,professionalism, and professionalisation of career development.A qualitative research design was deemed most appropriate to achieve the aim of theresearch. Participants were twenty-one career development practitioners working inAustralian and New Zealand schools, and included career development practitioners whowere members of professional career development associations before 2006 whenProfessional Standards were introduced in Australia, and those who joined a professionalcareer development association after 2006. Data were collected through semi-structuredindividual interviews in two phases. Phase One addressed the first of two supportingresearch questions and investigated the participants’ professional context, includingaspects of their professional identity. Phase Two explored findings from Phase One inmore depth and addressed the second supporting research question about participants’understanding of professional standards, professional identity, professionalism, andprofessionalisation. The data were analysed using thematic networks analysis to identifyand understand the themes revealed in the participants’ stories as school careerdevelopment practitioners.The research provided valuable insights into the participants’ understanding ofprofessional standards and professional identity construction in school contexts.Furthermore, Professional Standards influenced professional identity understanding andconstruction of a professional identity by the Australian school career developmentpractitioners. Key factors were the requirement for career development qualifications todetermine membership of professional member associations of the Career IndustryCouncil of Australia, and alignment of professional development with the ProfessionalStandards. The research suggested differences in Australian and New Zealand careerdevelopment practitioners’ understanding of professional standards, professional identity,professionalism, and professionalisation were related to the presence or absence ofprofessional standards and a national peak body.This research contributes to the career development field in theoretical knowledge,methodology, and practice and policy. The findings provide important information for education authorities, policy makers, career development practitioners, and the careerindustry about the impact professional standards can have on the unregulated professionof career development. The findings similarly have the potential to contribute to policiesand strategies that support understanding of professional identity by school careerdevelopment practitioners.As an investigation across two country contexts, the comparison contributes to thetheoretical and practice-based career development literature, which to date is scarce inresearch that explores the relationship between professional standards and professionalidentity, and about whether having professional standards makes a difference to howschool career development practitioners view their professional identity. Limitations areacknowledged, and suggestions are proposed for further research.