Science and Vocational Advice

Abstract

IN a Friday evening discourse delivered at the Royal Institution on May 10, and now available as a pamphlet, Dr. C. S. Myers discussed the “Scientific Approach to Vocational Guidance”. He compared the giving of vocational advice with the giving of medical advice. Each is an art, yet each depends on the use of scientific knowledge and methods. The-individual must be studied with regard to every relevant aspect of himself and his environment. In vocational guidance, the part played by psychological tests is essential, although relatively small. It is now possible to estimate intelligence fairly accurately, by means of ‘verbal’ and ‘practical’ tests, and as the degree of intelligence required varies in different groups of occupations, this is one very important deciding factor. But tests for character and temperamental qualities are not yet sufficiently reliable; and the chief contribution of the psychologist in this direction has been in the introduction of improved and systematic methods of assessment. Other qualities necessary for success in certain occupations are mechanical ability and manual ability. Tests for these abilities and others, based on a detailed study of some one occupation, can be applied in vocational selection where the problem is one of selecting the best person for a particular job. The co-operation of parents, teachers, school authorities and juvenile employment officers provides a necessary contribution to the data on which the vocational adviser's advice is based. The follow up of advised cases, and comparison with the results obtained from a control-group are now recognised parts of the experimental procedure. During the past nine years, the number of cases dealt with in Great Britain by the two bodies responsible for most of such research was 6,751; in 1925 the number of vocational guidance cases was less than 100.