The Narrative Quality of Career Conversations in Vocational Education

Abstract

Due to the individualization of society and the rise of a service economy, youngsters have to develop a career identity. In this article we explore to what extent career guidance conversations in vocational education enable the development of a career identity. Using core concepts of dialogical self theory, we understand identity development in terms of positioning: as a dynamic process from I-positions to a meta-position and subsequently to a promoter-position. We want to know what happens when in a conversation an I-position is formulated. Based on 30 guidance conversations between students and a teacher or workplace mentor, four different strategies of teachers or mentors are distinguished: ignoring the I-position, repositioning by talking on behalf of the student, broadening the I-position without conclusion, and dialogue resulting in the formulation of a promoter-position. The results show that dialogical self theory can support teachers and mentors in broadening their positioning repertoire to improve the narrative quality of their guidance conversations with students.