Career Guidance Practitioners Research Articles

Gender and country differences in academic motivation, coping strategies, and academic burnout in a sample of Italian and Russian first-year university students

BackgroundThe first year of university represents a challenging period that requires students to make significant investments in adaptive resources to face the new academic environment. The present study intends to contribute to the controversial discussion of gender differences in academic motivation, coping strategies, and academic burnout. This cross-sectional study examined above-mentioned constructs among first-year university students in a cross-cultural context. MethodsThe sample consisted of 637 Italian and 496 Russian first-year university students (n = 1133), 40.3% of whom were females. The participants’ ages ranged from 17 to 23 years, with a mean age of 18.75 years (SD = 1.07). To assess academic motivation, coping strategies, and academic burnout, participants responded to the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Student Survey (MBI–SS) application. ResultsThe findings reveal gender and country differences in academic motivation, emotion and avoidance oriented coping strategies, and emotional exhaustion and expands previous studies in this educational area. ConclusionGiven the technical nature of the research topic, the target audience for our study is academic career guidance practitioners, who can apply the findings to the design of effective programmes aimed at improving positive academic goals and reducing the tendency to switch academic courses or abandon the university among first-year students.

Toward shared language in career counselling: introducing a brief qualitative exercise

ABSTRACT Shared language comprises a precondition to authentic relationships, including career counselling. Drawing on constructivist theory, this article highlights career counsellors’ charge to be sensitive to the unique meanings that clients ascribe to common career-oriented terminology, such as working with people, success, or challenging work. A brief written qualitative tool, the Work Aspects Exercise, can provide the career and employment counsellor with quick access to the client's unique usage of these terms and facilitate authentic interaction. Findings from public employment service clientele in Israel are presented, along with sample client profiles and suggestions for interpreting client texts. Career guidance practitioners will find a supportive tool with high face validity that can stimulate self-exploration.

Social Media Use in Career Guidance Delivery in Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates

This literature review examines the use of social media in higher education career guidance delivery in the UAE (United Arab Emirates). Previous research has revealed UAE youth feel unprepared for work, highlighting a need to improve the quality of career guidance. With social media becoming popular, social media integrated with career guidance can expand opportunities for students. The current use of social media in career guidance, highlighted that the UAE is utilizing social media as an information source rather than an interactive workspace. UAE universities use online career planning systems mainly. One of the main reasons being that social media delivery in career guidance leads to pressure for career guidance practitioners, in terms of moderating content. Coupled with the strict privacy laws governing the use of social media in the UAE, this can present challenges. For social media to become successfully integrated into career guidance delivery, universities in the UAE need to understand what their students want in terms of career guidance delivery.

Families left behind at the source of migration: implications for career guidance practitioners

ABSTRACTIssues surrounding migration are receiving unprecedented attention at the global, regional, as well as national levels. However, a review of the literature shows that there is more focus on international migration compared to internal migration. Further, there is more emphasis on issues related to the migration destination rather than those at the source of migration. Using the cultural preparation process model as a framework, this paper aims to understand the career and livelihood planning needs of those who are left behind. The left-behind families of pine resin tappers in the Changar region of the Indian Himalayas are presented as a case study to draw the attention of career guidance and counselling professionals to this unattended population.

Professional identity for career guidance practitioners

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Educating career guidance practitioners in the twenty-first century

ABSTRACTRapidly changing policy contexts in England have dramatically affected the provision of career guidance, and the training and development of its practitioners. This paper takes an autoethnographic and self-reflexive approach to exploring the experience of a Senior Lecturer in Career Guidance who manages a centre that offers the Qualification in Career Guidance (QCG), and the Level 6 Diploma in Career Guidance and Development. Key questions are considered, such as: the effects of policy context on the type of qualification and curriculum offered, and their differences; the challenges of engaging learners in theoretical concepts and reflective approaches; and the tensions between ‘training’ practitioners and ‘educating’ them to develop a strong core of professionalism. The paper also considers the extent to which the learners develop as ‘knowledgeable social actors’.

Social justice and career guidance in the Age of Talent

The practice of career guidance is heavily influenced by changes in the workplace impacted by globalization and fluctuating economies. In the current era, known as the Age of Talent, people are increasingly viewed as commodities to fulfill labor market needs. There are controversies and inequities about who has access to meaningful employment and what resources are made available to support people’s career development. Career guidance practitioners need to be responsive to current labor market demands while also considering the implications of their roles and practices for social justice.

Updating Qualifications for the Career Guidance Profession in Scotland: Navigating the Maze

This paper describes work in progress to modernise the initial training arrangements for the career guidance profession in Scotland. In a process initiated by the University of the West of Scotland, the Quality Assurance Agency benchmark for the subject is under review. The outcomes of the process may have implications for the training of career advisers and guidance practitioners across the UK.

Guidance in communities – a way forward?

Qualitative research in career guidance has largely focused on how participants in guidance change due to their participation in different guidance or counselling interventions or activities. This article, conversely, describes how young people and adults seek to change and modify the guidance, and consequently how this changes the possibilities for participating in guidance for themselves and for others. This article presents data from a qualitative and explorative study of guidance in communities. One case study about career guidance in a factory setting is presented. The interplay between the participants’ (non-) participating and the career guidance practitioners response is analysed. The article describes how new opportunities for guidance emerge through changing the practice. The study suggests that participants try to change the delivery of guidance from individual interventions to more collective forms/modes of delivery.

The Perceived Role of Technology in Career Guidance among Practitioners Who are Experienced Internet Users

The increasing use of technology is placing new demands on career guidance practitioners. This article examines what changes, if any, have occurred in the perceptions of guidance practitioners regarding their role and the role of the internet in meeting guidance goals and delivering career guidance services. The data were collected in focus groups in 2001–2002 and a follow-up study in 2010. A total of seven focus groups were held. The data were analysed using combined methods. The results indicated that practitioners now observe that the need for differentiated service delivery modes is more explicit due to varied levels of readiness in decision-making and ICT literacy.

Reframing and re-telling: The changing identity of the careers guidance profession

The aim of the article is to critically reflect on what may now constitute the occupational and professional identity of career guidance practitioners after a decade of rapid change, and in the face of further significant policy developments. It seeks to build on recent research, e.g. Colley et al (2010), in order to consider the effects of policy shifts, and their attendant managerialism, on the identity of careers practitioners in a wide variety of organisational settings. The article proposes that Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames model (2003), with its holistic and constructivist basis, can be used to illuminate and critically examine the structural, political, motivational and symbolic aspects of change, including identity reformation. It concludes by suggesting that the various professional bodies that represent career guidance have an opportunity to re-appraise and redefine professional value and identity.

The Reflect‐OR project: background to the special issue

The article introduces the path, the actors and the contexts of the Reflect‐OR Project. Reflect‐OR is a Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation (TOI) project developed in the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) and promoted by the European Commission. Reflect‐OR aimed at sustaining the empowerment processes of career guidance practitioners by supporting a major awareness and use of their individual, organizational and networking resources. The Reflect‐OR project is the transfer of a previous Leonardo da Vinci project called Reflect which experimented with reflective methodologies with teachers and trainers. The path was characterized by an active process of transfer of innovation, constantly constructed and negotiated with the various life‐long career guidance (LLCG) practitioners and agencies and based on a creative methodological approach called Participatory and Appreciative Action and Reflection (PAAR). Another important aspect was constituted by the peculiarities of the different contexts involved in the transfer process (Italy, Switzerland and Bulgaria) which allowed a deep reflection on LLCG systems and created a common background for reframing and empowerment.

Professional capacity for 14–19 career guidance in England: some baseline data

ABSTRACT This paper reports some early findings from a research project about the impact on career guidance in England of 14–19 reforms in recent years. We begin by highlighting a paradox in English national policy, since reforms in education and training have created a heightened demand for career guidance, whilst reforms in youth support services have disrupted its infrastructure and reduced its funding. While previous authors have warned of the risks inherent in this policy, we present evidence of some of its actual outcomes on professional capacity for 14–19 career guidance, and consider some of the implications for future provision. We conclude in particular that there is a need for more rigorous baseline data about specialist professional capacity, to be monitored nationally and locally; and that greater clarity is needed about appropriate training and qualifications for professional career guidance practitioners.

“Telling tales”: Using narrative in career guidance

In this article the authors argue for the importance of narrative-based approaches in career guidance work in an uncertain, unpredictable world. This requires a paradigmatic shift in thinking that can be too difficult, at present, for some practitioners. The article reports on the first phase of a collaborative project with a group of practitioners – working in guidance in schools and with young people in public access points – to develop and evaluate narrative methods. Our analysis highlights the usefulness of the approach, but also reveals tensions derived from the working cultures of career guidance practitioners.

IJEVG and CDQ Editors' Joint Statement on the Second Special International Issues

In September 2005, the first special international issues of The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ, Van Esbroeck, Herr, & Savickas, 2005) and the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IJEVG; Savickas, Van Esbroeck, & Herr, 2005) were published separately. These companion issues presented elements of the international symposium jointly held by the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) and the National Career Development Association (NCDA) in San Francisco in 2004. Taken together, the two issues provided an overview of the results of the discussions and selected papers presented at that symposium. The CDQ and JJEVG issues actually served as the symposium proceedings. The success and international recognition of this first joint IAEVGNCDA symposium, as well as of the proceedings, convinced the boards of both associations to consider the possibility of organizing a second joint activity. What was, at the time, only a vague idea took on another form. At the 2005 Society for Vocational Psychology (SVP) biennial conference held in Vancouver, Canada, the then presidents of NCDA, Janet Lenz, and of SVP, David Blustein and Paul Gore, together with the IAEVG chair of the first joint symposium, Raoul Van Esbroeck, discussed the possibility of a new joint symposium sponsored by all three organizations. The observation expressed by several participants at this SVP conference was that at the worldwide level there was a split between vocational psychologists and career guidance practitioners. Participants sensed that this disconnect, or perception of a disconnect, was regrettable and unnecessary. In their view, a new joint symposium on this topic was long overdue. The boards of the three organizations supported these views and appointed a joint planning committee. The planning committee received strong support from Italian colleagues of the University of Padua under the leadership of Salvatore Soresi and Laura Nota, who chaired the local organizing committee for the proposed symposium. Together, these groups organized the 2007 IAEVG-SVP-NCDA International Symposium on Vocational Psychology and Career Guidance Practice: An International Partnership. This symposium was held September 3, 2007, in Padua, Italy, simultaneously with the annual IAEVG International Conference. Planning committee members considered the publication of the symposium proceedings to be essential for the distribution of the results of the discussions at the symposium. From the start, they opted for the same format used for the proceedings of the 2004 symposium and again proposed the publication of companion issues of CDQ and JJEVG. The boards of both journals and organizations supported this option and appointed a guest editorial team representing the three collaborating associations: Paul Gore (SVP), Jerry Trusty (NCDA), and Raoul Van Esbroeck (IAEVG). The team members' task was made easier because they could follow the model of the first joint publication. …

Retirement as a career transition in ballet dancers

This paper discusses ballet dancers’ retirement, looking at the reasons for ending a performing career and their rehirement to an alternative role(s). The findings, explore different dimensions of the reasons for retirement. It attempts to investigate and nurture alternative thoughts on chronological age, in the context of ballet dancers’ retirement. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 international ballet dancers. A qualitative approach was adopted through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), and tenets of Grounded Theory. Practical implications for career guidance practitioners are addressed in the final section.

Beyond 2000

Since its genesis in vocational guidance, career guidance and counselling has followed the approach developed in the early 1900s in the work of Parsons (1909). Indeed, the profession has been well served by this approach which has come to be known as the trait and factor approach. However, since the time of Parsons the world of work has changed dramatically. We are living in a time of rapid change. Thus society's needs in terms of career guidance and counselling are significantly different. For career guidance and counselling to remain a relevant force in the next century, career guidance practitioners are being challenged to move away from strict adherence to the traditional model toward more client-centred approaches. One of the biggest challenges to existing practices comes from the influence of constructivism. The constructivist world view has been well documented in the field of counselling. In particular, it has influenced the development of solution-focused and narrative approaches to counselling, which are now well-established counselling modalities. However, it is only comparatively recently that the influence of constructivism has begun to be felt in career guidance and counselling. This paper will briefly examine the history and traditions of career guidance and counselling and discuss the changing nature of the world of work and the needs of clients. Following this, it will examine the nature of constructivism, the challenges and opportunities it presents, and its implications for career guidance and counselling practitioners.

Perceptions of Training Needs of Career Guidance Personnel before and after a University Program.

Economic and workplace change, changing patterns of employment and increasing demands on employees within organisations, are all factors contributing to the growing demand for career guidance and development services. Recent research in America has demonstrated both the lack of career guidance services and appropriate training for career practitioners. In addition, the research indicates that dissatisfaction with the existing training available for career practitioners worsens the problem. This article focuses on this problem and explores the changes in the nature of work that are impacting on the demand for career guidance practitioners. The author investigates aspects of the training dilemma and describes the outcomes of one particular program of career guidance training at Master’s level at an Australian university.

The Ethics of Testing

This paper is concerned with ethical issues in the practice and administration of tests. Some broad principles related to the knowledge required for test usage are described, together with the skills necessary for competent test use. Ethical practice in relation to test users, training in testing, test administration, test interpretation and test instruments is also examined. The focus then changes to a consideration of the more general ethical principles that apply to professional practice and are equally applicable to testing. A final section examines the relevance of these issues for career guidance practitioners and also some recent professional developments that will encourage ethical practice in testing.

Is Working Nation Working?

This paper is concerned with ethical issues in the practice and administration of tests. Some broad principles related to the knowledge required for test usage are described, together with the skills necessary for competent test use. Ethical practice in relation to test users, training in testing, test administration, test interpretation and test instruments is also examined. The focus then changes to a consideration of the more general ethical principles that apply to professional practice and are equally applicable to testing. A final section examines the relevance of these issues for career guidance practitioners and also some recent professional developments that will encourage ethical practice in testing