Ensuring an independent future for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND): a critical examination of the impact of education,health and care plans in England

This article examines the implications of the new education, health and care (EHC) planning process for career professionals in England. The new process comes in the wake of a succession of legislation relating to young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in England. There is much to recommend the new process as it represents a shift to a more holistic and person-centred approach. However, there are four main criticisms which can be made of the new process: (1) the policy has an excessive focus on paid work as an outcome which is unrealistic (for some young people); (2) the resourcing in local authorities is too limited to successfully operationalise the policy; (3) there is a lack of clarity about the professional base delivering EHC planning (especially in relation to the career elements); and (4) the policy is too narrowly targeted. While the new legislation offers some major opportunities, realising these will be difficult. In this paper, questions are raised about the resources required to deliver these services; the responsibilities relevant to such services; and the role and scope of these services in supporting the transitions of vulnerable young people into learning and work in an environment where universal careers provision has been substantially diminished.     

青少年早期职业不确定性及其影响因素

本文首先总结了国外有关青少年早期职业不确定性的研究进展,包括职业不确定性的认知和情感成分、早期职业不确定性与有效求职行为之间的联系;其次,进一步分析了影响青少年早期职业不确定性的各种主要因素,如个性差异、职业兴趣、人口学变量、早期工作经验和家庭环境;最后,对未来有关早期职业不确定性的研究方向提出展望。     

The ‘Blueprint’ framework for career management skills: a critical exploration

This article examines the Blueprint framework for career management skills as it has been revealed across sequential implementations in the USA, Canada and Australia. It is argued that despite its lack of an empirical basis, the framework forms a useful and innovative means through which career theory, practice and policy can be connected. The framework comprises both core elements (learning areas, learning model and levels) and contextual elements (resources, community of practice, service delivery approach and policy connection). Each of these elements is explored.     

‘Left to your own devices’ – the missed potential of adult career guidance in Denmark

In 2008, the European Council agreed on a Resolution on better integrating lifelong guidance into lifelong learning strategies. The Resolution promoted lifelong guidance as a policy to support people during the multiple transitions provoked by a more volatile labour market. However, when looking into the guidance policy of Denmark, the Resolution does not seem to have taken effect. Whereas, the career guidance system is relatively developed in terms of transitions from basic schooling into youth education and from youth education to higher education, when it comes to transitions during a working life, adult career guidance structures are patchy and scattered across different policy areas and institutions. The objective of this article is to investigate the potential of adult career guidance as a support structure for Lifelong Learning, career transition and labour market mobility. To this end, we draw on Holzkamp's concept of ‘disruption of the cyclicity in everyday life’ to analyse working life narratives. We focus on the potential contact points between the individual and public structures supporting working life transitions. This article hereby contributes to ongoing discussions concerning access to career guidance as part of a social contract underlying flexible labour markets.     

The role of learning and career guidance for managing mid-career transitions – comparing Germany and Denmark

In Germany and Denmark, the systems of further education and career guidance are well developed, offering a wide range of services and learning opportunities for targeted, specific and also general skills development. Based on an empirical study with mid-career individuals in both countries, the article investigates how the different systems support individuals to manage a career transition and develop their individual pathways. Mid-career transitions can be considered particularly challenging as they often reflect a more profound crisis and major concerns about future career opportunities. Constraints that prevent individuals in mid-career to fully benefit from the learning and guidance offers available can be identified in both countries. These range from the availability of programmes and accessing funding to getting the ‘right’ information. These constraints partly derive from adult education and guidance systems presupposing linear careers rather than disruptive trajectories and horizontal mobility.     

无边界职业生涯取向与青年员工职业成功：职业胜任力的中介作用

基于职业成功的胜任力模型,探讨无边界职业生涯取向与青年员工职业成功的关系。采用两阶段（two-wave）问卷调查法,以385名35岁以下的年轻员工为样本进行研究。结果表明,无边界思维模式与青年员工的主观职业成功、客观职业成功均显著地正相关,职业胜任力在其中起完全中介作用;组织流动性偏好与青年员工的主观职业成功、客观职业成功均显著地负相关,职业胜任力在其中起中介作用。研究证实了无边界职业生涯取向对青年员工职业成功的“双刃剑”效应,为青年员工的职业生涯管理提供了重要启示。     

The impact of career websites: what's the evidence?

ABSTRACT

Careers provision for young people in the UK is being re-formulated on the basis of a central role for career websites but this policy is based on unproven assumptions about their value. In this article we consider the use and impact of the two main career websites in Scotland on pupils' career management skills. We found that pupils at risk of not achieving positive post-school destinations were less likely to use the websites, as were minority ethnic pupils. Although similar in functions, the two websites differed in their effect: one had no impact while the other impacted on only one aspect of pupils' career management skills. Careers policy needs to be informed by more extensive research on career websites.     

Career guidance in England today: reform,accidental injury or attempted murder?

ABSTRACT

In 2011 England's career guidance profession lost its ‘own’ public service organisation and its former dedicated stream of public funding. The immediate causes lay in decisions by the government of the day, but this article revisits the profession's history to seek explanations for its later vulnerability. It is argued that decisions taken early in the profession's history, specifically its complete separation from adult employment services and basing claims to professional expertise almost wholly on occupational psychology, though maybe right at the time, were to have fateful consequences. The article proceeds to argue that career guidance will certainly survive its recent trauma, but the most likely outcome of the current ‘reforms’ – a market in career guidance services – will not create the kind of comprehensive education-to-work bridging service that was once intended and which is still needed.