We're all career researchers now: breaking open career education and DOTS

This paper reviews career education in the UK's statutory, further and higher education sectors, and finds that, despite considerable changes in theory, provision remains based on the traditional DOTS model of decision learning, opportunity awareness, transition learning and self-awareness. It is argued that the persistent and hegemonic status of this model has delayed the adoption of innovative theory and the development of creative new frameworks. In order to provide policy and practice with new perspectives, a critical reassessment of the DOTS model is conducted, focusing on three areas: theoretical roots; individual-environment interpenetration; and self-opportunity matching. The role of students as career researchers, illustrated by examples drawn from current career education practice, is proposed to indicate new directions for both subject specialists and careers workers.     

‘ … and now it’s over to you’: recognising and supporting the role of careers leaders in schools in England

ABSTRACT

There is a long history of teachers and schools being involved in the delivery of career education and guidance. As the breadth of career education and guidance activity in English schools grew throughout the twentieth century it became increasingly necessary to have an individual within the school responsible for leading and managing this activity (the careers leader). The transfer of responsibility for career guidance from local authorities to schools following the Education Act 2011 has intensified the need for this role. There have been various attempts to conceptualise and professionalise the role of careers leader and to develop appropriate training and support. This article defines the role and the rationale for the role, sets out its history and makes recommendations for the future professionalisation of the role. It is argued that this will include recognition of the role by policy, professionalisation and the development of a career structure and the development of appropriate training and CPD.     

Career metaphors and their application in theory and counseling practice

This article, first given as an address to the January 2002 National Consultation on Career Development, Ottawa, Ontario, draws attention to the inevitability of metaphor in human thought, discourse, and theory, including that concerning careers. The article (a) explores the benefits and the dangers of metaphorical thinking and advocates the use of “multiple metaphor” as a means of understanding careers; (b) looks particularly at metaphors in the context of new, more flexible careers; (c) introduces 10 archetypal career metaphors; and (d) considers how career counseling practice can be assisted through the facilitation of metaphorical thinking.     

Career orientations of senior executives and their implications for careers guidance

The development of career theory has given little attention to mid-career adults relative to that given to school leavers and young adults. Furthermore, in looking at adult careers the focus has primarily been on the objective patterns of career movements rather than on subjective aspects of career. As objective careers become less easily measured, with the disappearance of clear career ladders, the importance of the subjective career increases. In a questionnaire study of senior executives (n = 132) who undertook a formal counselling programme, there was no evidence of any change in expectations of future employing organisations, or the career signals they held important. Post-counselling clients rated themselves more highly than pre-counselling clients on their knowledge and confidence, their self awareness in regard to careers, their ability to negotiate career change and their attribution of career progress to their own personal qualities. The implications of these findings for careers counselling practice, and for the skills of career management, are discussed.     

The death and transfiguration of career-and of career guidance?

The predominant understanding of career in the industrial era has focused on progression within hierarchical work organisations. With the move into a post-industrial era, the possibility of such careers is rapidly receding. The concept of career, however, has always been broader than this, and other aspects of it are now claiming increased attention. They focus more upon individual experiences in terms of development in learning and work throughout life. The role of career guidance in relation to such experiences is potentially of much greater social significance. A number of implications for career guidance provision and practice are discussed.     

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.     

An alternative justification for careers education: A radical response to roberts and daws

K. Roberts and Daws have given what are apparently two divergent views of the place and nature of careers education and guidance. This paper seeks to show that while both provide useful comments on a problem area, both seek to discuss this problem from within a normative view of the world. In the case of Roberts this leads to a deterministic acceptance of the status quo, while Daws' view of careers education as a 'catalyst' seems doomed to remain at the level of hope. It is suggested that a more appropriate conceptual framework can be formulated, based on the idea of career choice as the creation of 'nomos', and on a different view of the relationship between individual, society and reality. This finally leads to a discussion of the place of careers education and guidance, and its further development, as an important contribution to radical education and social change.     

A systematic approach to planning a careers education course

The nature of careers education is discussed and a design framework proposed in which careers education is witnessed in terms of process. Five major process skills used by students in choosing a career are identified: discovering, selecting, responding, implementing, and assessing/evaluating. These mediate eight major components each characterised by elements accepted in the literature as impinging upon vocational development and career decision-making. An analysis of the aims, general objectives and specific objectives of careers education is undertaken, and suggestions are made for ways in which the process skills might be used to provide a rationale for programme development and improved classroom interaction.     

Career trajectories of older women: implications for career guidance

As work and employment transitions become more frequent and difficult, the demand for formal career guidance increases. Women are likely to experience structural labour market disadvantage and may benefit from formal support that is sympathetic to their particular needs. Yet the traditional psychological paradigms that dominate career guidance practice have assumed homogeneity. To contribute both to broader debates about careers services for adults and the development of more relevant theoretical frameworks for career practice for women, results are presented from an international, comparative qualitative investigation of the career trajectories of older women (aged 45 to 65) in Australia, England and South Africa. These results confirm a need for career guidance that is nuanced and differentiated for women.     

Images of career: Nine key metaphors

This article examines theorists', practitioners', and workers' extensive use of metaphors in the conceptualization of careers. Metaphor constrains career thinking to powerful stereotypes, yet also extends views through the consideration of alternative metaphors and the creation of new ones. Morgan's (1986) method of multiple metaphor is used to develop an eclectic view of career studies. Nine key metaphors for career are considered—the career as inheritance, construction, cycle, matching, journey, encounters and relationships, roles, resource, and story. These metaphors act as frameworks for much career theory, and each presents specific career issues. Together they have the potential to advance thinking about careers beyond the framing of familiar metaphors, and provide a broader and more inclusive understanding of career phenomena.     

Computer-Assisted Careers Counselling: A New Approach

This paper describes the outcome of a research and development project concerned to construct a computer aid for careers advisers and career decision-makers which differs in basic philosophy and design from others currentiy in the field. The resulting Careers Decision Aiding System (CDAS) is principally concerned with improving the quality of the decision-making strategy employed by clients by raising their awareness of the way in which their career choice is made, ratherthan with employing computer technology to attempt to match people to careers. The use of the CDAS by clients and careers advisers is illustrated by two case-studies.     

Health inequality and careers

Structural explanations of career choice and development are well established. Socioeconomic inequality represents a powerful factor shaping career trajectories and economic outcomes achieved by individuals. However, a robust and growing body of evidence demonstrates a strong link between socioeconomic inequality and health outcomes. Work is a key factor explaining differences in income and lifestyle. It seems unavoidable that inequality in careers has profound consequences for health and well-being, but this relationship is largely ignored by career scholars. Some implications of health inequality for career guidance interventions are suggested.     

Young people's career choices and careers guidance action planning: A case-study of training credits in action

A specific careers guidance action plan, used in conjunction with one of the original training credits pilot schemes, is investigated. Analysis revealed tensions between the pragmatically rational way in which young people reported making career decisions and the technically rational system of guidance built into the design of the scheme. These tensions created operational difficulties for careers officers, and raise important issues for further debate about the nature of careers education and guidance     

Improving the quality of careers guidance: Towards an understanding of the development of personal models

The process by which careers officers develop personal models of guidance through the interaction of theoretical knowledge with their experiences of training and practice is examined. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 careers officers. Questions were asked about the training and development of careers officers in the practice of careers guidance and counselling with young people. The responses are considered in relation to theories of careers choice, careers counselling and guidance, models of counselling, and the supervisory role in the development of individual practice. Some recommendations are made for improvements to training and supervision for careers guidance.     

An open-learning approach to career management and guidance

Assumptions about the nature of career development are changing in the face of organisational and technical change in the workplace. Individuals are now less likely to experience secure, lifelong employment, and instead will need to face the process of career review and change with greater frequency. They will therefore need to be skilled in managing their careers effectively. Open-learning approaches to career management and guidance have until recently been comparatively little used and yet they offer the potential for action-oriented career planning, provide a career decision framework for learners, and encourage increased ownership of the career management process by the individual taking part. They can be used in educational and commercial settings to facilitate both the processes of initial career choice and those of career development and progression. From the perspective of the careers practitioner, they offer a high-volume, but not necessarily low-cost, approach to the delivery of career programmes. Evaluation evidence is reviewed from two programmes developed at the Open University and the University of Sussex respectively. The range of learning outcomes they deliver is discussed     

Nineteen propositions concerning the nature of effective thinking for career management in a turbulent world

It is argued that some of the literature on post-formal thinking, wisdom, expertise and cognition can contribute substantially to the theory and practice of careers guidance, counselling and management, but has not yet done so. Material from these interrelated strands of the adult cognitive development literature is discussed, with particular reference to the changing nature of careers. On the whole, the research and theory examined point in similar directions, and share some key concepts of relevance to careers. Propositions concerning the thought-processes characterising effective management of careers by individuals are put forward. Implications of the propositions for careers guidance and counselling are discussed     

Career guidance in five English independent schools

English independent schools are not required to follow government statutory guidance in a number of aspects including career education and guidance, and yet many are actively engaged in careers work and this has caught the attention of policymakers. State schools are subject to statutory guidance but, according to Ofsted and other authorities, the majority fail to adequately support young people through their post-school transitions. Using evidence from five English independent schools, the type of provision they offer is analysed against benchmarks of good practice to identify where their support is focussed. The factors that shape the resourcing and design of career education and guidance in the five schools are also explored. The extent to which the practices observed in the case studies can be replicated in all, or a sub-set of state schools, is discussed in the light of policy influence of independent schools.     

Effective professionals engaged in reflective practice: A response to Kidd et al.

Training for careers guidance is undergoing rapid and radical change. The Employment Department's January 1995 invitation to bid for pilot programmes for work-based, competency training represents a sharp contrast to the off-the-job academic training which has, for the past 20 years, been located in higher education. An informed debate and well-founded empirical findings would contribute to the constructive management of these changes. However, Kidd et al.'s (1994) research on careers officers' use of theory in guidance interviews is criticised as being seriously flawed. Questions are posed regarding their conceptual framework, several aspects of their methodology, and their apparent lack of awareness of directly relevant theory and research.     

Toward a taxonomy of career studies through bibliometric visualization

One of the greatest strengths and liabilities of the career field is its diversity. This diversity allows for wide coverage of relevant career dynamics across the lifespan and across levels of analysis. However, this diversity also reflects fragmentation, with career scholars failing to appreciate how the insights from other thought worlds can advance their own work. Using advanced bibliometric mapping techniques, we provide a systematic review of the 3141 articles on careers published in the management literature between 1990 and 2012. In doing so, we (1) map key terms to create a systematic taxonomy of career studies within the field of management studies, (2) provide a synthetic overview of each topic cluster which extends prior reviews of more limited scope, and (3) identify the most highly influential studies on careers within each cluster. Specifically, six local clusters emerged — i.e., international careers, career management, career choice, career adaptation, individual and relational career success, and life opportunities. To classify a broad range of research opportunities for career scholars, we also create a “global” map of 16,146 career articles from across the social sciences. Specifically, six global clusters emerged — i.e., organizational, individual, education, doctorate careers, high-profile careers, and social policy. We describe and compare the clusters in the map with an emphasis on those avenues career scholars in management have yet to explore.     

The influence of individual and family characteristics upon career aspirations of girls during childhood and adolescence

The term pioneer is used for girls aspiring to male-dominated careers. This longitudinal study assesses the career choices of 68 middle-class girls during childhood (8–13 years, Phase I) and again during adolescence (13–18 years, Phase II), and investigates the relation between pioneering career choice and personal and family characteristics. Subjects were originally selected for exposure vs nonexposure to exogenous hormones during pregnancy. In childhood, pioneers were somewhat older, were more often persistent tomboys, had higher IQs, and had parents with higher educational attainment. In adolescence, paternal education was the only variable that showed the same relation to career choice. Adolescent girls who had wanted to get married at the time of the childhood assessment were now less likely to choose pioneering careers. Adolescent pioneers also had higher educational aspirations than nonpioneers and less likely anticipated being married within ten years than nonpioneers. A number of statistically borderline relationships were also observed: pioneers had somewhat fewer older brothers than nonpioneers, less often came from homes in which traditional femininity was stressed, and more frequently had mothers who had worked outside the home throughout their daughters' school years than mothers of nonpioneers. Prenatal exposure to exogenous sex hormones was not related to career choice during either childhood or adolescence.