Crisis, taboos and careers guidance

The relevance of the idea of 'crisis' for careers and careers guidance is examined, together with some of the critical responses that have been made to recent crises. It is argued that careers guidance generally responds to such challenges by seeing them as external problems rather than as changes which may alter its very assumptions and methods. Two particular taboos are noted in this context concerning the value of work and of working for an organisation. The questioning of these taboos leads to four models of alternative careers: the Uncareer, the Guerilla Career, the Cop-Out Career, and the Non-Career. These forms of career raise the broader issues of order and disorder within careers, with their associated implications for careers guidance.     

Implications of data-analysis models for careers guidance

Data-analysis models for careers guidance have been mostly of the regression type, operating to transform trait assessments into predictions of career adjustments. If understanding of self and life-space is a prerequisite to decision-making and planning, models of the correlation type - which transform trait distributions of populations into knowledge of the antecedents of variance in careers phenomena - may need to take precedence in guidance programmes. Models of the two types have some guidance implications in common, but each type of model also has some special implications, which are discussed. It is argued that studying correlation models for career development data in the context of a sequential, structured guidance curriculum can provide young people with scientific attitudes and skills which will make them ready for personal predictions, decisions, and planning.     

Personality traits and perceptions of organisational justice

This study examined the association between five‐factor model personality traits and perceptions of organisational justice. The sample for the study comprised 903 participants (35–50 years old; 523 women) studied in 2007 and 2012. Measures used were the Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Five‐Factor Inventory questionnaire and the short organisational justice measure. The results showed that high neuroticism was associated with low distributive, procedural and interactional justice. Furthermore, high agreeableness was associated with high procedural and interactional justice and high openness with high distributive justice. This study suggests that neuroticism, agreeableness and openness are involved in perceptions of organisational justice and that personality should be considered in research and in practices at the workplace.     

Black perceptions of guidance

The demand made by black students that administrators employ more black counselors reveals not only students' needs to proclaim black identity and pride but also their grievances against guidance that have deeper roots than just the current social revolution. This article examines the black student's view of guidance in order that counselors might develop a role for the profession that will serve this student more effectively.     

Policy challenges confronting careers guidance: Introduction

A symposium on policy challenges facing careers guidance in five countries is introduced. The importance and the comparative neglect of the topic are noted. Some common themes of the contributions are highlighted: the impact of change; the politicisation of guidance; policy and service co-ordination; targeting of services; and the professional identity of guidance.     

Girls and women: challenges for careers guidance practice

This article reviews the position of women in the UK labour market and the increasing complexity of their employment patterns. It criticises current career theory for girls and women and examines enhancers and inhibitors of women's career development. Finally, some promising developments in theory-building for girls and women are briefly discussed, together with some implications for practice.     

Competing schools or stylistic variation in careers guidance interviewing

We know very little about how careers officers conduct careers guidance interviews. Research was carried out to discover how careers officers view interviewing, the factors that lead them to vary their interview style, and how they modify their approach with experience. There was little evidence that officers vary their style by using radically opposed models in different circumstances. Instead, variations in approach are best regarded as different combinations of ideas and techniques. Careers officers adapted their interview styles largely in response to the perceived needs of clients. Initial training course attended appeared to have a limited but enduring effect on interview style, but there was also evidence that with experience careers officers develop more confidence, coherence and flexibility. Careers officers judged their interviews to be most effective when they were able to establish a rapport with the client, to spend time drawing up a contract, to challenge clients in a sensitive way, and to structure the interview appropriately.     

Developing careers education and guidance in a tertiary college

The growing number of tertiary colleges presents careers education and guidance with challenges different from and additional to those of secondary schools, sixth-form colleges and further education. This article describes and analyses how one tertiary college, founded four years ago, has responded to these challenges. The background to the setting up of the college, and of careers education and guidance within it, is described and some areas of difficulty and ambiguity are identified. The emergence of principles (comprehensiveness, time-tabling, timing, identification of need, and curriculum negotiation) underlying the organisation of careers education is documented. Four types of careers course (Introductory, Exploratory, Focusing and Practical Guidance) are described and examples of how they are used are given. Particular attention is drawn to the innovatory use of 'Careers Workshops'.     

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.     

The social conditions, consequences and limitations of careers guidance

The recent influence of developmental theories of occupational choice upon guidance practice in Britain is criticised. It is suggested that people do not typically 'choose' occupations in any meaningful sense: they simply take what is available. Moreover, the career of the typical industrial worker cannot be meaningfully understood in terms of self-actualisation and implementing a self-concept: guidance work based upon these concepts is accordingly unrealistic. An adequate theory for understanding school-leavers' transition to employment in Britain needs to be based around the concept not of 'occupational choice', but of 'opportunity structure'. Guidance should concentrate not on raising unrealistic expectations, but on helping people to adjust successfully within the opportunity structures open to them.     

Measuring clients' experience of careers guidance interviews: Exploratory studies

Initial findings of the development of a measure of client experience of the careers guidance interview are reported. Initially based on the Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale (Wolf et al., 1978), items were derived which sampled across affective, cognitive and behavioural components of careers interviewing. The scale is pilot tested on 60 15 and 16 year-old school pupils, of low academic potential and all of whom had experienced a careers interview with a careers officer. Initial results are only partially supportive of the findings of Wolf et al. (1978). Results of a further field study of the 20-item scale based on 54 careers interviews are also reported where factor analytic data are promising. The contribution of the scale in testing related hypotheses (e.g. met expectation hypothesis) is indicated.     

Expectations, recall and evaluation of careers guidance interviews by pupils and careers advisers: a preliminary study

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in the perceptions of initial careers guidance interviews as expressed by pupils and careers advisers. A sample of 51 careers guidance interviews were studied, which were carried out by 16 qualified careers advisers operating under normal working conditions. The school pupils were from the lower streams of 16 different secondary level schools, half were male, and the majority were either unsure of leaving or were planning to leave school at the earliest opportunity. The study adopted a quantitative repeated measures design where both interview participants completed pre-interview expectation questionnaires, post-interview recall questionnaires and scales measuring interview evaluations. The results suggested a range of differences between careers advisers' and pupils' expectations, recall and evaluations of careers guidance interviews. However, both participants' overall satisfaction with the careers interview was significantly related to the interpersonal aspects of the process, while the provision of careers advice contributed to overall satisfaction expressed by careers advisers only. The findings are discussed in relation to evaluation of provision and the preparation of clients for participation in careers guidance interviews.     

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.     

Prolonged transitions to uncertain destinations: The implications for careers guidance

A set ofEuro-wide trends is discussed: the prolongation of young people's transitions, the individualisation of their biographies, and the greater uncertainty of their futures. It is argued that youth's new condition is currently being normalised throughout Europe, and that this process is aided by appropriate careers guidance which must be recurrent, customised, and couched in terms of possibilities. Problems that are posed for young people and their advisers in Britain, and in some other countries, by the persistent jobs deficit, the inability of some families to provide the support that youth's new condition requires, and the fact that some forms of vocational education and training are most likely to be dead-ends, are identified.     

The politics of careers education and guidance: A case for scrutiny

Political aspects of processes involved in defining careers education and guidance are brought to light through an examination of debates surrounding the definition of guidance at four different points of the journey from policy to practice, and of related 'gaps' between 'theory' and 'practice'. It is argued that these 'gaps' cannot be adequately conceptualised within a curriculum evaluation paradigm. They result from the conflictual nature of curriculum change which, in this case, produced repeated contests over the definition of guidance, with different outcomes in different occupational settings. These outcomes, it is argued, were influenced not only by rational debate but by the distribution of power between the various groups of actors concerned. The politics of careers education and guidance are placed on the agenda for consideration by both researchers and practitioners.     

The development of computer-aided careers guidance systems: A response to Closs

The veracity of many of the statements in Closs (1994) is challenged. It is suggested that the problems encountered in the implementation of PROSPECT (HE) were not caused by project management but were, as suggested by Watts (1994), economic and political in nature.     

Changes and responsibilities: Policy challenges confronting careers guidance in New Zealand

Several policy shifts and changes to careers guidance that have occurred in New Zealand recently are examined, and the difficulties faced by counsellors in coping with the ongoing change are highlighted. These developments are discussed in the broader context of major economic changes and evolving organisational structures in New Zealand among many other countries. Lessons drawn from the New Zealand experience include the importance of evaluating services, being prepared for change, and being open to new ideas where change is inevitable.     

Vikings on the seine: Policy challenges confronting careers guidance in Denmark

Careers guidance in Denmark is related to three sets of changes: (1) demographic changes; (2) value changes; and (3) technological changes. The Danish historical and political background is described. The implications of the politicisation of guidance are discussed.