Mentoring and professional development in careers services in higher education

Mentoring is examined as a support mechanism for trainees undertaking new in-service professional qualifications for the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS). An initial pilot scheme proved that mentoring was viable in the AGCAS context. An outline is presented of how the transition was made from a pilot group of eight trainees in one region to a national scheme, providing mentors for over fifty trainees. The selection procedure for mentors, the process of matching them with trainees, the regional network for induction training and support, and the documentation associated with the mentoring scheme, are described.     

The new qualification in careers guidance in higher education: A collaborative partnership

The raison d'être for the new Certificate and Diploma in Careers Guidance in Higher Education is outlined. The different perspectives of the partners in this enterprise–the Department of Community Studies at the University of Reading and the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS)–are discussed. The initial difficulties and successes are explored and a suggested strategy is offered for other such collaborative ventures.     

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-learning space: New-dots thinking for careers education

For more than 20 years, both careers education and guidance have drawn much of their rationale from the DOTS analysis which analyses practice for coverage of decision learning (D), opportunity awareness (O), transition learning (T), and self awareness (S). Its assumptions are rooted in theory, unifying the aims of careers education and careers guidance as enabling choice. More recent theory and practice engage a wider range of thinking: they acknowledge the complexity of contemporary career planning, and accommodate interactions which occur in the social and community life of the 'choosing person'. The practical implications are for more progressive career learning, in conditions which enable 'due process' to establish viable bases for both choice and change of mind. This thinking more sharply differentiates careers education from guidance, setting out a strong rationale for the former. It does not replace DOTS, but extends it into a new-DOTS re-conceptualisation termed 'career-learning space'. The effectiveness of career learning is determined by its transferable outcomes. New-DOTS thinking resonates with the conditions for transferable learning. There are possibilities here for building a strong consensus between practice, theory and policy.     

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.     

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.     

Careers education in higher education: Principles and practice

It is argued that careers education represents a distinctive new approach in careers guidance within higher education. A detailed analysis is presented of American and British experiments to date, dividing them into three groups: unit courses leading to credit, courses not leading to credit, and intensive experiences. Attention is also paid to the need to integrate formal group work of these kinds with other formal and informal learning experiences. Finally, an attempt is made to identify some crucial dilemmas and issues which need to be addressed if careers education is to be structured into the British higher education system.     

Educational and careers guidance services for adults: I. A rationale and conceptual framework

A number of current social trends are described which suggest that the career patterns of adults are likely to become more complex than in the past. If such complexity is to offer increased opportunities for choice and for personal growth, rather than simply producing damaging disruption and distress, guidance services could be of critical importance. Three ways of examining the guidance needs of adults are proposed, based respectively on developmental stages, on roles, and on life events.     

Educational and careers guidance services for adults: II. A review of current provision

The similarities and differences between existing educational and careers guidance services for adults are analysed in terms of five dimensions: the roles with which the services are primarily concerned, their target groups, their guidance junctions, their staffing policy, and their organisational base. A brief discussion of 'distance-guidance' services is added.     

Counselling and careers education in the united states: Some current trends

The author visited the United States in May/June 1972 with a grant from the US Department of State under their Leaders and Specialists Programme. He visited nine major cities and met nearly a hundred people in the guidance and counselling field, including some of the leading figures. This paper identifies some of the main current trends in American guidance work — notably the reevaluation of the counsellor's role and the push for “career education” — and examines their implications for guidance work in Britain.     

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'.     

Setting the standards: Implications for higher education of the introduction of occupational standards for advice, guidance and counselling

Current developments in the delivery of advice, guidance and counselling to students in higher education are outlined. A range of possible consequences for higher education of the introduction of occupational standards in the advice, guidance and counselling field is identified. Issues that higher education institutions and awarding bodies will need to address are explored.     

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.     

Somatization in Chinese American clients: Implications for psychotherapeutic services

Chinese Americans have a tendency to somatize, or complain of physical discomforts, when they experience psychological or emotional problems. Differentiating whether these clients have a mental health problem or a physical ailment is a critical diagnostic and treatment issue. In addition, psychogenic somatic complaints need to be addressed in a culturally congruent manner in the context of psychotherapy. This paper examines the somatic symptoms commonly reported by Chinese American clients. Ways to address these issues in differential diagnosis and in treatment will be discussed along with case examples.Portions of this paper were presented at the 100th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., August, 1992.     

Strategic Maneuvering through Persuasive Definitions: Implications for Dialectic and Rhetoric

Persuasive definitions – those that convey an attitude in the act of naming – are frequently employed in discourse and are a form of strategic maneuvering. The dynamics of persuasive definition are explored through brief case studies and an extended analysis of the use of the “war” metaphor in responding to terrorism after September 11, 2001. Examining persuasive definitions enables us to notice similarities and differences between strategic maneuvering in dialectical and in rhetorical argument, as well as differences between the role of strategic maneuvering in normatively ideal argument and in actually existing argument. This will avoid the double standard of comparing ideal dialectic with actual rhetoric, or vice versa. The results of the analysis suggest possibilities for a rapprochement between dialectical and rhetorical approaches to argumentation.     

Counselling, careers education and pastoral care: Beyond the National Curriculum

The National Curriculum and other recent educational reforms in the UK have had the effect of compartmentalising children's education into the measurable—usually the academic—and of undervaluing its socio-emotional aspects. A symposium presenting different views of the implications of these reforms is introduced. A plea is made for all professionals involved in education to move from a reductionist view to one which truly enhances the whole child.