New frameworks for careers guidance: developing a conceptual model of the interview

Recent research has highlighted limitations in our understanding of the dynamics occurring within the careers guidance interview. A study was conducted of how the client and practitioner engage in the exchange within the interview and how meanings are negotiated and received by each of the participants. The objectives for the study were to examine a sample of guidance interviews in order to: (i) identify which interventions by practitioners are perceived as helpful and unhelpful by clients and practitioners; (ii) establish how helpful and unhelpful interventions relate to change in understanding; and (iii) compare and contrast the identification and commentaries by practitioners and clients. The results showed that practitioners reported significantly more helpful interventions than clients and that there was limited agreement in the identification of interventions. Three thematic categories were derived to group the helpful interventions. This analysis provided the basis for the development of a conceptual model of the interview. Further research to test the model and assess its potential to inform careers guidance training and practice is outlined.     

The Haunting of Men: Commentary on Thomas Burkhalter’s “Foregrounding Masculinities in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy”

Thomas Burkhalter’s paper opens an important conversation about the fate of White masculinity in post-Apartheid South Africa. The commentary celebrates the nuance and complexity of the analysis but also suggests that social and historical context would deepen its reach. This concerns taking account of the ways in which the therapeutic moment described owes its formation to a historically and socially specific form of White liberal masculinity. The implications of this for women gendered as female are explored.