Is career guidance for the individual or for the market? Implications of EU policy for career guidance

This paper explores the essential understanding and underlying perspectives of career implicit in EU career guidance policy in the twenty-first century, as well as the possible implications of these for the future mission of guidance. Career theories, models and concepts that serve career guidance are shaped on the twentieth-century industrial division of labour and now face a crisis due to the influence of globalization on working life. The transition to a knowledge-based society also challenges the traditional view of career: vocational and educational paths are no longer linear, predictable or stable. The analyses of EU policy documents and ethical declarations discussed here indicate that meanings of career are under reconstruction and that these documents fail to clarify the underlying meanings or perspectives on career contained therein. The essential meaning of career, as communicated through characterizations and dominating underlying perspectives in EU policy, puts greater emphasis on career guidance as being conducted on behalf of society, rather than the individual. Ethical tensions within the career guidance profession appear to have increased, and the profession is also challenged in its professionalization by contradictions and broadened areas, activities and functions.     

Changing Patterns of Thinking: Individuals and organisations

The promises and hopes of the 'reconstructing' movement in educational psychology post-Summerfield 1968 (Gillham, 1978) have not had a major impact on the ability of the profession of applied educational psychologists to effect change across systems. Despite innovative ideas generated by individuals over the past few decades that have promoted opportunities to apply psychology more widely, there is little evidence that the profession has been able to expand on these initiatives and incorporate them into their existing practice. Ideas drawn from a variety of psychological sources enable applied educational psychologists to review their thinking and practice, and to develop different models that can promote and influence useful change at an institutional and/or individual level. This paper considers, in particular, the impact of new models of language and thought on organisational behaviour and, in turn, identifies the manner in which change at an individual and organisational level can be promoted.     

Recognising and questioning the epistemological basis of educational psychology practice

This paper considers the need for the profession of educational psychology to critically consider the theoretical foundations of expert practice in the wake of the complexities and changes of contemporary society within the UK. It argues that the a priori assumptions of conventional educational psychology practice have led to practice being understood in narrow, instrumental and often asocial ways. The paper concludes that it is now time for educational psychology practice to be primarily viewed as a social and ethical endeavour with a central concern for social relationships and that we need consequently to critically scrutinise the ontological and epistemological basis of our practice and the associated methodological implications. It suggests that a social constructionist epistemology of practice, embracing postmodern themes, may offer a new and useful conceptual constellation for guiding the professional work of educational psychologists.     

Child and family guidance: a phoenix from the ashes? a personal account

This paper presents a personal reflection on the history and contribution of child and family guidance within the profession of educational psychology. It argues for a return to a child and family orientation within practice to ensure there is a better focus on children's needs. A recent change in the range of therapeutic options makes it more likely that modern child and family guidance will be both effective, cost-efficient, and less stifled by interprofessional ossification. The future of child and family guidance is considered in terms of the working party on the role of the educational psychologist in England and Wales.     

Is the glass half‐full or half‐empty? Perceptions of recently‐qualified educational psychologists on the effectiveness and impact of their Master’s level research

This paper reports the results of a small‐scale study of the perceptions of recently‐qualified educational psychologists (EPs) in Scotland about the effectiveness of their Master’s level research and its impact on their own practice, on their service and on the wider educational psychology community. Thematic analysis of the data was carried out. There was widespread agreement that their dissertation research project had a positive and wide‐ranging impact on their own professional development, in terms of their reflective stance, theoretical knowledge and understanding, practical skills and expertise which they could use for training others, and lastly, career enhancement. There were mixed perceptions, however, of the impact their research had on their service or on the wider profession. Proposals for improvement were made in order to build capacity for research and evaluation in psychological services, in the light of increasing interest in professional accountability and evidence based practice (EBP).     

The Professional Status of Educational Research: Professionalism and Developmentalism in Twenty-First-Century Working Life

‘How helpful and how necessary is it for at least some of us to see ourselves as professional educational researchers?’ asked Donald McIntyre in his 1996 presidential address to the British Educational Research Association. Still pertinent to consideration of the direction in which the British educational research community ought to focus its development, this question is revisited through examination of whether or not educational research is a profession. Located within a sociological framework, the paper first examines some of the earliest work that established the sociology of professions as a field of study. It then compares this with recent work in the field, before considering whether or not – against the various criteria for professional status that these studies identify – educational research(ing) may be categorised as a profession. Using Noordegraaf’s three categories, the case is examined for considering educational research(ing) as a ‘pure’, a ‘hybrid’ or a ‘situated’ profession. The conclusion is that it represents none of these, but that, within the context of twenty-first-century working life, this is less important than the need for educational research to embrace a culture of developmentalism.     

Observations on a Service Review: Time to Move On?

This paper considers the functioning of one educational psychology service (EPS) at a particularly troubled point in its existence. A focus on a review of the service and resultant pilot of a new model of service delivery will lead to consideration of how and why this process took place. Implications for the service in particular and the profession in general will be explored, and it will be argued that what was a potentially undermining and stressful period, may have been an opportunity to re‐examine what educational psychology has to offer.     

Investigating and Conceptualising the Notion of Consultation to Facilitate Multi‐agency Work

This article explores the use of consultation within educational psychology practice and suggests there is confusion and lack of clarity within the profession surrounding the term, how we use it and how inclusive or exclusive it is as a practice. Three ways of conceptualising consultation are suggested and examples of research and theoretical analysis are described in order to understand these areas of practice. The latter part of the article considers the role of consultation within new practices associated with multi‐agency working and integrated services. It is suggested that as a profession we need to pay more specific attention to the knowledge and skills involved in successful consultation within multi‐agency practice, through drawing upon research and practice from beyond our own somewhat narrow field.     

Critique of the Schema Concept

A basic concept in most theories in cognitive psychology, as well as in many versions of constructivism, is that of the schema. The questions behind this paper concern the nature of schemata and what role the concept plays in educational theory and practice. It starts with a brief look at the historical development of the concept, from Kant to its use in some modern textbooks of psychology. One argument is that during its history the originally hypothetical character of the concept has been forgotten. It is now more or less taken for granted that schemata exist. But there are logical inconsistencies in applications of the concept and its usefulness within educational theories can be questioned. The concept also lends itself to manipulatory psychological practices, illustrated by the example of a US advertising company. The paper ends with a suggestion that we return to Aristotle and a more phenomenological approach to the questions of learning and knowledge formation.     

论基础教育课程的生涯发展特性

普通课程的生涯化与生涯发展课程的普通化促使基础课程呈现出生涯发展的特性。基础教育课程的价值并不仅仅局限于学术的价值和心智的训练,而是要兼顾学生的生活和终身的发展与成长,因此它要求以学术与生涯发展的相互融合,消解当前学习生活与为未来成人生活做准备的二元对立,进而为学生可持续发展、终身幸福与完满生活奠定基础。基础教育课程生涯发展在强化学术以训练学生的心智与行为规范的同时,聚焦于与个人终身职业、休闲、社会与人际关系密切关联的个人适应、社会适应和职业适应。它通过静态的构成要素和动态的操作历程显示出自己的存在价值。     

Reframing the teacher profession as a dynamic multifaceted profession: A wider perspective on teacher quality and teacher competence frameworks

Many countries in Europe use some kind of competence framework to define the quality of teachers. They typically formulate one level of teaching quality which defines the competence level that teachers must have acquired after completing initial teacher education. In addition, most countries provide limited career structures that define career opportunities within the teacher profession itself, resulting in a profession where often the only option for career progression is to move to leadership positions. Competence frameworks that create opportunities for vertical and horizontal career structures can make being a teacher a more attractive profession. They offer teachers opportunities for ‘career crafting’ and professional growth and supply school leaders with tools for more elaborate career guidance. In this article, we present a framework that was developed in the Netherlands to support teacher growth and teachers' career development. It has been used as a starting point for creating a shared language and understanding of the teacher profession and as a catalyst for dialogue between teachers and school leaders on professional growth. We elaborate the main characteristics of the resulting model, its limitations, the feedback that has been collected and how this feedback has been incorporated in how the model is used and discussed by teachers, school leaders and teacher education institutes. Finally, we argue that the strength of the framework can be explained by the way it acts as a boundary object, inspiring mutual learning and dialogue between different activity systems (of teachers, school leaders and teacher educators).     

The integration of career education concepts into the training of school psychologists

This article was written to demonstrate how career education concepts and techniques can he integrated into school psychology training programs. Each basic career education phase was presented along with implications for training programs. Adoption of these procedures should produce individuals with a clear career commitment to the profession of school psychology as well as the skills necessary to function effectively upon initial employment.     

Educational psychology within teacher education

In a context where the role of the teacher and teacher education are undergoing considerable change, the role of educational psychology in teacher preparation is discussed within a new framework. Educational psychology is now perceived as an inherent component within teacher training and professional development, having previously been an additional course and often considered irrelevant to teaching practice. The current paper discusses the relationship between educational psychology and teacher preparation. Educational psychology's contribution to teachers' professional development is delineated through the constructs of teachers' prior beliefs about teaching, reflective practice and self‐efficacy, while its contribution to the improvement of teacher–pupil interaction is viewed through the lenses of instruction theories, social and emotional learning, special educational needs and classroom management. It is argued that through a productive dialectic dialogue between educational psychology and education, educational psychology provides the knowledge defined by its field to be utilized by teachers, whereas at the same time, teachers gain a wider reconceptualization of their practice.     

Reconstructing educational psychology reports: an historic opportunity to change educational psychologists’ advice?

The dynamic between theoretical underpinnings and practical demands of the educational psychologists’ (EPs’) profession is explored with regard to the contrasting explanation of problems along the ‘within child’ to ‘context of child’ dimension. Reference is made to earlier work which provided a paradigm shift away from individual diagnostic and therapeutic work towards EPs’ involvement in research, projects and working with schools as systems. This change has not been closely reflected in the content of educational psychology reports submitted for Statutory Assessments. The opportunity has arisen for a profound review of the content of statutory educational psychology reports via the relevant sections of the Children and Families Act 2014 (Part 3) and the associated Education, Care and Health Plans which replaced Statements of Special Educational Needs. A case is made for the use of references within statutory educational psychology reports to psychological theory including the basis of more holistic conceptualisations.     

Students' choices in Portuguese higher education: influences and motivations

Students face significant pressures in their decision about their career plan. These pressures are simultaneously internal and external, personal and social, individual and from the reference group. The present paper aims at understanding the reasons driving students' choices, perceived needs, and aspirations. Moreover, it discusses the major influences/pressures of the student's choice and tries to understand how choice is affected by the students' socioeconomic and cultural background and other factors such as institutional reputation or “professional heritage.” The construction of the career plan is analyzed by applying a qualitative analysis methodology through content analysis of the freshmen discourses. The results point out the relevance of social status, intelligence, gender, competences, values, and interests of each person for the construction of his/her career plan. All these levels are highly influenced by self-esteem, which is closely related to the social value of career options and paths. The more central the variable self-esteem is, the less susceptible it will become to change other variables such as educational level, profession accessibility, or gender adequacy.     

Applied psychology and the case for individual casework: some reflections on the role of the educational psychologist

The authors consider the changing role of educational psychology in the current era and emphasise the importance of casework‐based interventions not only for influencing systemic work but also for maintaining credibility within the educational marketplace. With in‐school counselling and intervention becoming more popular, the natural providers of this service should be educational psychologists but this may not be the case in many local authorities. The authors consider the possibility of the profession becoming obsolete if there is a continuation of the move away from individual interventions to a more consultative based approach.     

Mindfulness-Based Approaches and their potential for educational psychology practice

Research has been carried out on the application of “mindfulness” to a number of different populations in varying contexts, some of which traverse the field of educational psychology. This discussion paper explores what is understood as mindfulness and outlines the breadth of its application. As well as more extensive research into the use of mindfulness with adults in clinical settings, there has been initial research carried out in the use of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (MBA) with children and parents. MBA have also been used within therapy and coaching which has some similarity to educational psychology consultation with teachers and parents. This paper proposes that the future role of MBA within educational psychology might be one of cautious use by practitioners and the development of a greater body of evidence relating to efficacy in this field.     

Disaffected Pupils: reconstructing the sociological perspective

During the last 25 years, the study of disaffected pupils has been a central topic in the sociology of education. Yet despite its popularity in academic circles the impact of the sociological perspective on policy has been negligible; today the individualised, psychologically orientated approach stills holds sway in most parts of the educational profession. This paper suggests that part of this failure at least is attributable to theoretical inadequacies in the sociological research that has been carried out to date, much of which is based on a one‐dimensional notion of social structure and an over‐rationalistic view of individual psychology. Three key ‘educational structures’ are introduced (the production of ability, the production of values, the production of occupational identity) and a more appropriate model of human personality is outlined.     

Gender balance amongst educational psychologists: an attempt to explain the male minority

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has begun an investigation into why most jobs currently have a gender imbalance within their workforce. The latest in a series of updates has been published by the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) on gender distribution amongst educational psychologists. This may therefore be an opportune time to look at issues of gender balance within the population of educational psychologists (EPs). Currently males are in a minority throughout the study and practice of psychology. The small and diminishing proportion of male EPs appears to be seldom discussed within the profession. This paper attempts to evaluate a range of possible explanations for the lack of male EPs. The process of gender stereotyping was offered as one theoretical framework which might help guide further investigations into this much overlooked area.     

Beyond educational psychology: Steps toward an educational semiotic

In this paper, I argue that educational psychology is deeply embedded in an objectivist epistemology, the consequences of which seriously undermine our ability to inform educational practice. In the remainder of the paper, I provide an introduction to semiotics, the doctrine of signs, and offer four global concepts (the sign, semiosis, inference, and reflexivity) that I believe set semiotics apart from other, more or less related, approaches within psychology and educational psychology (e.g., constructivism). I conclude the paper by responding to some of the more frequently asked questions I have encountered in attempting to define an educational semiotic.