Focusing on coherent career plans: The fifth C of career planning programs

Conclusion Students don't plan to fail, they fail to plan. The use of coherent individual career plans will add significantly to the total career planning process and provide a practical method for students to document and plan their future career and life direction. As Frank Parson once said, “It is better to sail with compass and chart than to drift into an occupation haphazard or by chance, proximity, or uninformed selection; and drift on through it without reaching any port worthy of the voyage” (p. 101). A coherent career plan can be that “compass and chart” young people need as they move along their career journey.     

On the sovereignty of school rhetoric: Representations of science among scientists and guidance counsellors

This article sheds light on views held by actors who enjoy a certain degree of institutional legitimacy for “talking about science,” either as practitioners in the field of science or as guidance counsellors working with youths interested in having a science-related career. One hundred and seven scientists and technologists who worked either in a university or industrial research centre and 182 guidance counsellors working in high school settings participated in our survey; the main instrument for data collection was a questionnaire developed using the bank of items from “VOSTS.” Excepting a few aspects of the production of scientific knowledge, the predominant tendency suggests that both professional groups share a relatively similar discursive outlook on science—an outlook which presents a “family resemblance” with the usual school rhetoric on the exceptional status of science.     

The effect of career counsellors on the decision to pursue higher education: a mixed‐methods investigation

The article examines the role of career counsellors in secondary education in Cyprus, with emphasis on their effect on students' career decisions. Survey research was used to collect information from 611 students and 36 career counsellors in Cyprus. Students were asked to rate the importance of several factors as influences on their career decisions. This allowed for the assessment of the importance of career counsellors relative to other influencing factors. In a separate survey, career counsellors provided information on their job satisfaction and their effectiveness in providing guidance and information to students. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. According to the findings, students consider counsellors to be of little or no importance as sources of guidance and information in the decision‐making process which precedes the choice between higher education and employment. Moreover, counsellors point to serious problems at the workplace which limit their effectiveness. The article discusses ways of addressing the problems faced by career counsellors and enhancing their role as significant reference individuals in further education and career decisions.     

Becoming a guidance counsellor in Ontario: formative influences from counsellors’ perspective

Contrary to guidance counsellors elsewhere in North America who hold a master’s degree, career and guidance counselling services in secondary schools in Ontario are delivered by teachers who have completed additional undergraduate studies. Guidance counsellors are pivotal components of the school as they complete tasks that promote students’ overall development. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how teachers perceive and describe the process of becoming guidance counsellors in Ontario. The thematic analysis revealed four major themes that articulated the process of becoming a guidance counsellor in Ontario: peer guidance, contextual factors, professional experience, and theoretical knowledge.     

If ego identity is the envelope then adaptive change is the note to self: scaffolding the career choices of adolescents

The first aim of the current article is to primarily propose a model to assist career counsellors in understanding and guiding adolescents towards career commitment. The second aim is to focus on the relationship between career identity and career certainty, and how these positively influence the achievement of ego identity and maturity. Finally, it is proposed that systematically applying a model of adaptive change will prompt adolescents to explore and understand their career options with greater certainty. Applying such a model provides career counsellors with a practical framework to guide adolescents with their career choices.     

Breaking the routine: voluntary inter‐school transition and women teachers' self‐renewal

Teachers' career transitions and their positive as well as negative outcomes were left relatively untouched in the literature and research on education. In an effort to fill in gaps in knowledge, this paper reports the findings of a life story study that explored inter‐school transitions during the career cycle of mid‐career women teachers in Israel. The study aimed at understanding the process of voluntary IST and its association with the teachers' self‐renewal, as well as to unearth contextual and biographical determinants that facilitate this kind of connection in their career cycle. Based on life story interviews with eight primary and secondary teachers, the study provides insight into a positive consequence of the inter‐school transition among mid‐life teachers. In subsequence to the transition, the teachers reported having a sense of greater self‐esteem/image, feeling energy replenishing and enthusiasm and increasing inclination to launch changes and innovations, all of which are elements of the professional's self‐renewal process. Practical implications are suggested.     

The psychology of working and globalisation: a new perspective for a new era

In this article the impact of globalisation is explored in relation to a new perspective entitled the psychology-of-working. This perspective has been developed as an overarching framework for career development, vocational guidance, and related explorations of the role of work in people’s lives (Blustein, 2006). With the conceptual infusion of the psychology-of-working perspective, recommendations for career counsellors and vocational psychologists are discussed with the objective of helping clients cope with the changes in their work lives brought about by globalisation.     

The Role of Teachers and Schooling Experiences in Learners’ Adult Life Quality: A Senegalese Case Study

School attended, Qur’anic education attendance, fathers’ occupation, and some aspects of teachers’ classroom actions make a difference for the adult life of the former learners. This paper presents findings from a longitudinal study of the career and life situations of Senegalese individuals who were of school age in the beginning of the 1980s. Data was collected on teacher ratings and predictions of school success as well as absenteeism during the academic year 1980/1981. In a follow up study in 1999/2000 the individuals were 25-32 years old and they were interviewed and tested on a simple life-skills test.     

College Students’ Views of Work–Life Balance in STEM Research Careers: Addressing Negative Preconceptions

In career discussions, female undergraduates said that if they were to attend graduate school in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and were to follow a career based on their research training, they would have to give up having a family. A subsequent survey showed that many students, both men and women, thought work–life balance would be more difficult to achieve in a STEM research path than in other professions they were considering. Their views of STEM research being less family-friendly were more pronounced on issues of parental leaves and caring for children than finding a spouse/partner and landing two jobs in the same locality. To provide role models of work–life balance in STEM professions, we convened panels of dual-career couples who described how they worked together to raise their children while advancing their scientific careers. Our selection of panelists and topics of discussion were based on findings of social science research on work–life balance. On a survey with the same questions administered afterward, the changes in paired responses of male and female students with respect to all four issues showed a significant shift toward thinking that a research-based STEM career would be no more difficult than other careers they were considering.     

My career chapter as a tool for reflective practice

The career assessment and counselling procedure My Career Chapter is presented as a tool for reflexive self-awareness within career counsellors. To demonstrate application of the procedure as a method of self-supervision, this paper presents a study in which the participant studies himself. Results indicate a reflexive consciousness for the career counsellor that extends his self-awareness as a professional into his personal, non-professional life. Implications are presented with a focus upon the scope of self-report in qualitative research and collegial supervision.     

Team Effort – Training Therapists to Work with Interpreters as a Collaborative Team

This paper considers components of a framework for relational training for counsellors who work with interpreters. Where counsellors and clients cannot be linguistically matched, they will need to incorporate an interpreter into their therapeutic relationship. Counsellors are often unprepared to work in this way. ‘Mothertongue multi-ethnic counselling service’, a UK counselling agency has developed and piloted an in-house training for counsellors and interpreters. Components of this training in how to work collaboratively with interpreters are considered in this paper. These components address the need for a collaborative relationship between counsellor and interpreter, consideration of dynamics in a triangular relationship and a clear delineation of responsibilities. Recommendations are made for the development of a training curriculum and models of clinical supervision for counsellors and interpreters who want to work together collaboratively.     

Narrative Career Counselling for People with Refugee Backgrounds

For people with refugee backgrounds, pursuing a meaningful career in their country of resettlement is important for their successful integration. However, for many, achieving this is a challenging process. Career counsellors may have a role to play in facilitating the transition and integration of people with refugee backgrounds, and narrative career counselling has much to offer. This article discusses the impact of prolonged transition under difficult circumstances on people with refugee backgrounds, and the potential contribution of narrative career counselling in assisting them. In particular, it identifies cultural considerations for narrative career counsellors who work with people with refugee backgrounds.     

Moving Beyond a Deficit Model to Describe and Promote the Career Development of At-Risk Youth

A theoretical framework for understanding the career maturity of diverse groups is needed since the career maturity construct has evolved using white, middle class samples (Cheatham, 1990). Krumboltz holds that career beliefs can be influenced by one's social environment (1991). If career beliefs were related to the career maturity of a diverse group, they could be used to provide a more coherent understanding of the unique social experiences that surround their career maturity. This study examined relationships between the career beliefs and the career maturity of academically at-risk students who were failing core academic courses. Several career beliefs were significantly related to the career maturity of the sample in this study such as the belief that obstacles can be overcome and college/occupation variation. The career beliefs construct appeared to clarify the role that social experiences played on the career maturity of the sample in this study.     

Who gets to be a writer? Exploring identity and learning issues in becoming a fiction author

Drawing upon a research study on lifelong learning, citizenship, and fiction writing, this paper explores issues around identity and learning in becoming a fiction author. Five main thematic areas are discussed: (1) envisioning a writing career, (2) compelled to write, (3) learning the craft, (4) getting published, and (5) online identity. The challenges, hurdles, and motivational factors in pursuing a career in a field as tenuous as fiction writing are explored. The paper argues that fiction writers, like many people who work in the creative sector, have a strong desire to engage in work that they consider to be meaningful. Those who succeed demonstrate great perseverance. As the impact of new technologies and social media shape and change the publishing sector, there are new challenges as well as opportunities that writers will need to learn about and address as they develop their career trajectories.     

How Interest in Science Negatively Influences Perceptions of Women

We examined whether women who pursue scientific training are viewed negatively by college students. Participants (N = 114 college students; 56 women, 58 men) saw a woman describe her major (either chemistry or the humanities) and express either strong commitment to her course of study or ambivalence about it. Participants then provided judgments about the speaker's traits (such as assertiveness and sociability), social behaviors (including how often she dates), and her future potential (including happiness and fulfillment with her career, as well as starting salary). Results indicated that both major and commitment level influenced perceptions of the speaker. Commitment to the major increased judgments of future career fulfillment, intellectual competence, school achievement, and assertiveness. Pursuit of chemistry, however, was perceived as negative, as people judged the woman as less sociable when she was committed to being a chemist, and women participants predicted she would have a less fulfilling career. Men participants said they would not want to date her. Although women may understand that they could make more money in the sciences, negative judgments about their social capabilities and future happiness may contribute to their propensity to avoid science.     

Student perceptions of gender roles: Implications for counsellors

Occupational aspirations of school children are undergoing changes as more men and women enter nontraditional spheres of work. Nevertheless, Papageorgiou (1982) reported that the overwhelming majority of a sample of upper elementary through high school students in Colorado regarded traditional gender roles as their only choice, and gender role stereotyping as placing serious limitations on career choices, particularly for females. In this article, we describe a replication of Papageorgiou's study in a western Canadian school district, with similar results. Gender-role stereotyping still appears to dominate the occupational aspirations of the majority of school children. Implications are drawn for counsellors interested in promoting career aspirations based on abilities and interests rather than gender-role stereotypes.     

School counsellor training,attitudes, and perceptions of preparedness to provide services to students with disabilities in inclusive schools in Turkey

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of school counsellors’ attitudes and training on their perceptions of preparedness to provide services to students with disabilities (SWD). Participants were 105 practicing school counsellors who completed the Attitudes toward Disabled Persons Scale Form-O (ATDP-O) as well as the School Counsellor Preparedness Survey-Revised (SCPS-R) in a web-based format. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted with three types of counsellor training (courses, experiences and conferences/workshops) and counsellor attitudes towards SWD. The results revealed that school counsellors’ attitudes and training significantly predicted preparedness with an approximately 10% of variance explained. Out of all four variables, attitudes appeared to be the only significant predictor of preparedness scores. Results also indicated that school counsellors did not feel completely prepared to work with SWD.     

Special education students in the labour market: four case studies

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the employment status of 10 young men 10 years after leaving classes for the socially maladjusted. On the basis of their work careers, they were placed in one of 4 labour market sectors using the criteria (1) employed/unemployed at the time of the interview, and (2) history of long‐term/short‐term employment. Half of the young men were unemployed, 4 were working and 1 in prison. The large percentage of unemployed respondents was due to the exceptionally difficult economic situation prevailing in Finland at the time the interviews were carried out, as a result of which the national unemployment rate approached almost 20 per cent. Despite a lack of vocational education, all the young men but one had a positive attitude towards work, and those unemployed were actively seeking a job. There was almost no relation between the young men's school career and their work career, since those who had the longest‐lasting jobs were those young men who had had the most difficulties in school. When measured in terms of length of employment, the attachment of these young men to working life differed greatly: one had been for the entire postschool period (almost 10 years) in the service of the same employer, while another had had several jobs of a few months’ duration interspersed with periods of unemployment.     

Cross-lagged relationships between person-based resources,self-perceptions,and career and life satisfaction in young adults

We tested the across-time relationships between the person-based resources of assimilation (or goal pursuit) and accommodation (or goal adjustment) and two well-being outcomes (satisfaction with career progress and life satisfaction), and assessed if these relationships were mediated by self-perceptions (perceived goal attainability and optimism). Participants were 204 young adults (79 % female; M _age 26 years), who were surveyed twice, 6 months apart. Consistent with the dual-process framework for goal management, assimilation was associated with more positive self-perceptions (attainability and optimism) and higher subsequent satisfaction with career progress and life satisfaction. Perceived goal attainability mediated between assimilation and the two satisfaction outcomes. Accommodation was associated with higher subsequent life satisfaction only. Thus, both assimilation and accommodation were related to better life satisfaction in young adults, but assimilation was more adaptive in the career domain.