Talking about the Media ‐ A Discussion Guide for Informal Groups

Abstract

This, the first of two articles published in this issue of EMI, is largely based on a UNESCO‐commissioned paper. Its author is Assistant Director of the Scottish Film Council. The paper takes into account the whole spectrum of learners, young and old, and it seeks to provide assistance to those who lead small groups of people in discussions geared to the advancement of media education.     

The Careers Service: Threatened by Youth Unemployment ‐‐ Saved by Youth Training

Abstract

The modern careers service has its origins in the post‐war world of full employment. Unlike its inter‐war counterpart, which concentrated on finding jobs for young people, the post‐war service has been preoccupied with giving them vocational guidance. With a professional rationale resting on an assumption of genuine occupational choice for young people, high unemployment could have generated serious professional challenges to those occupationally socialised during a period of full employment Yet most of the careers officers interviewed in a Midlands conurbation maintained that though their day‐to‐day work had changed and become more difficult, their professional role, far from being diminished, had been unchanged or even extended by high unemployment. It would seem that they, like their clients, had been ‘rescued’ from unemployment by YTS. ¹ 1. The Youth Training Scheme (YTS) was introduced in 1983 as a replacement for the Youth Opportunities Programme. One key element in the new scheme was that on‐the‐job training had to be complemented by the equivalent of 13 weeks off‐the‐job training. Initially, schemes lasted for one year. However, in 1985 it was announced that in future they were to be two years in duration. In 1990, YTS gave way to Youth Training (YT). Under YT, only those training providers who offered courses leading to at least National Vocational Qualification Level II or its equivalent would be able to run schemes. The newly created TECs were to be responsible for ensuring the quality of the training.

     

Career guidance needs assessment of black secondary school students in the transvaal province of the republic of South Africa

This study investigates the career guidance needs of 600 Black secondary school students. It also examines how Black secondary school principals perceive the guidance programs in their schools. The results indicate sixteen categories of career guidance needs which should receive priority in planning guidance services for this population. The students consistently felt their needs were not being met. Not less than 60% expressed a need for additional help with finding jobs and careers, understanding the guidance program, developing self-understanding, career awareness, exploration and planning, interpersonal relationships, value clarification, selection of courses and acquisition of decision-making skills in sharp contrast to the help they feel they have received. Career guidance in Black South African schools has not received proper attention for a long time. It has only been in recent years that this phenomenon has attracted the attention of educationists (Cloete and le Roux 1978). Students have always experienced difficulties when making decisions about their careers. Tenuous choices seemed to be a result of the students' lack of sufficient knowledge regarding themselves (i.e. their abilities, attitudes, interests and values) as well as vocational careers, school preparatory subjects and courses leading to those careers, educational and vocational opportunities available to them and financial assistance (Prediger et al., 1973). Self-understanding is the single basic goal of school guidance programs. Through self-understanding, students can begin to know, appreciate and utilize their aptitudes, interests, values and limitations. It improves analytical and critical thinking, growth and development. Students who understand themselves are characterized by their ability to make more rational educational and vocational plans. McDaniel and Shaftel (1956) maintained that every individual should be helped to study and understand himself as a unique person and to respond to the pressures and stimuli of the time and place in which he lives; Holland (1973) suggested that one needs appropriate and accurate information about oneself as well as the occupational field in order to make a realistic choice of vocation. Self-understanding and acceptance is a pre-requisite for the process of choosing an occupation. Super (1957) observed that along this road to self-knowledge every young person needs assistance and that success in understanding oneself is a sine qua non for the development of independence and decisionmaking skills. Interests are important in that they can help students begin thinking seriously about educational planning, vocational exploration and eventually about career development. Ginzberg (1966) believed that many young people do not know enough about the world of work to be able to translate their interests and capacities readily into occupational choices. Hoppock (1967) holds the view that one develops interest in an occupation because one has been exposed to it before. The same is still true today. Many young people are unaware that the choices of subjects they make and the activities they participate in at school can influence vocational choices which will affect their future lives. Super (1957) further contends that probably no other decision a young person makes is as crucial for happiness in life as his or her choice of work, including the educational preparation for it. Carlyle says that ‘it is the first of all problems for man to find out what kind of work he is to do in this universe’. Illuminating the importance of work in one's existence, Karl Marx said ‘man becomes man through his work’. Boy and Pine (1971) speak of work as ‘a therapeutic and personally integrating experience’. A careful look at the secondary educational system of South Africa reveals emphasis on an academic curriculum that is designed for college-bound students though not all Black students go to college. For most, secondary school is the terminal point in their formal education. This being so, the secondary school curriculum ought to provide them with sufficient self-knowledge concerning their aptitudes, interests, aspirations and skills to become successful and productive members of society. Napier (1972) contends that a society which fails to nurture the capabilities and talents of its youth fails in its obligation to them and to itself. As Tyler (1970) has observed, high school students are generally concerned about becoming independent adults, getting jobs, marrying, gaining status with their peers and helping to solve the ills of the world. Generally speaking, this is also true for South African youth. To assist them with these concerns, career guidance is essential for Black South African secondary school students today. With the help of adequate career guidance, every student should leave the school system equipped with the ability to think critically and make realistic personal decisions and plans for their future. However, this need students have for career guidance in their schools is sometimes overlooked. It is also conceivable that the degree to which individual students need guidance should vary. Differences in need seem to depend largely on differences in physical maturity, socioeconomic and cultural forces, and personality characteristics. Available evidence suggests that although there may be a common set of students' needs their priority for certain students varies and shifts in accordance with age, sex, experience and geographic location (Prediger et al., 1973; Crites, 1974, Carney and Barak 1976). According to Herr and Cramer (1979) guidance has been defined ‘as that part of pupil personnel services — and therefore of elementary and secondary education — aimed at maximal development of individual potentialities through devoting school-wide assistance to youth in the personal problems, choices and decisions each must face as he moves towards maturity’. There seems to be a consensus among guidance authorities that the following major services constitute the guidance program: the inventory service, the information service, the counselling service, the placement service and the follow-up and evaluation services. These services are an intergral part of the total school curriculum and they facilitate the instructional program as it attempts to help each student attain the maximum level of his or her potential. Research studies (Super, 1949 and 1968; Holland, 1973; Boy and Pine, 1971; Hoppock, 1967, Napier, 1972) indicate that out of an effective guidance program grows the capacity and freedom of the participants to contend more assertively for their beliefs and plan and execute strategies for making vocational decisions more efficiently and effectively. It is, therefore, imperative that each student be helped to reach the highest level of his or her potential as a human being. The present study sought to investigate the career guidance needs of Black South African secondary school students and the degree to which these needs are being met by the present guidance services in the schools. In addition, the views of the principals of the selected schools regarding the present status of guidance services were sought.     

Constructing Vocational Identities

Abstract

Social constructionism is identified as a significant movement within contemporary psychology promising a new way of looking at young people constructing their first substantive vocational identities. An existential notion of vocational exploration as a form of personal project is introduced with this being articulated in terms of the dramatic nature of much that happens to young people while clarifying identities. Through an interpretive analysis of four literary and historical texts using Burke's pentad model for explicating dramatic experiences evidence is given of identities in the process of construction. The main gain for vocationalists is clarified as an approach offering ideas on careers‐in‐progress to compliment established approaches on careers‐in‐prospect and careers‐In‐retrospect.     

The influence of the school in the decision to participate in learning post‐16

The primary aim of this study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, was to identify the nature and influence of school‐based factors in the choices of young people about their post‐16 education, training and career pathways. The study also contributes to the wider understanding of ‘choice’, and identifies implications for the development of careers education and guidance and decision‐making awareness amongst pupils and students in schools. It also further enhances the modelling of pupil decision making in education and training markets, and in labour markets. The research is based on a series of qualitative interviews in 24 schools across nine local education authorities. Focus groups were undertaken with young people in years 10, 11 and 12. Interviews were also conducted with head teachers, heads of year and heads of careers. A postal survey of parents was also undertaken. Four key school‐based factors were found to have a very strong influence in the choices and decisions of young people about their post‐16 education, training and career pathways. These were: whether the school had a sixth form or not; the characteristics of school leadership, ethos and values; the socio‐economic status (SES) of the schools' catchment; and the organisation and delivery of careers education and guidance at the school level. In the main, high SES schools see themselves as developing pupils for academic university careers, while low SES schools maintain a rather stronger commitment to vocational pathways. The academic ethos of schools offers a very powerful influence on post‐16 choices and decisions of pupils. The usual interventions put in place to influence choices and decisions appear to have greater impact in schools with a less robust academic vision.     

Different ways that secondary schools orient to lifelong learning

This article describes and discusses research into lifelong learning in secondary schools that was undertaken at the Australian Council for Educational Research. The project explored ways of helping secondary school students develop an intrinsic interest in learning, in the belief that such an approach will encourage young people to keep learning throughout their lives. Skills and values that help young people to develop characteristics of lifelong learners are outlined. The article suggests that development of these characteristics may be impeded by the strong influence of competitive end-of-school assessment in many schools, and the difficulty of changing the practices and attitudes of some of the people who play a significant role in a young person's education: parents and teachers.     

Interdisciplinarity in vocational guidance: an action theory perspective

In addressing the issue of interdisciplinary research in vocational guidance, twelve propositions important for understanding the vocational guidance process as joint, goal-directed action are presented. They address the encounter between client and counsellor leading to relational ethics, the relevance of everyday action theory and methods for the analysis of goal-directed processes as joint actions, projects, and careers. Research on the school-to-work transition illustrates this conceptualisation and analysis. Links to other disciplines concerned with vocational guidance are identified.     

Concurrent and predictive validity of career development inventory

After an overview of the situation in vocational guidance for Quebec young people, we present the results of a study of the predictive validity of the Career Development Inventory adapted for French schools in Quebec. This study demonstrates that the instrument could be used to predict student perseverance and satisfaction in their professional choices. We then present the results of a second study which verified the concurrent validity of the Career Development Inventory by comparing the results obtained using this instrument with those obtained using the Career Education Questionnaire with the same students.     

THE CHANGING ROLE OF CAREERS SERVICES IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

The strength of specialist careers advisory services in United Kingdom universities is linked to the in loco parentis tradition and also to the tradition of occupational flexibility on graduation. The evolution of such services from appointments boards to careers services is traced in terms of three sequential changes: the impact of counselling, the growth of careers education, and the move towards an open‐access style of delivery. The overlap of roles between careers services and teaching departments is analyzed in relation to individual guidance and placement, and particularly in relation to careers education. The extent of overlap tends to vary between vocational, semi‐vocational, and non‐vocational courses. The emergence of the concept of personal transferable skills has encouraged new forms of partnership between careers services and teaching departments. This development raises questions about where careers services should be located organizationally within higher education institutions. Should they, for example, be aligned to other student services, to academic services, or to marketing services? What organizational benefits do institutions seek from such services? Are they part of the core offer made to students, or additional.services which are open to. review in terms of their specific costs and benefits?     

金融危机下高职生的就业心理及其对策思考

文章通过分析在全球性金融危机下高职生面对严峻的就业形势凸显出的一系列的心理问题,并对其成因进行分析,发现高职院校在指导毕业生工作中对毕业生的形势政策教育、就业指导、心理辅导和人员配备等方面的不足。由此提出应对对策,希望高职院校应该引导学生正确认识金融危机的机遇与挑战,帮助毕业生认识自我,调整就业期望值,增强就业心理适应性,以便顺利实现就业。     

AN ACCOUNT OF DEVELOPMENT WORK IN CAREERS EDUCATION AND GUIDANCE WITH A GROUP OF YOUNG OFFENDERS

This paper identifies the need for careers guidance agencies to work together with secure units for young offenders and young offenders’ institutions, in order to provide a holistic and rehabilitative experience for young offenders. The process of involvement should be to encourage the young people to engage in positive ways with a world from which they may have felt alienated; to prepare for transitions; to recognize and achieve ambitions, and improve self‐image whilst still in detention. This paper seeks to promote the concept and practice of programmes of treatment for young offenders, and to outline the part that careers education and guidance can play in that whole process.     

发达国家失业者职业能力再开发的经验及启示

进入21世纪,失业问题正作为严重的社会问题凸显出来,为应对失业者再就业问题,国外特别是发达国家在失业者职业技能再开发方面积累了许多值得借鉴的经验,包括:制定完备的法律法规;实施分类指导;建立完善的培训费用资助模式;形成培训与咨询指导相结合的模式;关注失业者职业生涯发展。我国应在借鉴发达国家经验的基础上,结合具体实际,完善再就业培训立法,加强技能培训的咨询与指导,引导失业者做出正确的职业选择。     

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.     

实现"产销"链接的就业指导模式探究

从探讨高职就业指导的新内涵出发,研究高等职业教育中人才培养模式的创新。通过生物实用技术专业尝试“产销”链接的就业指导的实践,论述了就业指导在构建高等职业教育人才培养模式中的“链接”作用,强调了就业指导创新在高等职业教育中的重要作用。     

试述高职院校就业指导工作的新思路

面对严峻的社会就业形势,高职院校应该不断创新就业指导的理念,丰富学生就业指导的内容,加强学生就业指导工作的队伍建设,指导学生在就业市场中占据有利地位。本文首先阐述了做好高职院校就业指导工作的重要意义,继而分析了目前我国高职院校就业指导工作所面临的问题,最后针对这些问题提出了具体的解决思路。     

建立全过程渗透的大学生就业指导服务模式探析

建立全过程渗透的就业指导服务模式，必须要把就业指导工作贯穿渗透到学校教育、教学、管理、服务的全过程中，形成全员参与、齐抓共管的良好氛围和工作机制。特别要注重加强职业生涯规划指导，教育引导学生建立合理的知识结构，不断提高综合能力和素质，形成职业生涯发展的核心竞争力。要注重加强就业指导队伍建设，全面提高从业人员的业务水平，借鉴和运用现代职业指导的理论和方法，通过实施分层次指导和个性化指导，增强工作针对性，提高就业指导效果。     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article
Effective Classroom Control John Robertson Hodder and Stoughton.
Berthold Lowenfeld on Blindness and Blind People Berthold Lowenfeld American Foundation for the Blind.
Introduction to Child Development Patricia Hicks Longman.
Shakespeare - His Life and Work Sound Fact for Encyclopaedia Britannica Two audio cassettes.
Ladybird Books Wills & Hepworth 60p to £1.80 each     

The odyssey: school to work transitions,serendipity and position in the field

Little work on the significance and implications of decision-making has been undertaken since that led by Hodkinson in the 1990s, and the experiences of young people on vocational programmes and their reasons for undertaking them remain under-theorised and poorly understood. Drawing on two narratives from a study exploring young people’s motivations for undertaking vocational programmes, this article explores the relationship between their positioning in fields and career decision-making. The article argues that social positioning is significant in its relationship to decision-making, to the way in which young people perceive and construct their careers and to the influence of serendipity on their transitions. Drawing on a range of international studies, the article explores the implications of these findings in terms of young people’s future engagement with the global labour market, giving consideration to (dissonant) perceptions of vocational education and training as contributing to economic growth whilst addressing issues of social exclusion and promoting social justice.     

Participation in science and technology: young people’s achievement‐related choices in late‐modern societies

Young people’s participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a matter of international concern. Studies and careers that require physical sciences and advanced mathematics are most affected by the problem and women in particular are under‐represented in many STEM fields. This article views international research about young people’s relationships to, and participation in, STEM subjects and careers through the lens of an expectancy‐value model of achievement‐related choices. In addition it draws on sociological theories of late‐modernity and identity, which situate decision‐making in a cultural context. The article examines how these frameworks are useful in explaining the decisions of young people – and young women in particular – about participating in STEM and proposes possible strategies for removing barriers to participation.     

No particular way to go

This article aims to deepen understanding of the trajectories through school and into adulthood of people who did not attain valued qualifications from upper secondary school (‘non-completers’), and explore the fruitfulness of careership theory for such analysis. It is based on interviews with 100 young Swedes: 81 non-completers and 19 who had attended special upper secondary schools catering for young people with mild cognitive disability. Their narratives portray sparse socio-economic resources and difficult family situations, learning problems and marginalisation processes in school. They commonly learned to perceive themselves as failures and ‘different’. Framed by narrow horizons of action, these young people’s careers were mostly characterised by enforced rather than self-initiated turning points. Often leading to unemployment and economic problems, leaving secondary school was less of a turning point than a continuation of failure, even if completing adult education and getting a job were regarded as self-initiated, positive shifts. We conclude that careership theory was useful for analysing and understanding the careers of the young people concerned. However, distinguishing between ‘routines’ and ‘turning points’ became especially difficult when studying lives of these young people hemmed in by sparser resources, fewer choices and less stable career trajectories than their peers.