The involvement of the European Union in career guidance policy: a brief history

The history of the involvement of the European Union in the development of policy related to career guidance is analysed in terms of three broad periods. In the first two of these, interventions were confined to pilot projects, exchanges and placements, study visits and studies/surveys, with particular attention to young people; whereas the period since 2000 has seen greater attention being paid to lifelong activities that support the implementation of EU policy priorities and their mainstreaming at national level. These trends reflect both the EU’s “creeping competence” and the emerging concept of “lifelong guidance.”     

Examining the influences of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations on cognitive processing and conceptual change when learning physics

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations in cognitive and metacognitive processing when learning about physics concepts through text. Specifically, we manipulated the representation of physics concepts in texts about Newtonian mechanics and explored how these texts interacted with individuals’ epistemic beliefs to facilitate or constrain learning. Results revealed that when individuals’ epistemic beliefs were consistent with the knowledge representations in their assigned texts, they performed better on various measures of learning (use of processing strategies, text recall, and changes in misconceptions) than when their epistemic beliefs were inconsistent with the knowledge representations. These results have implications for how researchers conceptualize epistemic beliefs and support contemporary views regarding the context sensitivity of individuals’ epistemic beliefs.     

Intentional Online Discussions in Teacher Education

The goal of a creating civil discourse in teacher education deeply intersects with the ways that students interact in online discussions. However, as discussion shifts to online formats, digital misinformation is becoming widespread and threatens critical and civil communication as cognitive biases emerge in dialogue. The purpose of this case study research was to explore the participants' perceptions of growth and pitfalls while using the six essential elements of an online discussion typology developed as a pedagogical intervention to increase critical thinking and civility in discourse. The findings suggested that participants' responses in online discussions implied some cognitive biases and those participants engaged most often in discussions that were safe, comfortable, and familiar. Nevertheless, in their metacognitive reflections on the typology, participants demonstrated awareness of how these tendencies toward cognitive comfort shortchanged discussions and potential opportunities to develop new perspectives.     

Career Guidance Policies in 37 Countries: Contrasts and Common Themes

This paper synthesises the main findings from three co-ordinated reviews of national career guidance policies carried out by OECD, the European Commission and the World Bank. Some important differences are evident, with services in middle-income countries being less well-developed than in high-income countries. But the dynamics of globalisation, together with policy borrowing, have led to a great deal of convergence. In all countries, career guidance is viewed as a public good, linked to policy goals related to learning, the labour market and social equity. These goals are being reframed in the light of lifelong learning policies, linked to active labour market policies and the concept of sustained employability. Career guidance accordingly needs to be accessible not just to school-leavers and the unemployed, but to everyone throughout their lives. With career guidance taking increasingly varied and disparate forms, there is a need within countries for stronger mechanisms to articulate a vision and develop a strategy for delivering such access.