What’s our research agenda for the 21st century?
24-July-2006
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Deirdre Hughes and Rie Thomsen raise a number of key issues in career guidance research and invite discussion from the guidance community to help formulate the research agenda for the 21st century.
(from the full text)...it seems timely and appropriate to invite users of the EGCRF website to focus upon developing a shared understanding through on-going dialogue of the following three critical questions:
- What needs to be done to develop and improve 21st century careers research? (Critical Question 1 [click to read contributions])
- What role, if any, should career practitioners/managers play in contributing to careers research? (Critical Question 2 [click to read contributions])
- What needs to be done to encourage government policy-makers to recognise and utilise research findings that specifically relate to careers work? (Critical Question 3 [click to read contributions])
Extended text for this entry:
Context
In March 2006, Deirdre Hughes was invited to prepare a UK Country report, ‘Shaping the future: connecting career development and workforce development’, on behalf of UK government policy-makers to feed into an International Symposium held in Australia and attended by policy-makers and leading experts from 22 countries. This involved an in-depth review of the links between career development and workforce development; the overall aim being to help advance the economic, social and cultural objectives of the nations represented. We examined public policy issues raised by reviews of career guidance services conducted by the OECD (2004), the European Commission (Sultana, 2004) and the World Bank (Watts & Fretwell, 2004), with particular attention given to the ways that career development services contribute to effective workforce development systems.
The main findings highlighted that the scale of the current difficulties in meeting skill and labour requirements is large. Throughout the world, governments and employers are trying to develop, attract, utilise and retain skilled, innovative and self-directed workers. This has led to an examination of the impact of a broad range of policies: education and training; social welfare; industry; human resource management; industrial relations; retirement; superannuation; immigration; and labour mobility. A main conclusion reached was that career development should be a key element of workforce development policies, as well as a key element of lifelong learning policies given it has a role to play in active employment policies, in social equity policies, and in social inclusion policies (OECD, 2003; 2004). Watts (1999) also argues that it is both a private good and a public good. Clearly, the social and economic purposes of career development are inter-dependent. For example, social inclusion improves equity and quality of life for individuals but also gets people off benefit and improves their mental and physical health; allied to this are cost-saving benefits on the public purse.
Issues
The guidance profession has yet to fully articulate the critical role of its work in helping to achieve government economic and social goals. Specifically, we know that high quality services can and do: -
- make labour markets work more efficiently to deploy, develop and retain skills in the economy;
- contribute to higher productivity (higher skills and individuals better motivated through better quality of working life);
- promote lifelong learning needed to motivate, up-skill and re-skill individuals;
- increase participation in learning and work; and
- support social inclusion (bringing more people into the workforce).
In view of this, and other similar trans-national developments, it seems timely and appropriate to invite users of the EGCRF website to focus upon developing a shared understanding through on-going dialogue of the following three critical questions:
- What needs to be done to develop and improve 21st century careers research? (Critical Question 1 [click to read contributions])
- What role, if any, should career practitioners/managers play in contributing to careers research? (Critical Question 2 [click to read contributions])
- What needs to be done to encourage government policy-makers to recognise and utilise research findings that specifically relate to careers work? (Critical Question 3 [click to read contributions])
Each of these three critical questions has been given a discrete discussion space using the forum below. Add your comments using the reply feature and select 'more reply options' for the opportunity to give a fuller response.
From our shared dialogue, we can begin to learn more from one another, drawing on our experiences and beliefs, on the role of research and how this informs careers policies and practices in our respective countries. With your permission, we would like to share with you the main findings at our next UK meeting in London.
Kind regards
Deirdre & Rie
4 Replies (comments)
1 What needs to be done to develop and improve 21st century careers research? (Critical Question 1)
Critical question 1:
What needs to be done to develop and improve 21st century careers research?
Let’s begin by examining the following:
- How would you describe the main body of ‘careers research’ that exists in your country i.e. what are the main themes and who’s leading on these developments?
- How are research priorities identified and made explicit to other interested parties i.e. government policy-makers, academics, managers and practitioners?
- What needs to be done to develop and improve careers research so that more individuals better understand the added-benefits of investing in careers provision?
In terms of the information, advice and guidance focus of recent work, the emphasis on developing ‘competencies’ to help individuals to better manage their lives, learning and work has been downplayed in the UK compared with other countries such as Australia and Canada. It could be argued that a change of emphasis from ‘career guidance and counselling’ to ‘career development services’, focusing on individuals’ lifestyles and experiences could bring about a necessary expansion of research into contemporary living and how careers unfold within and across different generations. To what extent does this resonate with you and current developments in your country?
2 What role, if any, should career practitioners/managers play in contributing to careers research? (Critical Question 2)
Critical question 2:
What role, if any, should career practitioners/managers play in contributing to careers research?
In some cases, career practitioners indicate their preference for working directly with clients focusing on results emerging from the outcomes of the intervention(s). In contrast, other career practitioners highlight the importance of analysing and developing robust intelligence that can be used to inform new policies and practices in careers work. More recently practitioners and managers have been challenged to explain the impact of their work and how this benefits individuals, organisations (especially employers) and society as a whole. Therefore, what needs to be done to encourage more practitioners and managers to develop and harness research findings?
Let’s consider the following: -
- What are the ‘enablers’ that facilitate practitioner involvement in research i.e. can you list any positive developments in your country and/or organisation that are supporting practitioners/managers to become more research active beyond the EGCRF website development?
- What are the ‘barriers’ that impede practitioners/managers’ involvement in research i.e. are there certain factors or traits which stop practitioners/managers using and/or becoming involved in careers research?
3 What needs to be done to encourage government policy-makers to recognise and utilise research findings that specifically relate to careers work? (Critical Question 3)
Critical question 3.
What needs to be done to encourage government policy-makers to recognise and utilise research findings that specifically relate to careers work?
Improvements in careers provision are not just a cause for celebration, they are a national necessity. Our modern global economy with increasing competition and cultural diversity being realised across the world means that, nations cannot stand still. Some policy-makers argue that continued progress in making labour markets work more efficiently to deploy, develop and retain skills in the economy requires a fundamental shift in the quality and range of careers provision. This is a key challenge for those responsible for the planning, design and delivery of careers services in the 21st century.
Let’s ask ourselves: -
- Why the persistent claims that careers work isn’t meeting the needs of the majority of users?
- What body of research evidence, beyond that already available through the OECD, World Bank and European Commission studies, could and should be used to better inform government policy-makers?
- What strategies need to be developed to improve policy-makers’ involvement in using careers research to inform ministerial policies?
4 A response from Greece
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Issues for guidance - response from Greece
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(Issues for the EGCRF website discussion contribution.pdf
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Preview
This contribution was put together by Paraskevi Poulogiannopoulou, Post-graduate student in Counselling and Vocational Guidance in Greece, and comments on many of the points raised in this discussion as well as adding new thoughts.
It is posted by Lucy on behalf of Katerina Argyropoulou, from the University of Athens.
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