Is Career Guidance for the Individual or for theMarket? - … · Is Career Guidance for the Individual or for theMarket? ... What has occurred in the world ... The Educational field

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Is Career Guidance for the Individual or for the Market?

The Conflicting Logics that defines Career Guidance of Today

Vejlederkonference 2016, Denmark

Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´© 2016

Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016

”The career is dead, long live the career”

(Hall, 1996)

Career

Each time the world of work is changing…..

…so are societies̕

strategies and methods

changing, in order to

support people in their

educational/vocational

/career choices and

dilemmas. (see Savickas, 2008)


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Significant Transitions in Working Life


”When the music change, so does the dancing”

Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016 Enligt Mark Savickas, citat från konferens 2010

Or.. with my words;

When the rules of the game are

rearranged while we are still playing -

How do we know how to play the game?

Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´© 2016

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What has occurred in the world of work?

• Transition to a

globalized knowledge

economy

• Dominating societal

debates and trends

• Career is located in changing

organistional landscape

• Lifelong learning

• Validation – skills provision

• An increased interest in career

guidance

• Competence discourse

• Human capital discourse

• Education/learning discourse


Peoples̓ working conditions areaffected by the changing worldof working life!


Influence

Leadership

Knowledgecreation

Working time

Workload

Contract

Health

© Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016 Further development of Figure 1, p. 8, Bergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2015).

The Educational field ofCareer Guidance

The field of education and training in working life

Career as the bridging object intertwines twoeducational fields in a societal context

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The research question:

In an era of rapid changes in working life,

what meaning is ascribed to career in

a) European policy documents on guidance,

b) By adults who are affected by changing

working life, and

c) By educational and vocational guidance

counsellors?


The Dissertation:

• Four separate studies explore the meaning of career

in different contexts among parties involved.

Study

1

Results

Study

2

Con-

clusions

Study

3 Frame

Study

4


Overview of Results: Study 1 and 2


Study – Empirical

Data

Purpose Method Results

1. European policy documents on Careerguidance

To disclose underlyingperspectives on career and the ideational message

Qualitative contentanalysis,Sender-oriented

interpretation

Economic, learning,

political science perspectives

Senders representingorganizations/business needs

2. Ethical declarationdocuments for guidance profession

Comparison betweenprevious and existingdeclarations. To analyse the significance of the core meaning ofcareer at structurallevel for careerguidance practice

Qualitative contentanalsysis. Receiver-oriented

interpretation

An implicit shift ofemphasis in the career guidancemission createsuncertainty if career

guidance is for the individual or for the

market.

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Overview of Results: Study 3 and 4


Study –

Empirical

Data

Purpose Method Results

3. A group of 21 adults, affectedby changes in working life

To explore what”taken for granted” everyday knowledge(social representaitons) people have aboutcareer

Free association

method, Qualitativecontent analysis,

Social representation

theory

Two stable and two dynamicsocial representations ofcareer, expressed in pairs ofopposites. Peopleseveryday knowledge of

career are anchored in past, previous working life

conditions, collide withnew perspectives and conditions

4. A group of 41 educational/vocationalguidancecounsellors

To explore guidancecounsellors´view oftheir mission and howthey view careertherein

E-mail enquiry with

open-endedquestions, Qulitative

content analysis, Social

representation theory

Four social representationsin argumentative pairs ofopposites. The first is concerned withtheir mission and professional identity, the second with how they viewcareer within their mission. Guidance counsellors

Source: Ingela Bergmo-PrvulovicBergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2012) Subordinationg careers to market forces? A critical analsysis of European career guidancepolicies. European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults. Vol 3, No. 2.

Comparison:Previous ethical declaration: Revised ethical declation:

The guidance counsellor should be free from such pressures from other stakeholders (e.g. employers, training providers) which wouldrestrict the applicant´s opportunity to make choices and decisions. The guidance counsellorwill … serve as the applicant´s representative. (Sveriges Vägledarförening, 1989, p. 2-3)

The guidance counsellor should focus on the individual and remain uninfluenced by otherconsiderations. (Sveriges Vägledarförening, 2007, p. 2)


The guidance counsellor often faces conflictinginterests and conflicting demands. This can be a question of the balance between public interestand individual interests. The guidancecounsellor may feel vulnerable to pressure from authorities and employers to recruit rather thanguide and, for that purpose, may giveincomplete or biased details. Guidance workalso entails a tension between power and dependendence in that the counsellor oftenmeets people in vulnerable situations. Theseprofessional conditions place great demans on counsellorséthical awareness and this is the reason the SAGC has adopted an ethicalstatement as complement to legislation, regulations and other governing documents(Sveriges Vägledarförening, 1989, p. 1).

”…there may arise conflicts in guidance workbetween diverging interests, where different needs and obligations have to be set off againsteach other, and the ethical guidelines aremeant to aid in ethical considerations aboutsuch dilemmas” (Sveriges Vägledarförening, 2007, p. 1)

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Source: Bergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2013). Social Representations of Career – Anchored in the Past and Conflicting withthe Future? Papers on Social Representations. Volume 22. No. 1)

Figure 1. Example of free associations related to the word career, producedby respondent (i).


Figur 3. Example of free associations (second step) related to the word career, produced by respondent (i).

Source: Bergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2013). Social Representations of Career – Anchored in the Past and Conflicting withthe Future? Papers on Social Representations. Volume 22. No. 1) Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016

Social representations:

… system of values, ideas and practices with a twofold function;first, to establish an order which will enable individuals toorientate themselves in their material and social world and tomaster it; and secondly to enable communication to take placeamong members of a community by providing them with a codefor social exchange and a code for naming and classifyingunambigously the various aspects of their world and theirindividual and group history. (Moscovici, 1973, p. xiii)


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Results of Study 3 –Social representations of Career among adults

Themas Stable social representations

Personal meaning Career as individual project and self-realization

Social meaning Career as social/hierarchical climbing

Themata – pairs of opposites Dynamic social representations

Expected effort – expected outcomeInternal reward – external rewardCreated outcomes – offered outcomesIndividual assessment of value – social assessment of valueBeneficial to individuals – beneficials to organizations

Career as a game of exchange

Environmental influence – individualpowerlessnessPredictability – unpredictabilitySecurity – insecurityControl – lack of controlImprovement – deterioration

Career as an uncertain outcome


Source: Bergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2013). Social Representations of Career – Anchored in the Past and Conflicting with the Future? Papers on Social Representations. Volume 22. No. 1)

Table 1. List of themas/thematas related to the social representations of stable and dynamic characther


Stable social representationsPersonal meaning: career as

individual project and self-realization

”doing what you want; achieving personal

goals” (k)

”a positive word for personal working-life;

meaning for the individual; something one

wants to do; a sense of self-realization; success

in what you want to achieve (u)

”realization of your dream-job; work hard and

well; investing; recognition (o)

”doing what you are passionate about:

easier/more fun” (j)

Social meaning: career as

social/hierarchical climbing

”career – hierarchy: socially/culturally

determined caste system” (g)

”career – success, positive; higher position,

greater responsibility and authority” (m)

”bad to climb the ladder, to have ambition and

drive” (f)


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Dynamic social representations

Career as a game of exchange

”career – education: the foundation for making

a career” (b)

”Career – well-educated: thinking that many

who make a career are also well-educated” (e)

”career – private sector: the only place where

you can make a career, i.e. earn money” (f)

”career – goal: the goal of moving

forward/upward, being promoted, growth” (c)

”career development – decided by the boss: I as

an individual don´t control it, it is someone

else who promotes, dependent on relations”(f)

”career development – workplace: something

happening at the workplace, it is something

that is offered” (e)

Career as an uncertain outcome

”work-situtation in change: reorganization” (o)

”the increasing competetiveness will kill us” (r)

”exhaustive – never to bo complacent” (h)

”demands on adaptation: the slow ones are

excluded” (h)

”chaos – your world is turned upside down, the

conditions are rearranged” (f)

”work-situation in change – external conditions

that I cannot influence” (d)

”who is governing the change? To have control

one´s own situation and work” (g) -

”experience of being out of control” (g)


Results of study 4 – Guidance counsellors̓ Social representations of their mission and of career therein

Primary elements Social Representations

The guidance professions ̓ unique ethicalstance

Impartial educational support on behalf of the individual

Profession-specific issues/objectives, working methods and specific nature

Inter-organizational and outer-organizational demands and conditions

A misinterpreted mission and profession (among other actors)

A practice of matching on behalf ofthe business sectors

General everyday knowledge aboutcareer as something negative/bad The common view of career as

something bad Career as localized outside guidancepractice

Career as ”something other” than the general view Career in the context of guidance as

something other than the common view

Career as the movement process itself

Career as the destination

About the mission

”The most important thing in our

role/…/ is to not intervene with

dominance” (14-33-1)

”Sometimes you are expected to tell

clients what they shall become, which

is not our job (13-15-2)

”They do not place focus on the

individual, contrary to educational

and vocational guidance

counsellorséthical principles” (13.9.3)

”In my opinion/…/ you should have

more time for the main mission, i.e.

the dialogue” (13.18.1)

”Very often, politicians forget that

adults also need guidance” (13.20.3)

”When it comes to the labour market,

they want to have an educated

workforce that is ready when they

graduate. Ideally, they shall have

experience as well. How on earth is

that suppose to happen” (13.21.2)

”It requires more resources for us

/…/and at the same time an improved

collaboration between the parties

involved. It is not only we /…/ who

shall work for a decrease of ”incorrect

choices” among students and people;

rather it is a collaboration between

different actors, and here there is a lot

of work to be done” (14.36.3)

”Employers do not recognize their part

in getting their employees to be

ambassadors in order to attract”

(14.31.3)


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About the mission

”From the business community, we

know that there are those who believe

that we should fill ”gaps” where

needed, that it should be the labour

market needs that determine what

education or vocation the individual

chooses, and not vice versa. An

ethically indefenseble way of working

for us /…/ who always base our

activities on individualsínterests,

abilities, etc. and which,

unfortunately, leads to a

misunderstanding between us”

(13.1.2)

”I, personally, get very stressed by

these expectaions; however, I have no

intention to change my way of working

to fulfil the expectations” (14.41.2)

”I experience that most people do

not know what a guidance

counsellor does” (13.14.2)

”I am disappointed about their

expectaions! They do not seem to

know what kind of competence we

have” (14.35.2)

”Many believe that this is how

educational and vocational

guidance counsellors are working,

that is, steering students toward

areas/industries that need

workers” (14.33.2)

”I feel they want me to match and

recruit, and I consider that not to

be my mission” (14.27.2)


About Career”Do we have to guide towards

careers?!” (13.5.4)

”Career in guidance support contains

double messages: I can definitely see

it as a planned/unplanned way to

reach a goal, but it also sounds a bit

bad. To push yourself forward and

only think of yourself in order to reach

a goal, where the journey is all about

”elbowing” yourself forward without

much consideration for others.

Career, for me, is a bit like climbing

the ladder and I´m not satisfied until

I´ve reached the top. (14.33.4)

”Help! I beome afraid when a client

who is an employed ”successful” adult

comes and asks me for guidance in

order to advance in their career. I feel

I am not used to meeting such people,

and I believe that my tools are not

good enough” (13.2.4)

”It is still a very value-laden word

that means ”climbing the ladder”

(14.28.4)

”Doesn´t give me gode vibes.

Career isn´t the most important

thing” (14.42.4)

”Negative. Everybody might not

want to think career” (13.5.4)

”Don´t like the word. It´s a

military term! Working life isn´t

sually linear from ”a lower to a

higher position” (13.12.49)

”Career, in my ears, does not sound completely positive, so I

seldom use it (14.46.4)Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016

About Career”To develop and support students

personal growth and self-conficence”

(13.16.4)

”Career is not the most important

thing. The most important thing is

self-knowledge and knowledge about

abilities and possibilities. To also have

quality in life” (14.42.4)

”to provide/…/a steady foundation for

continuing steps towards the future

(14.39.1)

”The way towards the dream or goal

/…/or perhaps the goal itself”

(13.24.4).

”It is still a very value-laden word

that means ”climbing the ladder”.

If it is going to be used, it is

necessary to explain what it might

mean in a wider sense. Since

guidance counsellors are quite

familiar with the meaning, it is

not that value-laden for me,

personally” (14.28.4)

”I think that it is a word that

means for many people that you

should ”rise in the ranks”, and

then it is a bit value-lade, but

actually it is a good word for the

development we undergo in life”

(14.31.4)


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Peoples everyday

knowledgeanchored in past working

life conditions

Career as a game of

exchange:

effort – reward

An interplay between

personal and social

meaning of career

is framed by conflicting

logics

Organisations ̓ interests, needs, purposes and goals –Career as a means of achieving organizational goals

Career guidance

Career is for the

individual:

Personal development,

personal growth and

lifedevelopment

Clashing points, meeting points and negotiation points


Career

Career is located in an uncomfortable transitional phase

Both a commonly held everyday

knowledge and a lack of consistency

Transitional trends in the career field


”The career is dead, long live the career”

(Hall, 1996)

EXTERNAL Rewarding systems

INTERNAL rewarding systems

EXTERNAL observable career

development

INTERNAL experienced career

development

The division of responsibilities regarding

career is unclear

• Peoples̓ everyday knowledge is

anchored in traditional views on

career – formed in previous working

life conditions

• Contrasting views on career have

been shaped in different

professional fields (which are now

becoming more intertwined with each

other) – Both fields have to deal

with/negotiate with peoples ̓

everyday knowledge of career

Some reflections and future challenges:

How do workplaces reward

and recognize peoples

internal career

development?


Guidance counsellors support

peoples̓ personal meaning of career

Observable rewardig outcomes

related with the social meanings of

career are considered to be the

responsibilities of working life

Working life now also emphasize

careers related to peoples̓ personal

meanings and emphasize the

individual as sole responsible

How do career guidance

practice clarify for

themselves, and others,

what meaning they ascribe

to career wihtin their

professional mission?

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The intertwining of educational fields is both a challenge AND a possibility for development

Both fields need to:

1. Develop insights and understanding for both their own and each

others roles and parts in peoples career development

processes in todays´working life.

2. Identify where and how they can meet, and how and where they

shall make their distinctions between each other.



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Is Career Guidance for the Individual or for theMarket? - … · Is Career Guidance for the Individual or for theMarket? ... What has occurred in the world ... The Educational field