Social Representations of Career Guidance Practice

• In recent years, career guidance has been recognized as an important part in implementing lifelong learning strategies, as a means to achieve economic and political goals in European countries. Career guidance in turn, is not an unambiguous concept, with clear job titles, but rather perceived differently by different actors and countries and also changing over time. At the same time, the key-object of practice, i.e. individuals’ various career development issues, seems to be under tremendous changing processes, because of influences from structural changes within organisation systems and changes in working life, as consequences of globalisation. New employment principles have been communicated, which most certainly influence career possibilities for adults. Lifelong employments and stable conditions have been replaced by lifelong learning and unstable conditions, which influence the predictability of future career paths for individuals. Career guidance practice needs to embrace broader career related issues, than the former dominating issues of educational and vocational choice, as “a once in life-time choice”. Nowadays, adults need to readjust their career paths continuously, which in turn, create new challenges and also affect the career guidance practice itself. Career guidance practice can be regarded as a bridging practice between individual and society, with a certain role and mission. Recent studies indicate a discrepancy between what is communicated on a structural level concerning individuals’ careers, and individuals’ expectations on career development issues. This put focus on the role and mission of the guidance practitioner, who have to deal with such discrepancies. The way career guidance practitioners understand their role and mission, most certainly influence their way of supporting individuals. With social representation theory as both theoretical and methodological approach, this study explores what kind of thoughts and ideas, what social and professional representations adult career guidance practitioners have about their role and mission. These representations are assumed to be socially shaped into common-sense knowledge in everyday practice within professional contexts. Because of social changes influencing both the object for and the career guidance practice, tensions might arise causing re-negotiations of professionalization among career guidance practitioners.

Nyckelord

career

career guidance

social representation

professional representation

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)