Card scan for emailing

Link to disapline that use reflective practice. See RW book.

Prep on a word sheet for students.

Possible use of competancies based pod cast.  

20 minute session on reflection and action planning. Ideas.

1) Start with the question, what do these three people have in common (Matts blogging slide). They all kept a diary.

2) Go to the John Ruskins quote..The power of reflection in relation to developing ourselves and getting a job.

3) Quick exercise,

Person A next to you tell me about a time this year when you have done one of the following. Person B is to get as much detail as they can about this example. Keep asking questions.

How quickly did the person say ” I can’t remember the details”, when was the last time you thought about that situation? How well would you have been able to answer that question in three years time. Did anything happen in that example that you wish had gone better? Did you on reflection decide to develop any new skills as a result, or change your behaviours?

4) Show an application form(on slide)..link to benefits.

5) Show Kolbs reflection cycle..tools for reflection. A diary, a blog, a PDP plan (which you revisit).

6) Opportunities to develop yourself  at the University, opportunities for reflection.

7) Plan an action or outcome from what you have heard today, using action plan card.

Background  

If we agree with Kidds (2006) suggestion that the career counselling process can be seen as comprising of four stages; “building the relationship, enabling clients understanding of self, exploring new perspectives and forming strategies and plans.” The the question must be asked, in the time pressured environment of an HEI, how can we help students to go through these various processes, without using the resource intensive model of one-to-one guidance.

Career guidance in the setting of an HEI can be an ongoing medium term (3 to 4 year) relationship, in which the student engages with the career service over a number of years. The student may have a guidance interview, but increasingly they may instead choose to engage in an experiential learning programme, or developmental course run by the Career Service. My queston is , what role can reflective portfolios can play in ‘enabling clients understanding of self’.

Reflective journals as a vehicle for self-understanding

In learning development contexts,  reflection has long been thought of a valuable vehicle for enabling a deeper understanding of our own learning. Higgins (2011) expresses that ‘this process of reflecting for, in and on action, makes it possible to change our current understanding of action..by improving new ways to solve the issue at hand’.

How far this reflective learning can be applied to a career development landscape has been the subject of a number of studies. Nolan, Raban and Waniganayake (2005) suggest that a ‘planned approach to career development can be enhanced through the use of guided reflection..’. Based on a case study at the University of Melbourne, they tested this hypothesis with a curriculum based cohort, and drew conclusions about the effectiveness of various styles of portfolio design combined with the use of mentors.

Another HEI based case study of reflective practice took place a number of years later in the UK . The students were given minimal guidance on the content of the reflective journals, but the process was supported by a number of workshops and discussion forums.

The results of the study indicate a positive relationship between understanding of self and the reflective process.  Houston and Lumsden (2011) report “Within students’ reflective logs there was repeated commentary on how the process of journaling had triggered new career thinking and action… This process of reflection was found to develop students’ thinking about self and career and how these two might overlap”. They go on to conclude “Career and employability awareness seems to have been prompted by the module. …. This is not to suggest that a skills-dominant approach is misplaced.. It appears that attention to a more psychologically focused model within a module of this kind has resulted in a deeper and possibly more emotionally intelligent learning experience”.

 However, Law (Watts et al 1996) questions the validity of the ‘truths’ discovered through this type of reflection; “Career Portfolios are designed wholly for learning…They are more concerned with helping students to learn how to learn about self than with the identification of any absolute and general ‘ truths’ abut self”. He does however concede that portfolios can off insight into ‘self’ through the examination of evidence. ‘For the learner, recording achievement is gathering information about what he or she has done and is doing- a portrayal of ‘self’ in situation’.  

Effective use of reflective journals.

Russell (2005) examines an approach to assisting trainee teachers in developing meaningful reflective journals. He conclude that student responses to the journaling assignment improved when he added structure and multiple formative feedback points. He points to student evaluation which support this conclusion.

“ Story (the name of the assignment) is a dialogue, a communication between you and me, rather than a one-way essay. It enables me to focus my thoughts  and discover what I am actually thinking and feeling” (Anonymous student feedback in Russell 2005).

Sharma (2010) introduces a range of techniques which can be applied in a reflective context  such as Socratic questioning, journal writing, interpersonal process reflection and reflecting teams’. However the focus of her study is the role that web based blogs can play in a reflective journaling process. She highlights a disparity in the quality of reflection and discusses some student concerns over privacy. She also reports findings that indicate blogging as being a ‘positive experience, because participants felt that weblogging helped reflection, learning and thinking’ (Sharma 2010).

References

• David Higgins (2011): Why reflect? Recognising the link between learning and

reflection, Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 12:5, 583-584

• Tom Russell (2005): Can reflective practice be taught?, Reflective Practice:

International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 6:2, 199-204

• Priya Sharma (2010): Enhancing student reflection using Weblogs: lessons

learned from two implementation studies, Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 11:2, 127-141

• Andrea Nolan, Bridie Raban & Manjula Waniganayake (2005): Evaluating a

strategic approach to professional development through guided reflection, Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 6:2, 221-22

• Kathleen Houston and Peter Lumsden (2005) Postgraduate researcher Employability: An analysis of reflective journaling from a careers programme. International Journal for Researcher Development: Vol. 2:1, 61-67

• A.G.Watts, Bill Law, John Killeen, Jenny Kidd and Ruth Hawthorn. Rethinking Careers Education and Guidance .Routledge: Oxford.1996.

• Jenny Kidd, Understanding Career Counselling, Sage: London. 2006.

J Killen (1996) began the analysis of career theory by asking the three simple questions “Who is the agent?..What are the environment in which the career is made?..What is the nature of career action? To build on this approach, it is crucial to consider in detail the three question identified, but also to examine the intersect and overlap between the initial two concepts of self and environment.

1) The individual: Is the individual free to make choices? Are they considered as unique, or as part of a wider pattern? Are they considered as having predetermined characteristics which do not change? Or as a dynamic entity on a journey. Is their own perception of self considered to be accurate and true, or part of a more complicated social constructed reality.

2) The environment: is the environment considered to be stable or dynamic? Does the environment influence a person’s perception of self?

3) The relationship between the two: How far is the individual in a position to influence their own desinity in relation to the environment?

Career construction theory overlays an interesting psychosocial element which  begins to join the concepts of individual and environment.

“Careers do not unfold; they are constructed as individuals make choices that express their self-concepts and substantiate their goals in the social reality of work roles….it (the theory) does not denie the existence of social economic factors, but places emphasis on the individuals conceptualisation of those factors, and their own vocational personality.” (Savickas, M 2004).

Savickas present here the idea that the environmental factors are less important than the individuals perception of those factors, and the way in which they influence their own career stories. If we compare this to the theory put forward by the Structural theory argument, it seems to offer slightly more hope for the individual and also to the guidance practitioner.

“Structural theory, tend to explain careers in terms which refer almost exclusively to the systematically differentiated social environments of individuals..in other words, social classification determines the types of career an individual is likely to have”.(Killen 1996)

If people are able to construct a concept of themselves and their career, despite their environment, then guidance professionals could be more able to present the notion of choices. It also seems to reinforce the idea that self and environment are dynamic entities which will change through a person’s lifetime. Viewing guidance through this lens is more convincing and appealing than via the depressing outlook of Structural theories. Importantly through, the constructionist theory does not denie the influence of the environment entirely, which would be dangerous if it were to lead to a complacent attitude to real social-mobility.

“Accordingly, career construction theory focuses on neither the person nor the environment in the famous P– E symbol; instead it focuses on the dash (–), asserting that building a career is a psychosocial activity, one that synthesizes self and society. More accurately, the theory focuses not on a dash but on the series of dashes that build a career. With a changing self (P) and changing situations (E), the matching process is never really completed. (Savickas, M 2004)

In relation to how this theory might affect the guidance work that takes place  in an HE environment, it seems to fit with the liberal person-centred approach, in so far as it supports the concept of ‘self’ as central. At the University of Leicester we often use self perception or interest based inventories to help students to discover more about themselves. This theory would question that types of approach.

The theory suggests that self-concepts are all important in describing and making sense of the idea of  a career, but it warns of guidance strategies that place too much reliance on an individuals interests, as ”interests are viewed as dynamic processes, not as stable traits”. (Savickas, M 2004). Within this theory, interest inventories can still be used, but only as a way to analyse possibilities, not as a diagnostic tool of any kind of notion of fit between individual and environment.

This theory is appealing to me as a practitioner, it places little weight on the idea that an individual is a static entity, and recognises the social factors that can seem to restrict a persons options, if it affects their self-concept. The guidance role here seems to be one of  increasing an individual’s understanding of the way they create career adaptability.

Killen, J(1996). ‘Career Theory’ in A.G WAtts, B Law, J Killen, J Kidd and R Hawthorn, Rethinking Careers Education and Guidance. London: Routledge

Kidd, J.M.(2006). Understanding Career Counselling.London:Sage

Guidance can be a tool of social reform, it can also be a tool of social control (Watts et al 2002)

The issue of socio-political ideologies in guidance focuses on the core questions of the fundamental role of guidance. When viewed in the comparative table presented in Watts et al (2002), questions are presented on the ethical issues of an individual focus only, or on a wider focus on society which will eventually impact on the individual.

Should the guidance service begin from the concept of the individual as the only effective agent of change, or should it focus on a more significant change through a wider focus? The other key question presented here is; is it the role of the guidance councillor to present the world of work as it is, or as it might be? (Watts et al 2002).

To relate these question to the Higher Education guidance setting; is the role of the Careers Service to support students in finding opportunities just for themselves, regardless of the perpetuating impact this may have on society as a whole? Alternatively, is it the role of the Careers Service to raise student awareness of the labour market and its inequalities, to allow students to engage in the debate in a more collective and political manner?

The temptation when presented with this debate is to focus purely on the individual in the belief that by doing this one is providing the best facilitation to fulfil client goals.

                Individual careers emerge from the interaction between individual agency and experience on the one hand, and the constraining and enabling forces of the social context on the  other..helping clients to become more aware of their abilities, interests and work value is not in itself sufficient for effective career planning; they need also to be helped to ‘decipher the career rules at work’.

(Bailyn 1989 in Kidd 2006)

In Higher Education Institutions an ethical dilemma exists in relation to this debate. Most careers professional will have been trained using a ‘non-directive Rogerian model’, and an ‘adaptation of Egan’s skilled helper’ (Kidd 1994), which are both client centred approaches, liberal and progressive respectively. Due to introduction of league tables based around data produced as part of the Destination of Leavers of Higher Education survey, considerable pressure is being exerted on Careers Services to produce higher numbers of students entering ‘graduate’ jobs. The conflicting position of these two approaches is that individual centred approaches may lead to guidance work around progressing through ‘non graduate’ jobs at a slower pace in order to build towards the clients goal. Socio-political approaches are likely to take even longer to achieve. This bring us to the question of how far the ethics of guidance are down to the individual practitioner and how far they ‘belong’ to the organisation offering the guidance service.

The guidance model is key to influencing practice as Kidd(1994) discovered.

                Our interpretation is that careers officers vary in the seriousness with which they view theory and this does influence their view of guidance, but that the theories which are  primarily influential upon their interview practice are guidance models, rather than theories which attempt to explain how career development occurs. 

It would be interesting to investigate the difference between the institutional agreed models of guidance that exisit, and the practice engaged by the professional working within it.

Jennifer Kidd (2006): Understanding Career Counselling, Theory, Research and Practice. Sage, London.

Jennifer M. Kidd, John Killeen, Julie Jarvis & Marcus Offer (1994): Is guidance an

applied science?: The role of theory in the careers guidance interview, British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 22:3, 385-403

A.G Watts et al (2002): Rethinking Careers Education and Guidance. Routledge, Oxford.

This model was developed largely because no extra resources were allocated to the Award when the first wave of growth was required, which meant that programme leaders were working from a position of adding leicester Award courses to their existing work loads. Central Leicester Award assessment demands had to be negotiated. This model causes a number of issues.

The message to students is complicated and difficult to negotiate. The question ‘which Leicester Award is best for me?’, is currently being answered on an individual basis by me. I am unable to see all 600 students, so this system is not fit for purpose.

Each programme recruits in a different way. See Fig 1.

I’d like to move towards a system which flows more like fig 2, which has one central point of contact and enables us to pick up all students who express an interest in an Award.

Fig 2….To be continued in a later post.

Looks like an interesting piece of freeware. Could be useful for an online unit…less intimidating to some than a blog?

A few months ago I was invited to become part of the AGCAS skills Award task group. This is group of 6 universities who have conducted some research across the sector and have some funding to continue work around sharing best practice. In a effort to make my self useful and to raise the profile of Awards across the sector, I have offered to organise and host a sharing best practice one day conference. I have run many conferences like this in past due to my involvement with HELOA, so I am excited by the opportunity. Having had a telecon with Vicky Mann from Nottingham and Sarah Jefferies from Birmingham and some email contact with Vicky Clarke from Reading several different foci have been suggested. The research paper produced by the task group also presented a number of ongoing challenges.

• widening participation and engagement
• Are awards plugging an institutional gap.
• Employer enagagment
• Resourcing.
• The wider skills landscape Endsley/ NUS
• Impact measurement

The proposal so far is an event to be hosted at Leicester on the 12^th of January 2012 roughly to follow the time table below.

Notes

Firm workshop suggestions so far have been

A welcome by a a PVC at the University of Leicester

Gary Argent

NUS  have the date in their diary

Need to invite Rob Ward from the CRA

Below is the link to the slides. The workshop was well received.

http://www.slideshare.net/zarahooley/agcas-biennial-skills-awards-group