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Re-professionalising the Profession CeGs Guidance Week 29 June, 2007 Jenny Bimrose Jenny.bimrose@warwick.ac.uk. Changing concept of ‘career’: ‘ the evolving sequence of a person’s work experiences over time.’
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Re-professionalising the Profession CeGs Guidance Week 29 June, 2007 Jenny Bimrose Jenny.bimrose@warwick.ac.uk
Changing concept of ‘career’: ‘the evolving sequence of a person’s work experiences over time.’ Ref: Arthur, M.B., Hall, D.T. & Lawrence, B.S. (1989) Handbook of Career Theory, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Demanding policy context: • Resources • Priorities • Models of delivery • Accountability Change & uncertainty Competition & collaboration Clients & customers
A patchwork of training support: ‘A new, more coherent structure [for training] is necessary to provide clear progression paths’ ‘recurrent training’ for CPD – optional in most countries, including the UK’ Refs: OECD (2003) OECD Review of guidance policies: UK country note. OECD p.26 McCarthy, J. (2001) The skills, training & qualifications of guidance workers. OECD. P.7
Increasing accountability: • immediate outcomes • intermediate outcomes • longer-term outcomes for the individual • longer-term outcomes for the economy
Aim: To use a longitudinal (5 year), qualitative case study approach to investigate the nature of effective guidance
Four key questions: • From whose point-of-view is ‘effective’ defined? • Whose account counts? • How is ‘effectiveness’ defined? • How is ‘guidance’ defined?
CLIENT GUIDANCE INTERVIEW PRACTITIONER ‘EXPERT WITNESS’
Primacy of the ‘USER VOICE’ together with the Practitioner Perspective
Data sources (50 case studies): • digital recordings of the guidance interviews • open-ended, semi-structured questionnaires • ‘baseline data’ on delivery contexts, practitioners and clients
Headlines (2003-2004): • 49 of 50 clients found their interview ‘useful’ • high levels of agreement found re: perceptions of useful guidance • outcomes of guidance defined broadly, in terms of the process of the interview & access to expertise
Headlines (2004-2005): • low attrition rate:45 clients • 87% (n=39):guidance still ‘useful’ • 11% (n=5):less sure of its value • one client: guidance ‘no value’
Headlines (2005-2006) • low attrition rate continued: 80% (n=36) • 72% (n=26):guidance still ‘useful’ • 14% (n=5):less sure of its value • 14% (n=5):couldn’t remember • the ‘negative’ client: recognised some aspects ‘useful’
‘Useful’ guidance: recurrent themes • provides access to specialist information • insights, focus, confirmatory & confusion reduction • motivates • increases self-confidence • structures opportunities for reflection
Model of guidance-in-action: • building a working alliance • exploration of potential • identification of options & strategies • ending & follow-through
Career decision- making styles: • evaluative • strategic • aspirational • opportunistic
Key findings: practice • matching approaches dominate • little evidence of new approaches • comprehensive range of standard techniques • evidence of non-standard techniques
Key findings: career decision-making • Complex • Multi-dimensional • Often implemented over an extended time frame • Not always ‘rational’
‘I think it’s nice if you don’t plan too much, because then you’re open to suggestions and things like that’.
Conclusions • Multiple constraints shape practice • New thinking & approaches difficult to implement • Scope for exercising judgements about clients’ best interests limited
Implications for practice? • Need to place less emphasis on planning • Demonstrate more tolerance of un-decidedness • Develop a more vivid sense of context
Links to reports: • Bimrose, J., Barnes, S.A., Hughes, D. and Orton, M.(2004). What is Effective Guidance? Evidence from Longitudinal Case Studies in England. DfES/Warwick Institute for Employment Research. Retrieved on October 26, 2005, Institute for Employment Research website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/publications/bydate/egr2004.pdf • Bimrose, J., Barnes, S.A. & Hughes, D.(2005). Effective Guidance One Year On: Evidence from Longitudinal Case Studies in England. DfES/Warwick Institute for Employment Research. Retrieved on January 6, 2006, Institute for Employment Research website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/publications/bydate/2005/egreportoct05.pdf • Bimrose, J., Barnes, S-A. and Hughes, D. (2006). Developing career trajectories in England: the role of effective guidance. Coventry: Warwick Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick. Retrieved on March 16, 2006, Institute for Employment Research website: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/publications/bydate/egreportnov06.pdf Fourth due autumn, 2007