Sustainable Development Career Counselling And Career Education

This book is based on the Life Design paradigm and discusses the efforts made to overcome the matching paradigm between individuals and their work contexts, in order to guarantee the adoption of an active role for future career planning. Starting from the evolution of career counselling and vocational guidance in the 20th century and then following the more updated reflections in the Life Design paradigm, this book discusses research results from the Larios Laboratory (Padova, Italy) in collaboration with numerous international colleagues and institutions. These results show that career counselling and vocational designing can not only help people to plan their future in agentive ways, but also to help them getting out of the ‘mists of the present’ and to project themselves into a future that is yet to be created. This future is aligned by the world of research and international institutions, such as the UN and WHO, and follows the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with particular attention to Sustainable Development Goals 4, 8 and 12. This book reveals how trajectories can be created from one’s own mission, realized with the help of others and newly acquired strengths. It shows how career counselling and vocational designing can help people to build their own future from an inclusive and sustainable perspective, based on social justice, and to help build a better future for all.

This book is the product of a series of reflections by career counseling and guidance specialists on a question central to society: "How can career and life design interventions contribute to fair and sustainable development and to the implementation of decent work all over the world? ". This question was formulated by Professor J. Guichard, the director of the UNESCO Chair in Lifelong Guidance and counseling at the University of Wroclaw, Poland. The researchers involved in this Chair’s activities proposed answers which form the chapters of this book. These reflections emphasize the need to focus on the study and implementation of certain central psychological processes which can enable individuals to face the main challenges of our society. The contributions also propose new avenues of intervention for career counseling and guidance. The entire book is the bedrock of a program of research and interventions to be implemented in order that the field of career counseling and guidance plays a key role for individuals who must design their lives in a rapidly changing, and ever more complex context. This book is therefore a major scientific contribution and marks a turning point for researchers and practitioners in career counseling and guidance, and for all professionals who support the self-construction of individuals in the 21st century. "The authors draw on a diverse range of disciplines and research traditions and offer readers a rich array of insights, helping them reflect on how career guidance can be mobilised to serve citizens in a world that is increasingly challenged by complex, seemingly intractable problems. A central, crosscutting concern is the ways in which career guidance can foster well-being by facilitating access to meaningful and fulfilling work in contexts that promote equity, social justice, and dignity for all. While engaging the micro-worlds of individuals, and throwing light on their valiant efforts to design a life that realises their hopes and aspirations, it is a commendable feature of many of these papers that they do not eschew the societal – indeed planetary – stage across which personal dramas are enacted.” Prof. Ronald G. Sultana, Director, Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research, University of Malta. "The primary strengths.....are the authors' capacity to provide forward thinking perspectives on the important issue of sustainable lifelong interventions and career design in its broadest sense. The volume offers depth in a way of thinking that is pertinent to the 21st century and provokes both an in interest in the further study of this domain as well as providing tools and references for novice and experienced researchers and professionals. The book is sure to become a major text in the field." Prof. Maurice Taylor, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Canada

This volume provokes conversations and reflections on the most appropriate methodologies to pursue Career Development Learning (CDL) research within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)s. Drawing on studies with Australian students from diverse backgrounds, including low socioeconomic status, regional, rural and remote, with disability, etc., this volume uniquely highlights considerations for contextual and inclusive CDL research which advances multiple SDGs and quality futures across the globe. Although situated in Australian contexts, the case studies have international applicability. This volume provides support to researchers who intend to investigate the effectiveness of career development strategies which further sustainable development objectives. Specifically, the book highlights the importance of partnership and innovative methods in socially-just research methodologies as well as practical ways that these can be undertaken. It encourages readers to consider how they might frame their work in relation to the SDGs and create impactful research which furthers the agenda for sustainable development in localised ways.

This edited collection examines the intersections between career guidance, social justice and neo-liberalism. Contributors offer an original and global discussion of the role of career guidance in the struggle for social justice and evaluate the field from a diverse range of theoretical positions. Through a series of chapters that positions career guidance within a neoliberal context and presents theories to inform an emancipatory direction for the field, this book raises questions, offers resources and provides some glimpses of an alternative future for work. Drawing on education, sociology, and political science, this book addresses the theoretical basis of career guidance’s involvement in social justice as well as the methodological consequences in relation to career guidance research.

This book examines a topic widely regarded as the most pressing in career counselling today, i.e., how to ensure that everyone receives career counselling and that all workers have the opportunity to engage in sustainable, decent work. The author holds that career counselling should not only advance workers’ self- and career construction, helping them design successful career-lives and make social contributions, and live purposeful lives – it should also expound new theoretical approaches and interventions. Furthermore, the book criticizes global society for overlooking the basic needs of many workers, especially the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. An important feature of the book is its emphasis on promoting a creative and innovative approach to career counselling so as to better answer contemporary career-related questions. It offers guidance on how to advance entrepreneurship and help workers develop critical thinking, curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills. In this way the book promotes innovation in career counselling and maps the way forward in a theoretical and practical manner that helps clients ‘flourish’ rather than merely ‘survive’ in turbulent times impacted by the fourth wave in psychology, career counselling, the economy, as well as the 4th industrial revolution (Work 4.0).

In industrialized societies, individuals are facing major challenges that mobilize many of their psychological and social resources. The world of work is changing constantly. Adults have to adapt their technical skills and knowledge continuously. For teenagers and young adults, choosing a vocation and constructing their future career paths is becoming increasingly difficult. The migration of people and the globalization of the workforce raise questions about social inclusion and the future of affected individuals. These examples highlight of the importance of the field of Career Counseling and Guidance to support citizens individually and collectively in building their future. The challenges our societies face demonstrate how crucial the development of research in this field is. The European Doctoral Programme in Career Guidance and Counselling (ECADOC), funded by the European Commission from 2013-2016, has brought together PhD students working on burning issues in this field, using various theoretical references and methodologies. The four parts of this book present a selection of innovative research aiming to find answers to the named challenges. Part 1 deals with key psychological processes involved in career construction of young adults. Part 2 presents research concerning transitions over the course of life. Part 3 covers research related to interventions of career guidance and counseling. Part 4 outlines perspectives for the future and proposes a European Research Agenda for our field of research. Perspectives on Current Research in Career Guidance and Counseling – Building Careers in Changing and Diverse Societies is dedicated to students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of education, career guidance, psychology, human resource management to inform them about very recent work and promote the development of innovative interventions and programmes.

This is the first book to cover theory, policy and practice in all sectors of careers education and guidance provision. It is an essential text for students in initial training, those engaged in in-service and higher degree work.

This book offers insights into facilitating sustainable careers through the study of a wide interdisciplinary range of policy investigations and assessment of ongoing practices in the field. By assessing and comparing the transferability of policies and good practices between firms in ten countries and regions of the European Union this book considers the development of sustainable careers across the lifespan at the levels of individuals, organizations and systems. This book is the culmination of a research project from the international European Social Fund network on ‘Career and Age, Generation, Experience(AGE)’. It discusses and offers observations on key concerns at the European level: How to make people work longer, remain employable, develop sustainable competencies ? How to adapt the work environment and human resource management policies at employer’s level ? And finally, how can public authorities take measures and incentives to support sustainable careers for individuals?