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The objective of this report is to explain how to conscientisize a career counselling session. The conscientization process involves creating a formatted transcript of a session, which is then separated into utterances. An utterance is one or more words that express a certain meaning. Each utterance is then classified based on expressional structure of career story. This expressional structure has three types of expressional technique: tense, viewpoint, and subject. Each type of expressional technique consists of the following categories of expressional method: now, past, present for tense; outer, general, inner for viewpoint; and matter, sentiment, reasoning for subject. An utterance is thus classified by selecting a category for each type of expressional technique. To assist the above process, we have created a software program called CareeTalk. This software takes the formatted transcript, separates the transcript into utterances, and provides statistical analysis based on the frequency of the category of expressional method as explained above. We will demonstrate how CareeTalk works, and describe how the analysis can be used to help the counsellor.

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In 2004, Security4Women (S4W) commissioned Women in Adult and Vocational Education (WAVE) to undertake research into affordable work-related education and training. The aim of this project, Lifelong Learning - Work Related Education and Training, is to enable S4W to propose policy development ‘to enhance greater economic equity for women and to define measures to advocate and lobby for policy and legislative amendments on behalf of the women’s sector’. The project is being undertaken in two stages: stage one focused on young women and stage two, which is currently underway, focuses on specific groups of women. This report is from the first stage of the project. The objectives of this first stage are to: identify how girls think and talk about their work aspirations; identify the factors that lead to subject and occupation/industry related choices by girls who participate in vocational education and training (VET); identify if workplace application/’fit’ of their chosen subject is a motivator for the VET in Schools course selection; and investigate whether the learning experience will lead them to consider VET educational pathways post school. Findings include: the majority of girls are still choosing traditional (feminised) courses and career paths; school based careers advisers are seen as a major source of information about courses and careers; family and friends have a significant influence on career decisions; the majority of girls indicated that they were already on a career track; the majority of students were in VET courses of their choice and had a high level of satisfaction with VET; and the skills and knowledge from VET were perceived by participants as being useful for their futures. The contents are: Executive summary; Introduction; Methodology; A critical review of the literature; An overview of data; Getting real?. Included as appendices are questionnaire responses from girls enrolled in VET courses in South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland about their perceptions of VET and their future work aspirations, and the research questionnaire. Show less

To construct a career is a complex developmental task that involves several contextual and personal factors. The uncertainty and instability that characterise modern societies are evident in many European countries. The present study aimed to explore the processes of career development and meaning-making, and how cultural and contextual factors may affect students' career choices and development. Twenty-one Italian and 20 English first-year university students produced written narratives inspired by the same prompt. Findings confirm differences in career development and choices linked to the effect of contextual factors and to different life story trajectories.

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This report, based on empirical studies conducted in Germany, examines the conditions of information supply and demand in the area of career choice and training provision, in the context of demands by industry for lifelong vocational flexibility. After discussing both cognitive and structural factors at work in the process of career choice, the paper presents the results of four studies on various career counselling issues connected with information access. Show less

This study investigated the underlying factors that influence potential [technical and vocational education and training] TVET teachers' decision to pursue a teaching career in order to recruit more teachers. The motivation of pre-service TVET graduates obtaining a postgraduate diploma in technical education was therefore investigated using the QUAN-QUAL approach to collect quantitative data via a researcher-created, self-administered questionnaire and qualitative data via written essays and narratives using the triangulation mixed method design. Participants were selected from two cohorts (N=78) of students enrolled in the various departments for the Postgraduate Diploma in Technical Education (PGDTE) program of the University of Nigeria. According to the quantitative analysis, excellent role models from previous teachers, the demanding nature of the job role, a willingness to impart relevant knowledge and skills, a willingness to assist financially disadvantaged students in gaining marketable job skills, and the country's presumed demand for TVET teachers were the primary motivators for pre-service teachers. The qualitative analysis found seven (7) themes, three of which were motivational: desire to assist students and community/sharing expertise; personal dream/calling/passion to teach; and the desire to financially aid students who are incapacitated. However, the gender aspect revealed that male and female pre-service TVET teachers showed significant differences in their altruistic and intrinsic impulses. Following that, the two sets of data were compared and investigated. The ramifications of the findings were then examined, as well as their significance in enhancing hiring measures through setting of standards for tech-voc education programs to improve on the status of TVET teachers to attract quality graduates of technical education programs who can teach as TVET teachers before and after completing their programs.

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Research has shown that employers and industry are key partners in work-based learning and can hinder or enhance access to vocational education training (VET). Our capabilities approach focus concerns increasing employer understanding of what is involved in engaging in the work-based component of school-based VET for students with disability. It seeks to identify enhancers and barriers to both employer and student participation in work-based learning in workplaces and strategies to address the barriers. Using a qualitative approach, this interpretive research aims to answer the following principal question: How can employers, students, teachers and other influencers of student education and career pathway choice work together to increase opportunities for successful participation of students with disability in the work-based component of school-based VET? Employers and staff at organisations that support/place school-based VET students with disabilities were interviewed and inductive content analysis was used to code interview transcripts. Findings indicate that while communication and relationships are key factors in ensuring successful work-based learning placements, lack of understanding related to the spectrum of disability can be a barrier. Interview participants also identified workplace and policy barriers. Addressing the implications of our research findings will assist in increasing the willingness of employers to engage in work-based learning for school VET students with disability. This shift in practise has the potential to develop the workforce of the region and create greater breadth of opportunities for work-based learning in the community for school VET students with disability, leading to improved employment outcomes for people with disability.

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Reviewing current research literature and presenting new empirical findings, the contributions in this book reflect the ways in which retirement and an ageing workforce are at the intersection of key social changes over recent decades. It addresses the question of what factors enable, or hamper, people to continue working at advanced age; it aims to provide sound and accessible evidence and suggest innovative ways of thinking to support active ageing policies. The book is divided into four parts. By examining emerging career development concepts and learning frameworks for ageing workers, the first part gives a broad view of the subject matter. The second part provides perspectives from comparative cross-national research on ageing, learning and working in Europe. The third part identifies ways of breaking traditional patterns to extend working lives and to assist working beyond retirement age. In the final part, active ageing is approached by considering the role of guidance and employer-supported initiatives. This publication conveys two crucial messages. First, successful active ageing requires commitment and involvement from ageing workers themselves and employers, in a context that supports learning and recognises the specific needs of ageing workers. Second, sustainable labour-market participation at advanced age cannot be achieved without sound understanding of ageing, working and learning and the interconnections between these processes.

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This report assesses the quality of jobs provided by microbusinesses, taking a closer look at wages, benefits, career advancement opportunities, and flexibility. It also includes new sections on microbusiness jobs for millennials and for those who struggle most to find good jobs.

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The sociologist, Max Weber (1864-1920), suggested that few could withstand the frustrations of academic life. As the strategic management of human resources begins to differentiate higher education institutions (HEIs) in league tables, the costs of voluntary staff turnover (attrition) become more significant. In this paper, we consider links between induction (orientation) and retention for academic staff. We report on a qualitative study of thirty academic staff in five United Kingdom HEIs who were recruited on the basis of their professional experience. Their practice-based knowledge lends our participants particular insight into their HEI induction experience which, where found wanting, led in several cases to resignation. We analyse the induction experiences of our participants to glean explanations for these perceived shortcomings. Since induction interventions are thought to lead to improved retention, we recommend policy and practice changes to induction, which may benefit all academic staff.

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Building upon the framework of the Responsible Partnering collaboration and with the support of the European Commission, DG Research, the 'DOC-CAREERS' project has examined a range of collaborative doctoral programmes across Europe, which are conducted jointly by universities and industry/business partners. In this report, the approaches and characteristics of these collaborative doctoral programmes are explored, whether government, university or industry-led, and the perspectives, expectations and experiences of the partners from university and industry, and the doctoral candidates themselves, are examined. With over 50 per cent of doctorate holders moving into careers outside the academic sector, the importance of such collaborative programmes is evident.

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