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Is Career Guidance for the Individual or for the Market?
The Conflicting Logics that defines Career Guidance of Today
Vejlederkonference 2016, Denmark
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´© 2016
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
”The career is dead, long live the career”
(Hall, 1996)
Career
Each time the world of work is changing…..
…so are societies̕
strategies and methods
changing, in order to
support people in their
educational/vocational
/career choices and
dilemmas. (see Savickas, 2008)
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
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Significant Transitions in Working Life
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
”When the music change, so does the dancing”
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016 Enligt Mark Savickas, citat från konferens 2010
Or.. with my words;
When the rules of the game are
rearranged while we are still playing -
How do we know how to play the game?
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´© 2016
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What has occurred in the world of work?
• Transition to a
globalized knowledge
economy
• Dominating societal
debates and trends
• Career is located in changing
organistional landscape
• Lifelong learning
• Validation – skills provision
• An increased interest in career
guidance
• Competence discourse
• Human capital discourse
• Education/learning discourse
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Peoples̓ working conditions areaffected by the changing worldof working life!
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Influence
Leadership
Knowledgecreation
Working time
Workload
Contract
Health
© Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016 Further development of Figure 1, p. 8, Bergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2015).
The Educational field ofCareer Guidance
The field of education and training in working life
Career as the bridging object intertwines twoeducational fields in a societal context
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The research question:
In an era of rapid changes in working life,
what meaning is ascribed to career in
a) European policy documents on guidance,
b) By adults who are affected by changing
working life, and
c) By educational and vocational guidance
counsellors?
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
The Dissertation:
• Four separate studies explore the meaning of career
in different contexts among parties involved.
Study
1
Results
Study
2
Con-
clusions
Study
3 Frame
Study
4
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Overview of Results: Study 1 and 2
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Study – Empirical
Data
Purpose Method Results
1. European policy documents on Careerguidance
To disclose underlyingperspectives on career and the ideational message
Qualitative contentanalysis,Sender-oriented
interpretation
Economic, learning,
political science perspectives
Senders representingorganizations/business needs
2. Ethical declarationdocuments for guidance profession
Comparison betweenprevious and existingdeclarations. To analyse the significance of the core meaning ofcareer at structurallevel for careerguidance practice
Qualitative contentanalsysis. Receiver-oriented
interpretation
An implicit shift ofemphasis in the career guidancemission createsuncertainty if career
guidance is for the individual or for the
market.
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Overview of Results: Study 3 and 4
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Study –
Empirical
Data
Purpose Method Results
3. A group of 21 adults, affectedby changes in working life
To explore what”taken for granted” everyday knowledge(social representaitons) people have aboutcareer
Free association
method, Qualitativecontent analysis,
Social representation
theory
Two stable and two dynamicsocial representations ofcareer, expressed in pairs ofopposites. Peopleseveryday knowledge of
career are anchored in past, previous working life
conditions, collide withnew perspectives and conditions
4. A group of 41 educational/vocationalguidancecounsellors
To explore guidancecounsellors´view oftheir mission and howthey view careertherein
E-mail enquiry with
open-endedquestions, Qulitative
content analysis, Social
representation theory
Four social representationsin argumentative pairs ofopposites. The first is concerned withtheir mission and professional identity, the second with how they viewcareer within their mission. Guidance counsellors
Source: Ingela Bergmo-PrvulovicBergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2012) Subordinationg careers to market forces? A critical analsysis of European career guidancepolicies. European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults. Vol 3, No. 2.
Comparison:Previous ethical declaration: Revised ethical declation:
The guidance counsellor should be free from such pressures from other stakeholders (e.g. employers, training providers) which wouldrestrict the applicant´s opportunity to make choices and decisions. The guidance counsellorwill … serve as the applicant´s representative. (Sveriges Vägledarförening, 1989, p. 2-3)
The guidance counsellor should focus on the individual and remain uninfluenced by otherconsiderations. (Sveriges Vägledarförening, 2007, p. 2)
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
The guidance counsellor often faces conflictinginterests and conflicting demands. This can be a question of the balance between public interestand individual interests. The guidancecounsellor may feel vulnerable to pressure from authorities and employers to recruit rather thanguide and, for that purpose, may giveincomplete or biased details. Guidance workalso entails a tension between power and dependendence in that the counsellor oftenmeets people in vulnerable situations. Theseprofessional conditions place great demans on counsellors´ethical awareness and this is the reason the SAGC has adopted an ethicalstatement as complement to legislation, regulations and other governing documents(Sveriges Vägledarförening, 1989, p. 1).
”…there may arise conflicts in guidance workbetween diverging interests, where different needs and obligations have to be set off againsteach other, and the ethical guidelines aremeant to aid in ethical considerations aboutsuch dilemmas” (Sveriges Vägledarförening, 2007, p. 1)
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Source: Bergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2013). Social Representations of Career – Anchored in the Past and Conflicting withthe Future? Papers on Social Representations. Volume 22. No. 1)
Figure 1. Example of free associations related to the word career, producedby respondent (i).
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Figur 3. Example of free associations (second step) related to the word career, produced by respondent (i).
Source: Bergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2013). Social Representations of Career – Anchored in the Past and Conflicting withthe Future? Papers on Social Representations. Volume 22. No. 1) Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Social representations:
… system of values, ideas and practices with a twofold function;first, to establish an order which will enable individuals toorientate themselves in their material and social world and tomaster it; and secondly to enable communication to take placeamong members of a community by providing them with a codefor social exchange and a code for naming and classifyingunambigously the various aspects of their world and theirindividual and group history. (Moscovici, 1973, p. xiii)
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
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Results of Study 3 –Social representations of Career among adults
Themas Stable social representations
Personal meaning Career as individual project and self-realization
Social meaning Career as social/hierarchical climbing
Themata – pairs of opposites Dynamic social representations
Expected effort – expected outcomeInternal reward – external rewardCreated outcomes – offered outcomesIndividual assessment of value – social assessment of valueBeneficial to individuals – beneficials to organizations
Career as a game of exchange
Environmental influence – individualpowerlessnessPredictability – unpredictabilitySecurity – insecurityControl – lack of controlImprovement – deterioration
Career as an uncertain outcome
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Source: Bergmo-Prvulovic, I. (2013). Social Representations of Career – Anchored in the Past and Conflicting with the Future? Papers on Social Representations. Volume 22. No. 1)
Table 1. List of themas/thematas related to the social representations of stable and dynamic characther
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Stable social representationsPersonal meaning: career as
individual project and self-realization
”doing what you want; achieving personal
goals” (k)
”a positive word for personal working-life;
meaning for the individual; something one
wants to do; a sense of self-realization; success
in what you want to achieve (u)
”realization of your dream-job; work hard and
well; investing; recognition (o)
”doing what you are passionate about:
easier/more fun” (j)
Social meaning: career as
social/hierarchical climbing
”career – hierarchy: socially/culturally
determined caste system” (g)
”career – success, positive; higher position,
greater responsibility and authority” (m)
”bad to climb the ladder, to have ambition and
drive” (f)
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
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Dynamic social representations
Career as a game of exchange
”career – education: the foundation for making
a career” (b)
”Career – well-educated: thinking that many
who make a career are also well-educated” (e)
”career – private sector: the only place where
you can make a career, i.e. earn money” (f)
”career – goal: the goal of moving
forward/upward, being promoted, growth” (c)
”career development – decided by the boss: I as
an individual don´t control it, it is someone
else who promotes, dependent on relations”(f)
”career development – workplace: something
happening at the workplace, it is something
that is offered” (e)
Career as an uncertain outcome
”work-situtation in change: reorganization” (o)
”the increasing competetiveness will kill us” (r)
”exhaustive – never to bo complacent” (h)
”demands on adaptation: the slow ones are
excluded” (h)
”chaos – your world is turned upside down, the
conditions are rearranged” (f)
”work-situation in change – external conditions
that I cannot influence” (d)
”who is governing the change? To have control
one´s own situation and work” (g) -
”experience of being out of control” (g)
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Results of study 4 – Guidance counsellors̓ Social representations of their mission and of career therein
Primary elements Social Representations
The guidance professions ̓ unique ethicalstance
Impartial educational support on behalf of the individual
Profession-specific issues/objectives, working methods and specific nature
Inter-organizational and outer-organizational demands and conditions
A misinterpreted mission and profession (among other actors)
A practice of matching on behalf ofthe business sectors
General everyday knowledge aboutcareer as something negative/bad The common view of career as
something bad Career as localized outside guidancepractice
Career as ”something other” than the general view Career in the context of guidance as
something other than the common view
Career as the movement process itself
Career as the destination
About the mission
”The most important thing in our
role/…/ is to not intervene with
dominance” (14-33-1)
”Sometimes you are expected to tell
clients what they shall become, which
is not our job (13-15-2)
”They do not place focus on the
individual, contrary to educational
and vocational guidance
counsellors´ethical principles” (13.9.3)
”In my opinion/…/ you should have
more time for the main mission, i.e.
the dialogue” (13.18.1)
”Very often, politicians forget that
adults also need guidance” (13.20.3)
”When it comes to the labour market,
they want to have an educated
workforce that is ready when they
graduate. Ideally, they shall have
experience as well. How on earth is
that suppose to happen” (13.21.2)
”It requires more resources for us
/…/and at the same time an improved
collaboration between the parties
involved. It is not only we /…/ who
shall work for a decrease of ”incorrect
choices” among students and people;
rather it is a collaboration between
different actors, and here there is a lot
of work to be done” (14.36.3)
”Employers do not recognize their part
in getting their employees to be
ambassadors in order to attract”
(14.31.3)
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
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About the mission
”From the business community, we
know that there are those who believe
that we should fill ”gaps” where
needed, that it should be the labour
market needs that determine what
education or vocation the individual
chooses, and not vice versa. An
ethically indefenseble way of working
for us /…/ who always base our
activities on individuals´interests,
abilities, etc. and which,
unfortunately, leads to a
misunderstanding between us”
(13.1.2)
”I, personally, get very stressed by
these expectaions; however, I have no
intention to change my way of working
to fulfil the expectations” (14.41.2)
”I experience that most people do
not know what a guidance
counsellor does” (13.14.2)
”I am disappointed about their
expectaions! They do not seem to
know what kind of competence we
have” (14.35.2)
”Many believe that this is how
educational and vocational
guidance counsellors are working,
that is, steering students toward
areas/industries that need
workers” (14.33.2)
”I feel they want me to match and
recruit, and I consider that not to
be my mission” (14.27.2)
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
About Career”Do we have to guide towards
careers?!” (13.5.4)
”Career in guidance support contains
double messages: I can definitely see
it as a planned/unplanned way to
reach a goal, but it also sounds a bit
bad. To push yourself forward and
only think of yourself in order to reach
a goal, where the journey is all about
”elbowing” yourself forward without
much consideration for others.
Career, for me, is a bit like climbing
the ladder and I´m not satisfied until
I´ve reached the top. (14.33.4)
”Help! I beome afraid when a client
who is an employed ”successful” adult
comes and asks me for guidance in
order to advance in their career. I feel
I am not used to meeting such people,
and I believe that my tools are not
good enough” (13.2.4)
”It is still a very value-laden word
that means ”climbing the ladder”
(14.28.4)
”Doesn´t give me gode vibes.
Career isn´t the most important
thing” (14.42.4)
”Negative. Everybody might not
want to think career” (13.5.4)
”Don´t like the word. It´s a
military term! Working life isn´t
sually linear from ”a lower to a
higher position” (13.12.49)
”Career, in my ears, does not sound completely positive, so I
seldom use it (14.46.4)Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
About Career”To develop and support students
personal growth and self-conficence”
(13.16.4)
”Career is not the most important
thing. The most important thing is
self-knowledge and knowledge about
abilities and possibilities. To also have
quality in life” (14.42.4)
”to provide/…/a steady foundation for
continuing steps towards the future
(14.39.1)
”The way towards the dream or goal
/…/or perhaps the goal itself”
(13.24.4).
”It is still a very value-laden word
that means ”climbing the ladder”.
If it is going to be used, it is
necessary to explain what it might
mean in a wider sense. Since
guidance counsellors are quite
familiar with the meaning, it is
not that value-laden for me,
personally” (14.28.4)
”I think that it is a word that
means for many people that you
should ”rise in the ranks”, and
then it is a bit value-lade, but
actually it is a good word for the
development we undergo in life”
(14.31.4)
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
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Peoples everyday
knowledgeanchored in past working
life conditions
Career as a game of
exchange:
effort – reward
An interplay between
personal and social
meaning of career
is framed by conflicting
logics
Organisations ̓ interests, needs, purposes and goals –Career as a means of achieving organizational goals
Career guidance
Career is for the
individual:
Personal development,
personal growth and
lifedevelopment
Clashing points, meeting points and negotiation points
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Career
Career is located in an uncomfortable transitional phase
Both a commonly held everyday
knowledge and a lack of consistency
Transitional trends in the career field
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
”The career is dead, long live the career”
(Hall, 1996)
EXTERNAL Rewarding systems
INTERNAL rewarding systems
EXTERNAL observable career
development
INTERNAL experienced career
development
The division of responsibilities regarding
career is unclear
• Peoples̓ everyday knowledge is
anchored in traditional views on
career – formed in previous working
life conditions
• Contrasting views on career have
been shaped in different
professional fields (which are now
becoming more intertwined with each
other) – Both fields have to deal
with/negotiate with peoples ̓
everyday knowledge of career
Some reflections and future challenges:
How do workplaces reward
and recognize peoples
internal career
development?
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Guidance counsellors support
peoples̓ personal meaning of career
Observable rewardig outcomes
related with the social meanings of
career are considered to be the
responsibilities of working life
Working life now also emphasize
careers related to peoples̓ personal
meanings and emphasize the
individual as sole responsible
How do career guidance
practice clarify for
themselves, and others,
what meaning they ascribe
to career wihtin their
professional mission?
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The intertwining of educational fields is both a challenge AND a possibility for development
Both fields need to:
1. Develop insights and understanding for both their own and each
others roles and parts in peoples career development
processes in todays´working life.
2. Identify where and how they can meet, and how and where they
shall make their distinctions between each other.
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
Ingela Bergmo-Prvulovic´ 2016
For Your Attention!