Career Adapt-Abilities: a new approach for identifying students in most need Gill Frigerio, Career Studies Unit, University of Warwick Dr Toni Wright, Psychology Dept, Newman University Introduce selves Me: background as a careers adviser then head of service where I became interested in theoretically informed ideas on the purpose of our work and measures/demonstrators of impact deriving from that purpose Now: teach in career studies unit on cpd for career development practitioners. Partcularly mention CEIGHE modules in management and marketing Toni: background as counselling psychologist in student services, now academic psychologist plus private practice. Research into student interventions and their relationship to outcome – most recently evaluation of employability enhancement intervention for students Reference other participants in the research – Anne, Jenny, Eluned, Jane

Outline What is career adaptability? Is it a useful concept for HE Careers & Employability Services? Research to date Our work to develop a UK instrument Applications for HE careers services This is how we would like to spend the next hour – our presentation followed by open discussion Charting origins and rationale for career adaptability Final point is where we would like to engage you in discussion and hear your ideas

What is career adaptability? Has it’s origins in the vocational psychology of Donald Super which developed into Career Construction theory (Savickas, 1997) The focus is on the individual and their psychosocial resources, as opposed to employability – where employers and their needs tend to dominate. The capability of an individual to make a series of successful transitions where the labour market, organisation of work and underlying occupational and organisational knowledge bases may be subject to considerable change’ (Bimrose et al, 2011) Incorporates both individual readiness & resources and the concomitant responses & results Has come about through career development theory responding to the changes in the labour market Models based on ‘stages’ suggests a stability in the labour market that is no longer a given. Globalisation and more precariousness. replaces ‘maturity’ as a notion (defined as lack of planfulness and lack of information)

Career Adaptable Competencies Control: exerting a degree of intra-personal influence on their situations Curiosity: broadening horizons by exploring social opportunities & possibilities Commitment: experimenting with new & different activities Confidence: believing in yourself & ability to achieve your goal Concern: developing a positive optimistic attitude to the future Savickas et al. (2009)

Something new for HE Career & Employability Services? Career adaptability - a useful theoretical perspective because…? As noted earlier, contrast with employability in its focus on the client: “ ..career belongs to the person, not the organisation” (Duarte, 2004) From adaptability to adapt-abilities (psycho-social competences) which focus on the person and the resources they have available to enable them to manage life and work challenges and transitions Problems with existing psychometric tests – identification of need and targeted interventions is currently problematic Potential for a quantitative measure in line with our purpose and professional values Career adaptability as a particularly useful theoretical perspective HE has become an increasingly public good and its relevance to the economy more pressing, therefore needs to be cognisant to the changes to the labour market Managing CES currently dominated by employability discourse, using KPIs to demonstrate impact and DLHE data Despite DLHE, much framing of employability in terms of ‘sustainable employability’ (get a job, keep a job, get another job) From adaptability to adapt-abilities (psycho-social competences) Lack of 'maturity' means trait/factor approaches can be misused with our core clients, especially the ones we are seeking hardest to engage

Birmingham PSA (employability award) evaluation project: Reported change in employability related values, attitudes & behaviour e.g. reflecting on skills/experiences; applying skills and attributes to specific situations/contexts; Increased ability to articulate skills/attributes Increased confidence leading to higher aspiration However, no change on psychometric tests Rather than increasing student’s cognitive skills, the PSA may be changing their application and the meaning ascribed to their possession (internal change within person rather than simple acquisition of skills) Employability awards may improve an individual’s resources to negotiate the challenges of leaving university and entering the world of work Wright (in prep) Birmingham work relates both to the practical work of services and to current project

Career Adaptability Research to date International life design group met in 2008 and 2010; 13 countries (not inc. UK) involved in study to develop and validate the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS). (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012) In the UK Bimrose and colleagues developed qualitative descriptors. (Bimrose et al, 2011) Evaluation of employability intervention at the University of Birmingham (2010-13) Birmingham, Warwick, Newman and HECSU - UK collaborative project currently ongoing (Glasgow Caledonian also participated in experimental phase of validation) CAAS on 4 scales, originally with 6 items each, now 5

Developing a UK instrument Collaborative project with aim of validating CAAS for use in UK context HEA bid unsuccessful Project scaled down and work continued US version of CAAS adapted to UK context UK version shown to fit four factor model and to correlate with Trait Emotional Intelligence (Cooper & Petrides, 2010) Describe cognitive interviewing etc if time

Sample questions (5) (4) (3) (2) (1) Different people use different strengths to build their careers. No one is good at everything, each of us emphasises some strengths more than others. Please rate how strongly you have developed each of the following abilities using the scale below. Strongest Very strong Strong Somewhat strong Not strong (5) (4) (3) (2) (1) Becoming aware of the education and career choices that I must make Actively engaging with my career Remaining positive Taking responsibility for my actions Acting in line with my values and principles Relying on myself Looking for opportunities to grow as a person Observing different ways of doing things Adapted from Savickas & Porfeli (2012)

Participants Birmingham University: 301 students Glasgow Caledonian University : 195 Newman University: 175 Warwick University: 175 Total = 846 After removal of outliers and those with missing values = 753 used in the final model analysis

Principle Components Analysis

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Questions Factor Adapt-ability Concern 1-6 7-12 13-18 Curiosity Confidence 18-24 Control

Applications: Anne & Eluned Target careers guidance interventions Allocate resources to greatest effect Demonstrating careers guidance impact at individual and institutional level Encouraging students’ reflective career development and effective action planning Any application to your own context? – group discussion Eluned and Anne to kick off this section

Outcomes for today To understand career adaptability as a means of developing student centred approaches to employability To consider the value of career adaptability as a way of HE career services targeting their work and resources To contribute to current research in exploring possible applications of the career adaptabilities measure in HE career services To consider the value that the concept, and the questionnaire, could have for your own institutional context Next step: Pilot projects in UK HE institutions

Interested in getting involved? Contact Gill Or Toni with any ideas or suggestions for pilot projects in your own institutions Gill: G.Frigerio@warwick.ac.uk Toni: T.Wright@newman.ac.uk We are here this evening so please do chat to us about your ideas if you wish.

References Bimrose, J., Barnes, S-A., Brown, A. and Hughes, D. (2011) 'The role of career adaptability in skills supply',  Wath-upon-Dearne: UK Commission for Employment & Skills Cooper, A. & Petrides, K.V. (2010) A Psychometric Analysis of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) Using Item Response Theory, Journal of Personality Assessment, 92, 5, pp.449-457 Duarte, M.E. (2004) The Individual and the Organisation: Perspective in development Psychologica (Extra Serie) 549-557 Savickas, M.L. (1997) Career Adaptability: An Integrative construct for Life- Span, Life-Space Theory, The Career Development Quarterly, 45, 3, pp.247- 259 Savickas, M.L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J.P., Duarte, M.E., Guichard, J., Soresi, S., Van Esbroeck R. & van Vianen, A.E.M., (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st Century. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 3, pp.239-250. Savickas, M.L. & Porfeli, E.J. (2012) Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Construction, reliability and measurement equivalence across 13 countries, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 80, pp.661 -673 Wright, T.E. (in prep.) Does it Do What It Says On The Tin? – Evaluation of an established University Employability Enhancement Award in the UK