A storied approach to career counselling: Incorporating career assessment Mary McMahon The University of Queensland Australia Mark Watson Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University South Africa XXIX International Congress of Psychology, Jyvaskyla, Finland, 3 – 5 May, 2009

Storytelling and career assessment Our Research Goals  Facilitating a story telling approach  Combining quantitative and qualitative career assessment within a story telling approach to career counselling  Using a “qualitative approach” with quantitative career assessment

Storytelling and career assessment An Example of Our Research  Combining quantitative and qualitative career assessment within a story telling approach to career counselling  Qualitative assessment: My System of Career Influences (MSCI)  Quantitative assessment: SDS, Values Scale, Life Role Inventory, CDMSE

Storytelling and career assessment Career counselling challenges  Constructivist approaches are a work in progress  Operationalising a philosophy  Few (if any) models  Evidence base  How do career counsellors learn to integrate constructivist approaches into practice?  How do we teach constructivist approaches?

Storytelling and career assessment Career assessment challenges  Located within broader context of challenge to career development  Relationship between theory and assessment  Tendency to simplify career assessment challenges to a quantitative vs qualitative assessment debate But  This is not a new issue  It is an issue located within the history of career assessment and career counselling  The challenge really is about process and career assessment’s relationship with career counselling

Storytelling and career assessment Super (1957)  “So many factors affect vocational development, these factors are so interdependent and interactive, and our means of assessment are still so limited in nature, that to confine appraisal to the use of a few tests, or to an interview, or to a brief combination of these two, is to risk getting an incomplete and unbalanced picture of the person and of his prospects” (p. 305)

Storytelling and career assessment Super (1957)  “there is still a widespread tendency to think of vocational counseling as the giving and interpretation of tests with some reference to personal and occupational data” (p. 305)

Storytelling and career assessment A Way forward – And/Both  Quantitative and qualitative assessments can provide a complementary process, where the strengths and limitations of each approach are counterbalanced by the strengths and limitations of the other. (Whiston & Rahardja, 2005) Thus:  Qualitative assessment can expand quantitative assessment by emphasizing the subjective aspect of worklife … counselors can translate quantitative information into qualitative understanding that supplements the client’s self- knowledge and understanding of contextual influences. (Savickas, 2000)

Storytelling and career assessment Desirable practice in career assessment: Some Clues from History  Holistic assessment  Assessment and counselling are combined in a process  Active involvement of client in the process

Storytelling and career assessment A continuum of practice Traditional More recent approach (Logical-positivist (Constructivist worldview) Implications for: the role of the client the role of the counsellor the nature of the counselling relationship the place of career assessment

Storytelling and career assessment Client role Passive recipientActive agent, story teller Counsellor role Expert, actuary, directiveInterested, tentative and curious inquirer, respectful listener, tentative observer participant, supporter, co- author, biographer, facilitator Counselling relationship Counsellor dominated, expert driven, test and tell, problem solving, objective, directive Mattering climate, collaborative, subjective,

Storytelling and career assessment A linear process Starting pointOutcomes Career assessmentOccupational titles Scores Action plan

The place of assessment: More recent approach Starting point Outcomes Entering the lifeStory continues space of the client Learning Career action Story and meaning Career assessment processes Storytelling and career assessment

The place of career assessment Client’s life space Counsellor Shared story and meaning Career assessment Storytelling and career assessment

A story telling approach  Connectedness  Reflection  Meaning Making  Learning  Agency

Storytelling and career assessment Facilitating a story telling approach  Valuing and encouraging client agency  The importance of language  Emphasis on process not content  Emphasis on meaning not content  Emphasis on listening and facilitating  The creation of a reflective space

Storytelling and career assessment Storying quantitative career assessment Story crafting questions (examples) Connectedness (multilevelled) In what other facets of your life does this apply? How has that manifested in your previous experiences? ReflectionHow do you interpret that? What are your reactions to that? Meaning MakingIf you were to explain that, what would you say? What sense do you make of that? LearningWhat have you realised that you were not previously aware of? AgencyHow do you interpret that? How did you respond to that situation?

Storytelling and career assessment Anticipated outcomes  Practical suggestions for combining qualitative and quantitative career assessment  Practical suggestions for using qualitative approaches with quantitative career assessment  Practical suggestions for career counsellors wishing to use story telling approaches  Practical suggestions for counsellor educators

Storytelling and career assessment Thank you Enkosi Baie Dankie

Storytelling and career assessment Client and Counsellor roles TraditionalMore recent The client role PassiveActive agent; story responderteller The counsellor role ExpertInterested, curious, and tentative inquirer; respectful listener; tentative observer participant; supporter; co- author; biographer

Storytelling and career assessment The counselling relationship Traditional More recent Counsellor dominated Collaborative Counsellor knows best Interactive Test and tellMattering climate Problem solvingSubjective

Storytelling and career assessment Presentation Overview  Our research  Context and history  Either/or? And/both?  A way forward

Storytelling and career assessment