1. Contemporary career theories
Tristram Hooley

3. Telling the story of theory
Different universities/ departments/ traditions/ social groups
S.A. Leung’s (US-centric) version
Theory of work-adjustment
Holland’s theory of vocational personalities
Self-concept theory of career development
Gottredson’s theory of circumscription and compromise
Social cognitive career theory
Disciplinary
Psychology
Sociology
Education
Career guidance as a discipline
Economic
Different journals

4. My version
What this highlights is that career theory is both a story that we tell and bound up with politics, power and the interest of groups.
I’m going to highlight two theories/groups of theories which highlight the role of stories and politics.
I also think that these are two of the most prominent theories in a European context at the moment.

5. The importance of narrative and stories

6. Life design
People use stories to organize their lives, construct their identities, and make sense of their problems. Clients enter counseling with a story to tell about some transition. The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. By holding those stories in the relationship, counselors enable clients to reflect on their lives. Dwelling in their own stories often destabilizes old ideas that block decision making and usually enables an awareness that prompts a choice. As clients give voice to their stories, they hear what they already know and find the answers which they seek. Mark Savickas

7. Who are its advocates Mark Savickas Laura Nota
And many of their colleagues
But also lots of other people working with very similar concepts around the use of narrative in career decision making building and counselling. E.g. Hazel Reid, Norm Amundson and Mary McMahon.

8. Mark Savickas

9. What do you do? Help people to find and control their narrative.
Are they telling you
the same old story – how can you help them to a new story
untold story – how can you help them to tell the missing part of their story
unstoryed emotions – what is making them feel they way they feel
transitional story – how can you help them to turn the transition into the story that they want
empty story – how can you help them to connect to their story
competing plots – how can you help them to focus on the story they want to tell

10. Savickas style interview
How can I be useful to you in constructing your career?
Whom did you admire when your were growing up? List three role models.
What magazines do you read regularly? What do you like about them? What TV shows do you like? And why?
Tell me about your favourite book or movie.
What do you do with your free time?
Do you have a favourite saying or motto?
What were your favourite and least favourite subjects in school and why?

11. Law’s 3 scene story boarding

12. Exercise: Draw a 3 scene storyboard of a career decision that you have made
The big scene – when things changed
The following scene – how things are different
The opening scene – the way things were
What have you learnt by viewing your decision as a narrative?
What can you transfer to your next decision?
How can you control your story and make a turning point?

13. Criticisms/concerns?

14. Politics and power

15. Career guidance is political
Careers education and guidance is a profoundly political process. It operates at the interface between the individual and society, between self and opportunity, between aspiration and realism. It facilitates the allocation of life chances. Within a society in which such life chances are unequally distributed, it faces the issue of whether it serves to reinforce such inequalities or to reduce them.
Tony Watts

16. A journey or a race

17. Socio-political ideologies of guidance
Radical (social change)
Progressive (individual change)
Conservative (social control)
Liberal (non-directive)

18. IAEVG statement on social justice
“IAEVG, as the largest worldwide guidance association, appeals to providers, practitioners, academics and policy makers, to increase their efforts by embracing social justice as a core value that guides their practices.” IAEVG (2013)

19. Key ideas Careers emerge out of context
The fate of individuals is linked to their community
Power organises life chances
Solutions need to move people forwards both individually and collectively
People should learn more about how the world works (even if it is unfair) and their position within it

20. Who are its advocates? Ronald Sultana Rie Thomsen David Blustein
and me and many of the other staff at INN…

21. 5 questions career guidance should ask
Who am I?
How does the world work?
Where do I fit into the world?
How can I live with others?
How do I go about changing the world?

22. Challenging the faces of oppression
Challenge
Exploitation. Unfair compensation and coercion.
Notice, highlight and challenge issues of inequality, low pay and precarity in the labour market.
Empower individuals and groups to challenge this.
Marginalisation. Loss of work, power and respect.
Understand who is marginalised and locked out of the labour market and work to help them to reingage.
Powerlessness. Always being on the receiving end of orders.
Help people to understand what power is and how it operates.
Encourage people to seek autonomy and self-efficacy.
Cultural imperialism. Imposing ‘norms’ on people.
Respect difference and reaffirm pluralism.
Violence. Random, unprovoked attacks.
Challenge individual and institutional violence (advocacy) and encourage others to challenge it (empowerment).

23. What do you do Reframe Socialise Act
Reframe the concept of career more broadly
Recognise power dynamics and be willing to discuss them.
Socialise
Encourage people to talk about their context and the people who matter to them.
Think of social capital as a career resource.
Build community capacity.
Open up the possibility for collective solutions as well as individual solutions.
Act
Empower individually and collectively
Advocate for those who can’t speak for themselves
Provide feedback at a system level (notice common problems)

24. Exercise: Have you ever felt that a client/student has…
talked about working in a job (or considering working in a job) that doesn’t pay them fairly?
been being marginalised in their life and work? E.g. feeling that they aren’t respected.
been fed up with being told what to do by their boss or colleagues?
been forced to conform to ‘norms’ by others? e.g. being told how to dress, act or behave in a way that makes them uncomfortable.
experienced aggression that makes them uncomfortable or actual physical violence?
How did you talk to them?
What other options might you explore?

25. Criticisms/concerns?

26. In conclusion Different theories open up different possibilities.
It is possible to combine and blend these – but it is important to think about what you are trying to achieve as well as what tools they offer.

27. References
Amundson, N. E., Mills, L. M., & Smith, B. A. (2014). Incorporating chaos and paradox into career development. Australian Journal of Career Development, 23(1), Blustein, D. (2013). The Psychology of Working. London: Routledge. Hooley, T. (2015). Emancipate Yourselves from Mental Slavery: Self-Actualisation, Social Justice and the Politics of Career Guidance. Derby: International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby. Hooley, T. and Barham, L. (Eds.). (2015). Career Development Policy and Practice: The Tony Watts Reader. Stafford: Highflyers. Hooley, T. and Sultana, R. (2016). Career guidance for social justice. Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling, 36, Law, B. (2012). The uses of narrative: Three scene storyboarding – learning for living, . Leung, S.A. (2008). The big five career theories. In Athanasou, J.A. and Van Esbroeck, R. International Handbook of Career Development. Springer. McIlveen, P. (2014). Hope-narratives as a chaos theory of career intervention for failure. Australian Journal of Career Development, 23(1), Pryor, R. and Bright, J. (2011). The Chaos Theory of Careers. London: Routledge. Reid, H., & West, L. (2014). Telling Tales: Do Narrative Approaches for Career Counseling Count?. In Handbook of career development (pp ). Springer New York. Savickas, M.L. (2015). Life Design Counseling Manual. Available at [Accessed 11th January 2017] Thrift, E., and Amundson, N. (2005). Hermeneutic-narrative approach to career counselling: An alternative to postmodernism. Perspectives in Education, 23(2), Thomsen, R. (2012). Career Guidance in Communities. Aarhus, Denmar: Aarhus University Press. Thomsen, R. (2017). Career Guidance in Communities: A Model for Reflexive Practice. Derby: International Centre for Guidance Studies, University of Derby. Watson, M. B., and McMahon, M. L. (2005). Postmodern (narrative) career counselling and education. Perspectives in Education, 23(2), vii-ix.

28. My contacts Email thooley@careersandenterprise.co.uk
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