

The role of career guidance in ESL
Thursday 23 July 2015, by
Career guidance (with appropriate methods, contents, early provision, the actors involved) can overcome two important (individual) ESL risk factors – the lack of relevance of schooling and the lack of educational/career aspirations. The systematic development of career management skills helps potential ESLrs perceive their schooling as a meaningful part of their lifelong personal, social and career development.
Research findings show that ESLers often cite the lack of their schooling’s work and life relevance as a factor in their ESL (e.g. Hooley et al., 2011) and that young people with uncertain occupational aspirations or ones misaligned with their educational expectations are considerably more likely to become ESLers (Yates et al., 2011). There is a growing international consensus (Eurydice, 2014; Kraatz, 2014; OECD, 2003; Oomen & Plant, 2014) that these two important (individual) risk factors for ESL can be successfully overcome by providing appropriately organised and implemented career guidance in schools.
The article presents career guidance as a promising measure for dealing with ESL (Eurydice, 2014; Kraatz, 2014; OECD, 2003; Oomen & Plant, 2014). It shows how successfully developed career management skills (CMS) (defined as “a range of competences which provide structured ways for individuals (and groups) to gather, analyse, synthesise and organise self, educational and occupational information, as well as the skills to make and implement decisions and transitions” (ELGPN, 2010)) that result from career guidance help students at risk of ESL understand and internalise the connections between school and work and become more actively engaged in their academic tasks (Hamilton & Hamilton, 1994; Solberg et al., 2002). The article also provides a review of theoretically and empirically considered successful career guidance approaches, which may create a stimulating learning environment for the development of CMS by: a) using appropriate (e.g. individual/group, curricular/extracurricular) methods; b) providing necessary contents (advice and support, skills development, information provision); c) its early introduction and provision through the entire educational path; and d) the cooperation and coordination of various stakeholders in its delivery. The article concludes by stating that appropriately organised and implemented career guidance (provided as either a separate or integrated educational activity) holds great potential in helping students at risk of ESL look beyond their immediate limitations and perceive their schooling as a meaningful part of their lifelong personal, social and career development.
[1] Transitions, as the most important life changes, are recognised as the most risky factor for ESL (e.g. Downes, 2014). A meta-analysis by Baker and Taylor (1998) concluded it was possible to demonstrate that career development interventions help students successfully manage their transition phases and play an important role in the young person’s further personal, social and career development.
[2] Self-guidance includes approaches designed to assist individuals in developing skills for managing their own careers.
[3] For an insight into the relationship between psychological problems and career choice problems among adolescents, see Kunnen (2014).
[4] In the literature, the relationship between career guidance, orientation and education has been obfuscated by semantic confusions (for a review, see Watts (2013). In this paper, we follow his definitions and distinctions which explain that career guidance (as defined in the previous chapter) includes three main elements: career information, career counselling and career education, whereas career education is understood as part of the educational curriculum, in which attention is paid to helping groups of individuals develop the competencies they need to manage their career development.
[5] Despite these different research results, Yates (2008) warns that due to the complex and heterogeneous group of ESLers the relationship between holding uncertain aspirations and drifting into ESLer status is not simple.
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