After several years of political agendas focused on social inclusion, career guidance practice needs to return to its roots of promoting equality and social justice. This conceptual article argues that for many years there has been an overreliance on theories focused on the individual, and examines the relationship between social structures and…

Career development services have existed in New Zealand since the early part of the 20th century. In many aspects, the profession has developed in New Zealand parallel to the development of career guidance and counselling in other Western countries but New Zealand also represents a unique context. In acknowledgement of the distinctive…

The National Career Development Strategy Green Paper is a discussion paper issued by the Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations. It is aimed at the formulation of a coherent and structured career development strategy throughout Australia. The Green Paper seeks to lay the foundation for policy change through establishing the…

This article reflects on the history of interest assessment in Australia in the last 45 years. In it the author would like to review some aspects of the history of interest assessment in Australia from his personal perspective as a user and researcher. He suggests that the present state of interest assessment in Australia using inventories is…

Reading is theorised as a key aspect of one's educational and vocational adjustment. The reading scores on the "Wide-Range Achievement Test 3" of 465 adult vocational assessment clients were examined. Reading varied across a range of social factors and the overall results were consistent with earlier studies, especially the "Adult Literacy and…

This article explores the findings of a doctoral study that examined the measurement of individual progression in the Irish Adult Education Guidance Initiative. The critical constructivist stance of the study challenges the prevalence of the positivist paradigm to evaluate long-term outcomes in adult guidance. The research highlights the…

The increasing use of technology is placing new demands on career guidance practitioners. This article examines what changes, if any, have occurred in the perceptions of guidance practitioners regarding their role and the role of the internet in meeting guidance goals and delivering career guidance services. The data were collected in focus groups…

Increasing interest by national and international agencies affects the environment career practitioners work in. Market-driven systems, deregulation and technological innovation change how people access services. This article examines some of the implications of these aspects on how career practitioners build their occupational identity, finding…

This paper discusses the way career guidance is conceived across Europe as a policy instrument that can facilitate social inclusion. It locates current articulations of career guidance within the broader social-market aspirations of the European Union, providing an account of several reviews and analyses of the field that have been carried out at…

Social exclusion can be defined in different ways, but a prominent definition--in relation to young people in particular--is exclusion from formal learning and paid employment. This ignores the role of informal learning and the informal economies. In England, career guidance services were remodelled to deal with the issue of social exclusion by…

As editors of the recently published "Vocational psychological and organisational perspectives on career: Towards a multidisciplinary dialogue" (Collin & Patton, 2009a), the authors have considerable interest in this particular issue of the "Australian Journal of Career Development." This short piece will first present the purpose and thesis of…

Distinctive styles of client decision-making have emerged from case study research into the effectiveness of career guidance. This paper explores some findings from the third year of a longitudinal study currently underway in England, which relate to the ways clients approach transition points in their careers and make the decisions that move them…

Based on a keynote address to the 2006 Annual Conference of the Australian Association of Career Counsellors, this article reviews a number of significant international developments in public policy for career development. It also comments on some recent developments in Australia. Finally, it discusses four strategic issues that are important to…

International, European and UK policy documents have recently drawn attention to the strategic importance of career guidance for lifelong learning and the labour market. However, there are gaps in the evidence relating to its positive impacts. A five-year research study is currently underway in England, which is examining the exact nature of…

This article presents the highlights of the Third International Symposium on Career Development and Public Policy, which was held at the Manly Pacific Hotel in Sydney, Australia from April 21-24, 2006. This symposium built on those held in Ottawa and Vancouver in 1999 and 2001 respectively and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and…