This 30th-year anniversary edition of the "Australian Journal of Career Development" (AJCD) represents a milestone for the Systems Theory Framework (STF) of career development, the genesis of which was published in the 1992 first edition. Beginning as a contextual model of adolescent career decision-making, subsequent research and…

The development and sustained contribution of the Systems Theory Framework to career development theory and practice is well documented in national and international literatures. In addition to its contribution to theory integration, it has added to the growing literature on connecting career theory and practice, in particular for non-Western…

Since its inception, the Systems Theory Framework of career development has afforded ready translation into practice, especially into career counselling and qualitative career assessment. Through its clearly articulated constructs and the clarity of its diagrammatic representation, the Systems Theory Framework has facilitated the development of…

In families, decisions about parents' and children's education and career require an ongoing negotiation to reconcile the goals of all family members. This paper describes a project which investigates these decisions within families experiencing whole family relocation based on one adult's work. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with…

With the large number of high school students engaging in part-time work, very little is known about the impact of this activity on employability, employment outcomes and career development. This paper outlines the context of this phenomenon in Australia, and reviews the body of empirical work that has been published in recent years, noting the…

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…

This paper reports a study of adult clients' experience of "My Career Chapter," which is a theoretically-informed, qualitative career assessment and counselling procedure. "My Career Chapter" engenders personal exploration through a client's writing and reading aloud a career-related autobiography, which is formulated on the…

Adolescents across the five years of high school (169 females and 164 males) completed a survey that identified occupational status aspirations and expectations coded into six types-- realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional--according to the RIASEC model (Holland, 1997). As the focus of the study was to explore…

The Systems Theory Framework (STF) facilitates the inclusion of relevant aspects of multiple existing theories within an integrated framework, wherein relevance and meaning is decided upon by each individual. Patton and McMahon emphasise that the application of the Systems Theory Framework in integrating theory and practice is located within the…

Consistent with calls for a greater marketing emphasis to be included in career counselling practice, this study uses marketing concepts to explore the relationship between the expectations people in career transition have of a career counselling service and the perceptions career counselling service providers have of these expectations. The study…

This article reports on a further exploration into the reliability and validity of the shortened form of the Career Development Inventory-Australia (Creed & Patton, 2004), a career maturity measure being developed to meet the need for a shorter and more up-to-date measure to provide data on this career development construct. Data gathered from…

Changes in work have altered the role of career practitioners (counselors, educators, information providers). In Australia and New Zealand, training and professional standards for career development practice are limited. Such training should include multicultural competence, theoretical knowledge, technology skills, and labor market and…

Content analysis of responses from 3,846 Australian Year 12 students identified people as the most useful information source on post-high school options, followed by publications and personal research. Some differences were found for those non planning postsecondary education. More than half named guidance officers as useful; parents were the…

Addresses these topics: the changing context of career education, the history of career education in Australia, the rationale for career education, and the future of career development work. Identifies what is known and what remains to be learned from career education research. (Contains 39 references.) (SK)

The present study investigates the career maturity of 1090 high school students in Years 8 to 12 in Australia (n = 656) and South Africa (n = 434). Scores on the Australian version of the "Career Development Inventory" were analysed. While a developmental explanation for career maturity was supported, gender differences between countries…