evolution and perspective in career counselling

7/30/2019 Evolution and Perspective in Career Counselling

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Evolution andPerspective in Career

CounsellingStefan Dajiu, psychologist,

County Employment Agency Galati,

Associated Lecturer, Universitatea Dunareade Jos Galati, Teachers Training

Departament


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The need of counseling

Nowadays, choosing a direction in life in a waythat ensures individuals welfare and meets theexpectations and exigencies of individualssocial and professional integration, his manifolddevelopment and valorisation, has long stoppedbeing a personal problem, or a family or schoolrelated one, thus acquiring wider dimensions byinvolving a multitude of social partners that must

assume such responsibilities, even though sometime ago they apparently did not have anyconnection with career related problems.


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It is obvious that the modern society and its accelerateddevelopment complicated a great deal the adoption of an

optimal decision in choosing or changing a career,according to ones interest, motivation, personal skills, aswell as with the real demand on the work market.

Finding a job, but also getting and keeping a job, turns to

be increasingly difficult in the actual conditions ineconomy, many times surpassing the individualspossibilities, as the one in need of constant informationand support in taking the right decisions.

Actually, this form of support is not entirely new. Careercounselling developed for a great deal of time acommon, and necessary, practice in many countries ofthe world.


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A short hystory time line

In the 1900s, Alfred Binet initiated the first activities of psychologicalevaluation and selection, thus designing, in collaboration with thepsychiatrist Theodore Simon (1905), the first mental test for trackingdown children with school difficulties.

In Romania, the beginning of professional orientation activity arerelated to the establishment, of the first Psycho-TechnicalLaboratories within the University of Cluj (1922 - The Institute of

Applied and Compared Psychology under the coordination of Fl.Stefanescu-Goanga) and Bucharest (1930 - The Society forPractical and Experimental Psychology under the coordination of C.Radulescu-Motru).

These laboratories were turned in 1936 into psycho-technicalinstitutes in Bucharest, Jassy and Cluj academic centres (Z.Bogathy, 2000).


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As a result of there activities, there emerged thefirst psychological laboratories outside theacademia, at the Tramway Society on Bucharest(1922), at the Romanian Railways (1936), and inthe industry sector as well.

Up until 1944, the activity of the Psycho-

Technical Institutes and of the ProfessionalOrientation Offices, within the structure or theMinistry of Work, fully promoted the activity ofprofessional orientation and selection.


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After 1944 these issues started to register adrawback for a long period of time as a result of

the closure of psycho-technical institutes andterritorial offices.

Gradually, the laboratories of psychology in

industry emerged and developed, and theirspecialists (psychologists, sociologists) initiatedand developed activities related to professionalselection and orientation.

In the same time they contributed theoreticalstudies to the development of the workpsychology and organizational psychology.


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Starting with 1960, this activity registers a new progressoccasioned by the emergence of the Laboratories for

Scholar and Professional Orientation within the TeachingStaff Houses, in the structure of School Inspectoratesand of the Institute for the Science of Education.

In spite of this activity results, a regression was

registered, followed in 1990 by a new start on newcoordinates.

The establishment of the Centres for Psycho-

Pedagogical Assistance (CAPP) led to the developmentof the activity of psycho-pedagogical assistance andprofessional counselling of which the students benefitedand may benefit as well to this day (cnrop.ise. 2002).


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In parallel and in close connection with the actions takenin the education system, and as a result of the evaluationof the present situation in Romania by the World Bank

experts (1992-1993), there is a necessity forimplementing a coherent system of professionalcounselling and information at an European level, whichshould address in the same time students, youth andadults.

With a view to achieve this goal, the Ministry of Workand Social Solidarity, the Ministry of Education andResearch and the Ministry of Youth and Sports

collaborated in the framework of the RO 3849 project"Work force employment and social protection",subproject "Career Information and Counselling",financed by the World Bank.


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The initial duration of 5 years kicked off at themiddle of 1995, with initial assistance fromCanadian experts and subsequently Danishexperts, and has been granted an extension upuntil 2001, being finalized in March 2003.

The emergence of the legal frame for

establishment and functioning of the centres forCareer Information and Counselling within theMinistry of Work and Social Solidarity, theMinistry of Education and Research, and also of

the Ministry of Youth and Sports (1998) madepossible the development of a network on theterritory of this country.


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Outfitting with specific equipments and materials was done as aresult of the project funding (occupational profiles, PC-s, TV andvideo sets, videocassettes on career, specific banners on

professional orientation and newspapers on career A future foreach, all distributed for free in the established national centres).

With a view to determine the professional interests, these centreshave readily available the INTEROPTION questionnaire ofprofessional interests and, since 2003, they have been provided withthe Set of Psychological Tests and Cognitive Aptitudes (BTPAC).

Simultaneously, in the period 1999-2002, there had been organizedtraining sessions and master studies in "Public policies and publicadministration with a 2 year duration, courses organized by theUniversity of Bucharest, Faculty of Philosophy. These studiesinclude a 480 hour module, with theoretical and mainly applicativecontent in Career Counselling.

The majority of the 884 specialists that participated in the coursework in these centres.


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The theorical model

The model of career counseling used nowadays in these centres isalso based on the principles and practices specific to constructivistcounselling.

In many rational theories, knowledge is taken as a representation ofan objective and true realities that exist independently of the

individuals will, and the expectations, skills, behavioural patternsmay or may not be in accordance with this. Many a times emotionalconceptions and predispositions of the individual are ignored.

The concern is directed only towards identifying atypical behaviour,wrong one, in order to be set right and adapted, putting it in linewith the socially desirable behaviour.

This is how these counseling patterns are shown as being externalto the individual, having a persuasive and modeling tendency, tryingto determine behaviours and ideas in accordance with social norms,and thus meeting mostly social needs than ones of the concernedindividual.


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Unlike this, in post-rational, constructivistcounselling, the greatest focus lies on lifeexperience, on personal significations, as wellas on personal emotional experiences involvingall behavioural acts, as these are considered tobe knowledge paths. It is also considered that

the only reality is the individual interpretation ofwhat is perceived.

The construction of the self made reality bycommunication and action, as well as reflection,

are center-stage elements not only for thecounselled by also for the counsellor.


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The counselling action per seis considered as a process throughwhich the counselled is granted support in taking significantdecisions in order to create new aspects of personal reality, toorganize perceptions and abilities of its understanding, with a viewto form a solid base of action (Viinberg, 1998).

Thus, in constructivist conception, human experience is consideredas merely accumulation, a permanent interiorisation of personalexperiences stemming from various life situations.

These experiences are organised in the conscious mind as fieldsand configurations of significations that are not interiorized andassimilated into the frame of structures, within the value-skillssystem of personality.

All these constitute afterwards the standards according to whichwe are related to when taking a decision implying a certain way ofacting or behaviour, or when we try to interpret facts and things fromour personal world (Neptun Seminar, 1999).


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On this basis, the idea is put forward that there is no single truth oruniversal treatment, right or concrete, for living ones life, but thereare multiple realities that overtone and sets off the uniqueness andquite less predictable behaviour of the individual, allowing for

choosing from possible options and alternatives out of one oranother of such realities(Vance, 1999).

Proper counselling starts from the premise that any individual is amoral and active agent, a storyteller and a voice collection(Vance, 1999). The role of the counsellor is to teach the listening of

various voices, to hear them in the context of stories or chunks ofstories when narrated to him. Often, when we narrate,we build animageofourselves, whichmany a times is a desirable image we aredriven to. By this process of building up and projecting images onour self we create conditions full of significance in order to acttowards the desired image (Voineasa Seminar, 2001).

The non-directive character of this form of counseling must beobserved as well.


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The relationship counselor-counselled is arelation of partnership and support.

The counsellor may be viewed as a catalyzingagent, having just the role to help the individualto further organize his knowledge planning inorder to identify the strong points, to establish

objectives and alternate solutions for theseobjectives, and to subsequently plan ways andmodalities for corresponding actions, as well asthe necessary steps to achieve them.

The decision regarding the choice of own careeris entirely up to him, without being in any wayinfluenced by the counsellor.


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The methods and techniques employed are specific andbased on direct conversation, by using metaphor and

graphical techniques, by talking about personalexperience, creating action plans for life course andpersonal projects, etc., being relatively different from thetraditional psychological methods that may be employedas well by specialists other than psychologists.

Counselling, owing to its flexible character implied bydecision-making related to career may be adaptedaccording to activity fields, to training and the age of thecounselled, as well as other conditions, so as to addressstudents, young and adults.


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However, we consider that there is a

series of specific differences referring to itsfinalizing possibilities when counselling

students and adults.

These differences are determined by a

series of specific factors, linked to

individuals age and social status, as wellas the options on his future career.


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Differences


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The legal frame in force favours the development of such activities,but the actual possibility of meeting these needs is relatively limitedas compared with the real, existing demands, a fact that asks for

granting an increased attention to professional counselling.

A solution is extending collaboration between different partners fromsocial community, such an example being the case of the Dunareade Jos University of Galati who established the Inter-institutionalCentre for Career CounsellingCICOP, in partnership with the

County Employment Agency, the Local Council, and the Universityof Le Havre - France.

On the same time, as partners with the same University and severalEU countries, regarding the Leonardo da Vinci projet PT/B/PP-Career Counseling in Lifelong Learning using New ICT Approach

and Tools, we are now developing this project and intend toelaborate new common tools for the counseling of graduated youngpeople interested in career such as: Multimedia Engineer, WeldingEngineer and Air Conditioning Engineer

evolution and perspective in career counselling

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