The evaluation of careers guidance for young people prior to their entry to the world of work has progressed through two phases. Each phase is associated with changes in guidance practice and changes in the nature of the underlying theories ofoccupational choice and career development. When the aim of guidance was to make recommendations to young people, evaluators used career outcomes as criteria by which to assess effectiveness. In the evaluation of developmental guidance interventions, however, learning outcomes are more appropriate. Most reviewers judge the effectiveness of these interventions to be only modest, but we suggest that when the realism of goals for the intervention, the appropriateness of criterion measures and cliencltreatment interactions are taken into account, the magnitude of effects may be greater than this. It is argued that evaluation needs to enter a third phase, in line with changes in labour market institutions, career patterns and consequent changes in the aims of guidance and a shift towards more dynamic, interactionist explanations of career development. The range of learning outcomes should, therefore, be elaborated to include the 'process' skills necessary for effective career management.Recent developments in education and training mean that careers and educational guidance is increasingly necessary. As education and training systems are made more responsive to the needs of individuals and employers, so guidance becomes more important in their aims and ultimate success. In Britain, guidance plays a major role in the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI), the Confederation of British Industry's 'careership' proposals, the Department of Employment's Training Credits scheme, and the Credit Accumulation and Transfer system in Higher Education. A persistent trend away from job creation to training in thinking about unemployment counter-measures leads to a similar implication.As Watts (1990) has pointed out, guidance serves a range of different constituencies. It must respond to the needs of education and training providers, employers, and, indeed, governments, in making optimum use of the nation's human resources, while remaining faithful to its primary client, the individual. Pressure for evaluation of the effectiveness of

In this lecture, I will draw upon my research career to present my latest ideas about career decision-making and career progression. Career decision-making was one of my first research interests, as part of a longitudinal study of the short-lived Training Credits scheme for young people, in the early 1990s. Based upon that work, I, Andrew Sparkes and Heather Hodkinson developed a new theory of career decisionmaking, which we termed ‘Careership’. Since then, further research conducted by myself and other researchers has thrown further light on Careership. In this lecture, I will explain how such new evidence confirmed major parts of the Careership theory, whilst showing the need for some significant modifications to other parts of it. I will conclude by briefly identifying some issues for research, policy and practice that arise from what this research and theorising show.

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We know v e y little about how careers officers conduct careers guidance interviews. Research was carried out to discover how careers officers view interviewing, the factors that lead them to v a y their interview style, and how they modib their approach with experience. There was little evidence that officers va y their style by using radically opposed models in different circumstances. Instead, variations in approach are best regarded as different combinations of ideas and techniques. Careers officers adapted their interview styles largely in response to the perceived needs of clients. Initial training course attended appeared to have a limited but enduring effect on interview style, but there was also evidence that with experience careers officers develop more confidence, coherence and flexibility, Careers officers judged their interviews to be most effective when they were able to establish a rapport with the client, to spend time drawing up a contract, to challenge clients in a sensitive way, and to structure the interview appropriately.

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