A Critical Reflection on Career Development

Abstract

The science and professional practices of vocational psychology and career development are brought into question via a critical polemic informed by the work of Foucault, with a particular focus on the application of theory and techniques of objective assessment and psychometrics. It is asserted that the scientific and professional discourse and constructs of traditional approaches to career development have been reified. The context of this discourse is discussed with respect to the risk that career development scientists and practitioners have become unwitting or complicit instruments of a broader economic and political discourse.

A Philosophical Consideration of Qualitative Career Assessment

“…He is content to eat and sleep and dress and work as a part of a machine with machine-like regularity. Such monotony he can understand and appreciate (Mateer, 1917 one to reflect on the current discourse of career assessment and counselling (cf., McIlveen & Patton, 2006). The lines are indicative of a discourse of power whereby the client/the subject of the assessment is in the gaze of the practitioner.…”

“…This assertion should be read as a warning against presentist bias-that of adjudging past standards by current standards (cf., Thorne & Henley, 2005). Just as the misuse of psychometrics has been criticised (e.g., McIlveen & Patton, 2006), social constructionism's epistemological and rhetorical discourse for qualitative career assessment makes it just as much a tool of power; for it is within the dialogue of counselling that the practitioner has the power to manipulate what is deemed meaningful. This power is writ large in the notion of co-construction whereby the client and practitioner together develop a narrative for the client.…”

“…Career assessment as a process per se and the technology it deploys (e.g., psychometric tests, qualitative interview schedules) are a discursive practice that is administered by professionals who have their own sub-cultural discourse that is constitutive of a form of knowledge and power (McIlveen & Patton, 2006). For example, two career practitioners talking about a client's interests as being realistic and investigative, as in Holland (1997) typology, or as a client's career theme, as in Savickas (2011) model of narrative career counselling, may very well understand one another; however, the meaning of these words do not necessarily nor immediately convey the same for the client.…”

Developing a Career Development Program for Medical Sciences Students: Reflecting “in” and “on” Practice

“…McIlveen and Patton (2006) pointed out that although various career development theories and practices exist there remains consensus that career development occurs over the individual's life span. The career development process may include vocation assessments, participation in career development programs and sometimes psychometric testing.…”

(Re)constructing career education as a socially just practice: An antipodean reflection

“…There is also a tendency for it to be informed by pragmatic policy decisions (Ruff, 2001), with programmes reflecting the government priorities of the day. In recent times, concerns have been voiced about the risk of career practitioners becoming unwitting, or complicit, agents of the neoliberal state by placing economic agendas above all else (Colley, 2000;Harris, 1999;McIlveen & Patton, 2006).…”