Building from Diversity to Social Justice Competencies in International Standards for Career Development Practitioners

Abstract

Shifting demographics within nations and the growing international labour market underscore the importance of preparing career practitioners with multicultural career counselling competencies. However, career practitioners need to move beyond an appreciation of cultural diversity to incorporating perspectives on social justice into their roles and methods of intervention. The discussion examines ways of strengthening social action and advocacy roles in multicultural career counselling. Recommendations are given for expanding social justice competencies in international standards for career development practitioners.

Counselling psychology in a Canadian context: Definition and description.

“…The research program pursued by Bonnie Long, which developed empirical models of women's stress and coping in the workplace, presents one compelling example (e.g., Long, 1989Long, , 1998. Other Canadian counselling psychologists have examined topics such as hope (Larsen, Edey, & LeMay, 2007), resilience (Fry & Keyes, 2009), empowerment (Harris & Alderson, 2006), the client as expert (Henkelman & Paulson, 2006), social justice and career development (Arthur, 2005), human agency and possibility (Martin, Sugarman, & Hickinbottom, 2010;Martin, Sugarman, & Thompson, 2003), and positive acceptance of social anxiety (Chen, 1996;Ishiyama, 2003), all of which reflect the central and historical role assigned to client strengths. Therefore, what is sometimes understood as a "new" movement in Positive Psychology (cf.…”

An international discussion about cross-cultural career assessment

“…Checklists such as these could be used for individual reflection and goal setting with students in a career course or with clients. A self-evaluative checklist could also be useful in training career practitioners to build social competency skills with respect to cross-cultural assessment (Arthur, 2005). This checklist could reveal areas of strength as well as opportunities for growth.…”

“…Arthur (2005) stated that the time is now, because of shifting immigration patterns as well as the interdependent nature of national economies that are consequently creating an international workforce. If career assessments are indeed useful, and if career practitioners are going to increasingly find themselves providing services across their own national borders because of the globalization of work and the expansion of technology, perhaps now is the time for international collaboration across career development professional associations with a focus on creating a joint statement about the value of career assessments as well as identifying minimal competencies for global cross-cultural career counseling competency.…”

“…Collaboration across nations would allow for a breadth of voices to be heard on issues related to cross-cultural assessment while simultaneously adding greater depth to the conversation and, as Arthur (2005) suggested, will ''increase the possibility of learning from each other' ' (p. 144). A requisite to collaboration is a willingness on all parties to come together, have mutual trust and respect for each member of the team, delete country/discipline specific jargon from the conversation, be willing to share as well as to compromise, and to commit to the collaboration at each step along the way (Collin, 2009).…”

International Handbook of Career Guidance

“…There are also many variations in people's cultural norms and values about work, their motivation for participating in the labour market, and how they determine their degree of satisfaction or success . Further, people's career development must be viewed in light of many contextual influences that support access for some members of society to meaningful employment while continuing to pose barriers for others (Arthur, 2005a;. Career practitioners are encouraged to review some of the excellent sources that detail the historical development of the concept of career, e.g., Collin & Young, 1990).…”