WHY PSYCHOMETRICS DON’T ALWAYS ‘WORK’ IN CAREER GUIDANCE... AND HOW TO MAKE THEM ‘WORK’ BETTER! ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Friday 8 November Chintha Dissanayake, PhD Chartered Occupational Psychologist Chintha is an HCPC registered British Psychological Society (UK) chartered psychologist specialising in talent assessment & development nationally and internationally. And the Career-Launchpad is a bespoke career coaching programme developed specifically for young people.

PROGRAMME 11:30 – 12:30 ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Friday 8 November Introduction Student Survey results Why Psychometrics do not always work in Career Guidance An alternate approach Case study Discussion

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! INTRODUCTION Department for Education (DfE) … definition of ‘Career Guidance’ ‘Individual students are signposted to different career guidance activities at the relevant stage of their development and decision-making’. A loose definition with the premise is that: a) not all students need the same level of guidance b) Schools will best understand individual student needs Source: ‘Going in the right direction?’ Careers guidance in schools from September Published Ofsted Report, September Reference no: Ofsted Findings – report September 2013 Individualised careers guidance to students (n=12) Teachers & other specialists discussing careers in assemblies etc. General direction of students towards websites and Prospectuses (n=48) OXFORD-PSYCHOMETRICS survey of student forum Nov

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! INTRODUCTION Oxford Psychometrics Survey – November 2013 (n=62 mean age range 16-21) So, what works and what does not work? Source: ‘Going in the right direction?’ Careers guidance in schools from September Published Ofsted Report, September Reference no:

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! INTRODUCTION Inventory type tools Source: ‘Going in the right direction?’ Careers guidance in schools from September Published Ofsted Report, September Reference no: “If you already know what you want to do, the computer profiler will confirm this for you. But if you are unsure, then it can only confuse you further” (Steve, aged 16) Nearly all focus groups found the workbooks with collections of careers related quizzes or word searches unhelpful

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! W HY P SYCHOMETRICS DO NOT ALWAYS WORK IN C AREER G UIDANCE Psychometrics ‘ the science of measuring mental capacities and processes ’. Source: Oxford Dictionary Career interest inventories & Values questionnaires Personality Indicators Capability tests Roy Child investigates Psychometric Tests and how to choose & Access the Right Ones. Career Matters, October 2013, Issue 12.Page 30

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! W HY P SYCHOMETRICS DO NOT ALWAYS WORK IN C AREER G UIDANCE Psychometrics Reberts & Mroczek (2008) Personality Trait change in Adulthood. Curr Dir Psychol. Sci February 1; 17 (1): 31-35

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! … AND HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK BETTER ! Department for Education (DfE) … definition of ‘Career Guidance’ ‘Individual students are signposted to different career guidance activities at the relevant stage of their development and decision-making’. Source: ‘Going in the right direction?’ Careers guidance in schools from September Published Ofsted Report, September Reference no:

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! … AND HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK BETTER ! A Two Dimensional Model of Readiness for Career Decision – Making ‘Individual students are signposted to different career guidance activities at the relevant stage of their development and decision-making’. Source: ‘Going in the right direction?’ Careers guidance in schools from September Published Ofsted Report, September Reference no: Capability Complexity Sampson et al (2000) Using readiness assessment to improve career services: A cognitive information processing approach. The Career Development Quarterly, 49, 146 – 174.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! … AND HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK BETTER ! A Two Dimensional Model of Readiness for Career Decision – Making ‘Individual students are signposted to different career guidance activities at the relevant stage of their development and decision-making’. Source: ‘Going in the right direction?’ Careers guidance in schools from September Published Ofsted Report, September Reference no: Capability Complexity Sampson et al (2000) Using readiness assessment to improve career services: A cognitive information processing approach. The Career Development Quarterly, 49, 146 – 174.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! … AND HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK BETTER ! A Two Dimensional Model of Readiness for Career Decision – Making ‘Individual students are signposted to different career guidance activities at the relevant stage of their development and decision-making’. Source: ‘Going in the right direction?’ Careers guidance in schools from September Published Ofsted Report, September Reference no: Capability Complexity Sampson et al (2000) Using readiness assessment to improve career services: A cognitive information processing approach. The Career Development Quarterly, 49, 146 – 174.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 8 November 2013 Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon Why Psychometrics don’t always ‘work’ in Career Guidance... and how to make them ‘work’ better! T HANK Y OU ! ‘Individual students are signposted to different career guidance activities at the relevant stage of their development and decision-making’. Source: ‘Going in the right direction?’ Careers guidance in schools from September Published Ofsted Report, September Reference no: