The Challenge of Career Studies

Audrey Collin Professor Emeritus of Career Studies

Outline of presentation my personal perspective the richness, rigour, and relevance of CS the relationship between academic and personal career learning the Lancaster model of the learning cycle application of learning to home discipline some ways forward

Celebrating Career Studies richness rigour relevance

Richness, rigour, and relevance theory, research, practice, policy degrees of sophistication and detail range of interest recognition of and responses to change emerging issues

Relationship between academic study and personal career learning the Lancaster model of the learning cycle

Discovery Reception of input Reflection INNER WORLD OUTER WORLD Feedback Discovery Conceptualising Learner’s schema, meanings, skills, etc. Activity Reception of input Reflection Hypothesising Based on Binsted, 1980

Application of learning to home discipline context perspective underlying assumptions meaning language, ideology and rhetoric

Some ways forward awareness of whole field – it can be seen as a system – interdependence – synergy – whole greater than the sum of its parts need for multidisciplinarity and dialogue between perspectives (see www.careerstudies.net) need to develop our critical thinking further (use Lancaster model?), and so increase rigour at all levels, develop relevant new theories, methodologies, and practices need to develop effective relationships between theorists, researchers, practitioners, policy-makers (eg encourage practitioners to engage in small-scale research)