This article sets out to share the experience of a Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) Further Education and Training (FET) Guidance Counsellor on collaborating with FET Literacy and Apprenticeship Services colleagues to support young male early school leavers who had achieved less than the required five passes in their Junior Certificate to…

This paper draws on the fund of regional knowledge about career guidance that comparative research has generated in the "global South". The goal of the paper is to add another voice to the challenge to the universalising language that characterises career guidance theory and practice, and to further highlight the serious attention that…

This paper presents a framework for understanding epistemic injustice in career development theory and practice. It is based on Fricker's philosophical conceptualisation of epistemic injustice and its sub-forms of hermeneutical and testimonial injustice. The intention is to generate insights that direct us to injustices embedded in knowledge…

This paper focuses on commonly used terms in career guidance in order to examine the impact they can have on the way problems are conceptualised and consequently on the solutions that are envisaged. Four such terms are considered, namely "vulnerability," "resilience," "employability," and "activation."…

In this article, we provide a balanced critique of Sen's Capability Approach (CA) with reference to its potential to inform career guidance theory and practice. There are varying understandings and interpretations of the CA. Some see capabilities as universal, whilst others favour a more relativist view. The CA is also vulnerable to…

The purpose of career guidance includes the support of citizens' agency. In this article, we develop a framework for analysing the internal structure of agency within career guidance theory. This framework is inspired by relational sociology. The approach is used in an analysis of two contemporary career guidance theories: the systems theory…

The notion that scholars and practitioners of career development ought to direct their attention towards agency is axiomatic. However, there is little explicit discussion in the literature of how we might conceptualise agency to orient our work towards issues of social justice. Career work draws on a range of disciplinary theoretical perspectives…

In recent decades support for the design of active lives has generally been conceived as an aid intended for qualified workers to manage their careers on the labor market. This conception is, for example, the basis of the official definition of this support published by the Council of the European Union in 2008. However, alternative definitions…

Accessing high-quality career development to support successful transitions into post-compulsory education and employment can be a challenge for newly arrived students of refugee and migrant backgrounds. In Australia, not-for-profit organisations provide career guidance to students within schools that enrol refugee and migrant families. Through…

How could interventions for life- and career-construction contribute to a development that would be ecologically sustainable, socially just and based on decent work activities? Most career interventions today generally only aim to include individuals into the current systems of work and economic exchange without questioning the role that these…

Professions are recognised occupations that require specialised knowledge, training, and skills. Entry into professions is gained through high level qualifications, such as university degrees. The theoretical knowledge base and profession-specific qualifications distinguish professions from other occupations and create a unique identity for them…

This article explores the dynamics of student engagement in small institutions, emphasizing their unique community-centered approach. Particularly in the post-pandemic era, where personalized support systems have become crucial, small institutions are reevaluating their strategies to enhance student empowerment and connection. Key aspects examined…

"How Clear Is Their Path? Guided Career Pathways and Community College Students" explores how prepared community college students are to meet their career goals. Over 90 percent of students responding to the 2023 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) indicated they had chosen a career path. But many of those respondents…

Work and its meanings have often been and still are objects of scholarly research. In the context of global crises, increasing attention has been paid to decent work and, consequently, to decent life. However, decent work has not been adequately addressed in Polish scholarship on vocational guidance and career counselling yet. To redress this gap…

This article analyses the governance of VET for adults and its development from a historical-institutionalist perspective. It takes a look at the collective skill formation system of Switzerland, in which the federal government and private companies (or the associations representing them) play integral roles. The article argues that the…