In pursuit of professionalism
Several new measures being considered by the Career Practitioners Association of New Zealand (CPANZ) would significantly advance the professionalism of the career practice industry in New Zealand, says career academic, Dr Dale Furbish.
The new measures being considered include a requirement for CPANZ professional level members to hold a specific career-related qualification and the development of a competency framework for career practice.
"These proposed steps would represent a significant step for the career practice industry in New Zealand," says Dr Dale Furbish, programme leader of the Graduate Diploma course at Auckland University of Technology.
"When CPANZ was first set up as the professional association for career practitioners in 1997, it was early days for the profession. Career practice was just beginning to emerge as a primary occupational role and those engaged in it were beginning to identify as career practitioners.
"The decision was made at the time to take an inclusive approach to membership. The founding philosophy was to encourage career practitioners from diverse practice settings and with a broad range of qualifications to join the association. This flexible approach meant that a formal qualification, even in an unrelated field, and/or practical experience was sufficient to satisfy the membership criteria."
Some eight years later, the time is right to take the next step to gaining true professional status, says Dale. Inevitably that means moving to a more exclusive environment where only those with career-specific qualifications and the appropriate industry experience would be admitted for professional level membership to CPANZ.
"Right now it's still a pretty open market," says Dale. "People can set up with no CPANZ affiliation or industry-specific qualification. It's not a regulated enterprise."
Dale says that raising membership criteria and identifying clear practice standards and competencies are important steps in career practice operating as a true profession.
"The development of professionalism isn't something which is just declared by a profession. There has to be a broader recognition in society that those practising an occupation have the specialist knowledge that isn't available to anyone."
Career practice competencies are being proposed for three levels – developing, competent and expert. The developing level is the minimum requirement and would cover areas such as career theory, career information and resources, tools and techniques, helping skills and relationship management. These competencies could be addressed in a qualification or as part of the professional development programme.
Competent and expert levels of career practice competencies reflect expertise gained through experience in the field and further professional development. These advanced skills provide career practitioners with a deeper understanding of career practice and result in increased practice effectiveness.
The development of these competency standards are an important part of the maturing of the profession, says Dale.
"It takes us further down the track of assuring consumers and clients, including government, that as a profession we have these competencies and the requisite body of knowledge."
Dale Furbish says that an important challenge for the industry is to broaden understanding of what career practice means.
"As things stand, there is a blurring of what career practitioners offer. Career services are frequently seen as job placement. Clear distinctions among the roles of career practitioners, employment consultants and human resource workers do not exist.
"The defining of core competencies will help the profession forge a clearer identity – it will help consumers distinguish between those providing career information at one end of the spectrum and those who are involved in the therapeutic realm with career counselling at the other. Importantly it will encourage a more holistic approach to career decision-making."
The changing economy and labour market, combined with changing cultural expectations around work, all impact on the career practice industry, says Dale.
"Things have changed a lot in New Zealand society and in the labour market over the last 20 years. There is a growing recognition of the need for people to make better-informed career decisions, and greater expectations, too, that work should be satisfying. At the moment, however, the profession is not really set up to meet the needs of the general public.
"There are still a lot of people who do not understand the broader, holistic meaning of career – often it's a crisis decision about getting a new job. So there's a way to go in educating people about careers."
Career education needs to start at a young age, says Dale Furbish. He believes there is room for a greater focus on career education in the secondary education system.
"We need to encourage a more holistic view of career development and that requires a cohesive, national career education agenda for schools. At the moment it's a ‘bits and pieces' approach. There's been some progress in developing broad guidelines for career education in schools but it's largely left to individual schools to decide how to implement them. There's often not the resource there to implement a meaningful programme."
Disclaimer
The views in this publication are not necessarily those of Career Services or its board. They have been published in the interests of encouraging understanding and debate on career related issues.
Resource:
Internet: yahoo.com and google.com
The new measures being considered include a requirement for CPANZ professional level members to hold a specific career-related qualification and the development of a competency framework for career practice.
"These proposed steps would represent a significant step for the career practice industry in New Zealand," says Dr Dale Furbish, programme leader of the Graduate Diploma course at Auckland University of Technology.
"When CPANZ was first set up as the professional association for career practitioners in 1997, it was early days for the profession. Career practice was just beginning to emerge as a primary occupational role and those engaged in it were beginning to identify as career practitioners.
"The decision was made at the time to take an inclusive approach to membership. The founding philosophy was to encourage career practitioners from diverse practice settings and with a broad range of qualifications to join the association. This flexible approach meant that a formal qualification, even in an unrelated field, and/or practical experience was sufficient to satisfy the membership criteria."
Some eight years later, the time is right to take the next step to gaining true professional status, says Dale. Inevitably that means moving to a more exclusive environment where only those with career-specific qualifications and the appropriate industry experience would be admitted for professional level membership to CPANZ.
"Right now it's still a pretty open market," says Dale. "People can set up with no CPANZ affiliation or industry-specific qualification. It's not a regulated enterprise."
Dale says that raising membership criteria and identifying clear practice standards and competencies are important steps in career practice operating as a true profession.
"The development of professionalism isn't something which is just declared by a profession. There has to be a broader recognition in society that those practising an occupation have the specialist knowledge that isn't available to anyone."
Career practice competencies are being proposed for three levels – developing, competent and expert. The developing level is the minimum requirement and would cover areas such as career theory, career information and resources, tools and techniques, helping skills and relationship management. These competencies could be addressed in a qualification or as part of the professional development programme.
Competent and expert levels of career practice competencies reflect expertise gained through experience in the field and further professional development. These advanced skills provide career practitioners with a deeper understanding of career practice and result in increased practice effectiveness.
The development of these competency standards are an important part of the maturing of the profession, says Dale.
"It takes us further down the track of assuring consumers and clients, including government, that as a profession we have these competencies and the requisite body of knowledge."
Dale Furbish says that an important challenge for the industry is to broaden understanding of what career practice means.
"As things stand, there is a blurring of what career practitioners offer. Career services are frequently seen as job placement. Clear distinctions among the roles of career practitioners, employment consultants and human resource workers do not exist.
"The defining of core competencies will help the profession forge a clearer identity – it will help consumers distinguish between those providing career information at one end of the spectrum and those who are involved in the therapeutic realm with career counselling at the other. Importantly it will encourage a more holistic approach to career decision-making."
The changing economy and labour market, combined with changing cultural expectations around work, all impact on the career practice industry, says Dale.
"Things have changed a lot in New Zealand society and in the labour market over the last 20 years. There is a growing recognition of the need for people to make better-informed career decisions, and greater expectations, too, that work should be satisfying. At the moment, however, the profession is not really set up to meet the needs of the general public.
"There are still a lot of people who do not understand the broader, holistic meaning of career – often it's a crisis decision about getting a new job. So there's a way to go in educating people about careers."
Career education needs to start at a young age, says Dale Furbish. He believes there is room for a greater focus on career education in the secondary education system.
"We need to encourage a more holistic view of career development and that requires a cohesive, national career education agenda for schools. At the moment it's a ‘bits and pieces' approach. There's been some progress in developing broad guidelines for career education in schools but it's largely left to individual schools to decide how to implement them. There's often not the resource there to implement a meaningful programme."
Disclaimer
The views in this publication are not necessarily those of Career Services or its board. They have been published in the interests of encouraging understanding and debate on career related issues.
Resource:
Internet: yahoo.com and google.com
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