areers-cay cotland-say and the areer-cay lanning-pay ourney-jay

Thought I had better put that in pig Latin, as there are (most probably) spies everywhere….

What are my thoughts on areers-cay cotland-say and the areer-cay lanning-pay ourney-jay?

Overall, I’m not against the idea of a national, standardised guidance service to provide the ‘bread and butter’ of careers guidance. But I definitely think that this has to be supplemented by local and specialist services.

I could forgive areers-cay cotland-say for a lot of it’s flaws – I don’t know what I would suggest if I were setting the agendas. What nnoys-aay e-may is the kind of overarching rrogance-aay, that it is the ‘best’ the ‘only’, the ‘first and last word’ in career guidance. No-one likes to be told they ‘have’ to do something.

And the areer-cay lanning-pay ourney-jay? I don’t really get it. It seems too ne-oay imensional-day and bvious-oay to be a true ‘tool’? I never saw it being used in any useful way while on placement. There was a big poster of it on the wall and it was vaguely pointed at a few times (making me ince-way a little).

I feel like I must be missing something???

cupboard guidance

What role does place and space take in career guidance? I studied social geography, and so I find it easy and obvious to think of things spatially. Different spaces undoubtedly impact on how we read and use the world.

So, should guidance be in an office? on the high street? in the school? in the school ‘broom cupboard’/guidance office? in the local community? in the home? online? In a field?

The same guidance technique conducted in the school ‘broom cupboard’* would be a very different thing if it were conducted in a field! What spaces empower and what spaces intimidate?

If you find yourself working in a 'formal' environment should you act a little more 'informally' to balance it out (and vice versa)?

And everyone has a different sense of spatial distance. Some people can't leave their own homes. Lots of people can't get a bus. Lot's of people wouldn't travel somewhere minutes away. I used to work in Musselburgh - to me that is 'in' Edinburgh (25 mins up the road from my flat on a bus). But for a lot of people who live there Edinburgh city centre is on the other side of their world.

So I don't think there is any one 'right' place for guidance. Some clients will find it more convenient to come to you when it suits them. Some clients will be sent to you. And some clients will need you to come to them.

On top of this there is the issue of community, which is quite different to the issue of place and the issue of space. It's not only clients who may problematically lack the right social capital for work, guidance workers in some communities will also need the right social capital if they are to be accepted and respected. Although this can be difficult it isn’t really something you can shy away from.

*[n.b speaking from experience, it is not a good idea to get into the habit of affectionately calling your tiny office “the cupboard”. This can lead to confusion and mild horror when colleagues ask you where you have just put an upset client!]

hmmmm...is it wrong that I identify with this careers advisor????

http://www.e4.com/video/wP3KHvRDthcENgjXe4bCeX/play.e4

Humanism or Good Eggs?

"Are you a humanist?"

I hate it when this question is asked. Someone asked me this on placement, and people have been asked it in class a few times.

I don't want to say 'yes' but I feel like I can't say 'no', in case the person asking recoils in horror and assumes I am therefore a judgmental selfish person-hating dictator. Which I am not. I just can't get particularly excited about humanism or Rogers.

When you read Rogers it all sounds very nice. But then you start thinking about real life, and if it is even possible to have an unconditional positive regard.

And I always wonder how you can really be congruent - I think i did this better before I started the course, when I was a volunteer and no-one expected me to be 'professional'. So I was just me. But when doing the practicals on this course, I am definitely 'acting the part' a little.

And we don't even get to wear our own clothes! We get told to come looking 'smart'. I am never normally a 'smart' kind of person. How can we be congruent when we are dressed up to portray just how 'professional' we are? How can we say we are without facade when our assessors purposefully carry briefcases?

Apart from these concerns, I always get a bit 'stuck' with Rogers in terms of why it is specifically a counselling technique.

Should we not, if we want to be 'good eggs', try to be like this all the time, and not just when we are at work? Can you be/try to be a good egg when at work, if you aren't/don't try to be a good egg out of work?

I think I am a humanist-type person in general. But I wouldn't say I am A humanist. I'm just a good egg.