https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/37206 2026-04-04T20:54:31Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/37447 Title: Economy and ecology : towards a change of paradigms in career guidance Authors: Plant, Peter Abstract: It is the same the whole world over: globalisation of the economy has come to stay. All economies are linked, global computer networks shift billions worth of dollars across national borders overnight, international transport systems are 'Just In Time', and so on. In Europe, for example, one of the purposes of the Single European Market is to increase personal mobility within the European Union (EU). Careers guidance may facilitate such mobility. European guidance services are in the process of adapting not only to rapid changes in national labour market conditions, but also to the demands for information on education, training, and employment opportunities in other EU member-states and globally. This is not to say that everybody will become educational nomads and migrant workers, but some people, so far a minority, will become more globalised in their outlook. Both transnational and transfrontier guidance will require an extension of nationally based guidance practice into international guidance competencies. This may be seen as a purely technical task: to provide comprehensive, updated information on, among other things, job vacancies, educational opportunities, and living conditions in other countries. This, for example, is the main concept behind EURES (European Employment Services) which are designed to facilitate individual mobility. This paper intends to go beyond such systems and their technicalities: What is the other side of the coin? 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/37446 Title: Pathways and growth points in career counselling Authors: Scicluna Calleja, Sandra Abstract: Developments in economy, education and living standards have radically changed the way we percieve and pursue careers today. For instance, where before, finding a good job and settling down were considered the hallmarks of a good career, today the emphasis is on doing what makes you happy or fulfilled. These changes pose several implications on the practice of career guidance and counselling. The aim of this chapter is to stimulate innovative thinking and practice in the area of career guidance and counselling on a local level. The first part outlines, with the help of a case study, the differences between old and new career pathways. This, of course, suggests new emphases and actions for the career counsellor and other related career workers. These will be briefly discussed and a new model for career guidance and counselling will be proposed. Following this a guide for innovative career guidance and counselling is presented. 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/37445 Title: Computers in guidance Authors: Watts, Anthony G. Abstract: Computers offer both a major opportunity and a possible threat to guidance practitioners. The opportunity is that they provide a powerful resource which potentially can improve both the quality of guidance provision and its accessibility to those who need it. The threat is that they may be used to mechanise the human interaction that has been considered central to guidance practice. This is, of course, merely one illustration of a much wider social dilemma. The impact of computer technology on the workplace has caused much of the destabilisation of work structures, from which the increased demand from guidance partly stems. It is thus ironic but also appropriate that in seeking to respond to this demand, guidance services should turn to harnessing the very technologies that are its cause. The challenge for such services, as for society as a whole, is to utilise such technologies in ways which supplement and extend human potential rather than acting to restrict or replace it. The history of computer-aided careers guidance systems can be divided into two periods (Harris-Bowlsbey, 1989). The first period, from 1965 to 1980, might be termed the demonstration and limited implementation period. It was characterised by the use of main-frame computers, which made it very expensive for the user to interact directly with the computer. A number of systems based on interactive usage were developed, demonstrating its potential: these notably included, in the UK, the Interactive Careers Guidance System (Butler and Dowsey, 1978; Watts, 1975). But the only systems that proved widely practicable in cost terms were based on batch processing: questionnaires were completed in the guidance location and sent to a computer centre where they were processed; print-outs were then despatched back to the guidance location. The static nature of this process and the delays it involved limited the appeal of such systems. The second period, starting around 1981, might be termed the diffusion and extensive implementation period. The advent of the microcomputer made interactive usage much more economical, and also made it much easier to develop and market limited software packages; its attractions grew as more powerful versions of the personal computer were developed. The result was a huge increase in the number of computer-aided guidance systems. Whereas in 1975176 there were only seven such systems in the UK (Watts, 1978), by 1990 there were 56 (Offer, 1990). At the same time, the use of these systems developed so that by the late 1980s it was difficult to find a guidance service in any sector which did not make use of one or more such system. The rapid growth of interest in the use of computers in guidance has been fuelled not only by the enterprise of some guidance practitioners and commercial software developers, but also by two other factors. One is the interest of policymakers, who have seen computers as a way of making cost savings or (more plausibly) of increasing the effectiveness of guidance services in a cost-effective way. The other is the recognition that clients - particularly younger ones - who are accustomed to making everyday use of computer technology in other areas of their lives will increasingly expect guidance services to harness such technology, and will regard services which fail to do so as outdated and lacking in credibility. 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/37444 Title: International perspectives Authors: Watts, Anthony G. Abstract: There are at least three rationales for studying guidance systems in other countries than one's own. The first is that it demonstrates the cultural relativity of one's own practices. By showing that things are done differently elsewhere, it causes one to question practices which otherwise tend to be taken for granted. The second is that it permits policy borrowing. While direct transplanting of practice from one country to another is problematic, new possibilities can be indicated which can be adapted to one's own situation. The third is that it facilitates international co-operation. Within an increasingly global economy, the growing mobility of students, trainees and workers between countries means that guidance services need to work more closely together: understanding the similarities and differences between guidance systems can help to facilitate such co-operation and make it more effective. Studying guidance systems can be a revealing lens through which to seek to understand another country. It brings into focus the education and training system and the economic system, and the relationship between the two. It also illuminates the social and political structure, and cultural factors concerning the relationship between the individual, the family, and the wider society. Despite all this, the comparative literature on guidance systems is remarkably limited. There are a number of 'travel reports', based on studies conducted by brief visitors. Because these tend to be limited to single countries, however, they usually lack a strong comparative framework. The same is true of collections of country-studies like Drapela (1979). Some studies have attempted to develop a comparative framework from separate country-studies provided by other authors (e.g. Watts and Ferreira-Marques, 1979; Plant, 1990; Watts, 1992). In other cases, the methodology has included first-hand visits by the main author(s), so strengthening the comparative frame (e.g. Keller and Viteles, 1937; Reubens, 1977; Watts, Dartois and Plant, 1988; Watts et al., 1994). Further reports and commentaries have drawn more impressionistically from conferences, visits made over a period of time, and the like (e.g. Reuchlin, 1964; Super, 1974). The paucity of comparative guidance studies contrasts with the now very extensive and theoretically sophisticated literature on comparative education (for a useful overview, see Halls, 1990). Comparative guidance studies can draw on this literature, of course, but they need a broader frame of reference. The present chapter attempts to develop a framework for looking at guidance systems in an international perspective. It draws from the existing studies, and particularly from various studies in which I have been personally involved over the last 25 years. It pays particular attention to the key differences between guidance systems in different countries, and the reasons for these differences. It looks in turn at the extent to which such differences relate to stage of economic development, to the political system, to social and cultural factors, to the education and training system, and to professional and organisational structures. Finally, it explores the pressures towards convergence and divergence between guidance systems. Many of the points made in the chapter are effectively hypotheses based on selective illustrative evidence rather than conclusions based on exhaustive enquiry. It is hoped however that they will encourage more rigorous comparative studies in the future. 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z