Mary McMahon

Using qualitative assessment in career counselling

Advancements in conceptualisations about career and career development and irreversible changes in the world of work have necessitated that career counsellors reflect on their practice in order that it keeps pace and maintains relevancy.Fundamental to these reflections isconsideration of the place and nature of career assessment in career counselling.Traditionally, emphasis has been given toquantitative assessment. More recently, theprofile of qualitative assessment has beenraised, and its place in career counselling hasbeen strengthened relative to but not to theexclusion of quantitative assessment. However,there is little to guide the use of qualitativeassessment. This paper presents a theoreticaloverview of qualitative assessment in careercounselling and proposes guidelines for usingqualitative assessment.

Career Counselling: Constructivist Approaches

Part 1 Overview of Constructivism Chapter 1 Constructivism: What does it mean for career counselling? Wendy Patton (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) and Mary McMahon Chapter 2 Career Counselling Theory, Culture and Constructivism Mark Watson (University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa) Chapter 3 Usefulness and truthfulness: the limitations and benefits of constructivist approaches for career education, guidance and counselling Hazel L Reid (Canterbury Christ Church University College, England) Part 2 Constructivism, Culture and Career Counselling Chapter 4 The Systems Theory Framework: A conceptual and practical map for career counselling Mary McMahon and Wendy Patton (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) Chapter 5 Active Engagement and the Influence of Constructivism Norman E. Amundson (University of British Columbia, Canada) Chapter 6 The use of narratives in cross-cultural career counselling Kobus Maree and Jacobus Molepo (University of Pretoria, South Africa) Part 3 -- Constructivist Approaches to Career Counselling Chapter 7 Career narratives Elizabeth M. Grant and Joseph A. Johnston (University of Missouri, USA) Chapter 8 Using a solution-building approach in career counselling Judi Miller (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) Chapter 9 Sociodynamic counselling Timo Spangar, Finland Chapter 10 Working with storytellers: A metaphor for career counselling Mary McMahon Chapter 11 Creative approaches to career counselling Mary McMahon Chapter 12 Constructivist career assessment Mary McMahon and Wendy Patton (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) Part 4 -- Constructivist Career Assessment Chapter 13 Card Sorts: Constructivist Assessment Tools Polly Parker (The University of Auckland, New Zealand) Chapter 14 Constructivist tools on the Web Heidi Viljamaa (Careerstorm, Finland)

Conversations on clinical supervision: Benefits perceived by school counsellors

This Australian study describes the benefits of clinical supervision as perceived by school guidance officers who work in a large education authority. The participants were a random sample of guidance officers and senior guidance officers who agreed to participate in focus group interviews conducted via teleconference calls. The benefits of and reasons for clinical supervision graphically described by the participants raise questions about the cost of inadequate supervision to the individual counsellors themselves and to the profession as a whole. The findings become even more important when considered in light of the world of work of the 21st century.

Development of a Systems Theory of Career Development: A Brief Overview

Through consideration of the recent debate over the issue of convergence in career development theory and using their own research, the authors have developed a systems theory framework of career development. This paper locates the systems theory framework within the extant literature of both the fields of career development and counselling, and attempts to illustrate how a systems theory approach can address current criticisms of career development theory and add to and complement this literature. The influences and processes illustrated in the systems theory framework are also described.

Qualitative Career Assessment: Developing the My System of Career Influences Reflection Activity.

This article reports on the development of a qualitative career assessment activity, the My System of Career Influences (MSCI) Reflection Activity. The article describes the process of developing and testing the instrument. The testing was conducted in two stages with adults and adolescents. Findings from Stage 1 indicate that the MSCI (pilot version) is a useful instrument that warrants separate versions for adults and adolescents. Findings from Stage 2 indicate that the MSCI (adolescent version) is a useful instrument that is appropriate for use with adolescents. Suggestions for future refinement and testing of the MSCI are presented.

Creating career stories through reflection: An application of the systems theory framework of career development

The Systems Theory Framework (STF) of career development represents a metatheoretical account of career development that is consistent with the constructivist worldview. Presented as a framework of influences, the STF clearly illustrates the content and process of career development. The STF has provided the stimulus for the development of a qualitative career assessment process, a guided reflection titled ‘My System of Career Influences’ (MSCI) (McMahon, Patton, & Watson, 2003a). Using the content subsystems as aspects in a process of guided reflection, clients engage in the construction of their own career stories by reflecting on their system of career influences. A series of questions guide reflection on the meaning of these influences. The MSCI reflection activity may be completed individually, in groups, or with the assistance of a career counsellor or career teacher. The development and trialling of the MSCI will be outlined in this paper.

Examining process constructs of narrative career counselling: an exploratory case study

The present article examines how the five process constructs of reflection, connectedness, meaning making, learning and agency are operationalised in a constructivist approach to career counselling, specifically a storytelling approach. This article reports on an exploratory case study of a Black South African female university student. The case study provides examples of how a career counsellor enacts these constructs and facilitates their development in a client, as well as examples of how they are evident in client dialogue and action. Insight into the process of a storytelling approach to narrative career counselling is demonstrated, from which tentative suggestions are made about how to facilitate the process constructs of reflection, connectedness, meaning making, learning and agency.

Occupational Aspirations of Low Socioeconomic Black South African Children

There has been a call for a more systematic research focus on the career development of children from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, with the viewpoint that children’s career development research needs to be contextually grounded in the countries and cultures where such development occurs. This article describes the occupational aspirations (in terms of typology and status level) of Black South African upper elementary school children of low socioeconomic status. A nonprobability convenience sample of 274 children (157 females, 117 males) from Grades 5 and 6 participated. Two open-ended questions from the Revised Career Awareness Survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that most children aspired to social and investigative type occupations, with over 80% aspiring to high status occupations. There were few gender differences. The implications of the findings as well as practical considerations in researching more disadvantaged populations are discussed.

Social justice and career development: Looking back, looking forward

Social justice has underpinned career development work since its inception. Over time however, while awareness of social justice issues has been retained, the focus of intervention has largely remained individual. Further, career theory has been criticised for its lack of attention to cultural influences such as gender, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation, in peoples career development. In this regard, progress has been made to the extent that multicultural and diversity competencies have been identified and elaborated. However, such competencies maintain a predominant focus on interventions with individuals and there have been calls for career development to identify social justice competencies which necessarily suggest different roles and levels of intervention for career development practitioners. As the implications of globalisation become more apparent and societal inequity is perpetuated, it is timely to revisit the social justice origins of career development and consider how career development may position itself in the 21st century. This paper examines social justice in career development theory and practice, and considers implications for career development practitioners.

Constructivism : What does it mean for career counselling

It is 30 years since the seminal work of Collin and Young (1986), and their very early articulation of the need for vocational psychology to embrace a contextualist worldview. In 2012, following a search of abstracts listed in the PsychInfo database from 1986 until 2011 with narrative or story and career development as search terms, McIlveen reported a doubling of articles for each five-year period within all classification codes, and a continuing strong rise in the codes within a career development classification. It is timely, then, that this book is updated to this second edition. This first chapter will discuss the complex worldview underpinning of constructivism, and describe the theoretical fields from which its core components have been derived. The constructs which guide constructivism in career counselling will be outlined.