Tristram Hooley

Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’

Whilst recent studies suggest that over 95% of British undergraduate students are regularly using social networking sites, we still know very little about how this phenomenon impacts on the student experience and, in particular, how it influences students’ social integration into university life. This paper explores how pre‐registration engagement with a university Facebook network influences students’ post‐registration social networks. Research was conducted with first year undergraduates at a British university using an online survey. Students reported that they specifically joined Facebook pre‐registration as a means of making new friends at university, as well as keeping in touch with friends and family at home. The survey data also illustrate that once at university, Facebook was part of the ‘social glue’ that helped students settle into university life. However, care must be taken not to over‐privilege Facebook: it is clearly only one aspect of students’ more general social networking practices and face‐to‐face interrelationships and interactions remain important. Students thought Facebook was used most importantly for social reasons, not for formal teaching purposes, although it was sometimes used informally for learning purposes.

The ‘Blueprint’ framework for career management skills: a critical exploration

This article examines the Blueprint framework for career management skills as it has been revealed across sequential implementations in the USA, Canada and Australia. It is argued that despite its lack of an empirical basis, the framework forms a useful and innovative means through which career theory, practice and policy can be connected. The framework comprises both core elements (learning areas, learning model and levels) and contextual elements (resources, community of practice, service delivery approach and policy connection). Each of these elements is explored.

What is Online Research?: Using the Internet for Social Science Research

Online research is perhaps the most obvious but also the most difficult of research methods. What is Online Research? is a straightforward, accessible introduction to social research online. The book covers the key issues and concerns for all social scientists, with sections on research design, ethics and good practice. Short, clear case studies are used throughout to allow students to see examples of the research in practice. Wide ranging and interdisciplinary, What is Online Research Methods? shows researchers how to engage in the online environment in innovative ways, and points the way forward for future research.

Delivering NEET policy packages? A decade of NEET policy in England

This article explores the way in which government policy shapes the lives of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). In particular it examines how the concept of NEETs is set within a specific infrastructure and discourse for managing and supporting young people. The article provides a brief history of the NEET concept and NEET initiatives, before moving on to scrutinise the policies of the Coalition Government. A key distinction is made between those policies and practices that seek to prevent young people becoming NEET from those that seek to re-engage those who are NEET. It is argued that the Coalition has drawn on a similar active labour market toolkit to the previous Labour administration, but that this has been implemented with fewer resources and less co-ordination. It concludes that there is little reason to believe that Coalition policy will be any more successful than that of the previous government, and some reason to be concerned that it will lead to young people becoming more entrenched within NEET.

Ensuring quality in online career mentoring

This article explores the issue of quality in online career mentoring. It builds on a previous evaluation of Brightside, an online mentoring system in the UK which is primarily aimed at supporting young peoples transitions to further learning. The article notes that participants in Brightsides mentoring programmes reported satisfaction with their experiences, with many stating that it helped them to make decisions and to positively change their learning and career behaviours. However, the article argues that there are challenges in ensuring quality and consistency connected to both the voluntary nature of mentoring and the online mode. The article proposes a 10-point quality framework to support quality assurance, initial training and professional development for online mentors.

‘If you look the part you’ll get the job’: should career professionals help clients to enhance their career image?

This article presents a critical exploration of the role of career professionals in supporting people to reflect on and enhance their appearance, attractiveness and self-presentation (career image). The article is conceptual and based on a review of the broader literature on career success, appearance and attractiveness. It explores the evidence for a relationship between attractiveness and career, and the authors propose a conceptual framework in which career image is comprised of three elements (interpersonal skills, aesthetic presentation and beauty). The paper examines a possible role for career professionals in relation to this and then critically examines this role and concludes with the proposition of a research agenda in this area.

A practical guide to career learning and development: innovation in careers education 11–19

Britain has recently welcomed a new Secretary of State for Education, and the career development community waits hopeful that a new era in career education and guidance may be about to begin. Follo...

Entrepreneurship and UK Doctoral Graduates

This paper discusses the experience of UK doctoral graduates in pursuing entrepreneurial careers: there is evidence that this applies to a substantial number – about 10% – of doctoral graduates. The nature of their experience was explored using 37 interviews with doctoral entrepreneurs. The research was funded by Vitae (www.vitae.ac.uk), an organization championing the personal, professional and career development of doctoral researchers and research staff in UK higher education. The stories that the participants tell suggest that doctoral entrepreneurship develops out of a complex interaction between the personality and skills of the entrepreneurs and the environment in which they operate. In particular, the authors argue that the participants have mobilized a mix of financial, social and educational capital in order to create and sustain their enterprises successfully.

Symposium on online practice in counselling and guidance

This symposium looks at the impact of the online environment on the practice of guidance, counselling, psychotherapy and related services. Online delivery of careers education and guidance, counselling, psychotherapy and other mental health and social services has been a subject of increasing debate and has regularly featured in the pages of this journal. In 2009, a symposium (Volume 37 (3)) focused on the use of technology in counselling and psychotherapy, and explored the utility of a range of online and telephone technologies. The subsequent six years have seen considerable changes in technologies, their place in society and their role in the practice of guidance and counselling. The current symposium explores these ongoing changes and in places looks forward to ways in which the future development of the disciplines might be influenced by current technological trends. Working through technology of any kind has long provoked highly polarised reactions in many of the human-oriented professions (Goss & Anthony, 2003, p. 1). Commentators have pointed out that despite the hype associated with new technologies the evidence base for their use in guidance and counselling is sometimes limited (Howieson & Semple, 2013; Richards & Viganó, 2013). However, as this symposium demonstrates, it has been growing for a considerable period, and the use of communication technologies is increasingly becoming part of everyday practice in an ever expanding variety of ways (Anthony, Nagel, & Goss, 2010). Some have raised more fundamental concerns about a perceived loss of the human element and reductive conceptions of what guidance and mental health services do. For example, a Guardian article about career guidance asked ‘can online careers advice work ... what about the personal touch?’ (Tickle, 2011), and a succession of reports have found that even the young, and supposedly digitally native (Prensky, 2001), are still crying out for face-toface interactions (Association of College, 2014; Evans & Rallings, 2013). At the other end of the spectrum, advocates of technologically mediated provision talk of how online environments empower clients, democratise practice, allow guidance and therapeutic relationships to transcend time and space, and bring distinct advantages not available in face-to-face settings (Anthony et al., 2010; Goss & Anthony, 2003; Hooley, 2012). Now, however, online provision is blossoming onto the mainstream of practice throughout the helping professions. Some who come across the concept of working at a distance from one’s clients still react with the same polarised views of either strong scepticism or evident, perhaps even incautious, enthusiasm (Hennigan & Goss, 2014; Kettunen, Vuorinen, & Sampson, 2013). It is sometimes tempting, even among those who are otherwise thoroughly experienced senior figures, to think that little work on it has been done and that basic questions need to be addressed from scratch. While there are certainly distinct gaps in the research base, this is far from the case. Research into the use British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 2015 Vol. 43, No. 1, 1–7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2015.995471

The career coaching handbook

Freud. Heavily influenced by the work of Savickas, Chapter 4 gives an overview of the career construction model that readers might be familiar with. The author elaborates on this in Chapter 5 but from this point on some contradictions in his thoughts seem to emerge. For example, Maree asserts that the client’s best advice comes from themselves, but then states, ‘it is nevertheless accepted that counselors will from time to time give advice’ (p. 58), which seems to weaken his argument. Chapter 6 focuses on the power of early memories and the ways in which these can be used to identify life themes. In Chapter 7 Maree moves on to consider the application of the Career Interest Profile (CIP); a quantitative and qualitative approach developed to enable clients to make appropriate career choices today. This chapter contains some very detailed descriptions of each part of the CIP, but would certainly have benefited from an introductory description which would have given readers who are unfamiliar with the model a clear picture of what the CIP is and how it can be used. This would have made the CIP more accessible to the reader and without this it is somewhat difficult to appreciate the detail given. Unfortunately, some contradictions surface again here when the author asserts that the client knows him/herself best, but that he as the counsellor guides them gently towards the identification of themes or patterns in their narrative. Chapter 8 focuses on six case studies that illustrate the process of career construction. Each case study focuses on particular aspects of the approach and in some instances on a client in a particular situation. The case studies are inevitably rooted in the cultural context of South Africa and it would have been more applicable if this had been explored and explained to help the reader assess the relevance of the model for his or her own cultural setting and situational circumstances. The book concludes with Chapter 9 where readers are given further advice on the use of the approach and are reminded of the importance of supervision for counsellors. Overall, it is clear that the book is written in a particular cultural context which is interesting and indeed could be enlightening for a wide readership. In spite of the contradictions, I was left with the feeling of wanting to try some of the techniques presented to explore their applicability in different contexts. So did Maree fulfil his initial aim of finding ‘a contemporary, contextualised approach that will be of value to every person irrespective of colour, creed, financial situation or geographic location’ (p.1)? Whilst his admiration of the work of Savickas is clear, it is difficult to imagine that any single approach could achieve all of this and in this respect perhaps the author simply gave himself an impossible task.