The Changing Nature of Life, Learning and Work
Over the last decade it has become evident that the way we live and work has been dramatically altered by factors such as globalisation, the rapid increases in information and communications technology and significant demographic shifts.
The concept of a ‘job for life’ no longer exists. Most individuals will change jobs numerous times throughout their working lives.
There has been a trend away from permanent employment to more varied working arrangements such as contract and project work.
Gone are the days where a person could gain a single qualification which would sustain them throughout their entire working lives.
In addition to job-related skills, individuals now need skills such as communication, problem solving, teamwork and personal attributes such as adaptability, resilience, enthusiasm and openness to new ideas.
In an environment where individuals are likely to transition between a variety of life, learning and work roles, they need to be empowered to design and manage their careers. In the face of increasing choices and challenges, some people lose their way or give up. Those that flourish are self-managing individuals who know their strengths and their limitations, have the confidence to follow their dreams and are willing to seek help from and to support the career journeys of others (Adapted from ‘The high five of career development’ Dave E. Redekopp et al, 1995).
Many people don’t know how to manage their careers, because no one has ever assisted them to. It is probably fair to say that until quite recently few young adults in Australia had access to a program of learning explicitly designed to facilitate the development of their careers. Those that were fortunate enough to receive some guidance would probably have found that the focus was on their initial transition from school, rather than preparing them for a world of work characterised by increasing and pervasive change (OECD, 2002).
Most older adults entered a labour market at a time when:
jobs were plentiful
decisions about work were made with scant reference to other areas of one’s life
full-time employment was the norm
a job-for-life was the expectation (of males at least), and
working to achieve personal satisfaction was not an obvious priority.
Times have clearly changed. Now, both the individual and the labour market are subject to constant variation and, for many people, transitioning from one situation to another is a recurring motif. The old three-stage pattern of preparing for work; working; and then retiring is fast disappearing, yet many current workers have not had the opportunity to develop the career management competencies that they require to cope with, let alone thrive in, such an environment.
Just as schools are developing or redesigning career development programs, so too are organisations that deal with adults in transition. Public and private sector organisations, confronted with a workforce comprising large numbers of soon-to-retire baby boomers, and a proportionately smaller youth cohort, are beginning to recognise the value of equipping people to adapt to these changeable and challenging times. It is within this context that career development practitioners, educators, researchers, industry and governments have collaborated to design the Australian Blueprint for Career Development.
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What Does Career Development Mean?
People’s careers often develop in quite unintentional ways. However, when career development programs and interventions are planned, their purpose is to assist people ‘gain the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours to manage their life, learning and work in self-directed ways’ (Canadian Career Development Foundation, 2002).
This is not a simple process. The career development of individuals is both complex and unique with each individual bringing a unique set of skills, values, interests and experiences to the process of designing and managing their career. People’s life, learning and work opportunities are influenced by personal characteristics such as their age, gender, ability/disability, and sexual preference. Their opportunities are also affected by family, community and cultural values, geographic, economic and political circumstances, as well as random and unpredictable events.
Career development, therefore, is the term that best describes this complex process of managing life, learning and work over the lifespan.
What Is the Australian Blueprint for Career Development ?
The Australian Blueprint for Career Development is a framework that can be used to design, implement and evaluate career development programs for young people and adults. At its core, the Blueprint identifies the skills, attitudes and knowledge that individuals need to make sound choices and to effectively manage their careers.
These career management skills will help young people to transition successfully to post-secondary training or a job after high school. They will encourage students to value learning by linking it to their hopes and dreams for the future. These skills will also help adults to transition successfully between learning and work roles that support their family and community responsibilities.
The primary aim of the Blueprint is to enable teachers, parents, career development practitioners, employment service providers, employers or others who are in a position to support people’s careers and transitions, to work with a nationally consistent set of career management competencies which will help all Australians to better manage their lives, learning and work.
‘The goal of career development work is to assist individuals develop the skills and knowledge to effectively manage their careers.’ (McMahon & Tatham, 2008, p 11)
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Why Was It Developed?
The development of a framework for career development in Australia was first commissioned by the Transition from School Taskforce of the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in 2002. The need for a unifying national framework was identified by the then Prime Minister’s Youth Action Plan Taskforce in its report Footprints to the Future (2001). At a time when governments were keen to ensure that all young people made successful initial transitions from learning to productive and satisfying work, the Taskforce found that career and transition services were inconsistent in quality and availability around Australia.
The need for a national framework was also raised by a large number of respondents to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) review on career development services and information, who urged for improved coordination and integration of services across jurisdictions and between states, territories and the Commonwealth. In response, the OECD, in its country note to Australia, recommended that Australia should pursue its intention to develop a unifying career development framework based on the Canadian Blueprint for Life/Work Designs.
Who Will Find the Blueprint Useful?
The Blueprint can be used by anyone responsible for designing, implementing or reviewing programs or products that facilitate the career development of individuals. It is especially designed for use in organisations or systems where all sorts of learning and development occur. This is where the Blueprint has most to offer. Its processes can help to identify all of the activities that are already facilitating the career development of individuals, and those that may be missing.
Since the release of the prototype in 2003, the Blueprint has been used in primary schools, high schools and post-secondary education institutions including TAFE and other training organisations, and universities. The Blueprint also supports the career development activities of the Career Advice Australia network, employment service providers, disability service providers and public and private sector business organisations.
Supporting the career development of individuals is a responsibility that is shared variously between individuals, schools, parents, employers and other education and training providers, TAFE and other training organisations, community learning organisations, universities and state/territory central agencies. The Blueprint facilitates the sharing of this responsibility by providing a common language with which to describe the outcomes of career development initiatives, at all developmental stages. This common language assists providers to facilitate the transition of students from one education and training provider to another. It also helps to reduce gaps, overlap and duplication in service provision and assists students to maximise their career learning.
The table below shows typical users and uses for the Blueprint.
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Table 1: Users and Uses of the Blueprint
Typical Users
Possible Uses
Career Development Practitioners
Adult Educators
VET Lecturers
University Lecturers
Teachers
Developing, implementing, evaluating and marketing career development programs or learning activities.
Redesigning and enhancing existing programs.
Resource Developers/Publishers
Designing products, programs and services to address specific career management competencies.
Specifying the career management competencies covered by career information resources to those who make purchasing decisions.
Purchasers and Users of Career Development Resources
Identifying and selecting resources that align with high priority career management competencies identified through needs assessments.
Employment Service Providers such as Job Network and Disability Service Providers
Expanding employment services by designing products, programs and services to facilitate the development of enduring career management competencies.
Education and Training Administrators
Curriculum Developers
Researchers and Evaluators
Reviewing their curriculum and existing lessons for career development learning opportunities.
Designing comprehensive, sequenced career development learning opportunities.
Designing learning plans and portfolios for learners.
Designing staff development workshops on improving young people’s careers and transitions.
Human Resource Professionals
Staff Development Officers
Life Skills Coaches
Outplacement Consultants
Recruitment Officers
Designing products, programs and services to facilitate the development of career management competencies for adults in a range of organisational settings.
Parents, guardians, spouses, or family members
Using the framework to better understand how to help young people to develop their careers from an early age.
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This chapter explains how the elements of the Blueprint fit together. It contains a description of:
• the eleven career management competencies
• the eleven career management competencies expressed at four phases of development
• the indicators that suggest competence
• the four-stage learning taxonomy that frames the performance indicators, and
• the nature of local standards and how to construct them.
CHAPTER TWO
The Elements of the Blueprint Framework
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Introduction
Career development by its very nature is a unique, fluid, creative and individual process. Different people require different types of assistance at different times in their lives. The Blueprint is intended, therefore, to be used in flexible ways.
In order to utilise this flexibility, however, it is important to understand each of the elements of the framework and how they fit together to provide a comprehensive and integrated framework for assisting people to actively manage their careers as they transition between the learning, work, family and community spheres of their lives.
The diagram that follows illustrates how the elements of the Blueprint fit together.
The Elements of the Blueprint Framework
Eleven Career Management Competencies
Grouped into Three Areas
A: Personal Management Competencies (1–3)
B: Learning and Work Exploration Competencies (4–6)
C: Career Building Competencies (7–11)
Four Developmental Phases
Each competency is expanded at four developmental phases throughout the lifespan
Performance Indicators
Performance indicators for each competency at each developmental phase follow a four-stage learning taxonomy
Local Standards
Local standards can then be developed from each performance indicator to suit local needs
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The Career Management Competencies
The Blueprint identifies eleven career management competencies which are grouped into three areas. The eleven competencies are:
AREA A: PERSONAL MANAGEMENT
- Build and maintain a positive self-concept
- Interact positively and effectively with others
- Change and grow throughout life
AREA B: LEARNING AND WORK EXPLORATION - Participate in lifelong learning supportive of career goals
- Locate and effectively use career information
- Understand the relationship between work, society and the economy
AREA C: CAREER BUILDING - Secure/create and maintain work
- Make career-enhancing decisions
- Maintain balanced life and work roles
- Understand the changing nature of life and work roles
- Understand, engage in and manage the career-building process
‘Individuals are expected to manage their own careers.
Career management requires a set of non-occupational attitudes, skills and knowledge.
Individuals may be assisted to develop the skills, knowledge and competencies necessary to successfully manage their careers.’ (McMahon & Tatham, 2008, p 10)
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An Overview of Each Career Management Competency
The following section identifies each of the eleven career management competencies by learning area, and provides a brief description of the nature of each competency. This overview not only provides a quick guide for career and transition service providers, it is also a useful tool for portraying the competencies simply to your organisational colleagues, to learners, and to the parents of younger learners.
Area A: Personal Management
Competency 1: Build and maintain a positive self-concept
This career management competency is mainly about:
Knowing who we are (in terms of interests, skills, personal qualities, etc)
Being aware of our behaviours and attitudes
Understanding what influences our behaviours and attitudes
Adopting behaviours that reflect a positive attitude about ourselves
Understanding how our self-concept has an impact on achieving our personal, social, educational and professional goals and decisions
Understanding the importance of and being able to give and receive feedback
Competency 2: Interact positively and effectively with others
This career management competency is mainly about:
Understanding and demonstrating interpersonal and group communication skills that enable us to help or collaborate with others
Knowing how to deal with peer pressure, and understanding how our behaviours and those of others are interrelated
Respecting diversity
Being honest with others
Understanding the importance of positive relationships in our personal and professional lives
Being able to express personal feelings, reactions and ideas in an appropriate manner
Knowing how to solve interpersonal problems
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Area A: Personal Management (continued)
Competency 3: Change and grow throughout life
This career management competency is mainly about:
Understanding that our motivations and aspirations change, and that we all go through physical and psychological changes
Being aware of how change and growth might impact upon our mental and physical health
Demonstrating good health habits
Knowing how to manage stress
Being able to express our feelings
Being able to ask for help
Being aware of how mental and physical health impact life, learning and work decisions
Being aware of how changes related to work can impact on our lives and may require commensurate life changes
Knowing how to adapt to changes in all areas of our lives
Area B: Learning and Work Exploration
Competency 4: Participate in lifelong learning supportive of career goals
This career management competency is mainly about:
Understanding how skills can be transferable
Knowing what influences life and work successes
Understanding how to improve our strengths, skills and knowledge
Knowing about learning opportunities
Understanding the relationship between educational levels and the learning or work options that are open to us
Demonstrating behaviours and attitudes that contribute to achieving our personal and professional goals
Having personal and professional learning plans
Undertaking continuous learning activities
Competency 5: Locate and effectively use career information
This career management competency is mainly about:
Knowing where and how to access reliable career information
Knowing how to use various sources of career information
Knowing how to use school and community settings and resources to learn about work roles and alternatives
Knowing how to interpret and use labour market information
Knowing what working conditions we want for ourselves
Understanding the realities and requirements of various education, training and work settings
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Area B: Learning and Work Exploration (continued)
Competency 6: Understand the relationship between work, society and the economy
This career management competency is mainly about:
Understanding how work can satisfy our needs
Understanding how work contributes to our community and society in general
Understanding how society’s needs and functions affect the supply of goods and services
Understanding how economic and social trends affect our work and learning opportunities
Understanding the effect of work on people’s lifestyles
Determining the value/importance of work for ourselves
Understanding how organisations operate
Understanding the nature of the global economy and its impact on individuals and society
Area C: Career Building
Competency 7: Secure/create and maintain work
This career management competency is mainly about:
Understanding the importance of personal qualities in creating/getting/keeping work
Demonstrating creative ways of performing work activities
Articulating one’s skills to others
Understanding that skills and experiences are transferable to various work settings
Being able to work/collaborate with people who are different from ourselves
Developing work search tools and skills
Knowing how to locate, interpret and use labour market information
Demonstrating employability skills
Knowing about services or initiatives that support people’s transition from high school to work or further education and training
Understanding the value of volunteer work from a work search perspective
Competency 8: Make career-enhancing decisions
This career management competency is mainly about:
Understanding how choices are made
Understanding how our personal beliefs and attitudes affect our decisions
Being aware of what might interfere with attaining our goals and developing strategies to overcome these
Knowing how to apply problem-solving strategies
Being able to explore alternatives in decision-making situations
Understanding that our career path reflects a series of choices
Demonstrating the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to assess work and learning opportunities
Being able to develop a range of creative scenarios supportive of our preferred future
Being able to evaluate the impact of our decisions on ourselves and others
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Area C: Career Building (continued)
Competency 9: Maintain balanced life and work roles
This career management competency is mainly about:
Being aware of the various roles we may have
Being aware of the responsibilities linked to each of our roles
Understanding how these different roles require varying amounts of energy, participation, motivation, and so on
Understanding how our various life and work roles impact upon our preferred future or lifestyle
Determining the value of work, family and leisure activities for ourselves
Being able to determine the kind of work, family and leisure activities we feel might contribute to a balanced life
Competency 10: Understand the changing nature of life and work roles
This career management competency is mainly about:
Understanding the changing life roles of men and women in work and family settings
Understanding how contributions, both inside and outside the home, are important to family and society
Exploring non-traditional life and work scenarios and examining the possibility of considering such scenarios for ourselves
Being aware of stereotypes, biases and discriminatory behaviours that limit women and men in certain work roles
Demonstrating attitudes, behaviours and skills that help to eliminate gender bias and stereotyping
Competency 11: Understand, engage in and manage the career-building process
This career management competency is mainly about:
Being able to define our preferred future and revisit it on a constant basis
Being able to build career scenarios in step with our preferred future
Understanding the importance of setting goals
Being able to set career goals reflective of our preferred future
Being able to develop career plans in step with our preferred future and to pursue them
Being able to create and maintain a career portfolio
Understanding how risk taking and positive attitudes are important to our career-building process
Knowing how to plan for and apply coping strategies or new career scenarios during transitional periods (eg, starting a family, retirement, or losing a job)
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