ABSTRACT

Theorists and researchers in the field of career guidance and counselling are calling for a paradigm shift for career construction in the twenty-first century. Constructing a career biography may not be a meaningful concept to those whose first consideration is livelihood, the getting of their daily bread; thus contextual issues must be engaged with critically. This chapter outlines the research project, describes the context within which it took place and explains the methodology and the main themes from the analysis. The terms career guidance, career development and career counselling are often used interchangeably and yet they have different meanings. Social systems include health and education provision, social welfare, policing and so on. The chapter acknowledges the difficulties inherent in 'innovation' when the value of a particular approach cannot be 'counted' and it ends by upholding the call for interdisciplinary, psychosocial approaches to career counselling, for teaching, for research and for practice.