Guidance Community Discussion Space

The seminar will provide an overview and background on the New Deal for Young People; outline the role and responsibilities of New Deal Advisers and the processes employed for choosing which clients to help and support; and consider good practice in Option placement.  It will also provide an overview of employers’ involvement
in the programme, including recruitment procedures and practices, and outline the implications for practitioners
working with this particular client group. 

Target audience

This seminar will be appropriate for senior managers, managers, human resource professionals, researchers, advisers and community groups.

Fee

This event is free of charge. Booking essential.  See attached flyer for booking details. 

The UK public service is focusing more and more on ‘evidence based’ practice to ensure value for money and value added to service provision.  Guidance related organisations are also increasingly expected to provide evidence on their practices and processes and on the impact of their work.

Aims and objectives

This event will provide an overview of the published evidence on the benefits of career guidance within the UK and further a field.  Delegates will be invited to reflect on existing policies and practices within their own organisation in order to help assess the range and quality of existing data. Exploration of other sources of evidence whose full potential has not yet been fully realised will be examined.  The seminar will draw upon recent findings published by the Canadian Career Development Foundation that demonstrates the potential value of hidden sources of evidence on the benefits of career guidance, including that held by practitioners.  Plans for a new CeGS national project, conducted in association with the Canadian Research Working Group for Evidence-based Practice in Career Development, will be outlined. Organisations will be invited to actively participate, where appropriate.

Target audience

This seminar will be appropriate for senior managers, managers, practitioners, researchers and stakeholder/social partners who have an interest in design, delivery and measurement of the outcomes of career resources and services.

Fee
The delegate fee for this event is £99 + VAT (appropriate discounts are available)
Booking form from CeGS website www.derby.ac.uk/cegs and 01332 591267

Clients, including challenging clients, often test the skills of guidance professionals.  New methodologies, techniques and tools are often needed to provide the most effective support for clients.  'Motivational Interviewing' is one such methodology.  Originally developed for guidance for people in prisons, it has since been used for a wide range of clients, including those with drug problems.  The techniques of motivational interviewing are valuable for many clients including more “average” clients who may need support from a different model of guidance. 

Aims and objectives

This workshop will provide an introduction to the purpose and techniques of motivational interviewing.  It will enable participants to explore the optimum situations in which to use this methodology and it will review the client groups who may benefit most from this approach. 

Target audience

This workshop is appropriate for:
• guidance practitioners working with clients of all ages;
• practitioners focusing on support with challenging client groups; and
• training managers.

Fee

The fee for this event is £49 + VAT (appropriate discounts available)

Booking form and further details available from the CeGS website

My findings suggest that organisations with this commitment do actively recruit and retain older workers; however, the extent of proactivity seems to relate to the size of the organisation and amount of financial resources available.  Has anybody else studied this area? 

Professors Jenny Bimrose and Jim Sampson gave their Inaugural Professorial Lectures as part of Guidance Week held at Derby University in June.  Their lectures have been produced as Occasional Papers and can be viewed at CeGS website

Jenny Bimrose's Paper, titled 'The Changing Context of Career Practice: Guidance, Counselling or Coaching?', focuses on the consequences of policy change on the training, continuing professional development and occupational identity of the practitioners who deliver services in England.  It provides an overview of labour market changes, considers the concept of occupational identity and presents research from an on-going qualitative, longitudinal case study of effective guidance.  

Jim Sampson's Paper, 'Promoting Continuous Improvement in Delivering Career Resources and Services', examines factors that influence continuous improvement in the design and delivery of career resources and services.

You can also learn about the Development of Career Scotland's Service Delivery Framework by reading an Occasional Paper written by Nick Fairweather, Doug Govan and Marlene McGlynn.  It is designed to be of use to organisations that are interested in exploring the adoption of similar models of service delivery.  Click here to read more

These Papers are highly recommended.  Read on and share your comments...  I'm interested to hear your thoughts!     

Dr Patrick Boateng is Principal Personnel Officer at Derbyshire County Council.   He has been actively involved with equality and diversity issues both in local government and the voluntary sector for a number of years, and has extensive experience in equality and diversity management, personnel management, industrial relations, and community development.

Dr Boateng’s findings indicate that young people from black and minority ethnic groups are over-represented amongst young people participating in the New Deal despite having higher qualification levels.  They are also more likely to find themselves in poorer outcomes (for example, less stable employment).   A number of factors help explain this, including the role of New Deal Advisors, the attitudes of employers and the absence of practises associated with engagement strategies.  

What are the implications of these findings for guidance professionals working with young people?  Dr Boateng advocates a model of successful option placement in his presentation (see above) that combines careers advice and guidance, specialist advice and guidance on dominant personal issues and basic skills training (plus others!)  What do you think? 

Further information about the CGRF is available on the CeGS website