The LMI Learning Blog [ weblog-forums view ] back to weblog view
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 The LMI Learning Blog :: discussion space for the LMI-Learning modules
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Weblog | 15 entries | 04-April-2007 | 4 authors |
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The role of LMI in guidance
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Blog Entry | 10 replies | 28-February-2005 | Lucy Marris |
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LMI in guidance - what are the issues?
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Discussion Topic | 1 reply | 01-Mar-2005 | jenny bimrose |
Even if some evidence exists (where is it?) to suggest that LMI is no longer a central feature of the guidance process, the reasons are complex and need teasing out. Is it training? Lack of practitioner interest? Workplace pressures and priorities exerted by employers on practitioners? Difficulties accessing reliable and comprehensive LMI? Other reasons? A combination?
I've also heard people at various events and in various forums express concern about the (supposed) diminished profile of LMI in the vocational guidance process. Longitudinal case study research we're undertaking here at Warwick has revealed that of the 50 practitioners participating in the research who were operating across varied professional contexts, 49 used some type of LMI. However, this research does not claim to be representative of all guidance practitioners. So - why is concern being voiced more generally and do we have the evidence to suggest that LMI is not being used in the guidance process? It's clear from Rachel's contribution that LMI is still being taught in initial training, but what of the profile its given in work-based routes to qualification? And to what extent do delivery contexts support (even require) that practitioners develop and up-date their LMI knowledge? I've often heard practitioners say that there is no longer a requirement placed on them to undertake a minimum number of employer visits and or job studies (as used to be the case). And even in contexts where this sort of contact is not necessarily ruled out, the pressures placed on practitioners to undertake client contact work makes routine visits to employing organisations virtually impossible. And then, of course, there's the problem of availability of LMI. In an earlier research project into LMI in guidance in which I was involved, practitioners explained how - even though all the LMI they could ever require was 'out there somewhere' - they lacked the time to research and retrieve this information from various sources and interpret it for their clients. These difficulties have informed the LMI Future Trends sectionof this website, as Sally-Anne indicates. Recently, I've been asked to provide an input for a national IAG conference on using LMI in guidance - so it has clearly been identifed as a need by the conference organisers. Could it be the case that, with the re-focusing agenda taking priority over the past few years, practitioners have had other priorities to deal with? And maybe we're seeing a re-evaluation of this approach with a new emphasis now placed on LMI in guidance?
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LMI in guidance: what are the issues? | Discussion Topic | 0 replies | 16-May-2005 | Marcus Offer |
I am glad that practitioners and trainers nowadays seem to treat LMI with much greater seriousness than in the days when I was in front-line practice. I believe that in the period 1970-1990, by contrast, it was a much less well-favoured area of practice, and that the stimulus for the present position came about at least in part through initiatives from the (then) DfEE in the mid-90s. This is, of course, a purely subjective impression but one based on many years of frontline experience as a practitioner and in-service trainer. Had we been better at this then, we might, I suggest, have been able to put up greater resistance to some of the things that happened to the profession during the 1990s, and, more importantly, have driven some of those changes rather than being driven by them. LMI - i.e. the ability to interpret and apply data about the labour market and its trends to meet individual needs in relation to choices in work and learning - seems to me to be the core expertise that career guidance professionals (whatever their actual job title) bring to the situation, and which distinguishes their unique contribution from that of personal counsellors, social workers, youth and community workers etc, all of whom do things that overlap at times with the functions of present-day careers workers, and who are often better trained to do them. Marcus Offer |
