In professional development, such as in this autoethnographic case study, behaviour is shaped along the global lines of academic knowledge, relationship building within the training context and ethical practice. The creative analysis of heutagogic learning collapses features about shaping these elements. This is what emerges when the intern's mental script about diversity is provoked. The findings about the diversity elements age, culture and gender are that like-mindedness can cross all the boundaries attributed to the phenomenon of diversity. Acknowledging the power of like- mindedness to overcome division by diversity attributes, means a professional counsellor should attend to a broad-base conceptualisation of diversity. In analysing heutagogic learning, diversity emerges as a smeared concept in professional development. Empathy is basic to professional behaviour (Bolton, 2010; Coetzee & Roythorne-Jacobs, 2007). The creative feature which emerges, requires that the client must be accepted as product of the prevailing social setting. Empathy becomes more than walking in the client’s shoes, because the professional career counsellor has to consider the social system within which their microsubsystem is an element. The memescape, Figure 5.2, paints the contexts and the extent of the ecosystem, which should be considered in career conversations and professional development.
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This memescape shows the intern should develop a willingness to be empathic and socially aware, to treat people equally. The memescape also shows the intern should be willing to act as an activist on the client's behalf when the need arises. Heutagogic learning facilitates the concern that professional training does not reflect the socio- cultural demands of the societies that IOP is suppose to serve, as put forward by (Bakker et al., 2000). It also shows that diversity is best served by a strength approach to facilitate the process of generating meaning, affirming learning and healing as Rapmund and Moore (2002) suggest.
The professional career counsellor must have a deep knowledge of career decision making, career development and the equal treatment of people. One feature which emerges when heuatagogic learning is creatively analysed, focuses on the gap between study and working. During the internship the intern found that reflecting on the career gaps of clients created feedback to the intern’s own dilemma in negotiating a way to break into the career counselling market. The finding is that even if the design of career path strategies stretches into the future, the discussion of the disjunctions must take place early in the process, and not close to the time when it becomes a crises, as shown in the line sketch, Figure 5.3. The findings differ from the literature discussion in how the gaps are negotiated. In the literature the solution is skewed towards strategies to supplement theory with experience and improve employability. In the findings the disjunctions are negotiated with early career information and self-directive learning. It is the same problem, but negotiated from different developmental perspectives.
The composite memescape, Figure 5.3, shows how the career counsellor is integrated into her/his ecosystem and strategies to cope are forged under external pressures.
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Figure 5.3: Career disjunctions and the gaps between career path modes
The emerging reality is that IOP students must consider strategies to enter into the profession when they enter into their academic career. Also, career counsellors should provoke their clients' career stories with this reality early in the sessions. Thus the intern may use the strategy in Figure 5.4 as it emerged from the dataset.
Figure 5.4: Career counselling strategy to cope with career disjunctions
The research constructs less effective and more effective strategies as presented in the Table 5.1 below. Several studies show the importance of well designed strategies because of the influence of individual characteristics and the organisational transfer climate (Gist et al., 1991; Holton, 1996; Holton et al., 1997; Holton et al., 2000).
Table 5.1: Effective career counselling strategies to bridge career disjunctions
Less effective More effective
Act as it happens Consider disjunctions early (ELC 66/97) Clarify career patterns Coconstruct career vision (ELC 139)
Design around career disjunctions Hunting for a job Experiment with careers (ELC 97) Use quantitative tools (outcomes-based
training, quality management systems)
Use qualitative tools (reflective writing, portfolios of learning, role play...)
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The structure design also contributes to the uniqueness of this internship. Much of the structure encountered was an aggregate of historic accidents which became the default structure. This included compliance rules, policies, procedures and quality management by ticking boxes. These default structural elements tended to be static with well defined outcomes, such as time sheets. From the research it is clear that the dynamic learning environment and generative elements, such as reflective writing lead to a variation of outcomes, or decisions. These outcomes are dynamic and by nature less predictable within the ecosystem. But the professional outcomes which emerge from the system can be evaluated and can with feedback improve professionalism in service. The finding is that using the static modernist structure and generative structure in combination, improves the quality of professional practice over time as in Figure 5.5.
Kolb (1984) and Hansen (1996) propagate a proper relationship among learning, work, and other knowledge generating life activities. Thus, reflective practice is not learning in isolation, but requires structure. During the internship, the dynamic structure was developed by the managing supervisor and included standard bureaucratic measures to appease the DEI and the HPCSA. The structure is embedded in an andragogic training environment, and with reflective writing and feedback a dynamic structure is introduced. In Figure 5.5 static structure is presented by the black box near the bottom and dynamic structure by the partly shaded box below it.
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