6.1 Introduction
In the previous chapter, I presented my data findings and main codes derived from grounded theory method (Strauss and Corbin, 1990) that subsequently formed the basis of my model of professional identity. Before presenting the model in this chapter, I will examine the links between the codes and the theoretical concepts I considered in chapters three and five. The aim is to critically evaluate the ways in which existing knowledge of, and discourse concerning, the professional identity of careers guidance practitioners is being appraised and extended, so that the contribution of my thesis is clearly identified.
Part of the genesis of my research was to address the prevailing discourses regarding careers guidance: that of a fragmented profession, with disempowered and disconnected practitioners who lack a shared sense of professional identity, and whose orientation is to their organisation rather than a wider sense of shared professionalism. In addition, the literature concerning the development of the profession, and its practitioners, is often informed by functionalist and power perspectives, and overlooks individual agency. These perspectives are consistent with the oppositional, mangerialist/practitioner paradigm common to the debates concerning public sector professions (e.g., Evetts, 2005). In challenging these more general perspectives, my thesis has used strong structuration (Stones, 2005) as an analytical perspective to explore what practitioners actually do and how they conceive of, and express, their sense of agency and professional identity. Instead of assuming an ontology-in- general, both in relation to the effects of government policies and an assumed, more general definition of professional identity, this thesis examines the ontic level (Ibid) of practitioners’
187 day-to-day practices, and the features of their identity. The application of this theoretical perspective is unique in the literature concerning careers guidance.
The discussion that follows is structured so that each main code that emerged from the data presented in the previous chapter is discussed. Each section considers much of what is already understood about the profession; and the ways in which the codes I have generated, and my main theoretical perspective critically evaluates the limitations of this existing knowledge.
6.2 Motivation to enter the profession
In considering the first main code, motivation to enter the profession, some of the perspectives considered in chapter two are relevant here, particularly those that have created an impression that careers guidance may not seem an appealing profession to enter at all. The entry routes seem confusing and fragmented, and appear to depend on which sector one wants to enter. Required qualifications and training routes are contingent and varied, too. Whilst working in the statutory sector in England from the 1970s to 1999, practitioners were expected (but not legally required) to have the DipCG (Peck, 2004), the arrival of
Connexions heralded a new qualification framework as discussed in chapter two, such as a changing pattern of the already established NVQ-based programmes alongside the new QCG. For schools in England, (and, indeed, FE and HE) there is still no legally required
qualification standard, despite intense lobbying by the CDI and its predecessor, the ICG. Robert’s (2013) very bleak view of the state of the profession, especially in schools, is indicative of careers guidance’s apparently damaged reputation.
And yet - the research participants’ narratives showed a different view. For those actively seeking to change their occupation (n=11), then careers guidance represented more appealing, more definite, more authentic work than that held previously. Common to all
188 these accounts was the very strong sense of wanting to help people, and make a difference to their decisions about their lives. More crucially, the profession represented an opportunity for the research participants to exercise their agency and autonomy to help clients as they are, as in Kantian language, as ends in themselves (Norman, 1998). This motivation is in direct contrast to more managerially-orientated roles such as HR, which view employees as the means to achieve business objectives. In addition, the research participants’ common aim of helping others in an ethical way is in direct contract to the functionalist expectations of careers guidance as discussed in chapter two, such as acting as mere gatekeepers to employment and training opportunities.
Giddens’s (1984) concept of duality is instructive here, too. In conceiving careers guidance as offering the opportunity to work more ethically and authentically, then the research participants had not simply swallowed societal views towards, or governmental expectations of, the profession. In this sense, one can say that they are carrying very clear views on what guidance should achieve for clients: expectations, and indeed agency, that they enact when engaging with whichever organisational structure they are employed within. This central question of the precise relationship between agency and structure, as explored in chapter three, is thus key here, particularly when analysing the skills and motivations the research participants are mobilising in their everyday practices. Bourbieu’s concept of habitus (1989) also offers a further perspective here in relation to the research participants’ desire to become careers guidance practitioners – that is, they were seeking a different work environment, one that would allow them to embody more authentic ways of being in their work. It was as if they had been searching for a more fulfilling relationship between their frustrated agency and the employment structures: one that was offered by careers guidance.
Before moving onto the next two main codes, a further point regarding agency is worth considering here. Stones (2005) identified five aspects of this concept, including the
189 notion of shifting horizons for action, and an agent’s creative abilities. This is why, in part, the main code of motivation to enter the profession identifies activechange to occupational context. That most of the research participants actively chose the profession for what it offers, and were able to realise this aim, shows how effectivethey were in realising their goals. This point further strengthens the view of active, knowledgeable social actors
(Giddens, 1984) as they entered and then continued to work within careers guidance provider settings.
6.3 Job satisfactions and dissatisfactions
With most the research practitioners so motivated and primed, however, the reality of organisationally-orientated performativity (Banks, 2006) of much public sector provision, not just careers guidance, could have disappointed and disillusioned the practitioners. Based on research considered in chapter two, such as Colley et al. (2010), one might have expected to encounter such views expressed by the research participants. As the data show, this view was challenged by the prevailing level and strength of satisfaction that I encountered in the
narratives of all but two of the nineteen research participants. These findings reflect in part the benefits of the research method I adopted: one that enabled me to really listen to and immerse myself in the data, so that the particular, ontic level (Stones, 2005) of everyday practices emerged in ways that also revealed commonalities, regardless of the provider setting. The following key aspects are particularly notable in the generation of my thesis.
Firstly, the research participants expressed both a fundamental satisfaction in helping clients with their career choices; and being able to do so. In this way, nearly all of the research participants (n=17) expressed a powerful sense of satisfaction and agencyin having the scope and autonomy to work with clients in ways that made a difference. Again, the pattern that emerged from the data is very much against the prevailing view expressed in the
190 literature in chapter two, where performance targets have the effect of demotivating and disempowering practitioners. As the data from this study indicates, the research participants enjoyed the ways in which they could use their sense of agency to help clients in ethical ways. This links to a further key point, and one which the attention to the precise details of the research participants’ narratives afforded, even for the two people who did express dissatisfaction with their role. All drew satisfaction, and affirmation from client feedback, whether that was formally sought or informally volunteered. In this way, the satisfaction gained from realising a desired occupational value – helping clients ethically – was
heightened and validated by such feedback, and was not necessarily dependent on managerial
recognition. This was particularly so for those from schools, and NCS/adult guidance settings. As the research participants worked in what they described as client-centred ways, the clients then responded positively to this approach, and thus affirmed its value. Further, the feedback strengthened the research participants’ confidence in their role and their sense of professional identity as being committed to client-centred careers guidance – a professional methodology and method that was not reliant on managerially-sanctioned reward systems.
Two further dimensions are also important to the sense of careers guidance agents, if I can use that term, which emerged from the study. As the data show, the research participants also highlighted their pride in being skilful: that interviewing clients in particular was not a common, everyday skill (Banks, 2006), but one that demanded expertise and commitment. This point will be examined further when the impact of qualifications on professional identity is considered later in this chapter. However, it is worth noting here, since the trait approaches to defining a profession considered in chapter two are not without merit (Millerson, 1964). Thus, the traits of the profession identified by the research participants were, in part, client interviewing, and its associated skills, e.g., active and deep listening (Egan, 2014). The other dimension alluded to in the data is the research participants’ conscious sense of adopting