Career theory is a daunting subject for most people, but it doesn’t have to be. I hope the information in this section is going to help you get to grips with theory, how and why theory works in career guidance and the development of career theories and related over the last century. Maybe you’ll even grow to like or love theory, if you don’t already!
A bit of ‘career’ history
The early days…
Theory around career guidance arguably officially started in 1908 with Frank Parsons, and has since then seen major developments and, quite frankly, a lot of progress and change, as has society. Theory has generally matched developments in the world of work, education and society at large in that it always has mirrored requirements of individuals in the world of work. In Parson’s time, this meant the needs of society ‘as a machine’ in the industrialised era at the start of the 20th century Europe, which was on the brink of it’s first industrialised war.
Career guidance in the 21st century
Career theory at the start of the 20th century differs starkly with the requirements of the early 21st century, where the jobmarket is increasingly highly technological, fragmented and uncertain in a very different way to that a century or so ago. Career guidance reflects this. The difference in attitude is one from ‘the good of the nation’ to that of ‘the good of the individual’. Career guidance doesn’t focus as much on ‘what the nation needs and wants’ as it does on ‘what the individual needs and wants’ in the first decades of the century and the new millenium.
Some considerations
It’s important to make a couple of considerations around theory however:
Different people categorise theories in a different way. No categorisation is fixed but I follow the one indicated in the learning outcomes for the Level 6 qualification in career guidance and career development, where appropriate.
Theories are not fixed on the day they become established. Theories continue to develop over time, either by the theorist (eg. Holland) or through the interpretation of others in the context of a new reality (eg the difference between the original conception of trait and factor and the way it’s interpreted now in a very different social and theoretical/philosophical context).
Equally, theories are not developed out of thin air but are always developed out of ‘what went before’ and ‘what is around’. They always have a history. Their development and conception can appear to be sudden, but it’s often difficult to pin down to a precise date, or even year.
The Timeline
The timeline on this page can therefore only offer a general idea of the development of career guidance theory and it is important to see it in that way, as an introduction and overview, rather than as a fixed model.
As an introduction to this, please feel free to explore the timeline below. There is a full index organised by theory and one organised by theorist on the next pages.
I have, as far as possible, classified theories using the different icons below. Classification is not always clearly possible or easy and some theories fall in between, or straddle, two or more categories. The categorisation I made is therefore slightly tenuous. It should fit in with the requirements for the Level 6 Qualification in Career Guidance, however.
Differentialism
Theories focusing on the needs or specific sociocultural groups
Learning theories
Developmentalism
Theories linked to unplanned events management
Motivational theories
Structuralism
Constructivism
Transition theories and theories of change
Opportunity Structure
Theories derived from psychology/psychotherapy/counselling
Vocational behaviour theories
Social Learning
Theories of decision making and avoidance
Community Interaction
Coaching theories
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General trend in focus in career guidance towards:
Decreasing career guidance theory and practice around a single aspect; eg.: the economy, stages of life, skills matching, etc…
Decreasing: Positivism – Modernism – Objectivism – Central position of society
*Even though the Psychology of Working Theory is described by Blustein himself as a theory of change, it incorporates and doesn’t exclude aspects or the application of other theories so is in effect a more holistic theory.
There seems to be a trend towards:
A more holistic practice
A counselling or coaching model (depending on part of the country, employer and resources, especially financial and time)
Increasing post modernism
Increasingly towards a holistic and subjectivist approach.
Let’s have a look at these theories in more detail to find out what they look like:
