Career learning and career learning environment in Dutch higher education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the effects of career development and guidance among students (age 17-23) enrolled in higher education in The Netherlands. First the paper explores whether the development of career competencies contribute to career identity, learning motivation, certainty of career choice and drop out, and also whether the learning environment affects these variables. In the study, four career competencies are identified: career reflection (reflective behavior), work exploration (exploring behavior), career action (pro-active behavior) and networking (interactive behavior). Aspects of the learning environment that are taken into account are practice- and inquiry-based curriculum and career guidance conversations. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire-based study was carried out among 4,820 students and 371 (school) career counsellors in 11 universities. Findings – The results show that career competencies are related to learning motivation, career identity, certainty of career choice and drop out threat. The learning environment also contributes to these outcome variables. Students who participate in a practice-based and inquiry-based curriculum, and who have helping conversations about their study with their teachers, feel more motivated for learning, are more certain of their career choice and are less likely to quit their study. Research limitations/implications – A limitation of this study is that, due to the cross-sectional design with no control group, no strong evidence for effectiveness can be presented. Moreover, the lack of well validated instruments limits the value of the results. The explained variance of the outcome variables, however, does indicate that there are relationships between career competencies and career learning environment on one hand, and career identity, learning motivation and certainty of choices on the other. Practical implications – Constructing and attributing meaning when engaging in these dialogues is of central importance; the development of personality traits and qualities only takes place when those learning find the content meaningful (and that is something quite different than content being considered “necessary”). In order to achieve such a learning environment within the dominant educational culture, transformative leadership is essential. Such leadership, however, is rare in Dutch universities of applied sciences until now. Social implications – Universities are increasingly acknowledging that they have a strong responsibility to guide students not only in their academic growth, but also in their career development. Universities – and especially universities of applied sciences – cannot leave this task to the public or private sector for two key reasons. First, universities are funded by the government and are therefore expected to prepare their students adequately for life in our individualized society as well as for the labor market. In the second place because organizations in the private and public sector often lack the knowledge and the motivation to guide young people on their career paths. Originality/value – A limitation found in the research, as well as in actual career interventions in schools, is that they focus on change in students’ knowledge, attitudes and decision-making skills, while students’ behaviors are not examined. Hughes and Karp (2004) maintain that research should focus on exploring the relationships between guidance interventions and positive students’ behavioral outcomes. Therefore, the paper concentrates – in search of the influence of school-based career interventions – not on decision-making skills, attitudes or knowledge but on actual career behavior, i.e. career competencies of students

5 succesfactoren voor LOB in het mbo

Als onderzoeker, trainer, bestuurder en moeder van twee kinderen zie ik - wat we allemaal merken - dat de arbeidsmarkt verandert. Beroepen verdwijnen, werk verandert en vaste banen komen minder voor. Jongeren moeten leren omgaan met onzekerheid in hun loopbaan. Ook onze samenleving verandert. Werk wordt niet alleen gezien als een bron van inkomen, maar ook als een manier van zingeving in het leven. Jongeren moeten in hun keuzes leren balanceren tussen eigen kwaliteiten en motieven (waar ze vaak nog achter moeten komen) en de veranderende arbeidsmarkt (die ze nog moeten leren kennen)

Bridging the Research-to-Practice Gap in Education: the design principles of mode-2 research innovating teacher education

Current changes in society address new demands on professionals’ ability to respond to new and changing circumstances quickly and adequately (Coonen, 2006; Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012; 2002; OCW/EZ, 2009). This implies the necessity of continuous development to improve professional performance throughout the entire career. This general professional demand has consequences for teacher education (Darling-Hammond & Foundation, 2008; Scheerens, 2010). To support this lifelong professional learning, the development of an inquiry-based attitude (hereinafter: IA) is specifically recommended as a goal in teacher education (e.g. Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). In Dutch teacher education at both initial and post-initial level, it is assumed that IA will allow teachers to create new knowledge of practice continuously with the aim to develop themselves as a professional and to improve their school context (Onderwijsraad, 2014). To be able to get more understanding about IA as a developable goal in teacher education, Meijer, Geijsel, Kuijpers, Boei and Vrieling (2016) conducted a multiannual empirical study and refined IA from an ill-defined global concept into a concept with reliable and valid characteristics. Their results indicated IA as a concept with two dimensions: an internal reflective dimension and an external knowledge-sourcing dimension. The internal dimension concerns intentional actions to acquire new professional modes of understanding and behaviour. The external dimension concerns intentional actions to gain new information and knowledge from relevant knowledge- sources. Our goal in this study was to create knowledge to support teacher educators’ in their pedagogical approaches to stimulate their students’ IA. However, the transfer of results from educational research into educational practice has proven to be complex (e.g.Broekkamp & van Hout-Wolters, 2007; OCW, 2011). To help bridge this gap, practice-based scientific mode-2 research design is presented as a research method that can help (Martens, Kessels, De Laat, & Ros, 2012). The assumption in this method is that partnership between researchers and practitioners will contribute to creating meaningful, generalisable knowledge and contribute to the transfer of this knowledge into practice. We therefore used this research design in our two- year follow-up study. In partnership with educators, we designed, tested and redesigned a professional development programme and we conducted a multiple case study. In this study (Meijer, Kuijpers, Boei, Vrieling, & Geijsel, in press) we gained insight into specific characteristics of professional development interventions that encourage teacher educators’ deep learning in stimulating IA-development of their students

Een loopbaan van betekenis: een introductie

Dit boek ‘Een loopbaan van betekenis’ is samengesteld aan de hand van het gelijknamige congres ter gelegenheid van het afscheid van Frans Meijers, die 12,5 jaar als lector aan De Haagse Hogeschool werkzaam is geweest. Dit congres is het vijfde congres in een reeks over loopbanen die het lectoraat Pedagogiek van de Beroepsvorming heeft georganiseerd, en waarin Frans en ik sinds 2007 als lectoren samen optrekken. In dit boek beschrijven tal van auteurs vanuit hun persoonlijke expertise hoe een loopbaan van betekenis kan worden vormgeven en mogelijk gemaakt, en hoe het werk van Frans van belang is geweest op de loopbaanbegeleiding in het onderwijs. In deze introductie ga ik in op de loopbaan van betekenis vanuit loopbaanconcepten en uitspraken van de onlangs overleden ‘denker des vaderlands’ filosoof René Gude, waarbij ik kort de bijdragen van de auteurs weergeef

Studiekeuze:Loopbaanontwikkeling en -begeleiding

In Nederland is loopbaanbegeleiding onderdeel van het onderwijsprogramma (Ministerie OCW, 2010). Volgens de Onderwijsraad is een goede loopbaanoriëntatie essentieel om lerenden eerder de arbeidsmarkt te laten betreden en te voorkomen dat lerenden verkeerde studiekeuzes maken (Inspectie van het onderwijs, 2012). Daarbij wordt het belangrijk geacht dat lerenden hun eigen ontwikkeling leren sturen in het licht van de voortdurende veranderingen waarmee ze in hun latere werk te maken krijgen (Nieuwenhuis, 2012)

Testing times: careers market policies and practices in England and the Netherlands

Careers work is a very political business. Since the early 1990s, successive governments in England and the Netherlands have persistently challenged those working in the careers sector to demonstrate the educational, social and economic value and impact of their work. In this context, the marketisation of career guidance policies and practices has expanded, with a growing assumption that market-based goods and services ensure greater responsiveness to consumer choice and offer better and/or more innovative services for lower prices. In this article, we do not intend to give a comparison of trends in England and the Netherlands. We only examine the impact of market principles applied to career guidance provision in both countries. Findings indicate such provision for young people is on a steady decline. Lessons learned from these two nations indicate that a market for quality career services does not exist in schools and colleges. As a result, marketisation and privatisation of career services have led to an impoverished and fragmented supply of services. Greater attention by governments in career guidance policies for young people (and adults) is necessary to reduce the widening gap between ‘the haves and have nots’ in society. Failure to reduce labour market mismatch through new forms of careers dialogue is not only damaging and costly for individuals, families and employers, but for the taxpayer too

The relationship between career competencies, career identity, motivation and quality of choice

In this article we focus on the effects of career education and guidance among students (ages 12–19) enrolled in prevocational and secondary vocational education in The Netherlands. Our study included 3,499 students and 166 teachers in 226 classes in 34 schools. The results showed that career competencies positively contributed to learning motivation, experienced quality of study choice, experienced fit of choice with learning tasks, and experienced fit of internship. Career identity positively contributed to career outcomes, and career dialogue contributed more than traditional interventions have with respect to career outcomes