Group Career Coaching – A Critical Pedagogical Approach

Abstract

The field of career development has been focused on one-to-one practice but recent years have seen a growth in the need for alternative approaches that are more effective at challenging inequality. Collective group-based models have been identified as addressing this need but little attention has been paid to developing group coaching in the literature. The collective career coaching approach, which is underpinned by a critical pedagogical theoretical base, is introduced in this article and it is proposed that this model is able to contribute toward steering the focus of career guidance practice toward the advancement of social justice.

How can we do this? An investigation of power constraints and other barriers to career development practitioners’ innovation in higher education

“…They largely draw on the 'career constructivism' of Savickas (2012) such as in a study by Maree (2019) that measured changes in a national career adaptability score following an intervention. Other studies such as by Westergaard (2013), build on coaching models or integrate coaching with counselling models (Meldrum, 2019). There is therefore inconsistent language and definition for such processes which adds to the difficulty of identifying relevant literature.…”

“…Yet the literature on group guidance says these innovations have not translated into practice. They refer to 'resistance and scepticism' among practitioners for guidance outside of the one-to-one model (Meldrum, 2019); practitioner 'risk and anxiety' with reflexive learning (Reid & West, 2016); and how a lack of literature on group work may indicate practitioner reluctance (Westergaard, 2013) (Stone et al, 2018). The research considered which factors impact CDPs decisionmaking around innovation in this careers service and how the practitioner data compared to opinions of CDP resistance to group guidance expressed in literature.…”

Agents for change: Reimagining emancipatory career guidance practices in Scotland

“…As explored above, there is a range of individual models of practice which career practitioners can draw on to develop their practice and the models can be adapted to incorporate emancipatory practices. In contrast, there has been a lack of models to support career development group work practice and, despite group work being a regular part of the role of most career practitioners, group work in the field has been neglected and its effectiveness is often inconsistent (McMahon and Watson, 2021;Meldrum, 2021;Westergaard, 2009;2013). In Scotland, inspection reports from various local authority areas undertaken by Education Scotland, including Edinburgh, have recommended group work should be developed due to inconsistent quality levels (Education Scotland, 2018).…”

Group Work in Career Development — Post-School Age Populations

“…Similar to part one of the special issue, there are consistent themes across the six articles, including four that focus on marginalized, disadvantaged, and underserved populations such as mid-to-latecareer adults who have been unemployed for six months or longer, couples from predominantly low-income, historically marginalized racial-ethnic (HMRE) backgrounds, persons with substance use disorders, veterans-in-transition out of the military, and junior counselor education faculty seeking tenure. Reflecting the use of group work to address the career needs of people experiencing challenging career development circumstances, the sixth of the articles (Meldrum, 2021) takes a critical pedagogical approach to consider how group work in a coaching context may advance social justice and the empowerment of participants. Collectively, these articles highlight systemic factors that can detrimentally impact the career development of post-school age populations and the need for career development to remain true to its social justice values.…”

“…To date, career development has focused primarily on the resource-intensive practice of working with individuals and much less on group work. In recognition of this dominant style of practice, Meldrum (2021) applied critical pedagogy to underpin a proposal for a collective career coaching model. Case studies of the model's application with marginalized long-term unemployed adults from an economically disadvantaged community and secondary school students who felt oppressed are provided.…”