Group guidance – is it time to flock together?

Abstract

This article calls for delivery models which encourage the collective career learning of groups to be brought to the centre stage of career guidance practice. It challenges the long term focus of the sector on the one-to-one guidance interview and considers why group work is seen as a support activity for the majority of practitioners. The group integrative narrative approach (GINA) which was developed by the author will be introduced as a model of small group work and its potential to act as a vehicle to steer group career learning will be discussed.

Group Career Coaching – A Critical Pedagogical Approach

“…This is amplified by the lack of literature relating to group work in the field of career guidance literature. Group work is, in effect, under researched and under developed and a lack of attention has been paid to developing models of practice (DiFabio & Maree, 2012;Meldrum, 2017;Offer, 2001;Thomsen, 2012;Westergaard, 2013). This has in practice led to career guidance in groups being predominately focused on the passive provision of information and the sharing of knowledge rather offering a space for an active, empowering colearning approach which group work should foster.…”

“…The collective career coaching model, which has been adapted from the Group Integrative Narrative Approach (Meldrum, 2017) was developed by the author over a number of years based on observations, research, reflections and practice made initially as a guidance practitioner and later as an educator and researcher in the field of career guidance and development. The model is illustrated in Figure 1.…”

“…There is a common purpose or goal that brings the group together and learners are given ample room to be actively engaged in the learning process throughout. It is able to therefore combine the benefits of group guidance (such as peer support and group learning) with counseling and coaching approach benefits (high quality interpersonal and social interactions) which are usually only possible with one-to-one interactions (Meldrum, 2017;Westergaard, 2013). Psychoeducational group work in the context of career development for the purpose of collectively empowering learners can be suited to all age populations.…”

“…Using critical pedagogy to challenge power imbalances and inequalities could be uncomfortable and create tensions between career practitioners, organizations and policy makers. Secondly, working in a group may not be suitable for all and some participants could gain more benefit from a group situation than others (Meldrum, 2017;Westergaard, 2013). This could create a challenge for the practitioner and highlights the need for training in the use of the model.…”

“…Career guidance, counseling and coaching practice over the years has predominantly been delivered on a one-to-one basis and focused on the development of practitioner-client relationship to facilitate growth at an individual level. Although group practice has often run in parallel to one-to-one interventions, little attention has been paid to it in the career development literature and it is often seen as a support activity (DiFabio & Maree, 2012;Lehman et al, 2015;Meldrum, 2017;Thomsen, 2012;Westergaard, 2013). Attempts to move group work to the forefront of practice have often been met with resistance and skepticism and promoted by policy makers as an efficiency saving rather than an innovation to practice.…”