CareerSteer – careers test for career choice www.careersteer.org
Careers Education Assignment: Spring 1998.
Diploma in Careers Guidance, College of Guidance Studies, Swanley.
Cole Davis
'Careers education can only function effectively from within a
student-centred perspective'.
Given that the ambiguity of the term 'student-centred' will be
central to the discussion of its usefulness as a perspective, it
is necessary to provide a definition of careers education which
does not prejudice the argument overmuch. This being the case,
'the development of self-awareness in relation to opportunities,
decision-making and transitions within careers', based on the
DOTS model (Law and Watts, 1977), will be posited as providing
balance: it interlocks the intrapersonal with factors which could
be taught in diverse ways. Student-centred learning
(henceforward SCL) will first be examined within British
education in general before narrowing the focus onto careers
education.
Brandes and Ginnis (1986), 'undeniably and incurably biased',
attempt to convince the reader of the benefits of SCL as opposed
to an apparently inflexible and uncaring entity called
didacticism. Such a discussion of relative merits is of dubious
utility when Law's taxonomy of four teaching styles (1996) is
considered.
Didacticism may be defined as systematic teaching, either
strictly controlled or offering rigidly structured programmes.
Whilst this may mean lectures or reading a tract, didacticism
does not preclude cyclical interactions between teacher and
student and such apparently enlightened approaches as open
learning and Socratic questioning. Whilst running the risk of
being insufficiently responsive to individual need and readiness,
didacticism is an effective, economic way of meeting 'the need
for irreducible learning that everybody needs' (Law, 1996).
Participative teaching does not differ in its assumptions,
still being characterised by 'expert consultation', but stresses
the efficacy of active learning as a route to better
understanding and increased interest.
Experiential teaching, however, often challenges the tenets of
content-based learning. The assumption is that the individual
already has a stock of wisdom and resources (c.f. Ausubel et al,
1968; Illich, 1971; Hargreaves, 1972). Students should be
interested and at a stage when they are ready to learn. 'No
right answer' is offered because of individuals' personal
standpoints, with characteristically neutral or less intrusive
facilitation. Recognition of students' individuality brings in
another important strand, that of empowerment, both for students
and teachers.
Experience-based methods provide learning within realistic
contexts.
Which of the latter three teaching styles constitutes SCL?
Experienced-based methods may be discarded: they could be
participative or experiential (or didactic, particularly when the
workplace confines the student to observation). (c.f. DES, 1981).
Brandes and Ginnis (1986) portray SCL as participative (active
learning) and experiential (students controlling the process).
The two teaching styles are not necessarily enmeshed, however.
To cite extremes, active learning may be dictated and students
may demand to be lectured to.
Apart from these possible logical contradictions, a blend
which allows any number of hybrid methods or variations in
emphasis causes other problems. If they are both practised, how
can we be sure that both active and experiential learning are
'active ingredients'. No standard version of SCL may be
promulgated, as varied practice affects validation research.
Confounding variables are found in abundance in research into
school effectiveness; 12 key factors follow (Mortimore et al,
1988).
1. Purposeful leadership of the staff by the head.
2/3. Involvement of deputy head and teachers (curricular planning
and guidelines, decision-making).
4. Consistency among teachers.
5. Structured sessions (with some independence and freedom).
6. Intellectually challenging teaching (including problem-
solving).
7. Work-centred environment (includes feedback; low noise and
not excessive student movement).
8. Limited focus within lessons (only one curriculum area).
9. Maximum communication between teachers and pupils (flexible
approach blending individual, class and group interaction as
appropriate, including class discussion).
10. Record-keeping linked to planning and assessment.
11. Parental involvement.
12. Positive climate (more reward/praise than
punishment/control, enthusiastic teachers, involvement of
staff and children in activities outside the classroom).
Aside from the problem of analysing SCL factors, the research
suggests that leadership, structure and teacher empowerment seem
to be primary structural factors in educational success. Another
study produced similar results (Doyle, 1987).
In terms of educational delivery, an enlightened didactic
approach seems to encompass a degree of active learning.
Students would appear to be engaged but not necessarily in
control. Flexibility in delivery methods will be discussed
shortly; point 8, with its relevance to careers education, later.
The conflicting evidence on school effectiveness has led to
claims that methods are less important than ethos. It could be,
however, that 'positive climate', especially when placed as a
twelfth variable (assuming ordering by strength of effect), may
be an emergent property.
Even if Bernstein's notion of 'open' and 'closed' schools
(1971) is accepted, the query over the nature of SCL still nags.
The inference that an open school is one with less rigid
boundaries may mean cooperation with, for example, experienced-
based learning (or active learning) but not student empowerment.
If ethos is accepted as the important factor, then - given its
essential subjectivity - political factionalism is likely to
emerge at various levels. At local level, competing schools may
lay claim to being student-centred: the vague 'in favour of the
student' elicits emotive reactions, but may apply to any
programme.
Alternatively, 'progressive' versus 'reactionary' staffroom
politics may be disguised as caricatures of teaching styles.
There may be genuine debates about the value of interweaved
subjects in lessons or group run activities (see headteacher Mary
Hanby's dramatic change of heart, Lightfoot, 1998). The use of
phonics and the highly polarised debate over history - facts or
viewpoints - are also the weapons of prolonged skirmishes fought
on the pages of the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.
Whilst the 'back to basics' faction seem most vociferous, and
usually supported by government (before and after the
Conservative defeat of May 1997), they are not the only side to
attempt to jettison all traces of alternative perspectives.
Brandes & Ginnis (1986) refer to SCL 'trust' factors such as
reliability, confidentiality, keeping agreements and warmth. In
seeking sole ownership of these attributes, which belong to all
methods and none, they indirectly propagate an immense slur on
many admirable traditional teachers.
One clear advance is that modern schools do provide a careers
education. Another is that they tend to take more than a
passing interest in making learning interesting. This
preoccupation with motivating students is certainly part of SCL.
As the earlier discussion suggests, however, SCL's chosen
methods may not necessarily be superior. Perhaps the success is
in the variety being offered, with all four of the teaching
styles being offered at different times, as appropriate.
Law (1996) suggests that varied methods increase student
interest; that they provide 'depth, breadth and progression' -
this is supported by psychological experiments demonstrating the
superiority of 'elaborative' methods of human memory storage
(e.g. Craik & Lockhart, 1972); and that they may cater for
different learning styles (c.f. Kolb, 1984; although see also the
plea for individualised learning by the advocate of 'Multiple
Intelligences', Howard Gardner, 1998).
Assuming that a variety of teaching methods is most effective
for keeping students interested and well-informed, it is time to
apply this assumption to careers education.
In terms of content-based, didactic teaching, Law (1996)
discusses the 'pivotal' learning programme. Important but
limited in application, this occurs on a cyclical basis to
refresh and build on prior learning. It is currently typically
taught by careers teachers.
Law also considers a 'foundation' programme, in which
education takes into account much more dynamic aspects of the
world, including decision-making and the self. This may be part
of Personal and Social Education (PSE), akin to an 'enclosed'
model of careers education (Watts, 1990).
'Connecting programmes' are another manifestation of careers
education, drawing sustenance from all parts of the curriculum.
"Geography portrays opportunity, literature explores
self, mathematics assesses probability, science
suggests causality; all other subjects inform career
development in such ways. The connecting-programme
strategy makes these links explicit." (Law, 1996).
The school environment is likely to be crucial to the choice
between or selection from these methods. Leaving aside what may
be the rhetoric of 'open' and 'closed' schools, some schools may
be more attuned to some methods than others, but not necessarily
within a didactic versus student-centred dichotomy or continuum.
Whilst departments cooperate with each other and careers
practitioners, they may prefer only to do so within areas of
experience-based learning such as links with local industries or
projects within local firms. These may be relevant and may
involve active learning, but may often preclude student
empowerment or individualised work. (DES, 1981)
Schools may compartmentalise, seeing active learning as
appropriate for physics and chemistry, facilitative approaches as
the preserve of PSE.
Linking (Law's connecting programme) may burden teachers
coping with various initiatives which are all 'vital' and must at
all costs be adapted to all parts of the curriculum. For
example, applied to further education, it may be added to the
I.T., numeracy and communication core skills to the confusion of
GNVQ students and lecturers nationwide.
Where linkage does exist, it should try to avoid burdening by
being integral to the scheme of learning rather than
supplementary. Indeed, pressures on teachers to meet the demands
of the national curriculum will mean that careers topics need to
be relevant to the subjects and, as a corollary, the method and
frequency of careers input is likely to vary with subject and
learning stage. There is, for example, no reason why Labour
Market Information should not be part of geographical and
mathematical analyses when readily understood. Uneasy mixes of
subjects, however, as implied by point 8 of the research into
effective schools (Mortimore et al, 1988), may have an adverse
effect on teaching (Lightfoot, 1998).
An eclectic approach by a school to maximise its own strengths
and those of the surrounding community may be the best way, if
one assumes that there is no one best way! This does not mean
detachment from national standards, as structures in place for
records of achievement may form the continuous thread between
disparate methods. This may well be extended to higher education
students in the form of 'personal progress files' (Clare, 1998).
Some exponents of SCL go beyond individualised planning,
recommending the participation of students in the curricular
process (c.f. Brandes and Ginnis, 1986; Bates et al, 1984; and
Hargreaves & Hopkins, 1991, for a more diluted approach). As
research also favours teacher participation in curricular
development planning (Mortimore, et al, 1988), the discussion
moves to empowerment.
The question of empowerment is embedded in cultural
assumptions about the nature of education, and careers education
specifically. At a societal level of analysis, social theory may
be viewed in the light of four mutually exclusive paradigms,
offering alternative views of social reality: the functionalist,
interpretive, radical humanist and radical structuralist
paradigms (Burrell & Morgan, 1979).
Functionalism implies a clearly understandable and even
regulated social order, as exemplified by the structural
functionalism of The Social System (Parsons, 1951). Vocational
guidance may be viewed as a form of social control, adapting
individuals to the opportunities appropriate for them. Ken
Roberts' calls for a good employment service, or employment
exchange (1977) reflects this functionality and would no doubt be
complemented by a careers education which informs of
opportunities in accordance with individuals' status.
Empowerment for teachers would no doubt be considered on the
merits of its efficacy, rather than on principle; empowerment of
students would be less likely on either count.
The interpretive paradigm adopts a subjectivist viewpoint. As
with functionalist thinking, an overall tendency of this paradigm
is to align with the status quo, at least in terms of not
positively adopting a rationale of social change. This paradigm
may underpin concepts of a liberal education (Watts, 1996), with
its pluralist acknowledgement of diverse aims and dissent
(Dahrendorf, R., 1959). Guidance facilitates but does not
influence within a nondirective approach, strongly influenced by
Carl Rogers' (1961) counselling model. This may have unfortunate
results for the fostering of non-traditional gender roles, as
adherence to a non-directive approach means that students'
interests and preferences may be taken at face value. Such a
perspective may support experiential learning but is unlikely to
further empowerment in a political sense; teachers may not
necessarily become empowered in terms of real control, although
they may well be asked to share responsibility.
Radical humanism, also subjectivist, uses human consciousness
as a tool of social critique. The oppression of ideology, with
its mental prisons of alienation and false consciousness, is the
stuff of the early Karl Marx (1975). Entrants to the workforce
are habituated to the requirements of capital (Brown, 1985).
Guidance damps down excessive aspirations (Clark, 1960). A
proactive progressive stance, however, would mean coaching and
assertiveness training (Watts, 1996), which would signify
energetic competition within the system. Whilst a humanist
perspective may be seen as 'at the roots of the guidance
culture' (Law, 1996), the progressive approach may be criticised
for reinforcing the status hierarchy, providing no benefits for
the most disadvantaged, whilst attempting to alter the
distribution of benefits (Watts, 1996). Participative teaching
would probably be characteristic, with circumscribed empowerment.
Radical structuralism is as positivist in its methodology as
the functionalist paradigm, but advocates social change.
Concerned with power relationships and 'internal contradictions'
within society, this paradigm owes most to Marx's analysis of
political economy, Das Kapital (1976). Radical viewpoints
appear in educational texts, raising 'phantoms in the illusions
of power that our controllers need in order to make sense of
society' (Bates et al, 1984), with accounts of teachers
reorganising curricula with a large degree of student choice
(Jones, 1983). Empowerment in this context is about a radical
transfer of power. More recently, the emphasis has moved to
consciousness-raising about inequalities, critically assessing
the world of work, with careers education as a vehicle of social
change (Bates, 1990).
Disaffected young people are clearly relevant to the question
of empowerment. Most sociological viewpoints would concede that
it would be desirable for these people to have a stake in
society, whether the rationale is economic, humane or a matter of
social stability. The more dialectic analysis, that
contradictions would lead to insurgency by the oppressed, seems
less practicable than undesirable; even if the more anarchistic
expressions of radicalism, communitarianism and syndicalism, are
considered, they seem confounded by what may be seen as
fundamental deference (Barry, 1995).
Taking a more individualist viewpoint, an analysis of the
utility of empowerment for careers education should take into
account the needs of students. If education is truly student-
centred, these must include social and cognitive understanding.
Wants and needs, for example, are often dissimilar in the case of
children. Similarly, teaching according to interests may be both
inefficient and undesirable: "The fact that I am interested in
torturing people does not constitute a good reason for doing
so ..." (Barrow and Woods, 1975)
The 'culture of relevance' must therefore come to terms with
the 'culture of standards' (Law, 1996); studies must be reliable,
valid, rigorous and worthy of study. Content is thus essential
as the fundamental building block on which to process
information. Whether or not national standards can ensure a
value-free, individualistic approach is a moot point, but
knowledge is required for an informed debate.
In terms of careers education, a clear didactic lead is
probably required in the earlier key stages. This may be
accompanied, where practicable, by active learning to reinforce
understanding and initiate awareness of preferences. Active
responsibility for learning is encouraged and, as students
mature, experiential work prepares them for making informed
decisions.
An early didactic approach is even more necessary if educators
are attempting to teach equal opportunities before too many
stereotypes are rigidly adopted. This is of course very
directive, running against the expressed opinions of many
children and parents.
As well as considering the everyday tension between offering
information of the world as it is and trying to actively change
attitudes as a way of changing that world, it is necessary once
again to examine socio-political images of education. Methods
may not correspond with their ostensible theoretical roots.
Brandes and Gillis (1986) portray didacticism in such a way as
to give a student an impression of 'the jackboot falling on the
human face forever' (Orwell, 1949). Malcolm Bradbury's History
Man (1975), however, shows the ability of an apparent facilitator
to deny any desire of becoming a guru whilst ruthlessly attaining
this goal. The end of history is augured by these abstruse
images, representing the falling away of certainty in the post-
modern world (Giddens, 1993). The claim, therefore, that careers
education 'can only function effectively from within a student-
centred perspective' should be viewed with suspicion: it may be
more of a political package than a realistic manifesto for
implementing education.
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