Narrative Career Counselling Workshop

Hazel Reid was invited to give a two hour workshop in Austria in April 2012 at the annual conference of the Bundesinstitut fur Erwachsenenbildung (the Federal Institute for Adult Education  - bifeb).  This took place at their educational headquarters on Wolfgangsee, near Salzburg.  The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers, experts and career guidance practitioners from different sectors of guidance and counselling, in order to encourage discussion and dialogue.  Delegates came from Austria, Germany and Switzerland.




Strobl, Lake Wolfgangsee

 

Career guidance and counselling in Austria is not yet established as a discrete profession, very often it is one activity among others.  The individual professional identities of delegates were diverse and the conference sought to bring these professionals together to discuss their different and similar interests.  The papers and workshops at the conference were concerned with theoretical and practical perspectives that aimed to enthuse those attending. 

Dr Hazel Reid

Hazel’s workshop was entitled:  “‘Telling tales’:  Making narrative approaches count in career counselling”.  In her workshop, participants had an opportunity to learn about the approach and to practise using the techniques and strategies.  A keynote presenter had discussed constructivist approaches in the morning and this provided a useful foundation for the afternoon's activity.  Delegates enjoyed the workshop and as a result, Hazel has been asked to give a keynote presentation to another conference in Vienna in the autumn of 2012.

Rebecca Tee

A Fairer Future - Alison Fielding speaks at International Conference in Sweden

Alison Fielding, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Career and Personal Development, recently presented a paper at Örebro University in Sweden to an audience of international delegates. 



Örebro Castle



The conference, "Marginalisation Processes 2012" was aimed at experienced academics, researchers and doctoral scholars and focussed on the sharing of current research activities.  The conference was run by members of the multidisciplinary research group CCD/KKOM (Communication, Culture and Diversity) at Örebro University and is supported by the Swedish Research Council.

Alison's paper was entitled: "A Fairer Future, in search of new meanings of inclusion for young people - in their own words", based on her research with inner city young people in one of the most deprived boroughs in the country,

Örebro has the first and only upper secondary school for deaf students in Sweden.  The university there has a correspondingly higher proportion of deaf students.  Reflecting this, the conference included specialist translator/signers for the benefit of delegates with hearing impairment.

The Organisers of the Conference

The conference was successful with a stimulating atmosphere and a collaborative approach.  Alison expects to contribute a chapter to a possible book resulting from the event in due course.

Participants attending the Conference

Alison Fielding