Mulvey, Rachel (2001) Professionals under pressure : a consideration of the experience of careers guidance professionals post-privatisation. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The recent privatisation of careers guidance provision in the United Kingdom has
resulted in major cultural change in the organisation of guidance companies. This
research examines the effect this external change has had on the quality of working
life for professionals engaged in the practice of careers guidance. The intention of
the policy was to improve service delivery not the quality of careers guidance.
Nevertheless, the implementation of the policy has had a discernible effect on the
way professionals experience work and on the guidance they give. Questions of
professional ownership and protectionism arise and are addressed with reference to
guidance and ethical frameworks.
Field research was undertaken with careers practitioners working in the South East
and in the North of England. The data collection comprised a questionnaire
administered to these two groups, followed by focus groups conducted with some
respondents from the South East sample. The concern was to understand how these
careers professionals are finding their way in changed circumstances; the approach
was phenomenological and interpretative (Huberman & Miles, 1994).
The findings demonstrate that guidance professionals are feeling under pressure
from targets introduced after contracting out. Practitioners are struggling to satisfy
the individual needs of their clients against policy requirements for standardised
outcomes: a tension familiar in the professionalism and managerialism debate
(Friedson, 1994; Edwards, 1998 and Becher, 1999). This pressure is exacerbated by
the anticipation of further policy changes for careers guidance delivery.
Where the organisation sees the strategic imperative as contract compliance,
commercial success has been at some cost to guidance professionals and their
practice. A more explicit consideration of ethical practice during strategy
formulation might be a way forward in the management of change in careers
companies. There is evidence that policy fails fully to understand how careers
guidance works.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Vocational guidance -- Great Britain
Official Date:	July 2001
Dates:	Date Event July 2001 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Institute of Education
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Extent:	iv, 232, [101] leaves
Language:	eng

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