Week 11 - March 29th
Constructivist Theories
Crites (1969) identified three broad overlapping eras to describe the evolution of career and development theory building which are: Observational, Empirical, and Theoretical.
Theoretical Era can be subdivided into two categories labeled modern and postmodern. Modern theories began in the 1950s with postmodern emerging in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Name of Theory: Constructivism Theory / Social Constructionism
Dates: Postmodern Theory--emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s
Theorist: Rachel Young and Audrey Collin
Main Concept/Ideas:
Beginning in the late 1980s, particularly in the 1990s and first 2 decades of the 21st century, a number of theorists began to shift their attention away from modern theories based on a logical positionist philosophy to theories they labeled as postmodern.
Terms such as constructivism, constructivist, constructionism, social constructionism, contextualist, and narrative are being used by various authors as work continues to identify and clarify what constitutes a postmodern approach to career development. While discussions continue concerning how to define and describe postmodern theories, consensus seems to be forming around the use of two overarching terns, constructivism and social constructionism. Following Young and Collin’s lead. Attention on these two terms to describe two separate, interrelated postmodern theories.
Constructivism is defined as a type of learning theory that describes how individuals construct their own ideas about themselves, others, and their worlds as they try to make sense outs of their real-life experiences. Constructivist epistemology holds that knowledge is constructed by people and does not reflect an actual reality that exists independent of those who have constructed it as such.
Social constructionism, covers a range of views from acknowledging how social factors shape interpretations to how the social world is constructed by social processes and relational practices. The emphasis is on how individuals shape their career development based on how they view themselves, others, and their worlds (internal processes). According to social constructionism, careers are “constructed in a social, historical context.”
Constructionism and social constructionism are two postmodern approaches concerning individuals’’ career development. Each view offers researchers and theorists fruitful areas of inquiry concerning the processes that form and shape individuals’ career development. The literature continues to provide discussion of these views, helping us to understand more completely the nature and structure of internal (constructivism) and external processes (social constructionism) and the impact they have of individual’s career development.
Theorists and researchers separate these postmodern perspectives for research and theory-building purposes, believe that individuals, as they live their lives, we do not. Individuals construct and live their lives using both internal (self) and external (social) processes. They can describe how they see themselves, structures have on their career development. Young and Collin believe that “career represents a unique interaction of self and social experience.” Individuals are active agents striving to make sense of their experiences” and that “individuals need to be studied in the context of their environments.”
The individual is born with certain neural and endocrine tendencies
or potentiabilites. These may be thought
of as his personal resources, he finds himself in an environment which contains
tendencies or potentialities which are independent if the individual, but with
which the developing individual interacts.
These may be considered cultural resources. As the individual makes use of the resources in
his environment, and brings his own tendencies and potentialities to bear on
them in the performance of the developmental tasks which constitute social
expectation, interaction takes places.
Career counseling that uses both constructivism and social
constructionism approaches ‘requires the counselor to enter into the
psychosocial sphere of a person’s career system” which uses the narrative
approach within the career counseling process to help clients describe their
life career development past, present and future in terms of life career themes
and patterns.
Cochran (2011) noted the importance of using the narrative
approach within the career counseling process when he stated:
The best description of a client entering career counseling is
that he or she is clouded. It is not
just a life plot is a tacit pattern of meaning, but that the plot is clouded by
distortions, negative assessments, recent influences, dubious connections and
the like. The work of narrative career
counselling involves an uncovering of thematic strands for meaning and the way
that they form into a coherent whole.
For the client, important connections might not have been seen
before. The significance of particular
desires, events, abilities and so on might not have been fully
appreciated. The function of a narrative
career counselor is to help clients see more clearly the meaningful patters
from their own life histories.
Chapter 1, Table 1 in of the textbook describes the gathering
client information phase of career counseling.
As noted in Table 1, information can be gathered through quantitative
and qualitative procedures. Qualitative
procedures such as the Life Career Assessment (Chapter 10), career genograms
(Chapter 11), and card sorts (Chapter 12) are particularly useful because they
provide frameworks and stimuli how they view themselves, others, and their
worlds; how they make sense out of their life roles, settings, and events past,
present, and future; and how they talk about possible personal and
environmental barriers and social constraints they may be facing.
Qualitative assessments such as the Life Career Assessment (LCA)
are narrative interventions grounded in the postmodern approaches of
constructivism and social constructionism.
The goal is to provide clients with a real-life framework that enables
then to tell their stories using their own words with emphasis on the client’s
perceptions of themselves, others, and their worlds within their gendered, cultural,
racial, socioeconomic, sexual orientation, spiritual, and disability contexts.
The general aim is to script a person’s own life story which makes
it uniquely suited for an exploration of personal meanings and for helping
solve many kinds of problems involving meaning.
A narrative approach attempts to effect personal agency by viewing
learners as active agents in their personal development and cultivating an
increased emphasis on emotions and passion (Maree & Molepo, 2007).
LCA is useful when working with clients of all ages and differing
cultural and ethnic backgrounds, women’s and men’s issues, and dealing with
disability issues because clients’’ worldviews, environmental barriers, racial
identity statuses, and levels acculturation can be addresses directly and
naturally—very time flexible. It can be
completed in 15-30 minutes or more in-depth interview conducted over several
sessions.
Career genogram are qualitative assessments that can assist in
understanding the clients in family context.
Basic genograms contain all aspects of the family system work; focused
genogram contains the framework of the basic genogram but emphasizes topics as
attachment, emotions, anger, gender and sexuality, and culture.
Card sorts are subjective in nature and the effectiveness depends
on the counselor’s ability to help the client arrive at insights and ideas from
the process. These are nonstandardized
approaches to sorting almost any array of ideas. Occupational card sorts have job titles with
all kinds of themes, ideas, issues, values, or feelings emerge. They do not produce scores or have norms but
have piles of which the client sorts to likes, dislikes, and indifferent. They can be sorted into smaller piles based
on common themes that have influenced them in their sorting process.
As individuals are reflecting on their real-life experiences
through the medium of narratives, they are crafting their narrative
identities. They are engaged in meaning
making. To understand the identity
formation process is to understand how individuals craft narratives from
experiences, tell these stories internally and to others, and ultimately apply
these stories to knowledge of self, others, and the world in general.
The key to effective career counseling is the working alliance that is established between clients and counselors. The qualitative interventions used in the postmodern approaches of constructivism and social constructionism are useful in establishing working alliances. When counselors help clients to clients that their stories from their own perspectives, using their own language, it conveys that what they have to say is important; it conveys to them that counselors care and that clients are being listened to and understood. Bujold (2004) underscored this point that “the transforming power of narrative rests in the existence of a relationship in which a person feels that he/she is acknowledged and accepted” Sinisalo & Komulanien (2208) paraphrased Arthur, Inkson, and Pringle that “a career story is a personal moving perspective on what a person is and what he/she is able to do.”
Implications of the Postmodern Theories of Constructivism and Social Constructionism for the Practice in Career Counseling
1. Postmodern approaches to
career development emphasizes multicultural perspectives and focus on the
belief that there is not fixed truth.
Individuals construct their own truths, their own realities.
2. Qualitative assessments
provide frames and stimuli that assist clients in telling their stories about
who they are, where they see themselves going, and the issues and circumstances
they believe are impacting their career development.
3. “Constructivism has directed
career practioners towards the holistic experience of a person’s career within
their environmental context.” (McIiveen et al., 2005)
4. “Narrative therapists help
clients see that their worlds are constructed through language and cultural
practice and that clients can subsequently deconstructed and reconstruct their
assumptions and perceptions.” (Meir,
2012)
5. “Client stories are face
valid, that is they have intrinsic value, and narrative therapists assume that
client stories reflect some meaningful aspect of that person.” (Meier, 2012)
Article—A Constructivist Look at Life Roles
Most career counselors credit Donald Super with their understanding of life roles. But the postmodern, or constructivist, counseling process is based on the client’s narrative or life story, with the counselor as a collaborative partner both in the client’s personal awareness of past and present chapters and in the client’s action steps in building a preferred way of being in future chapters. Clients are active participants in becoming aware of and exploring The variety of life roles (e.g., worker, family, relationships, learner) and their own sources of beliefs (e.g., experiences, media, family). It is “true reasoning” for finding the fit between person and occupation.
Theoretical Basis for Life Roles
Most introductions to career development include Super’s conceptual model of the life rainbow showing the nine life roles are played through the four theaters as one progresses through the five developmental stages. The life roles are: child, student, leisurite, citizen, worker, spouse, homemaker, parent, and pensioner. The four theaters are home, school, community, and workplace. The life stages are growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and decline. We are involved in several roles simultaneously and that roles affect each other. The reference to life roles goes back as far as Davidson & Anderson’s (1937) research on occupational mobility with the relationship between the worker and the roles held by a person outside his/her work life.
Leisure activities were outlets for interests and abilities that were not fully used if were not being satisfied on the job.
Life roles have been the basis of numerous applications dealing with adolescent career development, university students, adults, women’s issues, dual-career couples, and families, as well as international applications. Studies have dealt with life roles include clients with diagnosed cumulative trauma disorders; clients with spinal cord injuries; college student development; gender differences; dual-career couples; and international perspective, such as Work Importance Study—the five major roles or activities identified were study, work, home and family, leisure, and community activities or service.
The constructivist approach holds that clients construct their own personal meanings and that these personal meanings are reflected in past and present experiences in a variety of life roles. The counselor co-constructs (uncovers and explores) with the client the life story that has been and is currently being lived. The client’s life experiences reflect the personal meanings held by the client. By de-constructing (opening up) these themes, the client is able to see different perspectives, find exceptions, imagine different experiences, and reveal the client’s preferred way of being. Clients have the opportunity to construct (author) their future story based on the personal meanings that they wish to implement in their lives.
In the storied approach, a number of techniques related to life roles in order to co-construct, de-construct, and construct the client’s story. The lifeline technique is used to uncover themes, people, and significant life events as perceived by the client. The career genogram is used to uncover and explore the client’s gender-role and life roles beliefs. By engaging the client in self-awareness and self-assessment, one uncovers the underlying values on which future choices and decisions will be made. The exploration of life roles is a strategy that will reveal the personal meaning of the client.
Counselors can mix technique to the life span map, life line, life-space genogram, life role circles, life role assessment, life role analysis, and goal map. Listed below are the seven techniques that focus on life roles and on client narrative which can be used separately or with two or more collaborative process that builds awareness and leads to client action.
The storied approach is used to demonstrated a variety of techniques that focus on life roles—co-construction (uncovering), de-construction (opening up), and construction (authoring) of the client’s story.
Co-construction—counselor and client establish rapport, place the client as expert in his/her life story, and develop an atmosphere of collaboration. Techniques that can be used during this phase are life space map, life line, life-space program, and life role circles.
The life space map is drawn by the client on blank sheet of paper where the counselor provides a variety of exploratory prompts. Counselor describes the blank paper which represents the client’s currently thinking, feeling, or doing—which represents by the client has come to counseling. Client then draws a circle that represents him/her self. Then the client draws a circle for each person in the client’s world, give the name, and draw a double ring to represent a spatial relationship (e.g., close, distant, overlapping).
The life line reveals the client’s past and present life story—graphic illustration of events, people, and perceptions that will uncover themes and meaning in the client’s story. On a blank sheet of paper, the client is instructed to draw a horizontal line through the middle of the paper; at the left edge the client writes today’s date. Chapters are represented by life stages—before school, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, first jog, and starting family. Client marks off significant starting points for each chapter and notes the year each began. Counselor prompts with how, low points; important people with significance; two adjectives to describe chapters. Activity engages client in defining what he/she means by family—genogram. Guidelines: males are squares; females are circles; horizontal line connects a husband and wife who are on the same plane; children are either square or circle—oldest to the left and youngest to the right; relationship by line color (red—warm relationship, blue—cold relationship); x shape if person is deceased; name and current age of each family member. Other significant people is client’s life listed at the bottom of the page “bushes”. Then list the occupation of each, geographic location, leisure activities, and quality admired in each with an action plan devised to begin the first to the client’s story in moving from current to future.
De-construction is a phase of “open space” and provides other points of view and challenges focused on exploring the origin of values and beliefs, assessing their importance, and determining how values and beliefs will be lived in the future chapters of the client’s story. The Client’s themes are important and can provide motivation and direction for future chapters. The life role allows the client to expand the definition of career from narrow to broader as living through multiple stages.
The counselor asks questions to probe the client and define the client’s values and beliefs or use a sentence completion technique.
Life role analysis helps the client to examine the costs and benefits of role expectations as defined by culture and gender—asked to recall parental messages related to family and work and identify positive and negative consequences.
Construction focuses on the future chapters of the client’s life developed across the life roles with integrated values and beliefs that have been identified by the client. Action plans are developed to take steps, to identify barriers, and resources to overcome barriers.
Future chapters can be seen as “possible selves” of what clients might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming future concept as “potential social Me”, the “ego ideal”, “how I should be”, and “the Dream” in which these future concepts are linked to motivation with specific, organized, concrete action steps toward future goals which is a vital part of the self-concept. A goal map can assist in visualizing the client the steps to take, obstacles that may face, resources to overcome the obstacles, and a clear focus o=f the goal.
The life line that was the co-construction phase can be expanded into the future. A blank sheet of paper where the client draws a horizontal line through the middle and puts today’s date on the left edge and an arrowhead at the right edge. Client picks a point in time from the future to identify next chapter where values and beliefs will be a part of the various life roles. Then steps are identified to begin the next journey.
Constructivist Applications of Life Roles in Career Counseling
Life roles are important to career counseling as they expand the focus from occupational concerns and job placement to life stories that empower clients. Variety of clients—dual-career partners; women; men; adolescents; diverse populations that include race and ethnicity, gay men, lesbians, and bisexual and transgender persons; and person with disabilities. The life roles may include learner, family, relationships, worker, leisure, and community.
It is important to address life roles before adulthood with benefits of providing opportunities for adolescents to participate in school counseling programs. Counselors are challenged when working with diverse populations.
Links to Articles or Videos:
https://elearn.etsu.edu/d2l/le/content/6249282/viewContent/39140535/View
https://elearn.etsu.edu/d2l/le/content/6249282/viewContent/38399266/View
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