Małgorzata Rosalska, Ph.D. Workshop presentation from Cross-Border Seminar 2017 in Belgrade

1. Małgorzata Rosalska
Distinctive skill as a part of career projects

2. OUTLINE

3. Outline
¨ Theoretical framework of career counseling for
students (just a little bit)
¨ The biggest challenge: attitudes students towards
professional and educational career path
¨ What is a distinctive skill and how can we develop
it?
¨ Change in perceiving the role of a career counsellor

4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

5. Two basic assumptions
¨ Students have an individual right to guidance on
career but they have no obligation (and sometimes
they have no need)
¨ Main challenge: attitudes, believes & motivation

6. Theoretical foundation:
¨ F. Parsons, J. Holland:
- trait-factor theory,
¨ V. Peavy, M. Savickas, N. Amundson, J. Krumboltz:
- decision making strategies, models for constructivist
guidance, handling transitions
¨ A. Hargreaves, M. Fullan:
- professional capital

7. Professional capital
¨ Human Capital
¨ Social Capital
¨ Decisional Capital
PC = f (HC, SC, DC)

8. Human capital
¨ A sense of purpose in life
¨ Hope
¨ Self-esteem
¨ Identity
¨ Possibilities
¨ Individual career prospects
¨ Sense of achievement
¨ Motivation along the way

9. Social capital
¨ Network
¨ Family

10. Decision capital
¨ Abilities
¨ Motivation
¨ Activity

11. The crucial question for me is:
How to build and develop student’s responsibility
for their own career path?

12. Shaping proactive attitudes towards
professional career

13. ¨ term 'attitude' is common for many scientific
disciplines. It is analyzed in psychology, pedagogy,
sociology and ethics. The fact that the term 'attitude'
is used in very different contexts, in both scientific
and colloquial language, makes this analysis
difficult.

14. ¨ Term ‘attitude’ is also often used with evaluative
adjectives which gives it a normative character
¨ we can say an active, passive, responsible, pro-
health, patriotic, exemplary attitude.

15. definition of an attitude
¨ the whole of relatively permanent predispositions to
assess the subject of an attitude and reacting
emotionally to it, and relatively permanent beliefs
about nature and characteristics of the subject of an
attitude and relatively permanent dispositions to
behave towards it.

16. Each attitude consists of three
components
¨ cognitive component
¨ affective component
¨ behavioural component

17. Cognitive component
¨ This knowledge can be analyzed by extent and
authenticity. It can be very extensive and
comprehensive or it can be slightly defined and
based on the system of beliefs only with reference
to particular elements of the subject of an attitude.

18. Cognitive component
¨ In the process of creating careers it is worth noticing
and analyzing knowledge of the labour market, the
world of professions, recruitment procedures and
beliefs about what determines professional success.

19. Cognitive component
¨ It happens that students declare willingness to learn
a given trade or study a particular major, but they
do not have knowledge of the character of a given
job, required qualifications and predispositions.
¨ It happens also that the knowledge is invalid,
popular and it comes from debatable sources.

20. Affective component
¨ assessments
¨ opinions
¨ approaches
¨ emotions

21. Affective component
¨ It is a very important component.
¨ It can manifest itself as intellectual assessments and
opinions showing more or less reliable arguments
and also as emotions towards the subject of an
attitude.

22. Affective component
¨ These emotions can be positive or negative.
¨ In the group of negative ones there should be
mentioned
¤ fear,
¤ concerns,
¤ discouragement.

23. Affective component
¨ There are people who do not take up educational
or professional challenges due to fear of failure.
They have negative approaches towards the labour
market and they see more threats than chances.
¨ Their decisions are determined by their opinion
about their own capabilities. These opinions are
created many times on the basis of comparisons
with others and they are inaccurate to their actual
talents, predispositions and capabilities.

24. Behavioural component
¨ behaviours towards the subject of an attitude. These
are all predispositions to act which can be
expressed as
¤ desires
¤ aspirations
¤ a sense of duty
¤ intentions.

25. ¨ This approach to an attitude has a huge practical
advantage in creating advisory influences
¨ The influences can be aimed at goals related to
¤ developing knowledge
¤ shaping approaches and opinions
¤ developing constructive behaviours

26. ¨ Towards planning educational future people can
choose three basic attitudes:
¤ proactive,
¤ reactive
¤ passive.

27. ¨ A proactive attitude is a situation when I create
reality which I live in.
¨ A reactive attitude is a situation when I only
answer to offers of other people, institutions, fate.

28. Is it really so that people
make a decision based on
facts?

29. Cognitive component
¨ Knowledge
¨ Belives

30. Methodological issue
How to develop (critical) thinking?

31. Q-sort method
¨ Step 1 – individual work, identification of own
believes
¨ Step 2 – work in a small group, discussion,
argumentation, collective search for solutions
¨ Step 3 – work in the forum, presenting,
argumentation, comparing statements/points of
view)

32. The pyramid of skills

33. Distinctive
skill
Professional skills
Basic skills

34. Basic skills
¨ This group consists of all social and interpersonal
skills, manners, competences related to moving on
the labour market and planning a career.
¨ These skills determine the style of functioning on the
labour market, the quality of contacts with co-
workers, the professional image.

35. Professional skills
¨ specific for a given business and professional
environment.
¨ The group consists of skills which build work
professionalism.
¨ These are expert, valid and specialist knowledge
and expertise in doing work tasks.
¨ The level of these skills is often determined by
aptitudes, predispositions and talents.
¨ Work experience plays also a significant role.

36. Distinctive skill
¨ Is characteristic for an individual.
¨ It is the skill which makes people stand out from other
graduates of a given major and from other professionals.
¨ It can be:
¤ specific, scarcely available and highly specialist knowledge,
¤ an exceptional skill,
¤ unique experience or training which is not available for the
majority of people from a given business. It can be
¤ a knowledge of rather an unpopular language or specialist
software. The distinctive competence gives an advantage on the
labour market, makes people stand out from a crowd, enables
people to be noticed and positively remembered.

37. ¨ The distinctive competence gives an advantage on
the labour market, makes people stand out from a
crowd, enables people to be noticed and positively
remembered

38. The new roles of career counselor

39. The roles of a 'new' career counsellor
• Class tutor
• Facilitator
• Mediator
• Organizer
• Expert
• Analyst
• Critical commentator
• Network creator
• Person using resources
• Person restoring order

40. rosalska@amu.edu.pl
Thank you!