Introduction to the Special Issue: Global Perspectives on Vocational Guidance

This special issue of The Career Development Quarterly presents the outcomes from an international symposium, titled International Perspectives on Career Development, jointly sponsored by the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association. The articles in this special issue discuss international perspectives on and comparative approaches to educational and vocational guidance that differentiate career development practices in different nations. In addition to the articles in this issue, a selection of papers presented at the symposium has been jointly published in a thematic issue of the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 5(2).     

The Career Development Facilitator Project: Then and Now

The National Career Development Association (NCDA) has consistently been involved in the professional training of individuals who provide career development services for youth and adults. It has provided outstanding leadership in the field of career development. NCDA's impact on the training of professionals and paraprofessionals working in the career development field is evident in its support of the Career Development Facilitator (CDF) project and delivery of CDF training. This article provides a history of the CDF project, its development and expansion from national to international use, current developments in the project, and its impact on the careers of those involved.     

Introduction to the Special Section

In this special section of The Career Development Quarterly, the authors pay tribute to the contributions of David Valentine Tiedeman (1919–2004) to the theory and practice of career counseling and development and vocational psychology. Tiedeman is honored as laying the foundation for the contemporary theory and practice of career construction. The articles published in this section emerged as a result of a special symposium dedicated to honor Tiedeman and his work that was held at the 2006 National Career Development Association Global Conference in Chicago.     

A Rich Past and a Future Vision

The National Career Development Association celebrated its 90th birthday at its recent summer conference. During that span of time, there has been significant development of theory, tools, and interventions as well as standards for the preparation of the members of the career development profession. The author reviews those accomplishments and suggests some needed directions for the immediate future.     

Career Counselors as Advocates and Change Agents for Equality

This analysis of the career counseling profession's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats emphasizes the importance of the profession's contributions to fostering equality in a democratic society. Career counseling professionals and their National Career Development Association are well positioned to expand their concentration on fostering the career development of individuals to encompass advocacy about public policy and agency in changing systems. Advances in the use of technology, attention to multicultural issues, and advocacy of holistic models have the potential to enrich the career counseling profession's contributions to individual development and social equality.     

Internationalizing Career Counseling: Emptying Our Cups and Learning From Each Other

The symposium International Perspectives on Career Development included a plenary session that addressed career counseling in a world of limited resources. Panelists representing diverse areas of the world shared their perspectives on career counseling in their countries and the specific problems they faced. They identified common concerns and prospects for the future of cross‐national career counseling in 3 domains: (a) counselor training and human resources, (b) career service delivery practices, and (c) resources and sources of support. Harnessing the energy and capital of the global career counseling community will better equip career development professionals to deal with existing limitations and realize the common goal of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association to internationalize career counseling.     

Importance of the National Career Development Guidelines to School Counselors

This study surveyed the opinions of a national random sample of school counselors toward the importance of the elementary, junior high/middle, and high school competencies in the National Career Development Guidelines. The results of the study indicated that school counselors consider the career development competencies in the guidelines to be important to very important across the three levels.     

Jesse Buttrick Davis (1871–1955): Pioneer of Vocational Guidance in the Schools

Jesse Buttrick Davis is considered to be the 1st school counselor in the United States because he was the 1st to implement a systematic guidance program in the schools. Through his work in the Michigan public schools, he became an important leader in the development of vocational guidance in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His pioneering work in the Detroit and Grand Rapids public schools laid the foundation for the counseling specialties of career counseling and school counseling. He was also 1 of the founders of the National Vocational Guidance Association (now National Career Development Association) and National Association of Secondary School Principals.     

Donald Edwin Super: The Career of a Planful Explorer

Donald Edwin Super was a member of the National Career Development Association from 1934 to 1994, a full 60 years. Starting at midcentury, his writings and lectures provided the main impetus to expand vocational guidance to encompass career counseling. This article, structured around the five stages in Super's life stage model and narrated in the language of vocational development tasks that he identified and researched, tells the story of Super's own career development and extrapolates the major themes in his unparalleled career as a vocational psychologist and career counselor.     

The Internationalization of Educational and Vocational Guidance

The authors identify and discuss the main themes from the discourse on the internationalization of educational and vocational guidance at the 2004 Symposium on International Perspectives on Career Development, cosponsored by the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association. Participants from 46 countries discussed international perspectives on and comparative features of educational and vocational guidance. They concentrated on issues of designing and adapting models, methods, and materials for career education and counseling. Three additional themes revolved around the importance of public policy initiatives, training enough practitioners to meet the growing international need for career services, and the promise of information technology for expanding the delivery of educational and vocational guidance and for supporting career counselors.     

The Historical Importance of Social Justice in the Founding of the National Career Development Association

The authors discuss the role of social justice in the founding of the National Career Development Association (NCDA). They discuss the historic context of the founding, the social justice work of the pioneers of vocational guidance, and the social justice influences that permeate the fabric of NCDA even today.     

Advancing the Career Counseling Profession: Objectives and Strategies for the Next Decade

This article discusses the 9 analyses of the career counseling profession's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that appear in this September 2003 special issue of The Career Development Quarterly. The author identifies points of convergence, proposes a mission statement, and summarizes what career counselors seem intent on doing in the coming years. The analysts recommended that the career counseling profession concentrate on 8 objectives: advancing theory that is more holistic, contextual, and multicultural; using accumulated research more effectively; focusing new research on the career counseling process; exploiting technology to construct new tools; ameliorating career counseling training; expanding the National Career Development Association's role; increasing advocacy about public policy; and fostering the international growth of the profession.     

Context and Models for the Analysis of Individual and Group Needs

This article summarizes the papers presented in the discussion group focused on the theme “Models for the Analysis of Individual and Group Needs” at the joint symposium of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Society for Vocational Psychology, and National Career Development Association held in Padua, Italy, in September 2007 titled Vocational Psychology and Career Guidance Practice: An International Partnership. The predominant theme that emerged from papers and discussion was that theory and practice need to be positioned within their proximal and distal contexts, ranging from personal to societal contexts.     

Career Development and Workforce Preparation: Educational Policy Versus School Practice

A multistate survey of public high schools revealed general unfamiliarity among principals and counselors with national workforce preparation policies as represented by the SCANS Report (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1991) and the National Career Development Guidelines (National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee, 1989); a lack of commitment to career development program outcomes for all student groups, particularly those at risk of dropping out; uneven delivery of services, with least attention to cultural diversity outcomes; and underutilization of counselors. The article concludes with an examination of the historical and cultural forces operating for and against sustained efforts in workforce preparation programs.     

Training Career Practitioners

This article summarizes 8 presentations from Group 8 on the theme “Training of Researchers and Practitioners,” which were part of the 2007 joint symposium of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Society for Vocational Psychology, and National Career Development Association held in Padua, Italy. Three themes representing challenges for the profession emerged from the presentations: (a) the need for public policies addressing career development, (b) the need for greater competency standardization, and (c) the need to create innovative training programs. Discussion group participants presented creative strategies for addressing these challenges.     

Introduction to the IAEVG‐SVP‐NCDA Symposium,Padua, Italy,September 2007

This special issue of The Career Development Quarterly (J. Trusty, R. Van Esbroeck, & P. A. Gore, 2009) presents summaries of the content and outcomes from the joint international symposium of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Society for Vocational Psychology, and National Career Development Association held in Padua, Italy, in September 2007. This symposium was themed and titled Vocational Psychology and Career Guidance Practice: An International Partnership. Included in this issue are (a) a summary of the keynote address by A. E. M. van Vianen (coauthored with I. E. De Pater & P. T. Y. Preenen, 2009), (b) summaries of 7 of the 8 discussion groups, and (c) conclusions presented by D. E. P. Schultheiss and R. Van Esbroeck (2009b). Each discussion group was composed of at least 1 chair, at least 1 recorder, and several professionals from around the world who presented material related to the topic assigned to the group.     

Culture and Assessment: Nomothetic and Idiographic Considerations

This article summarizes presentations on career assessment delivered at the 2007 joint symposium of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Society for Vocational Psychology, and National Career Development Association. Notable among the many themes that emerged from this discussion group were the concepts of culture and assessment and the mutually beneficial outcomes of idiographic and nomothetic approaches to career assessment. Brief reviews of each presentation highlight these recurring themes.     

Annual Review: Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development—1996

The National Career Development Association's (NCDA) Professional Standards Committee (1997) has recently identified 11 competency areas (career development theory, individual and group counseling skills, individual and group assessment, information resources, and program management and implementation, consultation, diverse populations, supervision, ethical legal issues, and research evaluation, and technology). These competencies were used as categories for classifying research on career development and counseling published in 1996. Two primary areas of research activity were identified: making career counseling theory useful for more clients, and emphasizing the role of contextual factors in shaping career development. Four competency areas not addressed sufficiently by researchers were also identified: consultation, supervision, technology, and ethics. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

A Multi-Trait,Multi-Method Analysis of Three Career Development Measures

Campbell and Fiske's (1959) multi-trait, multi-method analysis was applied to three popular measures of career development. College students completed the Attitude Scale of the Career Maturity Inventory (Crites, 1978a), the Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1978), and the Decision-Making Scale of the Career Development Inventory (Super, Thompson, Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1981). Participants also took part in a structured interview to assess their career development. The table of multi-trait, multi-method correlation coefficients for the three measures of career development supported their construct validity. Implications and ideas for future research are discussed.     

Introduction to the Special Issue

To commemorate the 90th anniversary of the National Career Development Association and to anticipate its centennial, this special issue presents 9 analyses of the career counseling profession's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). On the basis of SWOT analyses and using the methodology explained in this introductory article, the authors present objectives and strategies for advancing the profession in the next decade. The special issue concludes with an “analysis of the analyses” that reviews and integrates the authors' recommendations and suggestions for constructing the future of the profession.