Career Models and Vocational Counseling

Recommended Prerequisites

Theoretical and practical knowledge acquired in the 1st cycle of Psychology, as well as high level skills in the English language.

Teaching Methods

Lectures, case studies’ discussion, reflection on career counseling models and intervention programmes.

Learning Outcomes

Identifying the main conceptual models of intervention in the life/career and their corresponding paradigms used in the analysis of the phenomena being described

Identifying the main variables contributing to the process and to the result of career counseling
Developing critical career intervention skills by applying the theoretical concepts to the description, understanding, explanation of vocational stories, as well as in the design of career intervention strategies (in real-life or simulated situations)

Helping students build the main career counseling skills associated with the sequential steps of the career counseling process
Developing critical communication competencies, namely in the oral and written presentation of scientific-technical papers as well as in the conceptual analysis of different vocational stories
Developing competencies related to the literature review and to the construction of applied intervention strategies

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

A. Main conceptual models of career behavior, development and intervention
1. Adjustment Person-Environment (the content of career);

2. Development and Narratives (career development and/or construction process);

3. The integration of the learning paradigm (both career content and process);

4. New paradigms (actional, systemic and those integrating the role played by chance events).

B. The European paradigm of lifelong and life-wide guidance and counseling: The role of guidance and counseling in the European memorandum on lifelong learning

C. Career service models encompassing different intervention levels

D. Process and outcome variables in vocational counseling and their relation with different theoretical models:

1. Career counseling steps: building of work alliance, initial assessment, definition of goals, in-depth assessment and process finalization;

2. Use of techniques and procedures

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria Paula Barbas de Albuquerque Paixão

Assessment Methods

Continuous assessment
Mandatory individual assignment : 25.0%
Mandatory group assignment : 75.0%

Final assessment
A theoretical and practical exam, focused on the assessment of both the theoretical contents and the practical skills taught in this curricular unit: Students are expected to analyse a case study using the conceptual lenses of the main theoretical families learnt in this curricular unit.: 100.0%

Bibliography

Bown, D. (Eds.) (2002). Career Choice and Development (4ed). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers

Gysbers, N., Heppner, M.J. & Johnston, J. (2009). Career counseling. Contexts, processes, and techniques(3^rd edition). Alexandria: American Counseling Association.

Hartung, P. & Subich, L. (Ed.) (2011). Developing Self in Work and Career: Concepts, Cases, and Contexts. Wasington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Lent, R. W. & Brown, S. D. (2005). Career Development and Counseling – Putting Theory and Research to Work. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

Swanson, J. & Fouad, N. (2010). Career Theory and Practice: Learning Through Case Studies (2^nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Savickas, M. (2011). Career Counseling (Series of Psychotherapy Theories). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association..

Taveira, M.C. & Silva, J.T. (2011). Psicologia Vocacional. Perspectivas para a intervenção (2ª ed.). Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.