A Selection of Readings
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1;Front Cover;1
2;The Theory and Practice of Vocational Guidance: A Selection of Readings;4
3;Copyright Page;5
4;Table of Contents;6
5;Foreword;10
6;Preface;14
7;Part I: THEORY;16
7.1;Introduction;18
7.1.1;ACCIDENT HYPOTHESIS;18
7.1.2;IMPULSE HYPOTHESIS;19
7.1.3;TALENT-MATCHING APPROACH;19
7.1.4;REFERENCES;22
7.1.5;ADDITIONAL READING;23
7.2;SECTION 1: Theories of Vocational Choice and Decision-making;24
7.2.1;Chapter 1. A Theory of Vocational Development;28
7.2.1.1;THE GINZBERG THEORY;29
7.2.1.2;ELEMENTS OF AN ADEQUATE THEORY OF VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT;31
7.2.1.3;A THEORY OF VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT;35
7.2.1.4;REFERENCES;37
7.2.1.5;REFERENCES TO GINZBERG'S THEORY;38
7.2.1.6;A THEORY OF VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT;35
7.2.1.7;REFERENCES;37
7.2.1.8;REFERENCES TO GINZBERG'S THEORY;38
7.2.1.9;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES TO SUPER'S THEORY;39
7.2.2;Chapter 2. A Model for the Translation of Self Concepts into Vocational Terms;40
7.2.2.1;RELATIONSHIPS OF STATEMENTS;41
7.2.2.2;POSTULATES;44
7.2.2.3;PROCESSES OF INCORPORATION;45
7.2.2.4;METADIMENSIONS;45
7.2.2.5;OPERATIONS;47
7.2.2.6;SUMMARY;48
7.2.2.7;BIBLIOGRAPHY;48
7.2.2.8;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES;49
7.2.3;Chapter
3. A Theory of Vocational Choice;50
7.2.3.1;THE OCCUPATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS;51
7.2.3.2;THE PERSON AND HIS DEVELOPMENT;51
7.2.3.3;THE INTERACTION OF THE PERSON AND THE VOCATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS;55
7.2.3.4;SOME POTENTIAL RESEARCH;60
7.2.3.5;REFERENCES;61
7.2.3.6;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES TO HOLLAND'S THEORY;62
7.2.4;Chapter
4. Decision and Vocational Development: A Paradigm and Its Implications;64
7.2.4.1;DECISION AND VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT;64
7.2.4.2;DEPENDENT DECISIONS AND VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT;68
7.2.4.3;THE PATTERN OF LIFE AND VOCATIONAL DECISIONS;69
7.2.4.4;NEEDED RESEARCH IN VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT;71
7.2.4.5;REFERENCES;72
7.2.4.6;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES TO TIEDEMAN'S THEORY;72
7.2.5;Chapter
5. Occupational Choice: a Conceptual Framework;74
7.2.5.1;CONCEPTUAL SCHEME;75
7.2.5.2;PROCESSES OF CHOICE AND SELECTION;77
7.2.5.3;DETERMINANTS OF OCCUPATIONAL ENTRY;80
7.2.5.4;PROBLEMS FOR RESEARCH;81
7.2.5.5;THE HISTORICAL DIMENSION;85
7.2.5.6;SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION;87
7.2.6;Chapter
6. Vocational Choice and Utility for Risk;90
7.2.6.1;THEORETICAL BACKGROUND;90
7.2.6.2;METHOD;91
7.2.6.3;RESULTS;93
7.2.6.4;DISCUSSION OF RESULTS;93
7.2.6.5;SUMMARY;94
7.2.6.6;REFERENCES;94
7.2.7;Chapter
7. Career Decision-Making;96
7.2.7.1;FIVE POSSIBLE MODELS;96
7.2.7.2;THE CHOICE OF A MODEL;98
7.2.7.3;ELEMENTS OF A THEORY;100
7.2.7.4;IMPLICATIONS OF THE MODEL;103
7.2.7.5;SUMMARY;105
7.2.7.6;REFERENCES;105
7.2.8;Chapter
8. Vocational Development: Ten Propositions in Search of a Theory;108
7.2.8.1;IMPLICATIONS;113
7.2.8.2;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES TO VOCATIONAL THEORY;115
7.3;SECTION 2: The Home and the School;118
7.3.1;Chapter
9. Social Factors in Vocational Development;122
7.3.1.1;IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL FACTORS;122
7.3.1.2;SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT;123
7.3.1.3;NONCLASS FACTORS;125
7.3.1.4;IMPLICATIONS FOR GUIDANCE;128
7.3.1.5;REFERENCES;129
7.3.2;Chapter
10. Some Psychological Aspects of Inter-Generation Occupational Mobility;132
7.3.2.1;1. INTRODUCTION;132
7.3.2.2;2. THE INFLUENCE OF THE FAMILY;133
7.3.2.3;3. THE ROLE OF INTELLIGENCE;135
7.3.2.4;4. ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION;138
7.3.2.5;5. DEFERRAL OF GRATIFICATION;139
7.3.2.6;6. OTHER FACTORS;140
7.3.2.7;7. CONCLUSIONS;142
7.3.2.8;REFERENCES;143
7.3.3;Chapter
11. Early Determinants of Vocational Choice;146
7.3.3.1;HYPOTHESES ON RELATION OF EARLY EXPERIENCE TO VOCATIONAL CHOICE;147
7.3.3.2;PATTERNS OF EARLY EXPERIENCE WITH PARENTS;149
7.3.3.3;RELATION OF PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND NEED SATISFACTION;150
7.3.3.4;PARENTAL HANDLING AND ADULT BEHAVIOR PATTERNS;151
7.3.3.5;REFLECTION OF EARLY EXPERIENCE IN VOCATIONAL CHOICE;152
7.3.3.6;REFERENCE;154
7.3.3.7;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES TO ROE'S THEORY;154
7.3.4;Chapter
12. Sibling Associations and Role Involvement;156
7.3.4.1;CULTURAL INTERPRETATION;158
7.3.4.2;METHOD;159
7.3.4.3;RESULTS;160
7.3.4.4;DISCUSSION;162
7.3.4.5;CONCLUSION;166
7.3.4.6;REFERENCES;167
7.3.4.7;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES FOR THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOME AND THE SCHOOL ON VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT;168
7.4;SECTION 3: The Transition from School to Work;172
7.4.1;Chapter
13. Youth and Work: Problems and Perspectives;176
7.4.1.1;INTRODUCTION;176
7.4.1.2;PREVIOUS THEORETICAL APPROACHES;177
7.4.1.3;AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH;179
7.4.1.4;THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOME (GROUPS 1 AND 5);182
7.4.1.5;THE INFLUENCE OF THE SCHOOL ( GROUP 1);183
7.4.1.6;THE INFLUENCE OF FORMAL INSTITUTIONS (GROUPS 6 AND 7);184
7.4.1.7;ATTITUDES TOWARDS WORK (GROUP 4);185
7.4.1.8;THE GENERAL WORK SITUATION FOR THE NEW ENTRANT ADJUSTMENT ( GROUP 5 AND (g));186
7.4.1.9;CONCLUSION;188
7.4.1.10;REFERENCES;189
7.4.2;Chapter
14. The Entry of School Leavers into Employment;194
7.4.2.1;THE PLACEMENTS RECORDS;194
7.4.2.2;THE DIRECT INQUIRY OF EMPLOYING FIRMS;201
7.4.2.3;CONCLUSION;207
7.4.2.4;EDITORS' NOTE;208
7.4.3;Chapter
15. Young Workers in their First Jobs. An Investigation of Attitudes to Work and their Correlates;210
7.4.3.1;PROCEDURE;211
7.4.3.2;DISCUSSION OF RESULTS;212
7.4.3.3;CONCLUSIONS;220
7.4.3.4;ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS;221
7.4.3.5;REFERENCES;221
7.4.3.6;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES TO THE TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO WORK;221
7.5;SECTION 4: The Work Experience;224
7.5.1;Chapter
16. Concepts of Work;228
7.5.1.1;REFERENCES;234
7.5.2;Chapter
17. The Criteria of Vocational Success;236
7.5.2.1;CRITERIA OF VOCATIONAL SUCCESS;236
7.5.2.2;EARNINGS AND OUTPUT;236
7.5.2.3;RELIANCE ON RATINGS;237
7.5.2.4;MORE COMPREHENSIVE CRITERIA;238
7.5.2.5;ANOTHER BROAD APPROACH;238
7.5.2.6;A NEW TERM NEEDED;239
7.5.2.7;ADJUSTMENT;239
7.5.2.8;NEW CRITERIA;240
7.5.2.9;SCHAFFER'S STUDY;240
7.5.2.10;A REDEFINITION OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE NEEDED;241
7.5.2.11;BIBLIOGRAPHY;241
7.5.3;Chapter
18. The Meaning of Work and Jobs;242
7.5.3.1;REFERENCES;253
7.5.4;Chapter
19. A Theory of Work Adjustment;256
7.5.4.1;INTRODUCTION;256
7.5.4.2;A CONTEXT FOR THE THEORY;258
7.5.4.3;A THEORY OF WORK ADJUSTMENT;260
7.5.4.4;SOCIAL UTILITY OF THE THEORY OF WORK ADJUSTMENT;267
7.5.4.5;COMMENT;269
7.5.4.6;REFERENCES;270
7.5.5;Chapter
20. Job Satisfaction: Issues and Problems;272
7.5.5.1;METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES;273
7.5.5.2;FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH JOB SATISFACTION;274
7.5.5.3;CONSEQUENCES OF JOB SATISFACTION;279
7.5.5.4;THEORETICAL ISSUES AND PROBLEMS;281
7.5.5.5;SUMMARY;283
7.5.5.6;REFERENCES;283
7.5.5.7;THE WORK EXPERIENCE : FURTHER READING;286
8;Part II: PRACTICE;288
8.1;Introduction;290
8.1.1;REFERENCES;293
8.2;SECTION 5: The Aims of Guidance;294
8.2.1;Chapter
21. I.L.O. Recommendation (No. 87) Concerning Vocational Guidance;298
8.2.1.1;I. GENERAL;298
8.2.1.2;II. SCOPE;299
8.2.1.3;III. PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE FOR YOUNG PERSONS INCLUDING THOSE IN SCHOOL;299
8.2.1.4;IV. PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE FOR ADULTS (EMPLOYMENT COUNSELLING);302
8.2.1.5;V. PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANISATION;303
8.2.1.6;VI. TRAINING OF OFFICERS;305
8.2.1.7;VII. RESEARCH AND PUBLICITY;305
8.2.2;Chapter 22. Guidance: Remedial Function or Social Reconstruction?;308
8.2.2.1;THE CURRENT PUBLIC AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS OF GUIDANCE;308
8.2.2.2;THE SMUGGLING OF VALUES;310
8.2.2.3;FACILITATING THE EXAMINED LIFE—THE FAILURE OF SCHOOL AND GUIDANCE;314
8.2.2.4;THE CONCEPT OF INSTITUTIONAL POTENCY;315
8.2.2.5;MORE POWERFUL FUNCTIONS FOR GUIDANCE;318
8.2.2.6;REFERENCES;321
8.2.3;Chapter
23. Issues in Counseling: Elusive and Illusional;322
8.2.3.1;ILLUSIONS IN COUNSELING;322
8.2.3.2;ELUSIVE ISSUES;324
8.2.3.3;REFERENCES;327
8.2.4;Chapter
24. Needed Counselor Competencies in Vocational Aspects of Counseling and Guidance;328
8.2.4.1;INTRODUCTION;328
8.2.4.2;COMPETENCIES RELATED TO COUNSELOR ATTITUDES AND POINT OF VIEW;329
8.2.4.3;ATTITUDES AND POINTS OF VIEW REGARDING THE VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE FUNCTION;330
8.2.4.4;ATTITUDES AND POINTS OF VIEW REGARDING VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE FOR ALL STUDENTS;332
8.2.4.5;COMPETENCIES RELATED TO JOB ACTIVITIES OF COUNSELORS;334
8.2.4.6;COUNSELOR COMPETENCIES IN VOCATIONAL INFORMATION;335
8.2.4.7;COUNSELOR COMPETENCIES IN EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES;336
8.2.4.8;COUNSELOR COMPETENCIES IN BUSINESS – LABOR – INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSHIPS;338
8.2.4.9;CONCLUDING REMARKS;340
8.2.5;Chapter
25. What Will the School Counsellor Do?;342
8.2.5.1;PERSONAL COUNSELLING (U.S.A.);344
8.2.5.2;THERAPEUTIC COUNSELLING;351
8.2.5.3;EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL COUNSELLING;352
8.2.5.4;CONCLUSION;355
8.2.5.5;REFERENCES;356
8.2.5.6;SUGGESTED FURTHER READING;357
8.2.5.7;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES ON THE AIMS OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING AND THE MORAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COUNSELLOR;357
8.3;SECTION 6.
Guidance in Practice;360
8.3.1;Chapter 26. Twenty-Five Years of Research in Vocational Guidance;364
8.3.1.1;REFERENCES;372
8.3.2;Chapter
27. The Seven Point Plan;374
8.3.2.1;SOME OF ITS LIMITATIONS;374
8.3.2.2;THE CASE FOR NOT CHANGING IT YET;375
8.3.2.3;CAUTIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE USE OF THE PLAN;377
8.3.2.4;HOMUNCULUS OLDFIELDIANUS;377
8.3.2.5;CRUCIAL ACTIVITIES AND SITUATIONS;378
8.3.2.6;THE SEVEN POINTS;378
8.3.2.7;A FINAL COMMENT;387
8.3.2.8;REFERENCES;387
8.3.3;Chapter
28. An Occupational Classification for Use in Vocational Guidance;390
8.3.3.1;INTRODUCTORY;390
8.3.3.2;CHOOSING CLASSIFICATORY "DIMENSIONS";390
8.3.3.3;SUMMING UP;398
8.3.3.4;REFERENCES;399
8.3.4;Chapter
29. The Functions and Forms of Occupational Visits;402
8.3.4.1;FORMS OF VISITS;407
8.3.4.2;WHAT USE DO VISITS SERVE?;410
8.3.4.3;REFERENCES;412
8.3.5;Chapter
30. Vocational Guidance for the Unscholarly Child;414
8.3.5.1;THE EARLY LEAVER'S PROSPECTS;414
8.3.5.2;THE EARLY LEAVER'S IMMATURITY;416
8.3.5.3;REFERENCES;421
8.3.6;Chapter
31. Autocoun: A Computer-based Automated Counseling Simulation System;422
8.3.6.1;PRELIMINARY FIELD WORK;424
8.3.6.2;COUNSELOR MODEL;425
8.3.6.3;THE AUTOMATED COUNSELING SYSTEM;425
8.3.6.4;TESTING AUTOCOUN;430
8.3.6.5;RESULTS;431
8.3.6.6;DISCUSSION;432
8.3.6.7;GUIDANCE IN PRACTICE: FURTHER READING;435
8.3.6.8;INDUSTRIAL TRAINING;437
8.3.6.9;OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION;437
8.3.6.10;VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE FOR THE HANDICAPPED;438
8.4;SECTION 7: Occupational Information;440
8.4.1;Chapter
32. Functions of Occupational Information in Counseling;444
8.4.1.1;DIAGNOSIS COMES FIRST;444
8.4.1.2;INSTRUCTIONAL FUNCTION;445
8.4.1.3;DISTRIBUTIONAL FUNCTION;446
8.4.1.4;THERAPEUTIC FUNCTION;447
8.4.1.5;GENERAL PRINCIPLES;448
8.4.2;Chapter
33. The Role of Occupational Information in Careers Guidance;450
8.4.2.1;OCCUPATIONAL HORIZONS;450
8.4.2.2;THE QUALITY OF OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION;451
8.4.2.3;OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION GIVEN TO SCHOOL CHILDREN;452
8.4.2.4;THE CAREERS COURSE;453
8.4.2.5;THE CAREERS LIBRARY;454
8.4.2.6;HOW SHOULD A CAREERS LIBRARY BE USED?;457
8.4.2.7;REFERENCES;458
8.4.3;Chapter
34. Psycho-Social Aspects of Work: A Critique of Occupational Information;460
8.4.3.1;THE REALITY OF OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION;461
8.4.3.2;THE ECONOMIC MAN; THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MAN;462
8.4.3.3;THREE ILLUSTRATIONS;463
8.4.3.4;THE AVAILABLE MATERIALS;466
8.4.3.5;THE ESSENTIAL RESEARCH;467
8.4.3.6;ONE CLEAR APPROACH;469
8.4.3.7;REFERENCES;470
8.4.3.8;OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION: FURTHER READING;471
8.5;SECTION 8: The Use of Psychological Tests in Vocational Guidance;474
8.5.1;Chapter
35. Key Concepts in the Use of Psychological Tests in Vocational Guidance;478
8.5.1.1;THE PURPOSES OF TESTS;482
8.5.1.2;NON-COUNSELLING USES OF TESTS;483
8.5.1.3;COUNSELLING USES OF TESTS;485
8.5.1.4;THE ADMINISTRATION OF TESTS;489
8.5.1.5;RELEVANT ISSUES TO TEST ADMINISTRATION;492
8.5.1.6;MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS IN THE TESTING SITUATION;496
8.5.1.7;TYPES OF TEST AVAILABLE;498
8.5.1.8;FUNCTIONAL CLASSIFICATION;498
8.5.1.9;CLASSIFICATION OF TESTS BY TESTING PROCEDURE;505
8.5.1.10;TEST READABILITY;507
8.5.1.11;WHO SHOULD USE TESTS?;508
8.5.1.12;REFERENCES;510
8.5.2;Chapter
36. A Framework for the Improvement of Test Interpretation in Counseling;516
8.5.2.1;SOURCES OF ERROR;516
8.5.2.2;ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS;517
8.5.2.3;EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS;519
8.5.2.4;DISCUSSION;520
8.5.2.5;REFERENCES;522
8.5.2.6;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES TO TEST INTERPRETATION;522
8.5.2.7;ADDITIONAL REFERENCES TO THE USE OF TESTS IN VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE;524
9;Author Index;526
Foreword
PATRICK MEREDITH THE editors of this compilation of readings in The Theory and Practice of Vocational Guidance have performed an important service. Even a cursory glance at the scope of its contents will reveal that this is a service not only to psychologists professionally engaged in vocational guidance but to a great many other potential readers, in fields as diverse as economics, education, sociology, psychiatry, industrial relations, demography, government, human geography, and even philosophy. These readings also carry important implications for statistics, information-theory, computer-science and decision-theory. And the emphatic stress on the central role of the “self-concept” points to deep considerations of ethics and ontology. This volume serves both to display the wide range of considerations which have dominated the thinking of workers in the vocational field, but at the same time to suggest, by the implication of topics omitted, some of the further problems to which their attention should be drawn. In particular we have a very far-reaching problem to solve which lies at the very roots of the prevailing educational concept of the relation between school and occupation. Some twenty years ago in a little book now out of print (Visual Education and the New Teacher, 1946, Visual Education Centre, Exeter) I made the following comments on the relevance of occupational films to the school curriculum: “Vocational Guidance … has been conceived and developed hitherto mainly in terms of tests and evaluations of the child’s potentialities. But there is something more fundamental than guidance by tests. It is the individual’s dominant interest which largely determines his success and helps him overcome his limitations. And interest in a job depends, in turn, on a clear mental picture of the job. A keen interest based on a misconception of the nature of the job may lead to bitter disillusionment and failure. It is therefore the business of the schools to acquaint their pupils with the way the world works, in all its occupational diversity. ‘The Occupational Life of Man’ should be an integral feature of all curricula for at least the last two years of school life when interests are crystallizing and vocational decisions are being made. Now it is exactly here that the technique of the documentary film can ideally fulfil its function. But it should not merely provide a sporadic film show to focus attention on one particular occupation. A long-term programme is needed, based on consultations between the industrialist, the educational and visual experts, the vocational psychologist and the Ministry of Labour. The programme must obviously take account of the national situation. Any good film depicting a job is ipso facto propaganda for that job, and if that job is likely to be overcrowded in the near future such propaganda is in nobody’s interest. Effort should be directed where it is most needed. We thus require collections of occupational films, books, etc.; lists of typical factories, offices, farms, etc., suitable for school visits; conferences to bring together those concerned in this work; and arrangements for supplying the schools with all the necessary information and material. “In this way we can bridge a gap which ought never to have existed, the gap between the school-world and the work-a-day world. Naturally the attempt will meet with opposition from those who prefer to see education as a ‘spiritual’ process having nothing in common with the solid material activities of the workshop and the market-place. “What defeatist cynicism is this which would carefully wrap up education in cotton-wool while treating industry as something dirty, commercial and (by implication) immoral? Is the child then to be carefully nurtured by other-wordly religion until the age of fifteen or sixteen and then cynically pushed into a world which recognizes none of the principles of his education and encourages him to forget them as quickly as possible? This absurdity can be quickly disposed of. Are all teachers, administrators, inspectors and ministers of education so spiritually minded that they spend their time loving one another and the children, never thinking for one moment about their salaries, never struggling for position, or prestige, but devoting themselves single-mindedly to one thing and one thing only, the spiritual welfare of the children? What of industry on the other hand, or to take a wider term, the occupational world? In this world do we never see a struggle for ideals, a consideration of human values, a loyalty to fellow-workers, a disinterested pursuit of patriotic aims, bravery in the face of extreme occupational hazard and many other values which, if we are to use the term at all, can only be described as spiritual? These things have only to be stated to blast sky-high the sickly pretentiousness of this exclusive claim for the spirituality of education. This is one world and we are all in it together, children, teachers, workers, and the rest, all showing a blend of aspirations and imperfections. It is essential for the health of industry and education alike for the two to be organically related, all accepting the hard claims of material and economic fact, all struggling by their own nature to achieve a life which triumphs over those facts.” My impression is that today the concept of the curriculum as a microcosm of this world, rather than of the abstract fictitious world of the academic imagination still haunted by Plato, is as far as ever from realization. And children are still deprived of an adequate picture of the solid occupational world in which they will find their destiny and for which they need guidance in making their own choice, though as John Hayes shows in his paper on the role of occupational information, there is no shortage of techniques for bringing occupational knowledge into the school. It may be, however, that vocational guidance has set itself a task whose information requirements are too complex even for computer-aided techniques, a task which should properly be regarded as the responsibility of the educational system as a whole rather than of a specialist corps within the system. If the curriculum could be redesigned so as to make it mirror our actual culture as it is, and as it is tending, so that the information-handling process became part and parcel of curriculum-design, taking advantage of all modern aids, the specialist counsellor could be left with a more manageable “client-oriented” job. His would be the task of helping the uncertain individual to find his way among conflicting choices, in which the uncertainty would not be due to ignorance of the occupational world (for the curriculum would have remedied this) but to uncertainty in his own self-concept. This brings us back to the fundamental importance of the individual self, and it is a pleasure to read the opening contribution by Donald Super (whom I once had the privilege of instructing in English constitutional history and elementary Greek at a school in Switzerland some thirty years ago. I wonder who could have guided him then to his subsequent career?). The self-concept is implicit in his phrase “work as a way of life”. It would be very wide of the mark to suppose that a curriculum which mirrors the occupational world would simply replace academic training by vocational training. It would redefine the academic task in truer terms which would accept life as it is, a process in which man’s attainment and self-discovery is through occupation (including the occupation of parenthood). An important medium for bringing the reality of the occupational world into the field of awareness of the school-child is the “occupational visit”, as Barrie Hopson demonstrates in his paper on the subject, so long as it is competently planned and executed, with all necessary safeguards. And he rightly points to the opportunity which such a visit offers not only to grasp the occupational reality but to deepen the child’s self-awareness in response to a challenging experience. One of the problems wide open for a fresh approach is that of the economics of guidance, counselling and selection, not merely in a financial sense but in terms of effort, information and expert manpower. Cronbach and Gleser have made a pioneering contribution to this problem (Cronbach, L. J., and Gleser, G. C. Psychological Testing and Personnel Decisions, 2nd ed., University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1965) and it has important implications for the traning of the counsellors themselves. Quis custodet ipsos custodes? A viable career depends upon a reasonable economy in the disposition of one’s time and resources. Peter Daws, the Director of the Vocational Guidance Research Unit in the Psychology Department at Leeds, under whose leadership the compilation of this volume was made possible, shows a sensible awareness of the oft-neglected need to avoid “biting off more than one can chew”. In his contributions on “What will the school counsellor do” he advises that, in this country at any rate, “Our own counsellors will need to accept a more modest definition of their role.” I would suggest that this is not merely prudent parsimony dictated by national economic stringency, but an indication of wide application in many other professions. Perhaps most of us tend to interpret our professional roles too ambitiously and do too much inadequately instead...
