Beroepsvoorligting met behulp van narratiewe : kliënte se belewinge

M.Ed.We live in a dynamic world characterised by constant change. These changes occur on a paradigmatic as well as practical level and the result is that the needs and expectations of individuals are also changing. These changes have an influence on the world of work as well as on the individual in all his or her different roles. Changes in the world of work and in the individual's needs and expectations, challenge career counselling practitioners to adapt their interventions to satisfy career-related, as well as personal needs and expectations of clients. One of the intervention strategies that addresses the needs of post-modern career counselling is the use of a career guidance process with narratives. This study investigates a career guidance process that makes use of narratives. The aim is two-fold — firstly investigating the experiences of clients in a constructivist-based approach to career counselling, using narratives, and secondly, making recommendations based on the findings, regarding the process and training. The researched career guidance process includes three narratives. The first narrative is written by the client and deals with his or her life story. The second narrative is also written by the client but is futuristic and includes expectations, needs and dreams for the future. The third narrative is the end product of the process. It is written by the career guidance practitioner and serves as a summary of information gained from the activities and discussions with the client. Activities, other than the narratives, used in this process include a Myers- Briggs personality type profile, two collages, incomplete sentences and checklists. This study was researched from a constructivist framework. A generic qualitative research strategy was used. Three participants that have already undergone the studied career guidance process was selected for case studies. Each of the particpants was interviewed by means of unstructured interviews and the data was analysed according to categories and themes, using a Constant Comparative method. From the findings it was found that the participants experienced the career guidance process studied in this research as positive and valuable. They specifically referred to their experiences of the therapist, the specific activities, the career guidance sessions, the final product narrative, as well as their changed subject choices. The data also showed that clients have specific needs regarding careers, career guidance in general, as well as developed needs from the studied process. These findings also confirm that the career guidance process as studied in this research is relevant to the changing needs and expectations of clients. Training of Educational Psychologists in the underlying theory and the use of constructivist-based career guidance, using narratives, are recommended