Addressing gendered career decision-making: adapting career guidance and counselling practice to the contemporary family unit

While the labour market and the workforce are constantly changing, persistent labour market access issues present ongoing challenges, albeit in new contexts. Research into modernised apprenticeship provision in the UK over the past 20 years has focused on the presentation, and economic and social impact of persistent occupational segregation with less focus on the career decision-making processes of individuals. Global pressure to address occupation segregation in vocational education and training (VET) is constant, but despite ongoing efforts the problem remains stable.
Research into the career decision-making processes of young people in gender atypical occupations can inform practitioners how we can adapt and develop our practice to ensure inclusivity. Simultaneously, to ensure continued applicability, career development theory requires continuous review and adaptation in practice to meet the needs of individuals in society. In this study, these two themes combine to address why some vocational routes remain ‘out of bounds’ to young people for social and cultural reasons.
My PhD project is a major study of young people’s career decision-making processes, undertaken as part of a project examining how gendered career decision-making affects entry routes to the contemporary labour market. Using the Scottish Modern Apprenticeship programme as a data source, the research considers both the decision maker and the individuals that influence career decisions, with a specific focus on the modern family structure. The study relates to equality and inclusion agendas in education, vocational training, further and higher education and employment and the related issues of the economic impact of skills (under-)utilisation and social inclusion. This is a mixed methods project. This will be the first public presentation of findings from my quantitative data collection (June-November 2018) and will present the justification for the identification of qualitative case study participants and use of the Social Cognitive Career Theory framework for narrative analysis.