Being, knowing, and doing: a model for reflexivity in social constructionist practices

Abstract

The social constructionist approach is philosophically and practically different to the traditional, tried-and-tested theories and practices of career development which generations of students, researchers and practitioners have learned, implemented, evaluated, for their needs in various contexts. After 100 years, the endeavour of the field has produced a rich intellectual and professional bounty to celebrate and, moreover, to share with one another. Indeed, it is the familiarity of this tradition and lore of taken-for-granted ideas and practices that foster conventions of 'being, knowing and doing' that underpin a sense of assuredness in conducting one’s profession as a member of a community in which everyone knows what to do and what not to do. For example, the notion of conducting a semi-structured interview with a client in counselling and administering psychometrically sound measures of interests, skills, and abilities to further explore themes drawn from the interview data, and then providing a synthesis of all the data to the client as a way of informing action plans and decisions, is taken for granted; it is what is done in traditional approaches—no surprises there. There are volumes of research articles and text books, and countless opportunities for professional development courses that focus upon what is already well known and well regarded in the field, but this state of affairs is not so for the social constructionist approach. Social constructionism in the field of career development is (relatively) new and its conceptual, empirical, and practical manifestations are very much works in progress in this nascent stage of its evolution as a paradigm. Indeed, the purpose of this book is to further articulate social constructionism as a relatively new approach to the science and practice of career development and offer alternative perspectives for its development.