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Introduction

The National Consultation on Career Psychology was conducted by The Promise foundation (TPF), through a Small Grant made by the Trust. The consultation has generated an enormous amount of interest, support and enthusiasm from around the country.

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Work Orientations and Responses to Career Choices - Indian Regional Survey (WORCC-IRS):

As per the design of this project, the NCCP was prefaced by the WORCC-IRS conducted by a team of Research Partners in different parts of the country. It was originally planned that the survey would be conducted in 14 different Indian regions. However, the Research Partner from Kerala dropped out before beginning the project and the Partner from Chandigarh was not able to meet the project time lines. Therefore, the WORCC-IRS was conducted in 12 regions.

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It was also decided that approximately half of the data would be analysed for the WORCC-IRS. This was primarily in anticipation of the possibility that new ideas and directions would emerge from the NCCP. A WORCC-IRS Draft Report was prepared on a sample of 3,799 individuals, drawn from the 12 regions. Data analysis has recommenced and the WORCC-IRS Final Report will be ready by the end of March 2006.

The National Consultation on Career Psychology (NCCP)

Pre-consultation workshop

The NCCP evoked enormous interest from a large range of institutions and individuals and the requests for participation rapidly exceeded the numbers originally envisaged. Therefore, a pre-consultation workshop was held on January 5, 2006 to give as many individuals as possible access to the NCCP in some way. The workshop was led by Prof. Tony Watts (the Key Note speaker for the NCCP) and Dr. Gideon Arulmani. The workshop focussed on the applicational issues surrounding career counselling.

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Participants:

Participants included academics, counsellors, NGOs, representatives from Government departments, student welfare officers, teachers and representatives from university departments. Participants for the workshop were mainly NGOs, teachers and counsellors.

Approach to the National Consultation on Career Psychology

The NCCP comprised 11 sessions, including the inaugural and the final 'way forward' sessions. The inaugural focussed on the broader philosophic issues that surround work and livelihood. Ms. Ahalya Chari, in her inaugural address, set the stage for the consultation by speaking about work as an integral part of the fullness of life.

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All other sessions focussed on specific themes. Speakers were from a variety of disciplines that included Anthropology, Development studies, Economics, Education, Gender studies, Guidance and Counselling, Industry, Policy, Psychology and Sociology. The WORCC-IRS Draft Report was sent to speakers in advance, with the request that they use the survey data to plan their presentations. Almost all speakers used the Draft Report and interpreted the survey data in their talks. These interpretations have made a significant contribution to interpreting and defining the meaning of career counselling for the Indian context.

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The consultation was designed to begin with broader issues and themes included policy and practice, socio-economic status, occupational stereotyping, labour market, gender and caste. This was followed by more specific themes related to a description of career counselling for the Indian context, capacity building and resourcing career counselling and developing a career counselling work force. The deliberations culminated in an open discussion that focussed on recommendations and the 'way forward'.

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The NCCP process

An earnest attempt was made to constantly remind the speakers and participants that this was not a conference but a consultation. The following attempts were made to facilitate a consultative ambience.

Data Presentation

One of the key methods used for the consultation was to present data gleaned from the WORCC-IRS. Research Partners gathered in Bangalore four days before the NCCP to prepare power point presentations for the NCCP. A pair of Research Partners was given a specific theme around which they prepared short presentations. This was a particularly useful exercise, particularly because it gave all Research Partners the opportunity to learn to make formal presentations and also sharpen their skills to use Power Point as a presentation device. Most importantly, Research Partners had the opportunity to go through data gathered in all regions and understand the trends that the WORCC-IRS picked up.

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Seating in 'consultative units':

At the outset, an attempt was made to break away from the traditional form of seating. The NCCP seating was more informal, with participants seated around tables rather than in rows. Each table was considered to be a consultative unit, which was required to document its deliberations about and responses to each session in the form of feedback sheets.

Data - Concepts - Consultations - Discussions

Each session comprised four parts.

• The first 5 to 10 minutes were spent in presenting a section of the WORCC-IRS data relevant to the session. These presentations were made by Research Partners in simple and easy to understand language, avoiding statistical and technical jargon. Participants were referred to relevant sections of the Draft Report during these data presentations in an attempt to link the presentations with the survey findings.
• The next 15 to 30 minutes were given to the speaker for the main presentation. The many concepts and constructs surrounding career choice were addressed by the different speakers with specific reference to the Indian context.
• The chairperson then requested each consultative unit to engage in a discussion and consult with each other for a few minutes in response to the presentations and record their feedback.
• The final part of all sessions comprised a few minutes of open discussion and the chairperson's comments.

From the consultative unit to the group as a whole

The feedback sheets from each consultative unit were then 'published' on bulletin boards outside the meeting hall. Participants were invited (during tea and lunch breaks) to read and add their responses to points raised by others. All participants therefore had the opportunity to inform themselves of deliberations at other tables as well as add their comments and responses. This facilitated a widening of the discussion from the smaller units to the group as a whole.

Collation of responses

The conference organisers worked at regular intervals to collate the salient themes emerging from the feedback sheets. This collated feedback was used for the final NCCP 'way forward' discussion.

Final NCCP Report

All presentations and talks have been recorded in writing as well as on audio tapes. These records are presently being transcribed, with the intention of producing papers addressing each of the themes taken up during the NCCP. Transcripts were sent to the speakers for their final comments and additions. These papers were collated into the Final NCCP Report.

Important outcomes of the NCCP

Clarification of the concept of career counselling

The group was unanimous in its agreement that career counselling is an urgently felt need and that action must be taken to meet this need immediately. Most importantly, the NCCP yielded important ideas that clarified the scope of career counselling in the Indian situation. It was repeatedly pointed out that the term 'career counselling' carries the connotation that it is relevant only to the needs of the rich and privileged. In reality, however, career counselling is relevant to all those who are making transitions into and within the world of work. The relevance of career counselling would be sharpened if its scope is broadened to include the influence of factors such as socio-economic status, caste, gender and regional variations (e.g. urban - rural differences). It is also essential that career counselling in India takes into consideration socio cultural factors such as the influence of the family and community.

Influence Policy at the National Level

It was pointed out that the attention of policy makers in government must be drawn to the importance of career counselling. The following specific suggestions were made:

• Produce a white paper on the present status of career counselling in the country with an indication of the kind of services available, access to these services and training programmes available.
• Use the WORCC-IRS and NCCP Reports in conjunction with the white paper to raise the issue of career counselling with the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Human Resource Development. It was strongly suggested that the possibility of including Career Counselling in the Eleventh Five Year Plan be explored.

Dissemination of information gathered through the WORCC-IRS and the NCCP

It was strongly suggested that the findings of the WORCC-IRS and the outcomes of the NCCP be disseminated widely. Specific recommendations in this regard are:

• Have a formal event in New Delhi to release the WORCC-IRS and NCCP documents. Have smaller events in the different WORCC-IRS locations led by the Research Partners to inform local representatives of government departments and civil society about the findings of the study. Also have events in other select locations where partners are available to host the dissemination activities. Members of the Strategy Group would be present where possible to facilitate these events.
• Ensure that the WORCC-IRS and NCCP reports are easily available and widely distributed.
• Consider formal publications of the WORCC-IRS findings through journals, and perhaps a book.
• Take up opportunities to make presentations at conferences that address the questions of work, livelihood and career.
• A valuable resource for further research has been created through the WORCC-IRS battery. Research devices have been developed in 8 different languages and tested across a large sample. It is important to ensure that the tests and research tools developed through the WORCC-IRS are available to students and scholars for further and ongoing research.

Begin systematic career counselling in the regions represented at the NCCP

The group was unanimous in its opinion that while it was important to address issues at the policy level, the time was well nigh to begin career counselling in the regions represented at the NCCP. An important issue raised was with reference to scalability. It was pointed out that while smaller efforts are important, it is essential that the state machinery is used to re-vitalise existing provisions within the system. Specific recommendations in this regard are:

• Earlier policies have already made provisions for the delivery of career counselling services. Vocational Guidance Officers, for example, are an existing cadre already provided for within the system. However, it seems these cadres have fallen into disuse. Re-vitalising these cadres with skills and methods would offer an immediate approach to the delivery of career counselling services. Representatives from four State Governments were present at the NCCP, namely, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, and Chennai. Each of these representatives indicated that they would be willing to support the initiation of career counselling services through the state machinery in their respective regions.
• A number of participants from the NCCP, as well as Research Partners, indicated that they are ready to undergo training to establish Career Resource Centres in their regions.

Capacity Building:

Career counselling is a new field in India. Therefore, capacity building has to occur at multiple levels. Three clear areas emerged as described below.

• Constitute a Strategy Group and build its capacity to address issues related to policy and advocacy. This group would comprise senior academics, policy specialists, researchers and practitioners who already have experience in matters related to advocacy.
• Constitute a Master Trainer's Group and build its capacity to train others for the delivery of career counselling services. This group would comprise those with a background in disciplines such as education, social work, psychology and counselling.
• Build capacity for the actual delivery of career counselling services at various levels as follows:
  • Career facilitators: Those who will carry career counselling duties as a role in addition to existing professional roles: e.g. Teachers, Social Workers, Wardens and others who are already working with young people.
  • Careers counsellors: Those for whom career counselling will be a profession: e.g. counsellors, psychologists, social workers and others who wish to become professional career counsellors.

Discipline building

One of the most fundamental objectives of the WORCC-IRS and the NCCP was to develop Career Psychology as a discipline for the Indian context. The group unanimously agreed that significant effort must be directed toward discipline building. The suggestions in this regard are as follows.

• Discipline building must occur around the social, economic and cultural realities that characterise the Indian situation. Curriculum development would be the most important first step in this direction. Information obtained from the WORCC-IRS and the NCCP could be central elements that inform this activity.
• Given the urgency of the need for culturally relevant career, counselling services curricula must have a strong applicational focus rather than a theoretical one.
• The experiences gleaned through the first level of curriculum development and capacity building would be used to formulate a curriculum for a master's level programme in Career Psychology. The long term objective would be to offer such a course to the University Grants Commission or to specific Universities through which the course may be offered.

Conclusion

The WORCC-IRS effort has brought important data into the public domain, which is already being used and cited. The interpretation of this data during the NCCP has helped articulate the meaning of career counselling for the Indian context. It is now essential that these ideas and findings are acted upon and a comprehensive career counselling service is made available to the Indian young person.