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The emancipation of career -Presentation to Nornet 2025 – Adventures in Career Development
I had a busy time at the 5th International Conference on Transitions, Careers and Guidance in Iceland last week. I made three presentations in total, including one with Rie Thomsen about our new book project. Rie and I are currently writing a book which is looking at the development of the concept of career since the industrial revolution.…
The politics of skills – Presentation to Nornet 2025 – Adventures in Career Development
Ghazal Vahidi and I had the privilege of presenting our research on education and skills policy to the 5th International Conference on Transitions, Careers and Guidance in Iceland last week. In the presentation we drew on our paper Comparing the conservative and labour party’s proposals for skills: what’s the problem represented to be? to talk about…
iCeGS CPD Certificate in Career Leadership – Adventures in Career Development
iCeGS CPD Certificate in Career Leadership is an online programme that we are running from January 2026. It is fully supported and funded by the CEC and has been designed for any Career Leader in a secondary school or college in England.The courses covers all the essential knowledge and skills to be an effective career…
Benchmarks in Denmark – Adventures in Career Development
Thank you to Rie Thomsen for sending me an update on recent developments in careers education in Denmark. I thought that I would share it on this blog for everyone who is interested in careers education in schools and the Gatsby Benchmarks. Rie has been involved in the development of a series of benchmarks for…
At the cutting edge: Artificial intelligence in careers practice – Adventures in Career Development
There are still a few places left for this Thursday's (Thursday 2nd October 2025 2.00 - 4.00pm BST / UK) NICEC/CDI event on artificial intelligence. This will be an inspiring, interactive session exploring how artificial intelligence is transforming careers practice — and what it means for you and your clients right now. It includes contributions from…
Training career guidance practitioners for sustainable futures – Adventures in Career Development
Last week I had the opportunity to run a workshop with Rosie Alexander and Gill Frigerio at the NICE Academy in Malta. In the workshop we looked at the training of careers professionals, drawing on a small research project that we have completed with training providers (which will hopefully be published soon) and the Career…
Call for papers for volume 56 of the NICEC journal – Adventures in Career Development
Submissions are now invited for volume 56 of the NICEC journal which will be published in Spring 2026. In keeping with our new approach to the journal we are open to receiving articles on all topics. However, this issue will include a special collection guest edited by Jane Artess focused on the ethics, philosophies, and principles (EPP)…
Career development: Building a virtuous circle – Adventures in Career Development
I'm currently at the NICE Academy in Malta. As ever it has been a privilege to be in Malta, even if it is a little weird being here without Ronald Sultana who was previously always my mentor and guide around the island. NICE is an open network of higher education institution and individuals engaged in…
Trotman Studies in Careers, Employability and Transitions – Adventures in Career Development
Trotman have just announced the launch of a new academic , Trotman Studies in Careers, Employability and Transitions. I have agreed to act as the series editor for this new series, which means that I will be working with the publisher closely to develop the intellectual direction of the series. This international series will publish…
The vital role of career guidance in boosting opportunities for all – New policy brief – Adventures in Career Development
As I wrote in my review of the Labour Party manifesto before the last election, the Party had considerable, and largely positive plans for career guidance after the election. But, we are now more than a year on from the election and to say that progress has been slow, would be generous. Because of this,…
Responding to the Gatsby Benchmarks update – Online workshop – Adventures in Career Development
I have been invited to lead a half day, online workshop for Westminster Insights on responding to the Gatsby Benchmarks update. This will take place on Monday 20th October and should be an excellent event. It will focus on practical and actionable lessons for those responsible for delivering careers programmes in secondary schools. It will…
Seeking social justice through co-creation with neurodiverse students – Adventures in Career Development
Last week I had the opportunity to present at the AGCAS conference with my colleague Keren Coney. Keren has been doing some really interesting action research with neurodiverse students which is exploring how to co-produce careers and employability programmes that support that cohort. She has been using our five signposts model as one of the…
Unison’s survey of careers staff in schools and colleges – Adventures in Career Development
If just heard about a new survey from UNISON about the pay and experiences of careers staff in schools and colleges. I'm not involved in this at all, but it looks like it might be a really important new survey, so I would encourage careers people who work in schools and colleges to complete it.…
Launching The careers leader handbook (Third edition) – Adventures in Career Development
On Wednesday we launched The Careers leader handbook (Third edition) at the National Careers Leader Conference in London. The new edition updates everything in the handbook for the new version of the Gatsby Benchmarks and various other big changes that have happened in the last few years. Here are David and I toasting the launch…
Careers – Adventures in Career Development
What does it mean to have a career, and should we always follow our dreams? 🤔In this new book published by Aarhus University Press, Rie Thomsen and I discuss what the concept of career can offer to all of us in our lives. The book is designed to introduce people who have never really though…
My contribution to the media debate on HE funding – Adventures in Career Development
A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewed as part of a BBC article on the funding crisis and the redundancies at the University of Derby. The article has just come out and makes for interesting reading. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj937ek333jo This is what I had to say... Tristram Hooley, a professor of Career Education at the university…
Developing green guidance practice – Adventures in Career Development
We have just published a new report as part of the Exploring Green Guidance project. The report presents the outcomes of a series of innovation factories which were held in Czechia, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia to develop practical approaches to green guidance. The innovation factories are collaborative workshops inspired by action research in which…
Meet the teaching team for the MA in Career Guidance and Development – Adventures in Career Development
We have just produced a new video which is designed to introduce people to the team that will be teaching on the MA in Career Guidance and Development. So, here is your chance to be taught by me, Siobhan Neary, Tom Staunton, Miika Kekki and Keren Coney (and others). We are currently recruiting for the…
The Careers Leader Handbook – Third Edition is now available to pre-order – Adventures in Career Development
David Andrews and I have have been working on the third edition of The Careers Leader Handbook. We have updated it to take account of all of the changes that have happened over the last few years, most notably the revision of the Gatsby Benchmarks. We have also taken a lot of feedback on the…
MA in Career Guidance and Development – Webinars – Adventures in Career Development
This spring/ summer, the MA in Career Guidance and Development team at iCeGS are running a series of webinars to introduce our MA programme to potential students. These are an excellent chance to learn about what an MA study in Career Guidance looks like and the benefits of coming to iCeGS to complete your MA…
Comparing the conservative and labour party’s proposals for skills: what’s the problem represented to be? – Adventures in Career Development
My colleague Ghazal Vahidi and I have just published a new article looking at the skills policies of the Conservatives and the Labour Party before the last election. In the article we critically examines the UK skills development policies as articulated in two key policy documents: the Conservative government’s White Paper Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning…
I’m safe, but the fight against redundancies at Derby (and in HE) goes on – Adventures in Career Development
Yesterday I found out that I am not going to be made redundant from the University of Derby. The redundancy process has been organised in three rounds, like some kind of grim version of X Factor, with people gradually being whittled down on the basis of a number of questionable criteria. Yesterday round two took…
Automation and the future of work (Presentation in the Sherwood Observatory) – Adventures in Career Development
Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Sherwood Observatory as part of a meeting of local government, business and education stakeholders. We spent the morning talking about AI, automation and the future of work. We really benefitted from input from Professor Amin Al-Habaibeh from Nottingham Trent University who is an AI researcher. I was really…
Stop redundancies at the University of Derby – Adventures in Career Development
Readers of this blog will be aware that I am based at the University of Derby. The University has recently announced that it will make up to 40 professors and associate professors redundant. All professors and associate professors were put in the pool for redundancy and the Union and representatives of the professoriate have been…
NICEC journal 54 now available – Adventures in Career Development
I wanted to bring people's attention to the fact that NICEC Journal 54 is now available on the journal's website. The NICEC journal is a free, open access journal that brings together policy, research and practice. The latest issue features articles on higher education careers practice, the use of digital technologies in careers work, career…
Journal of Imaginary Research – Vol 10 – Adventures in Career Development
Volume 10 of the Journal of Imaginary Research has just been released. A creative, irreverent and satirical look at contemporary research and universities, the journal is well worth a look. This volume features an article by me (in disguise as the psychologically damaged Professor Warren Burnside). Enjoy! Journal of Imaginary Research
Trip to Maynooth – Adventures in Career Development
I'm horribly behind on sharing my stuff on this blog. My plan is always to share everything that that I do that might be of use to other people via this site. Once in a while there is something that I can't share for some reason, but everything else it thrown up here. Most of…
Good adult career guidance – Adventures in Career Development
Today, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation has just published a new report on Good adult career guidance. Along with Jo Hutchinson I am the co-author of this paper and am really pleased to now see it in print. The report emphasises that public employment services are a critical element of the provision of adult guidance services,…
Presentations to the Growing great education conference (Canterbury Christ Church University) – Adventures in Career Development
I've got very lax in posting my presentations, but I remain committed to sharing my materials on this site so that people can make use of them where they feel that they have value. So, I'm going to try and catch up. A couple of weeks ago I was asked to give a couple of…
Surviving the future: Why you shouldn’t worry about robots, but should worry about your career – Adventures in Career Development
Last week I was invited to speak at the Nottingham Business School as part of their Future of Work conference. I talked about career as our pathway into the future and argued that we need to think about the future critically and positively as we plot our own careers into it. This is what I…
Presentation to the ILO Africa Skills Hub – Adventures in Career Development
Today I had the opportunity to present with Dr Pedro Moreno da Fonseca of the International Labour Organisation to the ILO's Africa Skills Hub. We discussed the value of thinking about career, career development and career guidance to the achievement of a range of policy aims for African countries. We presented the career development framework…
Engaging with social justice in your work – Presentation to Solihull careers hub – Adventures in Career Development
Yesterday Keren Coney and I presented to careers advisers in the Solihull Careers Hub. This was part of a new initiative by the Hub to provide a developmental space for careers advisers. We really welcome this and are keen to support both careers leaders and careers advisers and recognise that sometimes this is best done…
How can and should secondary school teachers be involved inbuilding students’ career knowledge and skills? – Adventures in Career Development
Suzanne Rice and I have just published a new new paper entitled How can and should secondary school teachers be involved inbuilding students’ career knowledge and skills? A Delphi study of the expert community. It is open access, so you should be able to access it where ever you are. I hope that it will…
Call for papers – Adventures in Career Development
We have just issued a call for papers for the launch conference of the Critical Perspectives on Career and Career Guidance network. Please consider submitting a proposal by 28th February. Some funding will be available to cover the costs of attending. Further information follows... https://cocag.co.uk/2025/02/05/career-guidance-policies-and-practices-in-europe-assessing-the-strengths-and-addressing-the-gaps/
Call for Papers: NICEC Journal Vol.55 (Autumn 2025) – Adventures in Career Development
Submissions are now invited for volume 55 of the NICEC journal which will be published in Autumn 2025. In keeping with our new approach to the journal we are open to receiving articles on all topics. However, this issue will include a special collection guest edited by Emily Róisín Reid focused on career development as…
Introducing The Career Development Handbook – Adventures in Career Development
Last week we ran a webinar to provide an introduction to The Career Development Handbook. Just in case you have missed it, this is a new book written by Gill Frigerio, Rosie Alexander and myself. The book is designed to give a comprehensive introduction to the field and practice of career development. The book is…
Using the The Career Development Handbook: A one day workshop – Adventures in Career Development
Thursday 6th March - 9.30am to 4.30pmLocation: Kedleston Road Campus, Derby DE22 1GB£125 At the start of March we are offering a once in a lifetime opportunity to spend the day with me, Gill Frigerio and Rosie Alexander for a one day workshop exploring The Career Development Handbook. The workshop will help you to: Understand…
The future of career guidance in public employment services – Adventures in Career Development
Earlier this week I participated in a seminar organised by the World Association of Public Employment Services. In this I had the opportunity to present some of the work that we have been doing on career guidance in public employment service. As well as my presentation on the results of the survey we also heard…
Career guidance in public employment services – Adventures in Career Development
I have just finished a project in which iCeGS has collaborated with the World Association of Public Employment Services and the International Centre for Career Development and Public Policy. In this project we sought to explore the provision of career guidance in public employment services globally. The report finds that there is a global footprint…