Just for risibility reasons. Just in jest. There is this serious joke. A child asks the parent the difference between e-mail and g-mail. Being that the parent must prove a point even with serious knowledge gaps, he lies to the child, it’s e-mail when electricity is used. Whereas it’s g-mail when generator is used.
So, it makes me think of mother of my mother, ageing gracefully in Gem. When I was schooling at Nyamninia Secondary School, she knew that I was always the valedictorian of my class. With scant knowledge, she believed, every bright student amounts to a doctor. Which doctor? Medical doctor.
Not witchdoctor. Yet, in my mischiefs as an adolescent, I used to trick the same grandma that money for photosynthesis was needed in school. So, grizzled granny lacked even an iota of knowledge in Biology, but she believed the grandson was wired for medicine.
So, she anchored it on guesswork, hearsays or myths. Most parents, guardians and care-givers are akin to grandma. No wonder, some parents choose careers for their children. Therefore, some students enroll into courses without value of volition in vocation. They do it while blind like bats. Or with absence of sense. Ugh!
Yet, on matters career choices, students need good guidance as they decide what they want to be. It’s good to be advised. For it’s the compass to campus. But no one should decide for anyone. Meaning, decision-making is an important life skill in career choices.
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While at the crossroads, wondering, which way to wend, students need helping hand. Unfortunately, while on state of tenterhooks, some students make mistakes by soliciting career counsel from people within their orbit, but void and devoid of specialised knowledge.
Broadly, students should make informed career choices, which don’t revolve around spasms of ecstasies, excitements and youthful enthusiasm. Instead, they must all acknowledge, knowledge is the real deal. Knowledge is medicine. Whereas ignorance or dearth of knowledge, is the road to “dis-ease” and death.
Lack of specialised knowledge can kill dreams. Lack of specialised knowledge can make people perish. Lack of knowledge can cause captivity by turning people into jail birds. So, the best book says in Hosea 4:6, “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” From the distant past, I can also hear the rotund sound of the prophets of old. In Isaiah 5:13, we read, “God’s people are sent into captivity for lack of knowledge.”
Therefore, in the recent past, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection launched National Policy Framework for Career Guidance in Kenya, spelling out three categories of experts students should mine career information from. Actually, career information focuses on relevant content: to assist students in career awareness, exploration and mapping. It captures skills, career path, learning opportunities, occupations, labour market-trends, education programmes, training institutions, government or non-governmental programmes and job openings.
We begin with career educators comprising of teachers, trainers, tutors and lecturers. Career educators also spill to industry experts that teach career education in their relevant fields of expertise. The experts include: Master Crafts Persons (MCPs), employers and professionals.
The industry experts have the capacity to help students understand relationship between knowledge and skills learnt in class and the world of work. This enriches career education programmes by assisting students to engage in experiential learning through active work experiences of industrial experts. This underscores the essence of job shadowing, which in high school happens through activities like academic trips and tours.
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Secondly, we have career counsellors who are highly heterogeneous in terms of their qualifications. While the qualifications framework and Code of Ethics for psychologists is governed by Counsellors and Psychologists Act (2014), there is no specific framework for career counsellors.
Career counselling is offered by people with diversified qualifications including education, theology, economics, psychology, human resource management, et cetera. Then, roles of career counsellors and psychological counsellors are entwined as “guidance counsellors”.
Comparatively, some countries have made deliberate efforts to professionalise career counselling through establishment of qualifications frameworks and professional bodies. For instance, in Austria, providers of the country’s free adult education guidance programme must be certified by Information, Counselling and Orientation for Education and Career (IBBOB) certification.
Career guidance advisers also use the European Career Guidance Certificate (ECGC), based on the standards of Quality Manual for Education and Vocational Counselling. Professional associations have been established for career counsellors in several countries. For instance, there is Career Development Association of the Philippines, Polish Association of School and Vocational Counsellors, National Association for School and Vocational Guidance in Romania and South African Association of Educational and Vocational Guidance.
Lastly, there are career information specialists, existing in three sub-categories. One, statisticians and analysts; responsible for data collection, collation, analyses and storage. Two, operational officers focusing on data interpretation and development of career information. Three, senior officers responsible for career information dissemination and capacity building.
Currently, there is no well-defined qualifications framework for career specialists. Comparatively, in Canada, a good percentage of career information specialists wield bachelor’s degree in career guidance. They learn-on-the-job and get on-site training. They work primarily in employment and career development organisations.
By Victor Ochieng’
Victor Ochieng’ is a career educator. He guides students on making informed career choices. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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