Approaches and models of vocational guidance

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It is interesting to note that, although from its beginnings vocational guidance has been defined as a process of assistance for professional choice and development, for many years vocational guidance was limited only to the moment of choosing a profession. In the theoretical order, the different approaches and models of vocational guidance that are being built reflect the conceptions of their authors about motivation and its expression.

Another interesting aspect to highlight in the development of vocational guidance is the tendency of authors to use the terms vocational guidance and career guidance indiscriminately. Three positions can be found in this regard:

1. Those who use the terms vocational or professional orientation interchangeably without differentiating between them.
2. Those who differentiate the terms considering that vocational guidance is that which takes place during the period prior to the student’s entry into a vocational training center, while career guidance refers to the assistance provided to the student once he/she has entered a vocational training center.
3. Those who consider that vocational guidance refers to helping the student to form a vocation, very close to evolutionary conceptions (vocational training) while professional guidance refers to the information provided to the student about the different careers for which he/she can apply at the time of choosing a profession (professional guidance) in the professional activity.

Vocational psychology

In guidance, rather than speaking of theories, we speak of approaches, referring to the set of theoretical foundations that are given in vocational psychology. According to Crites criteria, the following classification is presented:

• Non-psychological approaches, which attribute vocational choice to factors external to the individual that are difficult to control, such as: casual or fortuitous factors, economic factors or sociological factors.
• Psychological approaches emphasize the internal elements present in the individual’s vocational choice.

According to different authors this vocational choice will be understood as:

1. A one-time event. This assumption is held by the following approaches: trait and factor approach, psychodynamic model, psychoanalytic approach and needs approach.
2. A developmental process. Therefore, we no longer speak of vocational choice but of vocational development, which generates the idea of career education. This idea is advocated in two approaches: the self-concept approach (Super’s) and evolutionary or developmental approaches (Ginzberg and the decision-making approach).
   • Global and integral approaches, which integrate psychological, social and economic trends of vocational behavior. They understand vocational development as a complex process to be assumed holistically. Under this approach, the following models are included and explained: socio-psychological model of P.M. Blan, J.L. Holland’s typological model, Donald Super’s socio-phenomenological approach, J.D. Krumbeltz’s social learning approach to decision making and Dennis Pelletier and his collaborators’ activation approach to vocational and personal development (ADVP).

Non-psychological approaches

Theory of Chance

The basic assumption is that vocational choice is due to chance: a career is chosen without prior thought, purely by accident. Vocational choice occurs as a consequence of a series of unforeseeable events and circumstances.

This way of explaining vocational choice sometimes has its application in the choice made by some people, who choose based on accidental circumstances and an external locus of control. It is necessary that these casual factors be controlled to the maximum, trying to minimize their influence on the vocational choice. The main representatives of this theory are: Miller and Form (1951).

Economic factors

The basic assumption is that the freedom of individuals to choose occupations is subject to their economic benefits. Guidance, according to this approach, consists of providing information on labor market conditions. To this must be added the training required to meet the demands of a job vacancy and the cost of training. Representatives: Castaño. In conclusion, the economic factor alone does not explain a vocational choice, but it does have an influence.

Sociological factors

Cultural and sociological theories of vocational choice state that the most important factor determining an individual’s choice is the influence of culture and society, and that individuals’ goals are in line with the values they have adopted (as in cultures where marital and vocational choice is defined by parents or following a pattern of family history).

The individual learns that certain kinds of work are more desirable from a social point of view than others. He is also influenced by his parents and the community in which he lives. On the other hand, the school, after the family, is probably the most important agent of socialization and vocationalization.

Through it the individual acquires a series of values that directly influence the vocational choice. The family is another factor, the acceptance, concentration or rejection that it gives to the occupations has a great influence on the subject’s choice.

Psychological approaches

Trait and factor approach

The basic assumption is to match personal traits to the requirements of a profession. This is the first model of vocational choice based on the approaches of Parsons:

• Each subject belongs to a unique model of stable traits that can be measured and quantified.
• Each occupation has a unique pattern of measurable trait requirements needed to perform an occupation successfully.
• It is possible to combine individual traits with the requirements of the job, it would be a matter of matching those with the demands of the occupations.
• The better the match between traits and requirements, the more satisfied the individual will be in his or her chosen occupation.

Another representative of this approach is Williamson, who defends the need to make a diagnosis as an essential element of counseling. He distinguished four types of subjects, faced with the vocational decision, on the basis of the diagnosis:

• Those who feel unable to make a choice.
• Those who show doubts or insecurity in making decisions.
• The prudent to choose.
• Those who present disagreement and discrepancy between their capabilities and the requirements of the occupations.

It also determined the phases of the orientation assistance:

• Analysis (information gathering).
• Synthesis (coherent structuring of data).
• Diagnosis (review and contrast of data).
• Prognosis (prediction).
• Guidance (individual help to achieve adjustment).
• Follow-up (continuous support of the subject)

Vocational guidance training

For the education professional, constant training and updating of their past knowledge has become a necessity. This has been made possible through various methods, including the virtual one. In addition to expanding their field of work, the professional acquires new knowledge and tools for social construction. For this reason, the education professional seeks to expand his knowledge in his field every day.

At TECH Technological University, every day new information is developed to be taught to students. This is the case of the Faculty of Education, where you can find specializations such as the Master’s Degree in University Teaching and the Master’s Degree in Bilingual Education in Early Childhood and Primary Education. Despite being excellent options, for those professionals interested in tutoring and vocational guidance focused on their students, there is no doubt that the best option to build this future is the Master’s Degree in Vocational and Professional Guidance.