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Weekly UpdatesSpecial Issue: Vocational Psychology and Career Guidance
Practice: An International Partnership
In September 2005, the first special international issues of The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ Van Esbroeck, Herr, & Savickas, 2005) and the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IJEVG., Savickas, Van Esbroeck, & Herr, 2005) were published separately. These companion issues presented elements of the international symposium jointly held by the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) and the National Career Development Association (NCDA) in San Francisco in 2004. Taken together, the two issues provided an overview of the results of the discussions and selected papers presented at that symposium. The CDQ and IJEVG issues actually served as the symposium proceedings.
The success and international recognition of this first joint IAEVG-NCDA symposium, as well as of the proceedings, convinced the boards of both associations to consider the possibility of organizing a second joint activity. What was, at the time, only a vague idea took on another form. At the 2005 Society for Vocational Psychology (SVP) biennial conference held in Vancouver, Canada, the then presidents of NCDA, Janet Lenz, and of SVP, David Blustein and Paul Gore, together with the IAEVG chair of the first joint symposium, Raoul Van Esbroeck, discussed the possibility of a new joint symposium sponsored by all three organizations. The observation expressed by several participants at this SVP conference was that at the worldwide level there was a split between vocational psychologists and career guidance practitioners. Participants sensed that this disconnect, or perception of a disconnect, was regrettable and unnecessary. In their view, a new joint symposium on this topic was long overdue. The boards of the three organizations supported these views and appointed a joint planning committee.
The planning committee received strong support from Italian colleagues of the University of Padua under the leadership of Salvatore Soresi and Laura Nota, who chaired the local organizing committee for the proposed symposium. Together, these groups organized the 2007 IAEVG-SVP-NCDA International Symposium on Vocational Psychology and Career Guidance Practice: An International Partnership. This symposium was held September 3,2007, in Padua, Italy, simultaneously with the annual IAEVG International Conference.
Planning committee members considered the publication of the symposium proceedings to be essential for the distribution of the results of the discussions at the symposium. From the start, they opted for the same format used for the proceedings of the 2004 symposium and again proposed the publication of companion issues of CDQ and IJEVG. The boards of both journals and organizations supported this option and appointed a guest editorial team representing the three collaborating associations: Paul Gore (SVP), Jerry Trusty (NCDA), and Raoul Van Esbroeck (IAEVG). The team members' task was made easier because they could follow the model of the first joint publication. The CDQ special issue (Trusty, Van Esbroeck, & Gore, 2009b) presents the keynote contribution, summaries of the outcomes of the activities in the discussion groups, and the general conclusions. The IJEVG special issue (Van Esbroeck, Trusty, & Gore, 2009) publishes a selection of papers presented in the discussion groups. Unfortunately, page number limitations made it impossible to publish all submitted papers. Once again, our Italian colleagues helped to overcome this problem and graciously made it possible to publish a number of the symposium papers by including them in the publication of a conference book on the IAEVG Conference (Nota & Soresi, in press).
Taken together, the two issues provide a thorough overview of the results of the discussions and present selected papers that prompted much discussion. The content of the two journals is described at greater length by the guest editorial team members in their introduction to the special issue (Trusty, Van Esbroeck, & Gore, 2009a). Also, a table of contents for the two special issues is included in both journals. (See p. 384 for the table of contents of the IJEVG.)
We wish you pleasant reading and hope that these publications help to overcome the perceived--although in our opinion nonexistent--split between vocational psychology and career guidance practice. For many who were present at the symposium, there was no evident split, rather, a dynamic interplay. We thank all who contributed to the symposium and to the CDQ and the IJEVG special issues.
--Jerry Trusty, Editor
The Career Development Quarterly
--Raoul Van Esbroeck, Editor
International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance
References
Nota, L., & Soresi, S. (Eds.), (in press). Nuove sfide per Porientamento scolastico-professionale [New challenges for vocational guidance]. Florence, Italy: Organizzazioni Speciali-Giunti.
Savickas, M. L., Van Esbroeck, R., & Hcrr, E. L. (2005). Global perspectives on vocational guidance [Special issue]. International journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 5(2).
Trusty, J., Van Esbroeck, R., & Gore, P. A., Jr. (2009a). Introduction to the 1AEVG-SVP-NCDA symposium, Padua, Italy, September 2007. The Career Development Quarterly, 57, 293-297.
Trusty, J., Van Esbroeck, R., & Gore, P. A., Jr. (2009b). Vocational psychology and career guidance practice: An international partnership [Special issue]. The Career Development Quarterly, 57(4).
Van Esbroeck, R., Herr, E. L., & Savickas, M. L. (2005). Global perspectives on vocational guidance [Special issue], The Career Development Quarterly, 54(1).
Van Esbroeck, R., Trusty, J., & Gore, P. A., Jr. (2009). Vocational psychology and career guidance practice: An international partnership [Special issue]. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 9(2).
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