NICE Academy 2021 in Paris from November 2-5

"Building Career Management Skills"

From November 2-5, 2021, the Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling will hold its third NICE Academy at the University of Paris. The academy will be dedicated to the challenges of “Building Career Management Skills.”

On November 2, the academy will formally at 17:00 o'clock. Study visits will be offered for early arrivers (to be announced soon). On November 5, the academy will close at 13:00 o'clock.

We thank our host, Dr Laurent Sovet from the University of Paris, for his kind invitation and very much look forward to this event, which also marks the 10th Anniversary of NICE.  We already have a great lineup of keynote lectures and workshops. Further calls for presentations will be announced soon. If you want to receive our regular updates, please subscribe by contacting us (below).

The academy will take place at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Paris at 71 avenue Edouard Vaillant, 92774 Boulogne-Billancourt. Please note that this location is about 45 minutes away from the center of Paris, if you use public transportation. We advise you to find a room near the venue.

If you have any questions, please address them to paris2021@nice-network.eu. We will respond within 7 days.

Theme of the Academy

Following Sultana (2012), career management skills can be defined as “a whole range of competences which provide structured ways for individuals and groups to gather, analyse, synthesise and organise self, educational and occupational information, as well as the skills to make and implement decisions and transitions” (p. 229). They have become a key focus for implementing career educational programs and career competence-based curricula across EU countries. NICE (2016) attributes the professional role of Career Education to this important task and defines relevant competence standards for career practitioners.

When its educational component is forgotten or ignored, career guidance and counselling cannot unleash its full potential. By incorporating the promotion of career management skills in our practice, we can empower people to master their career-related challenges autonomously; we can support them in attaining more control over their career development; in becoming more independent.

And we need to do so. While globalization and innovation bring many benefits, they also challenge people to engage in lifelong learning. Organizations, too, are under continuous pressure to adapt, with many of them become less hierarchic, smaller, and more flexible. In this kind of an environment, citizens’ ability to manage their own career development becomes crucial. We need to prepare people to deal with career-related challenges across their lifetime, not only at the beginning of their careers. For this purpose, we need to support citizens’ learning and development of career management skills. However, many questions arise with this realization:

• What are the career management skills that actually support clients in mastering their career development? How do we know that they work?
• Does everybody need the same set of career management skills? Or are there meaningful differences between national contexts, labor markets...?
• How can career professionals effectively support clients in developing their career management skills? What approaches work? Why? And what if time is extremely limited?
• How and why should we assess career management skills? What techniques and tools are there?
• How can career professionals work together with educational bodies to promote career management skills? How could the role of career professionals evolve in the future?
• Are there any risks attached to the promotion of career management skills? Could we be misleading clients in the long run? Could the promotion of career management skills damage our profession?
• How can career practitioners be trained to build citizens’ career management skills at schools, universities and through further education? What knowledge, skills and competences are needed? How can they be developed?

These are the sorts of questions that the third NICE Academy in Paris will focus on. Through interactive keynote lectures, various training workshops to choose from, presentations of innovative approaches and important research findings, and various networking activities, we hope to foster a meaningful exchange of knowledge about the promotion of career management skills and career education.

References

NICE (2016). European Competence Standards for the Academic Training of Career Practitioners. Opladen: Barbara Budrich.

Sultana, R. G. (2012). Learning career management skills in Europe: A critical review. Journal of Education and Work, 25(2), 225–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2010.547846

Target Group and Level of NICE Academies

NICE Academies are aimed at two main target groups:

1. Career Professionals, who practice career guidance and counselling as their main profession.
2. Career specialists, who train career practitioners, conduct related research, provide supervision to career professionals, manage career services, etc.

NICE Academies provide advanced training in career guidance and counselling. We expect that all participants have completed an initial qualification in career guidance and counselling, ideally through a targeted degree program at a higher education institution, or have developed an equivalent degree of expertise (e.g., through university training in a discipline like education or psychology, through professional supervision, research, etc.). Our courses are offered at Master's level (EQF 7).

Keynote Lectures

At the NICE Academy in Paris, we will welcome three international keynote lectures offered by:

Hazel Reid, PhD Canterbury Christ Church University (UK)	Career Guidance and Counselling: a narrative of continuity and change The challenges that lie ahead for the individuals and groups we work with as practitioners, researchers and educationalists are immense. Change in any social environment is the one constant perhaps, but the pandemic we are living through means we are unsure of what stories to construct for the future – for our ‘clients’ and for ourselves. Innovation is a wonderful thing and important, however, career guidance and counselling has strong foundations that we can build on, some refer to this as ‘standing on the shoulder of giants’. The presentation will look back in order to look forward as we work alongside others to build career management skills for an uncertain future. Building an adaptable narrative around career futures will not be easy, but narratives are essential to our ways of making sense of the world, of ourselves and interactions between the two. Within the presentation we will make time for conversation, to share thoughts about how we navigate the challenges ahead. Professor Hazel Reid is Emeritus Professor of Education and Career Management at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. She was the Head of Research in the Faculty of Education and supported the research career development of colleagues.  Her research focused on the area of career and guidance theory and practice, with a particular interest in narrative career counselling and clinical supervision. She also supervised and continues to examine students undertaking Doctoral research, with a particular expertise in interpretive, biographical and narrative research methodologies. For many years Hazel trained career guidance and counselling practitioners. She is the editor/author of a number of books and publications, notably An Introduction to Career Counselling and Coaching, published by Sage in 2016. Hazel is an Emeritus Fellow of NICEC (National Institute of Career Education and Counselling) and a Heritage Fellow of the UK Career Development Institute, receiving the Rodney Cox Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.  Hazel was, until recently, a board member of the European Research Society for Vocational Designing and Career Counselling and also of the Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe (NICE). Her email is: hazel.reid37[at]outlook.com
Laurent Sovet, PhD University of Paris (France)	To be added soon
Ronald G. Sultana, PhD University of Malta	Authentic Education for Meaningful Work: Beyond ‘Career Management Skills’ My presentation will focus on work education in formal learning settings and will explore how such an education can be conceptualized so that it contributes to well-being. I will first provide an overview and synthesis of recent developments in ‘career learning’ worldwide—also as represented in the contributions to the NICE volume on CMS—noting the increasing importance that such career learning has been given as a contributor to enhanced competitivity in knowledge-based economies. The presentation notes that the centrality of work in the curriculum is justified because ‘meaningful work’ maintains its importance as the hallmark of a flourishing life. I will argue, however, that much of the work that is available in neoliberal economies is increasingly the cause of distress, hardship, exploitation, and abuse. I therefore make a case for an authentic work education programme that helps participants understand the nature of meaningful work, to aspire to it, and to decode the causes that frustrate access to it. I conclude by arguing that, as with all truly educational enterprises, authentic work education should provide the intellectual tools and encourage the moral resolve to imagine more socially just and fulfilling ways of living together and to gain a measure of individual and collective control over the forces that shape lives. Ronald G. Sultana is professor of education at the University of Malta. He has carried out research on career education in several contexts, including New Zealand (from where he obtained his PhD), the USA (where he was Fulbright Fellow at Stanford University), the EU (where he was the ELGPN’s consulting expert on career management skills), and the MENA region (where he has supported curriculum and policy development). He has most recently edited Career Guidance and Livelihood Planning across the Mediterranean (Sense Publishers, 2017), published a Handbook on Enhancing the Quality of Career Guidance in Secondary Schools (2018), and co-edited (with T. Hooley & R. Thomsen) two volumes on career guidance for social justice (Routledge 2018, 2019). In 2020, Sultana was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Université Laval (Quebec) for his work on emancipatory career guidance. A list of his publications is available at: http://www.um.edu.mt/emcer/publications Email: ronald.sultana[at]um.edu.mt

Training Workshops

Training workshops provide highly interactive learning opportunities. They last 90 minutes and don’t require any preparation from participants. No more than 30 minutes should be dedicated to speeches or presentations. Activities can comprise group discussions, individual or group exercises, peer learning, discussions, collegial counselling/intervision, playing educational games, structured reflection, etc.

*The sequence of the workshops still needs to be determined.

Presentations

Presentations at NICE Academies allow career specialists to share expertise from research and practice, and discuss it with academy participants. Presenters are given 20 minutes for their presentation, followed by 10 minutes of discussion, which are facilitated by the session moderators. Typically, three presentations with similar topics are combined.

*The sequence of the presentations still needs to be determined.

Registration Fee

The registration fee covers food and drinks at the academy, the programme, and all learning materials. Participation at the gala dinner and cultural activities come with additional fees. Participants are expected to organise and pay for their travel and accommodation autonomously.

(1) Founders are registered supporters of the NICE Foundation, either individuals or representatives of institutional founders (e.g., universities or professional associations). For an overview of the relevant bodies, please consult http://www.nice-network.eu/founders/

(2) The special discount is available for participants with very low budgets, e.g., unemployed students or practitioners with relatively low incomes. Please request a special discount via email to the organisers.

(3) Some of the academy activities will also take place online, including keynote lectures and a selection of presentations and workshops. Active participation of online participants will be moderated. In the unlikely event that the academy cannot take place physically, the full event will take place online.

Terms and Conditions

• The registration of participation is binding.
• If you have to cancel your registration, you get the full fee back until 14 days before the start of the event. People who cancel their participation after this deadline or who do not show up will only be refunded 50% of their payment.
• The participation fees are owed upon registration and are payable within one month following submission of the registration (but not later than 7 days before the academy begins).
• Participation is not guaranteed until full payment of the registration fee is received.
• The academy program may be subject to changes.
• Payments will be refunded if the academy is canceled by the organizer. In that case, the organizer will have no further liability to participants. Registrations remain valid if the academy has to be postponed or only takes place online.
• In the event that the academy can only take place online, participants will be refunded all but € 50,00, the fee for online participation. In this case, all planned activities will be offered online as far as possible.
• Participants are required to fulfil the demands of national and local authorities, including the University of Paris, regarding measures against the Covid-19 pandemic. This may include checks of vaccination documents and evidence of negative tests upon entry of the country or the university building. We kindly recommend all participants to get vaccinated with a vaccine that is accepted by the European authorities. Participants who cannot enter France or the university due to the pandemic can participate online. Please contact us if you need assistance.
  

Chairs & Organising Committee

Anne Chant, PhD

Anne Chant, PhD

Position Chair (NICE Foundation)

Beschreibung Assistant Director of Centre for Careers and Personal Development at the Canterbury Christ Church University (UK).

Laurent Sovet, PhD

Laurent Sovet, PhD

Position Chair (University of Paris)

Beschreibung Assistant Professor at the Laboratoire de Psychologie et d'Ergonomie Appliquées (LaPEA) of the University of Paris

Yvor Broer

Yvor Broer

Position Chair (In Dialogue)

Beschreibung Leadership and organisational and organisational consultant Ba. Political Science and Ba. Systemic Leadership and Organisational Development Yvor has over 20 years of international experience as consultant, facilitator, trainer and coach. He mostly works in Europe, the US, Canada and Eurasia. His work is based on systemic and social constructionist approaches as well as narrative practice. These theories are the guiding principle in his work though interventions are always tailored flexibly to respond to clients’ needs. Yvor describes his work as being a facilitator of dialogue, where the logic of different perspectives is explored to reflect on the current practice and desired future and in this way to create meaning out of events. However, the dialogues are always embedded into the organisational framework - the mission, vision and strategy of the organisation, as their purpose is to create viable solutions benefiting the organisational purpose. No matter whether you meet Yvor as a consultant, trainer or coach, you will meet a passionate and driven person, who wishes to inspire and motivate the people he works with. He likes to encourage participation, because he believes that new perspectives and insights are needed for better results. He uses humour to get the energy into the room. However, his mind is always on the context and the organisational frame, where the solutions have to show their usefulness. Website: http://in-dialogue.org/index.php?pagina=consultants

Johannes Katsarov

Johannes Katsarov

Position Chair (NICE Foundation)

Beschreibung Johannes has been dedicated to career guidance and counselling since he studied "Career Counselling and Organization Development" at the Heidelberg University (MA, 2012). Since 2009, he has acted as a coordinator for the NICE Network. He enjoys exchanges between practitioners and academics dedicated to career guidance and counselling and loves to learn how we can support people in managing their career development, and how to innovate training offers for career practitioners. To promote discourse and collaboration between practitioners and academia, he acts as a facilitator, for example in developing common standards. At the University of Zurich, he is currently finalising his PhD on using digital games to promote professionals' sensitivity to ethical issues. As part of this project, he has developed two "Serious Moral Games" - one for financial managers, and one for medical students. He hopes to also develop a video game for practitioners of career guidance and counselling, soon. Contact: coordinator@nice-network.eu

Emma Harrison

Emma Harrison

Position Conference Assistant (Digital & Hybrid Involvement)

Beschreibung Senior Lecturer in Careers, Guidance and Counselling at Canterbury Christ Church University

Emmanuel Wassouo

Emmanuel Wassouo

Position Conference Assistant (Live Activities)

Beschreibung Doctoral Researcher at University of Paris

Scientific Committee

Caroline Arnoux-Nicolas, University of Paris Nanterre, Nanterre, France

Kokou A. Atitsgobe, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Lucie Bonnefoy, University of Paris Nanterre, Nanterre, France

Yvor Broer, In Dialogue, Gouda, The Netherlands

Damien Canzittu, Université de Mons, Mons, Belgium

Sandra Cheyne, Skills Development Scotland Leasachadh Sgilean na h-Alba, Glasgow, Scotland

Nikos Drosos, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Lea Ferrari, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

Gill Frigerio, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

Ariane Froidevaux, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington TX, USA

Rebeca García Murias, University of the Federal Employment Agency, University of Applied Labour Studies, Mannheim, Germany

Lorraine Johnson, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

Nurten Karacan Ozdemir, Education Faculty, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

Eva Kavkova, EKS, Prague, Czech Republic

Monika Kil, Danube University Krems The University of Continuing Education, Krems, Austria

Paul King, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

Aira Klampe, Liepaja University, Liepaja, Latvia

Seija Koskela, JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Jyväskylä, Finland

Inger-Lise Vanja Lund Petersen, University College Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Czesław Noworol, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

Monika Petermandl, Danube University Krems The University of Continuing Education, Krems, Austria

Shékina Rochat, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Valbona Rraci, Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Prishtina, Kosovo

Teresa Maria Sgaramella, Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy

V. Scott H. Solberg, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Tomas Sprlak, European Federation of Centres of Career Guidance and Bilan de Compétences (FECBOP), Vichy, France

Åsa Sundelin, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Nimrod Waehner-Levin, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel