Why the Blueprint is needed
In a dynamic world with many challenges and opportunities for individuals and societies, assumptions about careers are being turned on their heads. It is no longer possible to rely on the career ladders and working patterns of the past. Young people and adults need to be competent career managers with the skills and knowledge to design their own career path, and the confidence and resilience to respond to career challenges and changing circumstances as they emerge.
For young people and adults being able to access support from someone who is professionally qualified to help individuals develop these skills is vital.
Being a career development professional capable of delivering such services is a complex role requiring specialist skills and knowledge.
A qualified Career Development Professional is able to guide people of all ages to:
- gain relevant information about themselves (e.g. their interests, talents and abilities), the labour market, and educational or vocational options – depending on their individual information needs;
- develop their career management skills; make sense of the situations they are experiencing, work through issues towards solutions, make career decisions, and realise personal change.
They also:
- work with people and organisations in designing and developing career development programmes;
- manage and assure the quality of their own work;
- adopt professional values and ethical standards in all practice roles, develop and regulate relationships appropriately, engage in continuous learning and critical thinking and advocate for the profession
All of this is underpinned by Professionalism: adopting professional values and ethical standards in all practice roles, developing and regulating relationships appropriately, engaging in continuous learning and critical thinking and advocating for the profession.
All career development professionals should be competent in all of these roles, although some may specialise in one or more of them.
These roles align with the National Occupational Standards: Career Development and the full range of professional level career development qualifications currently in use across the UK.
What the CDI has done
In order to ensure that all professional level qualifications for the career development sector reflect these roles and holders are equipped to practise in any professional role in the sector, the Career Development Institute (CDI) consulted upon and produced a Blueprint of Learning Outcomes for Professional Roles in the Career Development Sector in 2016. This has now been updated to reflect changes in the sector and the greater use of technology in the delivery of career development activities. The March 2021 edition can be found here: Blueprint of Learning Outcomes for Professional Roles in the Career Development Sector. A one page summary document is also available.
Using the Blueprint
You can use the Blueprint to show stakeholders, employers and Government/Assembly officials the breadth and depth of the career development professional role and why it is vital that people are professionally qualified to at least QCF Level 6/SCQF Level 11 to deliver these roles.
The Blueprint and CPD
Fear not if you hold one of the older qualifications, these are still valid but you may like to look at the Blueprint to see what has changed since you qualified and then use this information to plan your CPD.