The CDI Annual Student Conference was scheduled to take place on Wednesday 8 April at the University of Derby. However, in view of the Covid-19 restriction on events, this event was instead presented as a series of recorded keynotes and seminars, which are accessible below.
The conference would have been a free to attend event for any CDI student member studying any qualification accepted for entry to the UK Register of Career Development Professionals.
Keynotes
Keynote 1 – Career Guidance and Covid-19
Professor Tristram Hooley: Professor of Career Education at the University of Derby
How career guidance practice will need to change in the light of Covid-19 and how a social justice approach to career guidance is needed more than ever.
Keynote 2 - Enjoying YOUR Career Journey
Dave Cordle RCDP: Career Development Professional and CDI President
To be the best Career Professional that you can be, you need to make sure you are enjoying your own career. We’ll explore some key strategies that will useful to you, and useful to share with your clients / customers / students.
Keynote 3 - Talking the Talk: The Challenge of Exploring and Articulating Professional Identity
Chris Webb RCDP: Employability Adviser, Sheffield Hallam University
While the employability agenda in secondary, further and higher education has achieved some success in helping students to access opportunities and acquire valuable work-related skills, an issue affecting many young people is how they then reflect effectively on their interests, motivations and aspirations in order to formulate and articulate a professional identity as they move through education and work. This talk will explore some of the challenges around discussing professional identity as part of CEIAG work and highlight examples of the innovative projects taking place in various settings to support students to express themselves as professionals.
Keynote 4 - You’re biased! The implications of unconscious bias for careers professionals
Emma Bolger RCDP: Lecturer: MSc Career Guidance and Development, University of the West of Scotland
We all have unconscious biases and we are all affected by bias in our work and in our everyday lives. As professionals, it is our responsibility to acknowledge and understand our biases and take action, where required, to manage their impact on our behaviour and decision-making. This keynote will offer delegates the chance to consider where their own biases may lie, the importance of mitigating them in public-facing roles and practical positive action approaches to reduce the impact of unconscious bias.
Keynote 5 - Embracing the digital workspace
Nicki Moore RCDP: Senior Lecturer in Career Development, International Centre for Guidance Studies.
The motivation for many who join the career development profession is to make a difference to people’s lives through face to face interaction. Recent research has shown however that practitioners use digital technology in new and innovative ways to manage their businesses as well as to work with their clients. This includes in developing resources, writing for collaborative and social spaces, pedagogy and undertaking research. The presentation will explore the need for all practitioners to embrace digital technology and to explore, innovate and of course, share new ways of working. The presentation will also include a summary of the research into the use of digital technology in the sector and some responses which are being made by the CDI.
Workshops
The Key Career Challenges for Young People with SEND – and what is being done to mitigate them
Jenny Connick, Founder, Talentino!
Career Development Work and the Cultural Learning Alliance
Phil McCash, Associate Professor in the Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Warwick, and Course Director for the MA Career, Education, Information and Guidance in Higher Education.
Careers Leadership in Schools, Colleges and SEND Schools
Marie Jobson, Careers &Enterprise Company, Education Manager – North.
Confessions of an HE Careers Consultant
Phill Williams, Careers Consultant, Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham.
Panel Session – Working as a professional in the Career Development Sector
Finding out what is involved in working in some parts of the sector from our expert panel;
Siobhan Neary, Associate Professor and Head of the International Centre for Guidance Studies (iCeGS)
Chris Webb, Employability Adviser, Sheffield Hallam University
Phill Williams, Careers Consultant, Life & Environmental Sciences. University of Birmingham.
Dave Cordle, Independent Career Coach and President of the CDI