Jenny Bimrose, Emeritus Professor at IER, and Tannis Goddard, PhD graduate at IER, have co-authored a new paper as part of an initiative by Future Skills Council, Canada, aimed at promoting the value of career development to post-pandemic recovery.

The paper explores challenges and some possible responses for career development practice in Canada, based on a thorough literature review of relevant international academic and grey literature, author participation in Responsive Career Pathways roundtables, and discussions with two key employees of Canada’s main career development professional associations/bodies.

Jenny Bimrose was invited to give the keynote presentation at the Career Development Association of New Zealand (CDANZ) annual symposium, in Wellington, New Zealand on 23rd October, 2018. The conference, entitled: 'Social Justice', was held in partnership with Victoria University of Wellington and the Tertiary Education Commission.

Jenny’s presentation focused on: ‘Socially just practice: Making sense and moving forward.’ Social justice values have underpinned the profession of career development since it was established at the turn of the last century out of concern for economic and political reforms that would help disadvantaged people, including young people and immigrants, find jobs in industrialised societies. In contemporary society, the shape of many career development services has transformed recently because of the neo-liberal agendas that are framing the provision of education, social, and labour market policies.

This presentation examined some of the key challenges for career development arising from changed and changing social contexts.

• What do we mean when we talk about social justice from a career development perspective?
• What, realistically, can be achieved?
• What might be some of the implications for career and employment practice?
• And how do these shifts and changes impact on the professional identity of career development practitioners?

Dr Deirdre Hughes has been invited to co-deliver a webinar with Yolande Burgess, Strategic Director, London Councils to the US National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD-Youth). This Network coordinates the State Leaders Career Development Network and includes leaders from 20 states who meet monthly to discuss their career development implementation efforts, especially as they apply to the use of individual learning plans. The webinar will focus on sharing good practice in the design, implementation, and evaluation of career development.

The Government Office for Science is looking at how changes in technology and an ageing population affect what skills the UK will need in the future. The project also considers how investment in skills and encouraging lifelong learning can have a positive impact on productivity. This project aims to provide policy-makers with evidence on the current and future state of skills and lifelong learning in the UK. IER researchers have contributed to the evidence base on:

Skills and Lifelong Learning: Gaps in Training Provision - This report looks at current trends and challenges for policymakers in the UK skills system, including how geography affects provision of skills, individual access to skills and training, the role of migration and the role of careers advice.

• Green, A., Hogarth, T., Barnes, S-A, Gambin, L. and Sofroniou N. (2016) The UK's Skill System: Training, Employability and Gaps in Provision. London: Foresight, Government Office for Science.

The UK skills system: how aligned are public policy and employer views of training provision? - This report explores trends and developments in UK skills policy, employer views on training and issues in realising an employer owned skills system.

• Green, A. and Hogarth, T. (2016) The UK skills system: how aligned are public policy and employer views of training provision? London: Foresight, Government Office for Science.

A new book on women's career development edited by Jenny Bimrose (IER University of Warwick), Mary McMahon (University of Queensland) and Mark Watson (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) is now available.

This multidisciplinary volume pulls together contributions from sociology, management, industrial, organisational and vocational psychology, geography and career guidance. International perspectives from nine countries also provide compelling narratives about the patterns of women’s career development continuing to reflect structural labour market disadvantage. Published on 18 January 2015, the book features chapters from members of IER staff (Professor Jenny Bimrose, Professor Anne Green, Professor Chris Warhurst) and IER Associate Fellows (Professor Nancy Arthur, Dr Simone Haasler, Dr Ying Kuang, Dr Mary McMahon, Professor Philip Taylor, Dr Pamela Suzanne, Massimo Tomassini, Professor Mark Watson).