Blending Career Development Practices with Principles of Intergroup Dialogue: A Social Justice Pedagogy

Abstract

The purpose of this capstone project is two-fold: first to introduce a problem of advising practice and then offer a recommended solution. The problem is captured in my general overall question which ask, how (if at all) can Academic and Career (AC) Advisers, as institutional agents engage students in an educational process which encourages career development practices (CDP) in the context of social justice pedagogy, using principles from Intergroup Dialogue (IGD)? I present a promising response by introducing the convergence of two streams of practice: blending career development practices with principles from intergroup dialogue. A focus on the rationale, purpose and significance of merging these two practices is presented in a two-part response: one of which is a proposed course curriculum and training manual, which are not a part of this document, but a companion will be available at a later time. (However, a sample course syllabus and a summary of the manual content are provided in the appendix for review). The second response, which this document presents is in the form of an inquiry and literature analysis that informs the feasibility and usefulness of the proposed course curriculum and manual. Through semi-structured qualitative interview inquiry, five Career Navigation instructors were selected to participate in a forty-five minute interview. These person-to-person interviews provided rich narrative data by looking at AC Advisers’ knowledge, experiences, opinions, beliefs, feelings and attitudes in their roles as social justice and career development educators. I examined how AC Advisers constructed, interpreted and gave meaning to their experiences of working with students. The results of this inquiry emerged five themes used to inform the development of the proposed course curriculum and manual blending two streams of practices (CDP and IGD) together. The five themes are also used to determine the feasibility and usefulness of the proposed course curriculum and manual using pedagogical practices that contribute to career development and intergroup dialogue outcomes.