Introductory description

This module enables participants to develop knowledge and understanding of classic and contemporary perspectives on career, vocation and calling and to integrate and apply these perspectives with career development and coaching in a variety of contexts and practices.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Articulation of participants' prior knowledge and experience of vocation and calling in relation to
career development.
Comparing contrasting definitions and cultural representations of vocation and calling in relation
to career development.
Critically understanding contemporary and classic perspectives on career, vocation and calling
(e.g. Parsons, Weber, Jung, Savickas, Cochran, Hillman, Bloch & Richmond, Lips-Wiersma).
Ethics and values in relation to career, vocation and calling.
Use of the above to analyse and interpret case studies in a career development and coaching
context.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Identify and describe a range of perspectives on vocation, calling and career development.
• Critically evaluate and interpret the knowledge listed above in at least two contexts.
• Creatively apply and integrate the knowledge listed above in relation to career development and coaching practices.
• Present material in clear written form by identifying, analysing and applying key texts and practices using appropriate and adequate structure, spelling, grammar, syntax, length and referencing.

Indicative reading list

Athanasou, J.A. and Esbroeck, R.V. (2008) (eds.). International Handbook of Career Guidance. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Bloch, D.P. and Richmond, L.J. (eds.) (1997). Connections Between Spirit and Work in Career Development. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black.
Cochran, L. (1990). The Sense of Vocation: a Study of Career and Life Development. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Hillman, J. (1997). The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling. New York, NY: Grand Central.
Inkson, K. (2007). Understanding Careers: the Metaphors of Working Lives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Jung, C.G. (1934/1954). The Development of Personality. In Jung, C.G., The Development of Personality: Papers on Child Psychology, Education and Related Subjects. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Lips-Wiersma, M. (2002). The influence of spiritual 'meaning-making' on career behaviour.
Journal of Management Development, 21 (7): 497-520.
Moore, T. (2008). A Life at Work: the Joy of Discovering What You Were Born to Do. New York, NY: Broadway Books.
Parsons, F. (1909). Choosing a Vocation. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Romanyshyn, R.D. (2007). Re-search as vocation. In R.D. Romanyshyn, The Wounded Researcher: Research with Soul in Mind. New Orleans, LA: Spring Book Journals.
Savickas, M. (2002). Career construction: a developmental theory of vocational behavior. In Brown, D. and Associates, Career Choice and Development (4th edn.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Sharf, R.S. (2010). Applying Career Development Theory to Counseling (5th Edition). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Stevens, A. (1999). On Jung. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univerity Press.
Sugarman, L. (2001). Life-Span Development: Frameworks, Accounts and Strategies. Hove: Psychology Press.
Weber, M. (1918/2004). Science as a vocation. In M. Weber, D.S. Owen and T. Strong, The Vocation Lectures: 'Science as a Vocation'; 'Politics as a Vocation' (R. Livingstone, Transl.). Indianopolis, IN: Hackett.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

By the end of the module, students should have developed professional skills in the design and delivery of career related calling practices.

Transferable skills

By the end of the module, students should be able to communicate verbally in the effective delivery of career, vocation and calling related practice; and in clear written form by critiquing career, vocation and calling related practice using the current course guides to presentation and referencing.