Career Development

ABCD (Australian Blueprint for Career Development)

The concept of “A Job for Life” is fading as our workplaces become ever more responsive to the accelerated pace of technological change and shifts in the global economy.  A career is now seen as the process of managing life, learning and work across the lifespan.   This means that lifelong learning is no longer an abstract concept but a vital necessity for navigating an increasingly fluid and complex economic landscape. 

The Australian Blueprint for Career Development is a new project initiated by the Transition from School Taskforce of MCEETYA, the primary co-ordinating body for national career and transition policy in Australia.

A draft Australian Blueprint for Career Development (ABCD) has been developed as a comprehensive resource designed to integrate and strengthen career development and education across Australia for all people throughout their lives.  The ABCD will provide a national framework that unifies the co-ordination and integration of effective and measurable career development services to help Australians to better manage their lives, learning and work. 

The main aims of the Australian blueprint  include:

  • Identifying competencies that people need to manage their career building process, from kindergarten through to adulthood;
  • Providing a systematic process for developing, implementing, evaluating and marketing career development programs, or redesigning and enhancing existing programs;
  • Enabling resource producers to design products, programs and services that address specific competencies, and allow purchasers of these products to identify which competencies are addressed in the products
  • Providing a common language for career development initiatives throughout the country, and across the lifespan of individuals, so that individuals can move from one career development setting to another and have their needs met seamlessly, with consistent and quality service provision. It also enables governments to monitor access to services more effectively, while allowing sufficient flexibility at the local level to ensure that career development services reflect local needs.

Miles Morgan Australia Pty Ltd

A comprehensive table of Career Competencies has been developed as part of the Australian Blueprint for Career Development.  The table can be found on the following page of this calendar.

The table introduces 11 career competencies, each with a set of performance indicators grouped into three interconnected Key Areas – Personal Management, Learning and Work Exploration and Career Building.  There are four developmental phases ensuring that the career competencies are relevant across a whole lifespan.  The ABCD pays attention to the broad range of skills, attitudes and experiences that contribute to a fulfilled life of learning and working as well as the more traditional career and employment focus of career development.

The Career Competencies by Area and Phase (Australian Blueprint for Career Development)

CAREER COMPETENCIES PHASE I PHASE II PHASE III PHASE IV
AREA A:  PERSONAL MANAGEMENT

1.    Build and maintain a positive self-image

 1.1  Build a positive self-image while discovering its influence on self and others 1.2  Build a positive self-image and understand its influence on life and work 1.3  Develop abilities to maintain a positive self-image 1.4  Improve on abilities to maintain a positive self-image
2.  Interact positively and effectively with others 2.1  Develop abilities for building positive relationships in  life (1) 2.2  Develop abilities for building positive relationships in  life (II) 2.3  Develop abilities for building positive relationships in life and work 2.4  Improve abilities for building positive relationships in life and work
3.  Change and grow throughout life 3.1  Discover that change and growth are part of life 3.2  Learn to respond to change and growth (1) 3.3  Learn to respond to change and growth (II) 3.4  Develop strategies for responding to life and work changes
AREA B:   LEARNING AND WORK EXPLORATION
4.  Participate in life-long learning supportive of career goals 4.1 Discover life-long learning and its contribution to life and work 4.2 Link life-long learning to personal career aspirations, both present and future 4.3 Link life-long learning to the career building process 4.4 Participate in continuous learning supportive of career goals
5.  Locate and effectively use career information 5.1  Discover and understand career information 5.2  Locate, understand and use career information. 5.3  Locate, interpret, evaluate and use career information 5.4  Locate, interpret, evaluate and use career information (II)
6.  Understand the relationship between work, society and the economy 6.1  Discover how work contributes to individuals and the community 6.2  Understand how work contributes to the community 6.3  Understand how societal and economic needs influence the nature and structure of work (I) 6.4  Understand how societal and economic needs influence the nature and structure of work (II)
AREA C:  CAREER BUILDING
7. Secure/create and maintain work 7.1  Explore effective work strategies 7.2  Develop qualities to seek and obtain/create work 7.3  Develop abilities to seek, obtain/create and maintain work 7.4  Improve on abilities to seek, obtain/create and maintain work
8. Make career enhancing decisions 8.1  Explore and improve decision-making 8.2  Link decision-making to career building 8.3  Engage in career decision-making 8.4  Incorporate adult life reality into career decision-making
9.  Maintain balanced life and work roles 9.1  Explore and understand the interrelationship of life roles (I) 9.2  Explore and understand the interrelationship of life roles (II) 9.3  Link lifestyles and life stages to career building 9.4 Incorporate life/work balance into the career building process
10. Understand the changing nature of life and work roles 10.1 Discover the nature of life and work roles 10.2 Explore non-traditional life and work options 10.3 Understand and learn to overcome stereotypes in life and work building (I) 10.4 Understand and learn to overcome stereotypes in life and work building (II)
11. Understand, engage in and manage the career building process 11.1 Explore the underlying concepts of the career building process 11.2 Understand and experience the process of career building 11.3 Recognise and take charge of the career building process 11.4 Manage the career building process