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Using participatory action research to study the implementation of Career Development Benchmarks at a New Zealand university

  • Dale S. Furbish
  • Robyn Bailey
  • David Trought
Article
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Abstract

Benchmarks for career development services at tertiary institutions have been developed by Careers New Zealand. The benchmarks are intended to provide standards derived from international best practices to guide career development services. A new career development service was initiated at a large New Zealand university just after the benchmarks were published. This provided an opportunity to develop the new career service by implementing the benchmarks. In this article, we employ a participatory action research approach to study the process. Outcomes of a participatory action research cycle are reported and recommendations for using benchmarks are provided.

Keywords

Benchmarks University career services Participatory action research 

Résumé

Utilisation d’une recherche-action participative pour l’étude de l’implémentation de standards concernant le développement de carrière dans une université néo-zélandaise. Des repères pour des services de développement de carrière dans les institutions de degré tertiaire ont été développés par l’entreprise Careers New Zealand. Ces références ont pour but de fournir des standards issus des meilleures pratiques internationales, afin de guider les services de développement de carrière. Un nouveau service de développement de carrière a été créé dans une grande université néo-zélandaise juste après que ces repères aient été publiés. Cela a donné l’opportunité de développer un nouveau centre de carrière en implémentant ces Repères. Dans cet article, nous employons une approche de recherche-action participative afin d’étudier ce processus. Les conséquences du cycle de recherche-action participative sont reportées et des recommandations pour l’utilisation de ces repères sont apportées.

Zusammenfassung

Die Nutzung von partizipativer Aktionsforschung zur Untersuchung der Implementierung einer Bezugsnorm für Laufbahnberatung an einer Universität in Neuseeland. Durch „Careers New Zealand“ wurden Bezugsnormen für den Career Service an tertiären Bildungsinstitutionen entwickelt. Diese Bezugsnormen sollen einen Standard liefern, der aus internationalen Best Practices abgeleitet wurde und den Career Service zielführend lenken. Nach der Veröffentlichung der Bezugsnormen, wurde ein neuer Career Service in einer großen neuseeländischen Universität implementiert. Durch die zusätzliche Implementierung der Bezugsnorm entstand somit eine Gelegenheit einen innovativen Career Service zu entwickeln. In dieser Studie verwendeten wir einen Aktionsforschungsansatz um diesen Prozess genauer zu untersuchen. Die Ergebnisse des Aktionsforschungs-Zyklus werden berichtet und Empfehlungen zur Nutzung der Bezugsnormen abgeleitet.

Resumen

La investigación participativa aplicada al estudio de la implementación de indicadores de desarrollo profesional en la Universidad de Nueva Zelanda. Careers New Zealand ha desarrollado indicadores para los servicios de desarrollo profesional en las instituciones de enseñanza superior. Estos indicadores pretenden proporcionar estándares derivados de buenas prácticas internacionales para orientar a los servicios de desarrollo profesional. Posteriormente a la publicación de estos indicadores se puso en marcha un nuevo servicio profesional en la Universidad de Nueva Zelanda. En este artículo se utiliza el enfoque de la investigación participativa para estudiar dicho proceso. Por último, se facilitan los resultados del ciclo de la investigación participativa y se dan recomendaciones sobre el uso de indicadores.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.AUT UniversityAucklandNew Zealand

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