Widening opportunities for career guidance: research circles and social justice

This chapter discusses research circles as a way of organising collaboration between career guidance researchers and practitioners. Such collaboration, it is argued, helps resist neoliberal governance mechanisms and supports social justice perspectives among teachers involved in the provision of career education in Danish schools. Based on a research and development project on career education, case analysis is used to explore research circles as a means for collaboration between researchers and practitioners. This analysis shows that research circles provide teachers with a space to reflect both in and on action. Career education is the key focus of the case presented in this chapter and it is argued that, in order to increase social mobility through education, there is a need to widen opportunities through experience-based activities among pupils in Danish schools. The chapter contends that teachers’ insights into the weaknesses of current career education activities and the peer support to develop and implement experience-based activities through collaboration between teachers, career guidance professionals, upper secondary schools and local businesses are crucial in achieving this. The analyses show that the support provided within research circles also serve to disrupt the neoliberal discourse of a functionalist view on career learning activities.