The Canadian Blueprint for Life/Work Design

iCeGS: Creative Solutions for the Careers Sector

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www.derby.ac.uk/icegs

The Canadian Blueprint for Life/Work Design

Dr Tristram Hooley

Some thoughts following my Churchill scholarship

A community’s prosperity is the sum of

the prosperity of each and every citizen.

When a person can’t find or loses a job,

the negative effects ripple through the

community, as when a stone is thrown

into a pond. The corollary also holds.

When one person gains employment, the

positive effects ripple through the entire

community. When many people secure

good jobs, increased prosperity is shared

by all.

(Haché, Redekopp & Jarvis, 2006, p.9)


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What the Blueprint sought to achieve

• Create a strong articulation of the value of lifelong career development that the general public could understand.

• Create a common language for a fragmented career development sector.

• Create a framework that could underpin and enhance the activity of career development professionals.

What is a Blueprint?

Theory Practice

Policy

NCDAGuidelines

NCDAGuidelines

Blueprint

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Core elements

’s Blueprint


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Canadian Blueprint Competencies

1. Build and maintain a positive self-image2. Interact positively and effectively with others3. Change and grow throughout one’s life4. Maintain balanced life and work roles5. Participate in life-long learning supportive of life/work goals6. Secure/create and maintain work7. Understand, engage and manage one’s own life/work building

process8. Make life/work enhancing decisions9. Locate and effectively use life/work information10.Understand the changing nature of life/work roles11.Understand the relationship between work and society/economy


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Birth of the Canadian Blueprint

• Phil Jarvis saw the value of the National Career Development Guidelines while working in the USA.

• 1996 exploratory meeting to discuss the possibility of a Canadian version.

• 1997 Human Resources Development Canada fund the drafting.

• 1997/1998 The Canadian Blueprint is drafted and piloted.


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Implementing the Blueprint

• 2000 Blueprint published• 2002 – 2003 Training and implementation• 2004 – 2006 Further activity but no futher funding• 2006 onwards The Blueprint gradually began to

lose profile.


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Why did the Blueprint stall?

• Shifts in the policy context• Imperfect connection to practice• Issues with implementation


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Shifts in policy context

• British North America Act• Provincialisation of employment policy• Range of factors in provincial policy• Competing frameworks (Standards and

Guidelines, Essential Skills, Employability Skills)• No substantial policy carrots or sticks were ever

used to implement the Blueprint.


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Imperfect connection to practice

• Perceived to be complex• Is it “what we do already”?• Makes an ideological shift from a client centred

approach to an outcome focused approach.• Offers more for curriculum and learning

approaches than for one-to-one guidance.


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Issues with Implementation

• The money was always limited and eventually the energy ran out.

• Origins in the USA meant that some felt it wasn’t grounded in the Canadian context.

• The careers sector did not mobilise behind it in a consistent way.

• The network of supporters was patchy and was not underpinned by funding.

• The connection with employers/HR was not successfully made.


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What the Canadian Blueprint achieved

• In 2011 (a decade after the last drop of federal funding) it remains part of the Canadian career development landscape.

• In some provinces (e.g. Manitoba) it provides a basis for province wide career development strategies.

• Many learning organisations and practitioners continue to use it to inform their work.

• It influenced policy across the world.


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Lessons for England/UK

• The Blueprint won’t just happen• Policy buy in is essential, but so is…• Careful engagement with the profession and

development of its understanding of the Blueprint.• It is a powerful idea, but it is also a multi-faceted

one that requires action on a range of levels.


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Questions? Comments?

The Canadian Blueprint for Life/Work Design

Documents

Transcript of The Canadian Blueprint for Life/Work Design