The history of the career development field in Australia: The representation of the Australian Journal of Career Development in Australia's ongoing international leadership

Abstract

The history of career development in Australia began with a combination of a rudimentary matching process and welfare-driven interventions. Practices over time were sourced from overseas, were interrupted by world wars, and were the subject of government and political interventions. From the 1970s and 1980s, many interventions in Australia were developed in parallel with those from other countries. Some of these included career education programs (the draft Australian Blueprint for Career Development (Morgan, 2003) was adapted from the Canadian Blueprint for Life/Work Designs, (Hache et al., 2000) and government sponsored information websites (e.g. the National Career Information System (NCIS), myfuture). However, by the 2000s, a number of Australian interventions were acclaimed as leaders in the field (e.g. the establishment of the national peak body, the Career Industry Council of Australia [CICA]), a world first). Indeed, Hughes (2014) commented that in the OECD (2004) ‘seminal assessment of careers guidance and public policy’ there were ‘over fifty specific references to Australia, key features of an emerging careers ecosystem’ (p. 6). This article will briefly document this history, document themes which recur such as different practices and policies occurring across jurisdictions, and political influences which serve to cause uncertainty as to the actual concept of career development. The paper will celebrate current strengths of the field in Australia and connect the 30 years of the Australian Journal of Career Development and the history of committed endeavour of those who worked toward the instigation of the journal to this dynamic history and to Australia’s ongoing international leadership.