This aim of this study is to understand the professional identity of careers advisers in UK universities, at a time of unprecedented interest in employability across the sector following an increase in undergraduate tuition fees in England. The research question is “What is the professional identity of careers advisers in higher education in the ‘new’ employability climate? Opportunities and challenges for careers service leaders and managers.” Here, professional identity is defined as ‘the experience and self-understanding of those fulfilling a particular occupational role’. The study is qualitative, using the methodological approach of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The areas of literature that have been reviewed relate to the nature and development of the professions and the development of individual and collective professional identity. The history of the careers adviser role within the UK education system also provides context. Data was collected in summer 2012 through interviews with 21 careers advisers from 14 universities across England, Wales and Scotland using a stratified sample based on league table data. This study makes a contribution to knowledge by suggesting a professional identity for careers advisers which is Undefined, Parochial, Unrecognised and Unconfident yet Dedicated, and by making recommendations for leaders and managers, and careers advisers themselves, to consider in their approaches to staff development, (self-) advocacy and connection with broader institutional priorities. Such approaches do not conflict with a primary purpose of ‘helping students’ and can serve to strengthen the impact and influence of careers advisers as experts who address the increasingly critical employability agenda.

The population of Latino students is growing faster than any other ethnic group in U.S. public schools today; however, the number of Latino teachers throughout the nation has remained low. The Latino Educators of Tomorrow is a new and ambitious Latino educational career program designed to increase the number of Latino students entering teaching as a profession. This research addressed the following questions: 1) What do participants identify as influential in their trajectory towards becoming an educator, and why?; 2) How do LET instructors, acting in the role of mentors, influence participants' desires and plans to become educators, and why?; and 3) What external obstacles hinder the participants' aspirations to become educators, and why? This qualitative study examines the perspectives of 24 high-school and beginning college-age students who participated in the Latino Educators of Tomorrow (LET). Using open-ended surveys and semi-structured interviews, this study identified underlying themes regarding the influence of mentors on the participants' desires and plans to continue to major in education; the positive impact of mentors' appreciation of participants' culture; and the financial obstacles participants identified as hindering their obtaining a college degree. Findings point to the importance of cultural appreciation in mentoring relationships, specifically for these Latino students in the transition from high school to college. Theoretical implications suggest practical recommendations for cultural appreciation to be combined with existing mentoring theory to assist students in their educational goals.

This aim of this study is to understand the professional identity of careers advisers in UK universities, at a time of unprecedented interest in employability across the sector following an increase in undergraduate tuition fees in England. The research question is “What is the professional identity of careers advisers in higher education in the ‘new’ employability climate? Opportunities and challenges for careers service leaders and managers.” Here, professional identity is defined as ‘the experience and self-understanding of those fulfilling a particular occupational role’. The study is qualitative, using the methodological approach of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The areas of literature that have been reviewed relate to the nature and development of the professions and the development of individual and collective professional identity. The history of the careers adviser role within the UK education system also provides context. Data was collected in summer 2012 through interviews with 21 careers advisers from 14 universities across England, Wales and Scotland using a stratified sample based on league table data. This study makes a contribution to knowledge by suggesting a professional identity for careers advisers which is Undefined, Parochial, Unrecognised and Unconfident yet Dedicated, and by making recommendations for leaders and managers, and careers advisers themselves, to consider in their approaches to staff development, (self-) advocacy and connection with broader institutional priorities. Such approaches do not conflict with a primary purpose of ‘helping students’ and can serve to strengthen the impact and influence of careers advisers as experts who address the increasingly critical employability agenda.