On this page you can find
some Guidance Related World Wide Web sites from the UK
- Marcus
Offer, NICEC. Last update March 2002
This
list is a sample of web-based resources available
in the UK to guidance practitioners working with adults.
It is grouped under five learning outcomes of guidance
based on the "DOTS" model (Law & Watts, 1977),
which identified four of these as self awareness,
opportunity awareness, decision learning and transition
learning.
They are joined here by matching, which is
the process of relating self to opportunity awareness,
and by gateways - sites that are, on
the whole, more valuable for the links they make to
other sites and the structure they give to the user's
search for help, than for the material they present
themselves.
The
outcome transition learning has been interpreted
here as all those activities that are required to
achieve a successful implementation of a decision
- e.g. job seeking, CV writing, finding the money
to support further learning, getting quality childcare,
and so on.
Of course, many web sites support and contribute to
more than one of these learning outcomes, so they
may occur in more than one category on this list.
We concentrate, however, on gateway or portal sites
which will provide a good starting point for discovering
the many other UK sites that may be useful.
This list is only a selection, and not in any
way comprehensive, nor does not being included here
imply any judgment on the quality of a site. The problem
in the UK is not lack of information or resources
but an oversupply !
Gateways
Self
Awareness
Opportunity
Awareness
Decision
Making
Job
Search
Software
Publishers
Gateways
or Portals
General
Gateways:
- http://www.support4learning.org.uk/
one of the best starting points for a general overview
of the guidance scene in the UK, especially for adult
guidance, but it is not very securely funded at the
moment. It covers a very wide range of possibly relevant
topics as well as just careers or educational guidance
- but in working with adults, we often need to handle
these kinds of issues as well.
http://www.careerseurope.co.uk/
Careers Europe is the UK national resource centre
for vocational guidance and offers a comprehensive
link to information about occupations, the labour
market and courses in the UK. It also offers access
the ESTIA project gateway to the UK.
- http://www.unn.ac.uk/academic/hswe/careers/altlinks.html
A database of links to web-based resources for careers
guidance - 1500 sites and an FAQ section, with
links to organisations directly or indirectly involved
with the process of careers guidance, links to sources
of information on the theory and practice of careers
guidance and also to more general sources on education,
employment, training, equal opportunities and social
science theory. There is also a large database
of classified links to employing organisations,
professional and trade associations and other sources
on occupations and opportunities for employment, training
and vocational education. It is categorised
by occupational groups, using a classification scheme
in widespread use in the careers guidance community
in the UK (CLCI Index).
- http://www.prospects.ac.uk/
is the national web site for students in higher education
and for graduates after they leave university. It
offers a full range of information advice and guidance,
and will (by June 2002) carry the on-line version
of the Prospects Planner computer-assisted guidance
program used by all university careers services in
the UK. It also carries a national vacancy and CV
database, and offers services for graduates including
email advice, a discussion forum, and a CV surgery
on-line, as well as a list of web sites for higher
education careers advisory service web sites
- http://www.careers-gateway.co.uk/
A commercial gateway from the software publisher Careersoft.
Mainly aimed at young people but there may be items
of general interest and some of Careersoft's software
specifically targets adults - e.g. in job seeking.
- http://www.careers-portal.co.uk/
A commercial gateway provided by Trotman Publishing
[one of the largest UK careers publishers] which has
some useful links and an extensive catalogue of printed
and other resources. It includes sections for people
at work and for those thinking of changing their careers.
- http://www.connexionscard.gov.uk/
The official Connexions Card site - this is a site
to support young people using the new Connexions service
that has replaced the careers service in England (but
not in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland]. It may
be useful to adults, too, in that it has links
to occupational information supplied by CASCAID [see
below under "software
suppliers"]. See also the main Connexions
site.
- http://careers.ngfl.gov.uk/
The Career Development Web Site on the National Grid
for Learning - it holds a database of resources for
guidance practitioners which is the only central reference
point of its kind in the UK at present. You can search
it using topic headings (e.g. "self awareness", "career
management" "finance and sponsorship" and similar
categories) or target groups or stages
of the education system or by general keywords, and
all resource entries are linked to a URL where the
resource either exists (e.g. a web page with guidance
on writing CVs) or where it is advertised (e.g. a
book or video). The future development of this site
depends on government funding.
- http://www.dfes.gov.uk/adultlearners/index.shtml
The Department for Education and Skills [DfES] provides
a gateway for adult learners
Especially
relevant to disabled users or those with special needs
- http://members.aol.com/workableuk/page2.html
- Workable is a charity with the
mission to "open up employment opportunities for students,
graduates and others currently denied that basic choice
because of their disability - or, more accurately,
because of other peoples perception of their disability".
- http://www.nrec.org.uk/employability
- produced by the Centre for Research and Policy in
Disability, Coventry University, this site offers
support to disabled students and graduates. [there
are also Swedish, Bulgarian, Greek and Cypriot versions
- it results from a European project]. It covers career
management skills, European mobility, details of legislation,
and has a focus on the communications industry.
To find guidance services:
http://www.guidancecouncil.com/
The Guidance Council offers telephone numbers
of information advice and guidance partnerships in
England
http://www.support4learning.org.uk/community/advice.htm
- probably one of the best places to start to find
all the relevant public organisations that offer guidance
in the UK
http://www.naega.org.uk/
- the National Association for Educational Guidance
for Adults
http://www.icg-uk.org
- the Institute of Career Guidance.
http://www.learndirect.co.uk/personal/centres/
- links to services for adults in learning centres
across the country. These will offer advice and guidance
on learning and training for adults.
http://www.connexions.gov.uk/
the new Connexions services which replace careers
services in England for young people are listed here
http://www.careers-uk.com/
The Careers Service National Association has a clickable
map to local careers services - but note that these
are being replaced in England by Connexions
services (though other parts of the UK are different
in this respect).
http://www.iacmp.org/home.html
offers a facility to search for a member of the
International Association of Career Management Professionals
who offer various types of human resource development
expertise
http://www.employmentservice.gov.uk/
The Employment Service offers a link to JobCentres
where adults can find work
GUIDANCE
WEB SITES
There
are an increasing number of UK sites that try to offer
many or all the outcomes of guidance on-line, or at
least more than one of them, as a package. Examples
include
- http://www.morrisby.com/
Another general gateway provided by a well-known test
publisher who produces psychometric tests for guidance
purposes, plus practice tests from their own stock
- http://www.getting-on.co.uk/toolkit
An assessment toolkit - an excellent gateway
for assessment tools and practices especially for young
people and emphasising approaches for those with special
needs or the disaffected.
http://www.careerskills.co.uk
- a sample of guidance related tests for purchase
from the publisher NFER-Nelson - nothing actually
on-line
Psychometric
tests - there are an increasing number of these
offered on the Web in the UK, but there are also a number
of reservations about tests administered in this way,
especially if no feedback is provided. Those links offered
here are a sample of the most reputable.
- http://www.learndirect-futures.co.uk/
If you pay for an associated CD ROM, or use it free
at your local learning centre, you can use Learndirect
Futures to get an interests and skills profile matched
against the "World of Work " map and then explore occupational
information in matched work areas. It costs £6.99
for three months access for an individual
- http://www.ukcoursefinder.com/-
matching by interests, qualifications, and other preferences
to degree and other HE courses. From the test publisher,
Morrisby - similar to their previous off-line batch
mode system Coursefinder.
- Undergraduate
and Postgraduate Courses
Professional Bodies and TUs
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