Career Development Practitioner Certification in Canada

The Road to Formal Recognition CANNEXUS 2012

The Career Development Sector: Coming of Age

Canadian Standards & Guidelines for Career

Development Practitioners (S & Gs) Career Development Associations in Canada Career Practitioner Certification in Canada & Internationally Canadian Council of Career Development Associations (CCCDA)

Canadian Standards & Guidelines (S & Gs)

The competencies (knowledge, skills & attitudes) career practitioners need in order to practice effectively and ethically Initiated in 1996 and built on the basis of extensive consultation with the career development community Launched in 2001; Revisions in 2004 and 2011 Basis for development of practitioner training , job descriptions, and certification in Canada Basis for international competency framework underpinning EVGP certification www.career-dev-guidelines.org

Professional Associations for Career Practitioners in Canada

Newfoundland & Labrador Association for Career

Practitioners (http://nlacp.com/) Nova Scotia Career Development Association (http://www.nscda.ca/) PEI Career Development Association (http://www.peicda.ca/) New Brunswick Career Development Action Group (http://www.nbcdag-gadcnb.ca/)

Professional Associations for Career Practitioners in Canada

Ontario Alliance of Career Development

Practitioners LOrdre des conseillers et conseillres dorientation du Qubec (http://www.occoppq.qc.ca/) Career Development Association of Alberta/NWT (http://www.careerdevelopment.ab.ca/) BC Career Development Association (http://www.bccda.org/)

More to come!
Saskatchewan has Steering Committee in place
Manitoba Nunavut

Yukon

Pan-Canadian Mapping Study 2009

Sample size: 853 practitioners; 252 managers; 34%

of sample from Ontario

Top priority issues selected from list of 15:

Access to professional training (non-credit) Certification or licensing processes Access to professional training (creditundergraduate and graduate)

Importance of Professional Certification or Licensing

Very important Somewhat important
Not important

70% 24%

6% www.ccdf.ca

Certification in Canada
Provincial licencing of Career Counsellors

Qubec Voluntary certification for Career Development Practitioners through CDAA and BCCDA Voluntary certification for Career Development Practitioners emerging in NS and discussions underway in Ontario, New Brunswick and elsewhere

CCCDA
A national coalition of provincial/territorial

associations/organizations

Serving as a national focal point and advocacy voice for our field Promoting provincial/territorial collaboration on common issues such as certification, training, practitioner mobility, quality service and building our evidence-base

Members are associations/organizations (not

individuals)

CCCDA
Connecting provincial/territorial associations and

organizations to each other and to national and international leadership initiatives Promoting clarity and professional identity Offering access to timely information on training, certification, research, practice and policy Promoting the sharing of promising/innovative practices Contributing to building our capacity to influence, advocate and offer excellence

CCCDA First Priorities

Fear that we could end up with multiple standards and certifications and that would be no further ahead than before the S & Gs Therefore, CCCDAs first priorities are to:

Provide a mechanism to keep the S & Gs current and vital and serving as a basis for the development of practitioner training , job descriptions, and certification; and Promote communication/collaboration across provinces/territories and serve as a national hub of professional information regarding certification & training

Not a cookie-cutter approach, but a consistent approach based on common standards and a strong professional identity

British Columbia Career Development Association: Certified Career Development Practitioner (CCDP)
In order to be eligible for certification, applicants must satisfy the following 4 conditions:
1.

2.

Work Experience & Education Minimum of 5 years related work experience (including 2 years within the past 5 years) OR Masters Degree in related field with at least 1 year of related work experience, Bachelors Degree in a related field with at least 2 years of related work experience, Diploma in Career Development with at least 3 years of related work experience or Certificate in Career Development with at least 4 years of related work experience S & Gs Competencies Must provide evidence (according to suggested methodologies) that all Core Competencies and three (3) Areas of Specialization have been met

British Columbia Career Development Association: Certified Career Development Practitioner (CCDP)
3.

Professional Association Must provide proof of individual membership in a Canadian professional association with opportunities for professional development and a code of ethics Mandatory Courses Must complete course in Ethics and Professional Conduct (10 hours)

4.

Certification is voluntary, managed by BCCDA and certification is not a condition of membership.

Career Development Association of Alberta: Certified Career Development Practitioner (CCDP)

Launched in 2005 Certification is voluntary and certification is not a condition of membership. Application for certification is based on: Education; Experience; Demonstration of competencies as outlined in the Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Career Practitioners; Adherence to the CDAA Code of Ethics; and Professional references.

Career Development Association of Alberta: Certified Career Development Practitioner (CCDP)

There are 2 pathways to achieving the CCDP designation: Education (minimum of a certificate in Career Development)plus 3000 hours of work experience in Career Development; or Employment (minimum of 10 years (7000 hours) work experience in Career Development. Approximately half of the current CDAA membership has obtained their CCDP designation. For information about the Certified Career Development Professional designation please visit www.careerdevelopment.ab.ca

Ontario

Steering Group met in March, 2011 and resolved that it would be desirable to explore CDP certification in Ontario and to begin with the widest possible involvement of stakeholders in consultations and planning. Over 100 Career Development Practitioners met in June 2011. A vote was taken to see if certification was the direction participants attending the consultation wanted to go. The result was 97% in favour of proceeding! With that large support, a Terms of Reference drafted by the Working Group as a starting point was shared, a nomination and voting process for the Stewardship Group was described, and 23 nominations were accepted from the floor.

Ontario

Participants in the consultation day were invited to vote for members of the Stewardship Group at the end of June and members were elected in July. This elected group has been given responsibility for researching existing certification models and processes, consulting widely with Career Development Practitioners and stakeholders in Ontario and presenting findings and recommendations to the original consultation day members and others who are interested in certification at a future Consultation in the next 2 years. A meeting of interested CDPs was held in November, focused on the future of OACDP and its potential role in CDP certification in the future.

LOrdre des conseillers et conseillres dorientation du Qubec: A Long Way

A school of our own (1941) First association (1944) The beginning of a professional identity Regulated profession (1963) Reserved title and certification The Professional Code (1973)

LOrdre des conseillers et conseillres dorientation du Qubec: A Long Way

A new purpose: protection of the public Training, certification, surveillance, discipline Certification for psychotherapy and Certification for family mediation (1993) Spreading our scope of practice The competency profile (2004) From credentials to competencies The Assessment Guide (2010)

LOrdre des conseillers et conseillres dorientation duQubec: New Paths

Reserved activities: The Professional Codes revision (Bill 21, 2009 to 2012) Enforcing activity reservation Sharing Psychotherapy regulation Grand-parenting Scope of practice : pertinence, diversity and identity New fields, new clienteles, new media The challenges of mobility

LOrdre des conseillers et conseillres dorientation duQubec: New Paths

Recognizing competencies for certification Adjusting for linguistic and cultural gaps in professional identities and practices

Competency development
Regulating or not? A powerful tool: clinical supervision Developing a framework Towards certification for supervisors

New Brunswick Career Development Action Group

Early stages of consultation Face-to-face member forum in November 2011 broad support for the idea, but many questions Online survey:

96% in favour of NBCDAG pursuing the exploration of certification 66% of English respondents and 52% of French respondents said they would apply for certification Creation of a Stakeholder Certification Committee Focus groups to gather more input

Next steps

Nova Scotia Career Development Association

In 2006, the Nova Scotia Career Development Association (NSCDA) committed to exploring the creation and implementation of voluntary certification for Career Development Practitioners using the Canadian Standards and Guidelines (S & Gs) as its guiding framework. Following extensive consultations, they are now pilot testing a PLAR model based on demonstration of Core Competencies and adherence to Code of Ethics from the S & Gs. Once the initial CCDP certification is established, further recognition based on S & Gs areas of Specialization will be explored.

Strong and Growing

Career Development is coming of age as a profession in many ways Current trends..movements:

Common standards for practitioner competence, service and impact Protection of the public and professional identity through certification based on standards Quality training which explicitly reflects standards and supports certification A solid research foundation to inform practice A robust evidence base to prove our worth A strong national identity and voice