EUN680 Career Counselling and Professional Practice


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Unit Outline: Semester 2 2026, Online

Unit code:EUN680
Credit points:12
Equivalent:EUQ673, EUQ643, LCN622
Assumed Knowledge:

It is assumed that students understand educational practices in education settings and have practitioner experiences within a related education field or support profession.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of the teaching period.

Overview

This unit will equip you with the theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and ethical considerations necessary for effective career guidance and support. Through a blend of theoretical study and hands-on application, you will develop a robust foundation in career counselling practices. This unit bridges theoretical knowledge with practical application, preparing you to navigate the complex and evolving field of career guidance. By mastering these concepts and skills, you will be well-equipped to provide effective, ethical, and culturally sensitive career counselling services in various professional settings. The competencies developed in this unit will provide a framework for continuous professional growth as a careers professional, and adaptation to the changing needs of clients and the evolving job market.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

  1. Analyse student cases to identify key career issues and challenges, drawing on theory and research.
  2. Design and justify career counselling frameworks, integrating appropriate career and counselling theories, assessment tools and techniques.
  3. Demonstrate career counselling skills and appropriate communication strategies in educational counselling contexts.
  4. Critically reflect on and reflexively analyse career counselling practice in relation to theory to identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to enhance professional practice.

Content

This unit will cover the following:

  • Major career theories and counselling models, and their integration into practice.
  • Case conceptualisation, framework development and personalised approaches for diverse clients.
  • Conducting career counselling appointments, with a focus on culturally sensitive methodologies and effective case management.
  • Evaluation and utilisation of various career assessment tools.
  • Career counselling techniques and micro skills.
  • Labour market information to inform counselling practices.
  • Personal career counselling philosophy
  • Professional associations, career networks and support organisations and their role in the broader career landscape.
  • Skills in service evaluation and research methodologies relevant to career counselling.
  • Communication skills for engaging with a broad range of stakeholders, including the ability to critically analyse, evaluate, and justify approaches.
  • Integration of industry-relevant digital tools and emerging technologies in career counselling, including online platforms, AI-driven assessment tools, and virtual reality career exploration
  • Interdisciplinary approaches and interprofessional collaboration in career development, emphasising the intersection of career counselling with related fields such as psychology, education, and human resources.

Learning Approaches

In this unit you will learn by engaging in the following:

  • lectures (live and recorded)
  • tutorials (online)
  • online learning materials
  • peer and group discussions

The unit adopts a practice-based learning approach to demonstrate and apply counselling approaches within the school setting.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Feedback in this unit is provided to you in the following ways:

  • a range of formative exercises discussed and undertaken throughout the unit
  • feedback from peers as you investigate and discuss issues raised throughout the unit
  • self-reflection activities
  • comments about summative assessment work included with your grade.

Assessment

Overview

There are two assessments in this unit:

  1. Career Counselling Framework - this task draws on theory to develop a career counselling framework.
  2. Interview and Self-Assessment - in this task you will apply career counselling skills to demonstrate a career counselling interview and critically reflect on your practice.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Career Counselling Framework

Identify a client group with which you could work as a career counsellor. Using current literature, critically analyse the career issues pertinent to this group. Develop an integrated career counselling session plan that incorporates both a career development theory and a counselling theory/approach. Discuss and justify why your chosen theories are the most appropriate choices for this client group and how your session plan will best support their needs.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Weight: 50
Length: 2500 words
Individual/Group: Individual
Due (indicative): Week 7
Related Unit learning outcomes: 1, 2

Assessment: Interview and Self-Assessment

You will produce a video-recording of yourself undertaking a career counselling session. You will recruit a client who is facing a career challenge from the cohort chosen in Assessment 1 and who has provided informed consent for this recording. In this session you will demonstrate your use of career counselling skills, the utilisation of career theory to guide this session, and the utility of the session plan developed in Assessment 1. Following submission of your video, you will participate in a 10-minute viva voce (oral examination) where you will critically reflect on your counselling practice. This viva serves as a Verified Identity Assessment, confirming authorship and understanding of your work. You will evaluate your technical skill application, ethical decision-making, maintenance of professional standards, and identify opportunities for professional growth and supervision support.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Weight: 50
Length: Video – 30 minutes maximum. Viva - 10 minutes
Individual/Group: Individual
Due (indicative): Week 13
Related Unit learning outcomes: 3, 4

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.

The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

There are two recommended texts for this unit. The other following resources are key reference sources and referred to often in this unit. All texts can be accessed through the QUT library, but there are limits on the number of students who can access each at one time. Other resources will be available on the unit's Canvas site.

Resource Materials

Recommended text(s)

Arthur, N. (2024). Practice Principles Career Theories and Models at Work. (1st ed.). CERIC.

Arthur, N., Neault, R., McMahan, M. (Eds) (2019) Career Theories and Models at Work: Ideas for Practice. Toronto: CERIC.

Reference book(s)

McMahon, M. (2017). Career counselling: Constructivist approaches. London: Routledge.

Niles, S.G., & Amundson, N. (2005). Career counselling: Work in progress [DVD]. New Jersey: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Patton, W., & McMahon, M. (2015). Ideas for Career Practitioners: Celebrating excellence in career practice (2nd ed.). Brisbane: Australian Academic Press.

Patton, W., & McMahon, M. Career development and systems theory: Connecting theory and practice. (3rd ed.). (2014). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Risk Assessment Statement

During this unit, you will discuss sensitive topics with your peers that may have significant impact and meaning to you, your peers and/or your teaching team. The teaching team will aim to create a supportive and safe environment for all students enrolled in the unit. They will also support you to develop the appropriate skills to engage in these conversations in an appropriate and respectful manner to ensure a positive experience for all students. If you are concerned that the content of a unit may impact your completion of the course, please see the unit coordinator. You can also access free student counselling through QUT Counselling via the QUT Student Homepage.

Course Learning Outcomes

This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.

EU75 Master of Education (School Guidance and Counselling)

  1. Reflect on and reflexively analyse own practice, integrating theoretical frameworks to improve professional knowledge and practice.
    Relates to: ULO4, Interview and Self-Assessment
  2. Critically analyse and evaluate complex activities, contexts and phenomena related to professional practice and scholarship in the discipline of education.
    Relates to: ULO1, Career Counselling Framework
  3. Design and justify innovative solutions to authentic problems of educational practice, drawing on discipline-specific knowledge and skills to lead and influence positive change.
    Relates to: ULO2, Career Counselling Framework
  4. Employ a range of communication modes to transmit knowledge, skills and ideas to specialist and non-specialist audiences in professional and scholarly contexts.
    Relates to: ULO3, Interview and Self-Assessment