Becoming a ‘Professional’: Researching the development of career practitioners’ professional identity in a New Zealand context

Abstract

This paper outlines my current PhD research which examines how career practitioners’ professional identity construction is affected by their environment. The research takes a post-structural approach, focusing on the issue from the perspective of the ‘subjects’ or careers practitioners, rather than the structural, ‘top-down’ requirements of policy-makers and other agencies. The paper introduces the research, identifies the research problem, gives a brief insight into the literature, sets out the aims and methodology, and identifies the potential contribution to understanding the effect of the environment on career practitioners’ professional identity. Once my PhD is completed, I hope the outcomes of the research will contribute to understanding how practitioners construct their identity in relation to the discourse of professionalisation.