Notice: National Standards and Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners

The first draft of the proposed National Standards and Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners was released December 15th, 1999. An intensive 10 week cross country consultation process has been scheduled for December 15, 1999 to February 29, 2000. This consultation process, as well as, a session on the Draft Standards at the NATCON Conference (Ottawa, Jan. 24-26,2000), are tools being used to facilitate comment from the over 40,000 or so practitioners working in the career development field in Canada.

The Standards initiative will have significant implications on the future evolution of the profession. All practitioners are encouraged to set aside the preoccupations of the season and, for some, ignore the overwhelming desire to hibernate for the winter. Take time to consider and comment on the implications of the proposed national standards and guidelines on your work and the services you provide to clients. Ask colleagues their thoughts and encourage information exchange and discussion. Talk with other certified and/or accredited professionals about their experience.

Some resources you may find helpful:

www.career-dev-guidelines.org
National Standards and Guidelines Project Website

www.cac-accr.ca
CAC/ACCR Accreditation Discussion Paper

www.counseling.org
Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) [U.S. website]

www.nevada.edu
Web Site for Counselor Educators and Supervisors [U.S. website]

www.topstory.ca/apr.html
accreditation in Public Relations

www.hrpao.org
[must be an HRPO member to access this site] – historical information about the organization and Professional Certification

www.cips.ca
I.S.P. Certification

British Medical Journal, October 30, 1999 v319 i7218 p1188
Title: “Revalidation of Doctors in Canada”
W. Dale Dauphinse

Computing Canada, January 15, 1999, vol 25 no 2
Title: “Certification double-edged sword at times”

ENR (Engineering News Record), February 12, 1996 v236 n6 p28 (1)
“Professional Certification that Really Means Something”
Mary Buckner Powers

Society, January – February 1999 v36 i2p5(3)
Title: “Ferment in Professional Associations”
Jonathan B. Imber and Irving Louis Horowtiz

Social Work Reform Group (SWRG)
Package of information available including newspaper articles and The Networker (newsletter).
CONTACT: Rima Zavys (416) 462-5211 x1114