Re-write of case studies - Blueprint - Australian Blueprint for Career ...

PD Kit
The portfolio can also be used to:
• facilitate self and collaborative assessment of the Blueprint career management
competencies against performance standards that are determined locally
• engage clients in their own career development learning
• provide clients with a record of the ongoing development of their career
management competencies, and
• provide clients with an accessible collection of evidence that can be rearranged to
demonstrate their career management competencies in various ways for various
purposes.
The Blueprint also provides an organising framework for career portfolios. For example,
portfolio activities could be initially structured around the three broad areas of
competence:
• personal management
• learning and work exploration, and
• career building.
A more detailed format might involve using the 11 Blueprint career competencies to
structure the portfolio. At the same time, it is important to remember that one of the
greatest strengths of a portfolio is its capacity to creatively capture the unique life, learning
and work goals and experiences of individuals. Using a strictly uniform format might
‘homogenise’ portfolios in the same way that some template-driven resumes do. Variety
and flexibility are important. Nonetheless, structuring the portfolio so as to demonstrate
the Blueprint career competencies will ensure that portfolios signify a purposeful, inclusive
learning process, as well as a product that is portable.
Portfolios based on the Blueprint career management competencies will also become a
simple vehicle for integrating the various aspects of career development that are occurring
across all work, learning and life roles.
Compiling a portfolio requires both reflection and analysis on the part of the learner.
Instead of putting the onus on the practitioner to identify activities that contribute to the
career development of their clients, clients are encouraged to become more active
partners in determining the career development outcomes of a range of learning
experiences.
Portfolio Formats
Career portfolios can be created in an unlimited variety of formats and styles. Some career
development practitioners provide clients with a pre-printed portfolio package that clients
fill out as they work through the portfolio process. In other situations, the client builds a
portfolio from scratch using a ring binder, page protectors and a variety of techniques to
present the contents professionally. Increasingly, multimedia work samples such as
diskettes, video and audiotapes, CDs, and photographs are included in portfolios, and with
the burgeoning use of the internet, workers and students are designing career portfolios
for their personal websites, using the interactive capacity of the web to create innovative
and professional self-marketing tools. Other online resources are also emerging which help
students and job seekers to use the power of the internet to develop an online portfolio.
32 AUSTRALIAN BLUEPRINT FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT – ADULTS PD KIT