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Underlying this element of the framework is a belief that clients should be fully engaged with
the purpose, process and interpretation of assessment, and that any form of assessment is
of limited use if it does not contribute to increased self-understanding by the client. Fostering
such self-understanding is a key outcome of the competence of the career guidance
practitioner in developing client personal career management skills.

Assessment and self-assessment play a role in the accreditation of prior experience and
learning (APEL). The APEL process can be seen as having two broad stages: first, the
recognition by the individual that learning and skill exists; and second, the formal validation
of such learning and skill against an accreditation framework, or to provide exemption from
normal qualification requirements. The first stage of this process – identifying prior
non-formal learning and existing skills – falls within the remit of career guidance. It is also
often closely linked with a process of identifying a preferred future option, and may require
support to the individual in boosting confidence and in identifying the necessary steps
towards achieving validation of learning and experience.

5.4.2. Client-interaction element: enable access to information
The career guidance practitioner needs to be a competent user of a wide range of
information materials in a variety of formats. Central to this element is the practitioner’s effort
to develop the ability of the client to identify, access and interpret relevant and appropriate
information for their needs.
Interpretation of this element, as with the assessment element previously discussed, can
be more sharply focused if there is a clear understanding of the career management
competence to be developed by the individual student and citizen (see subsection on client
competences in Section 5.2. above).

5.5. Are all competences ‘learnable’?

Sultana (forthcoming) explores the question of whether all competences can be taught or
learnt, or whether some are attributes of the individual which become visible in performance
of tasks. This raises fundamental questions about the notions that underpin both staff
selection, recruitment and development, and also service delivery.
If some competences are, in essence, personality traits, are these amenable to change
and development? This question needs to be applied to the organisation’s staffing policy and
will also form a part of the philosophy that underpins its approach to work with clients.
Dependent on the response to this question, an employing organisation (or a related training
institution) may wish to consider whether there are certain skills, values and attitudes that it

needs to identify in people at the point of recruitment to employment or professional training.
The study of existing training routes in the earlier part of this report found instances of:
• entry to training where considerable attention is paid to existing values and attitudes,
without which entry was not permitted, so implying a belief that such attributes are not
‘learnable’;
• contrasting instances where recruitment was through publicity and prior level of
qualification, with limited regard to individual characteristics, implying that anyone with

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