CERTIFICATION RESOURCES

Links and Resources

Assistance in Writing Competency Statements
Assistance in writing competency statements can be found through the Taking Charge/SAVOI tool, available at http://www.savie.qc.ca/carrieres/accueil.htm or the Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners, available at http://www.career-dev-guidelines.org

Directory of Career Counselling/Career Development Education Programs in Canada
Are you planning your education in the Career Development field?
Download the 2006 Directory of education programs in career development as published by CERIC.

Deliberations on the Future of Career Development
The article "Deliberations on the Future of Career Development Education in Canada" outlines talks that are going on amongst career development educators on the educational requirements for career development practitioners, reviews relevant research and poses questions for further reflection. Click here to download.

Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Career Practitioners
The Career Management Association of BC has been supporting the adoption, use and implementation of the S&Gs since 1996. As BC's career development community moves forward with the BC Certification for Career Practitioners, it is to the benefit of practitioners to document and demonstrate their learning.

The Canadian Standards and Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners were developed to:

• Define career development as a legitimate specialization
• Provide a foundation for designing career development-practitioner training
• Provide quality assurance to the public
• Recognize and validate the diverse skill sets of practitioners working in the field
• Create a common voice and vocabulary for career development.

The S&Gs are categorized into two (2) primary areas: Core and Areas of Specialization. Core competencies are sub-categorized to include: professional behaviour, interpersonal competence, career development knowledge, needs assessment and referral. Areas of Specialization include: assessment, facilitated individual and group learning, career counselling, information and resource management, work development and community capacity building. For more information on the S&Gs visit www.career-dev-guidelines.org.

Canadian Standards and Guidelines Code of Ethics
The S&Gs include a Code of Ethic and when Career Development Practitioners become certified, they are required to adhere to the Code of Ethics as outlined in the Standards and Guidelines. To obtain a copy of the Code of Ethics, visit www.career-dev-guidelines.org 

The process of identifying, documenting, evidencing and verifying one's formal and, or informal learning is supported through Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition methodology. The PLAR community in Canada defines PLAR as: a systematic process which uses a variety of tools to help learners reflect on, identify, articulate and demonstrate learning for the purpose of gaining recognition by educational institutions, workplaces, credentialing organizations, regulatory bodies and others. See www.recognitionforlearning.ca for more information on PLAR.

Practitioners who are preparing for credentialing will benefit from reviewing the Standards and Guidelines Reflective Practitioner booklet along with the CDC 2008 Standards and Competencies Booklet to document learning acquired or developed at CDC 2008.