This book is focused on work, occupation and career development: themes that are fundamental to a wide range of human activities and relevant across all cultures. Yet theorizing and model building about this most ubiquitous of human activities from international perspectives have not been vigorous. An examination of the literature pertaining to career development, counseling and guidance that has developed over the last fifty years reveals theorizing and model building have been largely dominated by Western epistemologies, some of the largest workforces in the world are in the developing world. Career guidance is rapidly emerging as a strongly felt need in these contexts. If more relevant models are to be developed, frameworks from other cultures and economies must be recognized as providing constructs that would offer a deeper understanding of career development. This does not mean that existing ideas are to be discarded. Instead, an integrative approach that blends universal principles with particular needs could offer a framework for theorizing, research and practice that has wider relevance. The central objective of this handbook is to draw the wisdom and experiences of different cultures together to consider both universal and specific principles for career guidance and counseling that are socially and economically relevant to contemporary challenges and issues. This book is focused on extending existing concepts to broader contexts as well as introducing new concepts relevant to the discipline of career guidance and counseling.

The book captures the developments, challenges and opportunities in the fields of counselling and career guidance in Asia, highlighting issues and concerns that are unique to Asian regions as well as those that are common with other parts of the world. This book addresses multiple gaps in the counselling and career guidance literatures: it covers Eastern contexts and includes a focus on the distinctive needs of rural communities and those of small states. Gender is a prominent theme as well. The chapters in the book are diverse in terms of settings and participants, topics, and segments of the life span. The reader can develop insight about the current status of the counselling and career guidance fields in Asian contexts and identify relevant aspects that need change or strengthening. The guidelines for policy development that have been suggested in many chapters in this edited volume are of considerable practical value. The discussions in the book draw attention to context-specific features as well as underscore themes that are recurrent across regions and countries. The book has utility, therefore, for readers from all countries. Counselling and Career Guidance in Asia will be relevant to students and researchers interested in educational psychology, counselling psychology, vocational psychology, career development, human learning, the learning sciences, and psychological research methods in education and psychology. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of British Journal of Guidance & Counselling.

This book is focused on work, occupation and career development: themes that are fundamental to a wide range of human activities and relevant across all cultures. Yet theorizing and model building about this most ubiquitous of human activities from international perspectives have not been vigorous. An examination of the literature pertaining to career development, counseling and guidance that has developed over the last fifty years reveals theorizing and model building have been largely dominated by Western epistemologies, some of the largest workforces in the world are in the developing world. Career guidance is rapidly emerging as a strongly felt need in these contexts. If more relevant models are to be developed, frameworks from other cultures and economies must be recognized as providing constructs that would offer a deeper understanding of career development. This does not mean that existing ideas are to be discarded. Instead, an integrative approach that blends universal principles with particular needs could offer a framework for theorizing, research and practice that has wider relevance. The central objective of this handbook is to draw the wisdom and experiences of different cultures together to consider both universal and specific principles for career guidance and counseling that are socially and economically relevant to contemporary challenges and issues. This book is focused on extending existing concepts to broader contexts as well as introducing new concepts relevant to the discipline of career guidance and counseling.