Career Development and the Skills Shortage: A Lesson from Charles Dickens (Critical Essay‪)‬

This paper presents a critical argument to the profession of career development for the purpose of stimulating reflexive consideration on the myriad influences that impinge upon practitioners. The paper suggests that given the current skills agenda in the Australian economy, it may be timely to reflexively consider career development practice. The paper uses Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times and the character Mr Thomas Gradgrind, who was a dedicated educator in a small industrial town set in the Victorian era, to exemplify how the influence of prevailing social philosophies and economic conditions imbue the practice of professionals. It is suggested that there are potential parallels between the practices of Mr Gradgrind and contemporary career development practitioners. Career development practitioners are asked to consider their position in and amongst high-level political, economic and educational influences and to reflect upon if and how these influences manifest in their practices. So said our earnest Mr Thomas Gradgrind--acolyte of proper education for Coketown, a sooty Victorian-era coal-mining town; a dirty old town indeed. What educational principle was Mr Gradgrind espousing? Toward what educational objective was he aiming? What was Charles Dickens trying to say through that tirade of the extraordinary character Mr Gradgrind? Following from Dickens' illuminating critique of industrial society of the 19th century, this paper presents a comment on the economic, political and educational issues associated with the current 'skills shortages' and Australia's concomitant drive to produce a sustainable labour supply for industries experiencing an impaired capacity to recruit skilled personnel now and into the future (Employment Workplace Relations and Education References Committee, 2003). This brief polemical paper raises critical questions about the position and role of career development practitioners in the confluence of their responsibilities to their clients and the broader social and economic conditions in which they operate as human services or education professionals.