Dr Emma Bolger

Next week I will be attending the Network for Innovation in Career Guidance and Counselling in Europe Academy in Split, Croatia.  A full programme is available at:  http://www.nice-network.eu/split2019/programme/ I will be delivering a Train the Trainer Workshop titled:  Establishing practitioner-led research processes: integrating labour market research into practitioner training Abstract The issue of how to “teach labour market knowledge” to career practitioners is an ongoing topic of debate. The labour market is constantly changing, presenting challenges in ever-new contexts. It is argued that an understanding of the labour market is what makes career guidance unique (Gothard et al, 2001) and that “Labour Market Information (LMI) is important because without it, careers advice or advice to jobseekers is just that, it’s advice” (Attwell and Bimrose, n.d.) To uphold that unique position, it is vital to ensure that LMI is appropriately conveyed, robust and accurate. In addition,

Earlier this month I attended the IAEVG conference 2019 in Bratislava, Slovakia. My contribution this year was a poster presentation, about my PhD research to date. Conference Poster, IAEVG 2019

Next month, Dr Valerie Egdell and I will be presenting at the British Society of Gerontology 48th Annual Conference which takes place from 10th – 12th July 2019 in Liverpool. We are paper 136, part of the Work, retirement and the economy session . An abstract for our paper can be found below.  This is the first public presentation of our (with Dr Louise Ritchie ) highly important work on this topic.  Abstract It is recognised that dementia is, and will increasingly be, a workplace issue. While continued employment is not appropriate for all, it is possible (Ritchie et al., 2018). At present however, many individuals leave the workplace before, or on receipt of, a diagnosis of dementia (Ritchie et al., 2018). Continued employment, facilitated by reasonable adjustments, or redeployment, may not be considered; such that employers may fail meet their legal and human rights obligations to support employees with dementia (Egdell et al., 2018; Ritchie et al., 2018). The workplace

A post for Scottish Breastfeeding Awareness Week I'm not going to post specific stats here about breastfeeding. This post is simply about how I wanted to breastfeed my children and I have done, against the odds. I grew up in the UK borough with the lowest rates of breastfeeding and having gone for 2 years with my first child and breaking the 1 year mark with my second today I'm in a minority of women who breastfeed their children beyond an initial period of weeks or months.  Two things that have made this possible: 1. My first child weighed, wait for it, 11lb 1oz at birth. He breastfed in the hospital after a traumatic forceps birth. He refused to feed when we got home. He lost 10% of his birth weight. When the midwife (from the team at the then Glasgow Southern General Hospital) came round to check on us we were on the verge of being readmitted. Said midwife cleared their diary for the rest of the day and told me they were staying with me until we got it sorted.

Last month, I took my ten month old baby with me to a conference away from home. It's not common to see a baby accompanying a delegate on the academic conference scene and I had quite a few questions and comments whilst at the conference and more since. For those curious as to how it came to happen, here's how (and why) I did it.  " Did you ask if you could bring her?" I had a baby less than a year ago, so she comes with me to a lot of work events. She's been seen regularly throughout this academic year, as I returned to work " early " when she was only 3 months old. For the conference "all" I need to do for explicit practicalities was ask the hosting venue for a travel cot and high chair. There were plenty of other logistical issues to navigate. First of all, I'm not going to suggest bringing your baby with you to a work event is easy or suitable for everyone and every working environment but it has often worked for me and it worke

My presentation from the NICEC  conference 2019 is available via this link . This is a succinct summary of my PhD research to date, on gender and career decision-making, with a focus on the Scottish Modern Apprenticeship programme, and now includes some initial findings from my quantitative research. 

Following the recent ballot, I am pleased to say I have been elected to the Career Development Institute Professional Standards Committee as the Career Education constituency representative. Many thanks to members of the CDI who voted for me!

I have an article in the new issue of Career Matters , the Career Development Institute's professional publication, which is abridged from my PhD. A copy of the article is available here:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1267LxF5-IL-uttSng7sV2ZTT2BKx-S7U

A milestone has been significantly, and quietly, passed: it is over 4 months since I came back to work off maternity leave. A milestone because this date means I've been back at work for over half of my baby daughter's short life already. And we have all survived. I'm continually infuriated by the lack of inclusion of mothers who "go back early" from the maternity leave narrative, the lack of focus on the benefits of and barriers to parental leave, the difficulty in finding baby changing facilities in academic institutions and the fact that my daughter is being set up for a lifetime of disappointment once she realises that girls' and women's clothes don't all contain the multiple pockets she's become accustomed to in her baby wear. But I'm also invigorated by how welcome my baby has been at work. We've joked about how she's clocked up more CPD hours than most in our profession since she arrived in June, but it's true. She&#

Thank you to the 464 respondents to my PhD survey which ran in the second half of 2018.  The draw for 5 x £20 Amazon gift vouchers has been made today. Congratulations to Chelsea, Michael, Kirsten, Ryan and Greg, who have been contacted by email to confirm their email addresses and to ensure safe receipt of their prize which will be sent shortly!

An interesting start to the week as I received an email asking for the text of a very (and I mean very) short play I wrote some time ago for Gi60 which was staged a few times in the UK and US. This time it's heading over to a theatre in New York for it's mini-revival. Full text below! Looking over it I'd describe it as more of a sketch than a play, so I hope it raises a smile. Househunting for Ghosts   A ghost (white sheet) sits at a table, opposite a vampire (cloak and fangs). Ghost :             I’ve been in a graveyard the last three years and the nightly wailing’s bringing me down. Vampire :        There’s been an upsurge in consecrations in the area that you’re looking at but I think I’ve found the right property for you. Four bedrooms. Unblessed. Family of heathens. Three children. Full cable package. Ghost :             ESPN and MTV Europe? Vampire :        Oh yes, and the eldest can apparently see auras so you can play around with her a bit w