Dr Emma Bolger

I will be co-presenting a webinar with Dr. Tania Lyden on ethics and careers practitioner-led research for higher education professionals on 20th February 2025. I am really looking forward to this, as I get to talk about some of the principles and concepts I cover in my forthcoming book on careers practitioner-led research, to be published later this year by Trotman Publishing. AGCAS members can consider this a sneak preview of what will be covered in more detail in my book! Reserve your place here:  ACGAS Webinar Booking Link If you are embarking on a research project and unsure about the ethical consideration then join us to explore key ethical principles and the ethical review process with valuable insights and practical guidance.  

On Wednesday 25 th April 2018, Marjorie McCrory and I delivered a paper presentation at the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) Conference Scotland. The slides for Professional Education in Career Guidance and Development: placing equality and diversity activity at the forefront of curriculum design and programme delivery are available on the ECU website at:  https://www.ecu.ac.uk/events/innovation-change-impact-scotlands-conference-2018/ Photos from the day to follow...

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about the difficulties of library access for student-parents. So I am absolutely delighted to see this news story today about the new family study lounge at the University of Glasgow library. https://universityofglasgowlibrary.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/new-family-study-lounge-uofglibrary/  I didn't name and shame at the time but it was in fact at the University of Glasgow library where I had the demoralising experience that set me off looking into the issue.  I can only hope other universities take note and follow suit. What a fantastic addition to the service offered and much-needed acknowledgement of how many students have to balance their studies with having the responsibility for children. 

An abridged audio recording of this keynote speech I delivered at the University of the West of Scotland, Edinburgh Napier University and Skills Development Scotland annual career guidance research symposium in March 2017, is now available on my YouTube channel at:  https://youtu.be/16y40HftwO8

The annual U niversity of the West of Scotland (UWS), Edinburgh Napier University and Skills Development Scotland Career Guidance Research Symposium  was held yesterday, 15th March 2017, at UWS in Paisley.  The theme of the symposium was equality and inclusion in career guidance and development, with the title:  Supporting Inclusive Professional Practice Through Research My Keynote speech will be available here in due course. In the meantime, here is a news story about the event from Skills Development Scotland and a couple of photos from the day.  Selected Speakers (L-R):  Dr. Pete Robertson (Napier)  , Susan Meldrum (Napier),  Emma Bolger (UWS),   Dr. Marjorie McCrory (UWS), Professor Chik Collins (UWS), Leann Kelly (UWS/SAMH) Emma Bolger, Keynote Speech

One of the modules I’m teaching this trimester at UWS is Career Development Theory, examining the theories that explain how and why people make career decisions. A career decision I often wonder about is “Why would someone choose to be a careers adviser?” I’m not being flippant; I see few reasons why the media representation of the role would influence anyone to become one. From the outside, it’s not a job that gets good press. There is a heck of a lot of bad-mouthing of the careers profession and its purpose, the occasional high-profile media story (nobody mention  Mary Poppins ) and then there’s the section in every celebrity life story ever: “They told me to/not to do it, the clueless adviser, and they were so, so wrong.” We know that high profile TV programmes boost the profile of certain careers.  CSI  led to a raft of wannabe forensic scientists.  Call the Midwife  and  One Born Every Minute  respectively give young people a dramatised and f...

I'm looking for current or past students of Open University module A215 Creative writing  to complete a quick survey for a research project I am doing. I'm looking at the career planning of students on this module and will be using the data collected to initially provide context for a research project into my own teaching practice. I plan to adapt the findings for wider dissemination and publication later in the year. You don't have to be one of my students to complete the survey, you just need to have studied or be studying A215. The survey is here  https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DVS7XW5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ UPDATE:  Survey now closed. Target of 100 responses received in 24 hours, clearly a topic of interest! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The General Election campaigns are out of the way and it is time to look ahead to what the Conservatives proposed in relation to work, education and skills. What will they deliver in career education, advice and guidance, and specific initiatives to support young people into sustainable employment and relevant training over the next five years? There is of course one thing that every party talked about (endlessly, it seemed, at times): apprenticeships. Apprenticeships for young people, if any of the party manifestos were to be believed, are going to solve a heck of a lot of problems. While my PhD looks at one specific programme of apprenticeships in Scotland, what I want to talk about in this post are apprenticeships in general. There are major challenges if they are to be used as the magic elixir they have been purported to be. There are concerns about current apprenticeship provision: the percentage of people starting apprenticeships who are already over 25 (and theref...

In early November 2014, I attempted to visit the library of a Scottish university with my 11 month old son. I was told by a security guard at the gate that due to the library’s rules on children I couldn’t access any area other than the ground floor, where there were only student access PCs and some study desks. There was no mention that during staffed hours a member of staff could retrieve materials for me to use on the ground floor (which in the process of collecting information for this extended blog post I discovered may be the case). So for starters, there was possibly an internal communications issue, but I want to put that aside for the moment and unpick the entire matter of library access for student-parents. This issue was highlighted in the Nuffield Foundation’s research (2012) into student-parent support within in English higher education institutions which concluded: …students with children are not getting the support they need to succeed in higher education. Whil...