IJEVG and CDQ editors' joint statement on the second special international issues.(Introduction to the Special Issue)

Special Issue: Vocational Psychology and Career Guidance

Practice: An International Partnership

In September 2005, the first special international issues of The Career Development Quarterly (CDQ Van Esbroeck, Herr, & Savickas, 2005) and the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IJEVG., Savickas, Van Esbroeck, & Herr, 2005) were published separately. These companion issues presented elements of the international symposium jointly held by the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) and the National Career Development Association (NCDA) in San Francisco in 2004. Taken together, the two issues provided an overview of the results of the discussions and selected papers presented at that symposium. The CDQ and IJEVG issues actually served as the symposium proceedings.

The success and international recognition of this first joint IAEVG-NCDA symposium, as well as of the proceedings, convinced the boards of both associations to consider the possibility of organizing a second joint activity. What was, at the time, only a vague idea took on another form. At the 2005 Society for Vocational Psychology (SVP) biennial conference held in Vancouver, Canada, the then presidents of NCDA, Janet Lenz, and of SVP, David Blustein and Paul Gore, together with the IAEVG chair of the first joint symposium, Raoul Van Esbroeck, discussed the possibility of a new joint symposium sponsored by all three organizations. The observation expressed by several participants at this SVP conference was that at the worldwide level there was a split between vocational psychologists and career guidance practitioners. Participants sensed that this disconnect, or perception of a disconnect, was regrettable and unnecessary. In their view, a new joint symposium on this topic was long overdue. The boards of the three organizations supported these views and appointed a joint planning committee.

The planning committee received strong support from Italian colleagues of the University of Padua under the leadership of Salvatore Soresi and Laura Nota, who chaired the local organizing committee for the proposed symposium. Together, these groups organized the 2007 IAEVG-SVP-NCDA International Symposium on Vocational Psychology and Career Guidance Practice: An International Partnership. This symposium was held September 3,2007, in Padua, Italy, simultaneously with the annual IAEVG International Conference.

Planning committee members considered the publication of the symposium proceedings to be essential for the distribution of the results of the discussions at the symposium. From the start, they opted for the same format used for the proceedings of the 2004 symposium and again proposed the publication of companion issues of CDQ and IJEVG. The boards of both journals and organizations supported this option and appointed a guest editorial team representing the three collaborating associations: Paul Gore (SVP), Jerry Trusty (NCDA), and Raoul Van Esbroeck (IAEVG). The team members' task was made easier because they could follow the model ...