Drama & vägledning : Metoder som speglar livet

Sammanfattning: This study illustrates how drama methods and career counselling might interact. The aim is to investigate whether drama methods can enhance career counselling methods. Drama is here defined as an umbrella term that includes all forms of action methods used in psychology and education. A literature survey was carried out in parallel with qualitative research interviews. Three professional drama leaders were interviewed separately. This was followed by a group interview with five upper secondary school students, who had all taken a course in drama with a focus on personal development. The findings show that there are common and consistent goals and values between drama and career counselling. Both methods aim to raise the students’ awareness of themselves and their surrounding world. Also, both are in a field between psychology and education, which must be acknowledged and addressed. It further emerged that drama could contribute positively to the development of career counselling methods. Participating in a drama group could provide greater self-knowledge and give a broader vision of possibilities in the future. Interpretation of the results indicates that some drama techniques are particularly suited for use in career counselling. These include: values clarification practices, mirroring and role reversal, all techniques which involve the participants’ personal experiences. But even role playing which does not involve personal experience is probably appropriate, as long as the participants feel engaged in the topic and then given ample space for reflection. The techniques mentioned above are used (more or less) in drama methods like psychodrama, playback theater, role play, sociodrama, rainbow of desire and values clarification exercises. Some possible models for the interaction between drama and career counselling were discussed in the interviews: Career counselors could take an active part in an ongoing drama course (with a focus on personal development) by going into and be involved in certain stages of the interaction with the drama leader.  Career counselors could receive training in drama methodology (psychodrama training or similar) and then run their own courses. Career counselors could receive training in drama methodology (short courses) and bring elements of drama into counseling groups and classroom instruction, or into individual counselling sessions. People educated in drama could learn more about career counselling and bring questions around career into the drama groups. The results of the study may be useful for career counsellors who are interested in method development. Although this study has a particular focus on upper secondary school it does not exclude other school forms and organizations where career counselling is conducted. Since professionals, other than career counselors, may also have an interest in developing methods of career issues, the result could be useful for them as well, especially for professionals in the field of drama.