The Porto conference was held under WG1’s leadership. The group’s questions about the social, economic and technological conditions reshaping careers were taken up throughout the programme, from discussions of theory to sessions on artificial intelligence and workers’ rights. Mariana Lucas Casanova, Ricky Gee and Limor Kessler Ladelsky were listed in the programme under “WG1: Theory”.
In a session chaired by Sanja Petkovska on the first day, Anna Bilon-Piórko linked career learning with sustainable development. Sanna Toiviainen discussed the possibilities of utopian pedagogies in career guidance, while Fiona Christie explored reflexivity and critical consciousness in critical career studies. In a session on careers under conditions of uncertainty, João Vasco Coelho considered career as a trajectory shaped by changing circumstances. Seyithan Demirdağ discussed the relationship between employability, community and sustainability, while Ricky Gee questioned the idea of progress underpinning the concept of career. Fırat Ünsal focused on how career guidance might be rethought in an age of artificial intelligence and insecurity. The session chair, Tristram Hooley, also joined the discussion of emancipation with his presentation, “The Emancipation of Career: Utopian Perspectives”. Later in the day, the focus turned to artificial intelligence and digitalisation. Bilal Çankır examined how AI-supported career systems affected working life. Nadia Molek discussed insecurity in digitalised academic careers, while Donovan Barba-Reynoso considered vocational assessment methods used in a work-and-study programme in Mexico. Tom Staunton, who chaired the session, questioned the relationship between the ideological foundations of artificial intelligence and career guidance in his own presentation.
On the second day, Kim Allen presented on students’ employment rights and chaired the session on inclusive careers. Lea Ferrari examined resources and constraints that are often overlooked in disabled adults’ career experiences. Michèle Kehoe discussed the transition from education to work for people with intellectual disabilities, using the TCPID example; Taísa Oliveira considered the contribution of participatory research with young people to knowledge justice. In the session on career pathways chaired by Judit Végh, Emma Lennox examined support for nonlinear career paths, Ana Tomovska Misoska explored the institutional constraints faced by early-career researchers, and Emilda Roseni examined the changing meanings of career under conditions of insecurity in Albania. In the policy session, Ferid Azemi focused on gaps in guidance policies; session chair Victoria Metcalf considered the effects of the green transition on career guidance.
WG1 members contributed to the conference in ways that extended beyond presentations. Filomena Parada chaired José Soeiro’s keynote and co-authored Taísa Oliveira’s paper. In the conference’s final section, Ingrid Bårdsdatter Bakke discussed mobility support, Conor Mc Guckin spoke about ECADOC 2026, and Ghazal Vahidi addressed future collaborations. Fiona Christie also took part in this session. Tristram Hooley and Ingela Bergmo Prvulovic considered the future of careers from the perspectives of theory, policy and practice.
By considering workers’ rights and the social responsibilities of career guidance alongside uncertainty and insecurity, WG1’s contributions challenged explanations of careers based on personal choice alone and brought another perspective to the conference in Porto.
Recordings of WG1 sessions can be viewed on COCAG’s YouTube playlist.
Evrim Erol, PhD, Research Scientist, Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, Kütahya Dumlupınar University, Türkiye, evrim.erol@dpu.edu.tr
