How congruent is person-centred practice with labour activation policy? Person-centred approach to vocational interventions on immigrant jobseekers in Norway

Abstract

Increased migration to OECD countries has made unemployed foreign-born immigrants a new target population for ‘activation’ policies to reintroduce people into the labour market. As populations receiving employment activation interventions became more diverse, individualisation of activation measures was introduced into guidelines for welfare and employment agencies. While a person-centred approach in employment-oriented social work is gaining popularity, there is little research relating to how such approaches fit the frameworks of relatively aggressive activation. This study presents a qualitative instrumental case study exploring interactions between activation policy and person-centred employment interventions with immigrant jobseekers in Norway. Data analysis applied critical orientation towards data and employed directed content analysis. Research questions include: (1) How well do person-centred principles fit with the policy of activation? (2) How do person-centred practice and activation measures interact, and what are the congruencies and tensions? (3) What are the effects and practical implications of these congruencies and tensions? Findings from the present case study indicate the policy of activation strongly affects opportunities to implement person-centred practice in vocational counselling. Further, the political agenda of activation is inconsistent with the intentions of supported employment implementation to make vocational services jobseeker-centred or jobseeker-driven.