Lecture publique du Pr Kobus Maree

Young people increasingly face an uncertain (work) future and become (re-)traumatised. In response to the question “How can I be of help, use, or value to you?”, they mostly respond: “Tell me what to do …”, “I am unsure about my future …”, and “Guide me …” These responses serve as a proxy for asking counsellors to help them rekindle their sense of meaning, purpose, career resilience, wellbeing, and hope in today’s shifting occupational contexts. Our goal should be to shed light on and integrate their conscious knowledge about themselves and on their subconsciously regulated views on their preferred future career choice. In addition, their psychological selves should be enhanced. The paper discusses strategies to achieve these goals in the Anthropocene and ‘the new world of work’.

Jacobus Gideon Maree is an educational psychologist and a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria. He holds doctoral degrees in Education (Career Counselling), Mathematics Education, and Psychology. He has received multiple awards and has a B1 rating from the National Research Foundation. A fellow of PsySSA and the IAAP and a member of the Board of Directors of the IAAP (Division 16), he is the sole African representative on the UNESCO Chair on Lifelong Guidance and Counseling and the UNESCO University Network and Twinning Chair. He has authored or coauthored 50+ peerreviewed articles and 22+ books/ book chapters on career counselling, research, and related topics since 2016. In the same period, he supervised 17 doctoral theses and Master’s dissertations. He read keynote papers at 20 international conferences and accepted honorary scholarly appointments as a research fellow, professor extraordinaire, adjunct professor, and visiting professor at several universities worldwide.