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Sustainable Development Goals Series
Quality Education

Laura Nota
Salvatore Soresi
Ilaria Di Maggio
Sara Santilli
Maria Cristina Ginevra

Sustainable
Development, Career
Counselling and
Career Education
Sustainable Development Goals Series
World leaders adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Providing in-depth knowledge,
this series fosters comprehensive research on these global targets to end
poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change.
The sustainability of our planet is currently a major concern for the global
community and has been a central theme for a number of major global
initiatives in recent years. Perceiving a dire need for concrete benchmarks
toward sustainable development, the United Nations and world leaders
formulated the targets that make up the seventeen goals. The SDGs call for
action by all countries to promote prosperity while protecting Earth and its
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to provide a comprehensive platform for scientific, teaching and research
communities working on various global issues in the field of geography,
earth sciences, environmental science, social sciences, engineering, policy,
planning, and human geosciences in order to contribute knowledge towards
achieving the current 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
This Series is organized into eighteen subseries: one based around each
of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals, and an eighteenth
subseries, “Connecting the Goals,” which serves as a home for volumes
addressing multiple goals or studying the SDGs as a whole. Each subseries is
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contributing to the series, please contact the Publisher: Zachary Romano
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More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15486

Laura Nota Salvatore Soresi
• •

Ilaria Di Maggio Sara Santilli

• •

Maria Cristina Ginevra

Sustainable
Development, Career
Counselling and Career
Education

123
Laura Nota Salvatore Soresi
Larios Laboratory Larios Laboratory
University of Padua University of Padua
Padova, Italy Padova, Italy

Ilaria Di Maggio Sara Santilli

Larios Laboratory Larios Laboratory
University of Padua University of Padua
Padova, Italy Padova, Italy

Maria Cristina Ginevra

Larios Laboratory
University of Padua
Padova, Italy

ISSN 2523-3084 ISSN 2523-3092 (electronic)

Sustainable Development Goals Series
ISBN 978-3-030-60045-7 ISBN 978-3-030-60046-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60046-4

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Introduction

Nowadays, we have to deal with the future, the time that has yet to come, as
the French say, happen and occur, for ourselves and our sons and daughters,
for the people we care about, even if it is very difficult to predict it and
describe it with enough precision. The future, as we know, also concerns the
working activities that young people and the new generations will be
involved in. These people are already considering what is going to happen to
the world of work, their dreams, their wishes, and they are looking for new
meanings and interpretations. All these aspects cannot be ignored by people
in the field of career counselling and vocational designing.
For quite some time, it has been become clear that, even in these fields, it
is not possible to avoid admitting that we are living in very different times
with respect to the ‘80s and ‘90s, characterized by high growth rates, wide
professional opportunities and a standard employment model with perma-
nent fulltime contracts of indefinite duration, until retirement. Today, unlike
the past, the combinations that used to define the topic of choice and
professional inclusion, such as qualification and job, choice and decision,
personal profile and placement, supply and demand, age and professional
stability and so on, seem to not be effective anymore, giving room to other
definitely more worrying combinations, such as uncertainty and insecurity,
flexibility and precariousness, market and competition and so on. Today,
people in the field of career counselling and vocational designing have to
take into consideration that dealing with the future is the management of the
paradoxical requests, despite everything above mentioned, to become more
competitive, more resilient, to ‘constantly’ be ready and adequate for
unexpected opportunities, to be self-employed even without an actual capital
to put into play. It implies also help to reflect on the ways to face some global
threats such as increasing inequalities, wealth and job polarization, increasing
migration rates, the destruction of natural resources, the impact of technology
on the world of work and quality of life, and the presence of more and more
precarious and less and less stable working conditions.
Despite the different nature of these threats, they all seem to be connected.
Together they create a growing global crisis, so that many international
institutions such as the United Nations are preparing to face this crisis by
defining plans of action. The most recent one, ‘Transforming our World,
The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, was adopted in 2015
by the UN General Assembly. This Agenda defines 5 critical areas for the
future of mankind and of the planet, 17 sustainable development goals and
v
vi Introduction

169 targets. The risk is that, if this UN Agenda remains unheeded, people
planning their personal and career life may ignore both the consequences
of the growing global crises for themselves and their communities, and also
the main lines of action defined in this Agenda (Guichard, 2018). Educational
and career choices, in particular, not only represent an important psycho-
logical function in the lives of the individuals, as they can contribute to the
satisfaction of personal needs and bring to self-fulfillment, but can also
acquire an important social dimension—functioning as a bridge between the
individual and the social context, from ‘I’ to ‘us’ to the ‘Earth’, aiming at the
realization of more inclusive and sustainable life conditions and contexts
(Međugorac, Šverko & Babarović, 2019).
It seems clear that career counselling and vocational designing, in these
times of change and transition, cannot rely on matching theories, on the
rudimentary models based on the comparison and classification of people, of
coupling personal and professional contexts’ characteristics, because these
approaches are superficial, not to say ordinary and harmful. Career
counselling and vocational designing have to go beyond, leaving the past
behind, focusing on new trajectories in order to manage the challenges that
we are facing, working to promote the growth of the individuals and social
development, ‘moving’ from a mainly individualistic view of growth and of
people’s realization, to a more markedly contextualistic view, focused on a
representation of the future that involves a high attention focused on the
‘social’, on the common good and on sustainable development.
In order to do this, according to us, career counselling and vocational
designing have to understand that they are ‘children of the time’ in which
they operate, they have to become able to analyse contexts and realities at
different levels, to be more conscious and to detect the modalities that can
better help people to face the times they live in. We know that the context is a
collection of circumstances that characterize living environments and
people’s functioning that relationships are intertwined and depending on
other relations among macro-, meso- and microsystems. The macrosystem
regards the social and cultural conditions, politics, socio-economic condi-
tions and the way to conceptualize vulnerabilities. The mesosystem regards
the areas of life, cities, towns, communities and organizations where there are
professional and educational lives and the support of the services. The
microsystem regards the individual and his/her family (Bronfenbrenner,
2005). It seems clear that, when analysing the situation of an individual, it is
necessary to avoid simplifications and banalizations. On the contrary, it is
important to take into consideration the highest number of aspects possible
and the fact that there can be opposite requests coming simultaneously from
different individuals and contexts, as the idea that the entanglements we are
talking about tend, even unpredictably, to change in faster and closer times.
It will soon appear clear that career counselling and vocational designing
should be a more and more important part of the disciplines that practice and
underline the so-called ‘alethic right’. The term ‘alethic’ comes from the
Greek and it means ‘truth’: ‘Aletheia’ is a concept that in its semantic
deepness concerns the intention to ‘reveal’ in order to touch the ‘reality’ and
encourage a form of knowledge ‘made out of facts’, able to highlight ‘the
Introduction vii

way in which things are’. This is about building a ‘strong’ truth in order to
create a society in which the truth does not have to suffer the dictatorship
of the individual subjectivity, that is to say, to be individualistically and
subjectively intended and understood (Milanesi, 2020).
Thus, with this volume, we wanted to follow a path that could help us to
understand that career counselling and vocational designing have been, as a
matter of fact, a result and an expression of the time, as a response to specific
needs of professional and social contexts, with the purpose to encourage a
reflection on the role that today they can have, in light of the socio-economic
conditions that characterize us. More specifically, this volume will contribute
to an in-depth understanding of the relationship between inclusion,
sustainability, social justice, career counselling and career guidance, with
particular attention to Sustainable Development Goal 4 ‘ensure inclusive and
equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for
all’, Sustainable Development Goal 8 ‘promote sustained, inclusive and
sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent
work for all’ and Sustainable Development Goal 12 ‘ensure sustainable
consumption and production patterns’.
The Chap. 1 analyses two main historical periods: the first goes from the
beginning of 1900 until World War II and the second is called the ‘Glorious
Thirty’ or Keynesian period which goes from the end of World War II until
the ‘70s, characterized by the birth of career counselling and vocational
designing. In the first, career counselling is both a field of research and
psychosocial intervention, in the second it expands and strengthens, in par-
ticular in Western countries, in relation to the increasing educational and
professional possibilities. Overall, we can define this historical period ‘the
golden age of career counselling and vocational designing’ in which, even if
in response to the needs coming from the economic world, it seems clear that,
since its origins, career counselling aimed at having a socially relevant role
regarding the relationships between the professional, personal and social
well-being.
The Chap. 2 focuses on some socio-economic conditions that evolved in
the last few decades until our times, highlighting what is considered to be a
neoliberal ideology, with phenomena associated to it that seem to be the basis
of constant economic crises, the destruction of natural resources and the
increase of inequalities. In the field of career counselling and vocational
designing, there has been a return to old ways of operating, such as those
focused on the idea of the right man in the right place, or those that suggested
the concept that the responsibility of what happens in one’s future only
depends on him/herself. The absence of reflexivity and of analyses of the
conditions that revolve around people’s lives, in particular around prob-
lematic ones, leads us to denounce the fact that this way of operating is only
able to maintain the status quo, damaging the majority of the population.
Even in this field, we need a new deal, a rainbow one rather than green.
These colours should help us to remember that we should reshape new
economic, cosmopolitan processes, aimed at the expansion of rights and
social justice.
viii Introduction

The Chap. 3 wants to help the reader to take into consideration alternative
ways to those that have hitherto been practiced because of an unprecedent
complexity that also affects people’s projects about their future. It starts from
the work carried out by the Life Designing International Research Group,
from the trajectories outlined in the 2009 position paper (Savickas et al.,
2009), to the latest reflections that push us to carefully consider the issues of
sustainable development. Therefore, we move on to the deepening of the
concepts of inclusion, sustainability and social justice, which are gaining
more and more value in the latest literature, and also to career counselling
and vocational designing that, since they suggest work paths essential to
ensure our presence on the Earth, can no longer avoid to consider the growth
of communities, the well-being of all people and a qualitative professional
future designing. Less ‘ego-centric’ professional designs that are more
focused on building inclusive, sustainable and social justice-based contexts
require new forms of thought, resources and skills that encourage greater
attention to the general context and to the community’s well-being.
The Chap. 4 is focused on cosmopolitanism and on the abilities one has of
designing his/her own future, while taking into account both local and global
phenomena, curiosity and imagination, in order to favour critical and con-
scious decisions about the future. This chapter also focuses on the courage to
design the future, despite the sense of discomfort that current times can
create, and on activism, in order to work for different futures. In dealing with
these constructs, assessment instruments and suggestions for their promotion
in schools are presented as part of specific laboratory activities.
Lastly, the Chap. 5 aims at giving the reader ideas for career education
interventions focused on supporting young people in vocational designing
processes. These interventions have to be based on inclusion, sustainability
and social justice, allowing people to give voice to their aspirations and to
think of the challenges they might consider in their future in order to improve
their future and also the well-being of humanity and the world in which we
live in general. The project ‘Stay inclusive, sustainable, curious, cos-
mopolitan, aspirant’ is introduced. It is developed by the Laboratory of
Research and Intervention in Vocational Designing and Career Counselling
(Laboratorio di Ricerca e Intervento per l’Orientamento alle Scelte) LaRIOS
of the University of Padova as an example of laboratory action to train young
people to identify the intentions, responsibilities and their 'mission possible'
for the future. This has to be realized with the collaboration of professionals
able to fully share the goals described.
In reading the various chapters, it should be clear to the reader that in our
pages there is a fil rouge that, at least in our intentions, aims at bringing out
the close relationship between career counselling and vocational designing
and the context, or between career counselling and the socio-economic
realities, in which it develops. It is necessary and urgent for careful
considerations of present times to become useful instruments to build a better
world and an inclusive and sustainable future for everyone. A future that
seems to be waiting to be decisively started, built and, in many ways, still
imagined. Career counselling and vocational designing we are considering
propose educational and training opportunities capable of mobilizing
Introduction ix

thoughts and reflections, emotions and behaviours, aspirations and perspec-

tives, that is to say, in one single expression, people’s agenticity, also in order
to support the pursuit of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
In this perspective, a different career guidance, a ‘positive’ and quality
one, that is not aimed at training the homo adaptus, ‘the right man at the right
place’ who promptly responds to calls and demands in his/her contexts, not
the homo economicus mostly worried to be and to be perceived as attractive
and competitive in the market and in the world of education and production.
The homo sapiens we have in mind, in the context of a career counselling and
vocational designing that aims at an equal, sustainable and inclusive future, is
the one that is recognized as reciprocus, solidalis and prospectus (mutual,
supportive, future-aimed) for the attention he/she gives to the well-being
of the community and for his/her inclination in favouring the future, for
his/her ‘mania’ to try to anticipate what will happen and to regulate, in this
regard, agenticity.
For all these reasons, career counselling and vocational designing should
help people, especially the younger generations, to designing their future in
an agentic way, in emerging from the ‘fog of the present’, to project
themselves in the future we should build, together with the world of research
and the most accredited international institutions, from an inclusive and
sustainable perspective, ‘coming out from their own backyard’ and ‘taking
care of the common garden’, in order to ensure a better future for everyone.

References

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). Ecological Systems Theory (1992). In U. Bronfenbrenner

(Ed.), Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human develop-
ment (pp. 106–173). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Ltd.
Guichard, J. (2018). Life Design Interventions and the Issue of Work. In V. Cohen Scali,
J. P. Pouyaud, M., Drabik Podgorna, G., Aisenson, J. L Bernaud, ... J.V Guichard,
(Eds.), Interventions in career design and education: Transformation for sustainable
development and decent work (pp. 15–28). Paris, France: Springer, Cham.
Međugorac, V., Šverko, I., & Babarović, T. (2019). Careers in sustainability: an
application of social cognitive career theory. International Journal for Educational and
Vocational Guidance, 1–23.
Milanesi, V. (2020). Prefazione [Preface]. In L. Nota (Ed.), La passione per la verità.
Come contrastare fake news e manipolazioni e costruire un sapere inclusivo
(pp. 11–24). Roma: Franco Angeli.
Savickas, M. L., Nota, L., Rossier, J., Dauwalder, J. P., Duarte, M. E., Guichard, J., ... &
Van Vianen, A. E. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the
21st century. Journal of vocational behavior, 75(3), 239–250.
Contents

1 Career Counseling and Vocational Designing,

from the Origins to the End of the Last Century:
The Moment of Maximum Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 From the Early 1900s Until World War II and the Birth
of Career Counseling and Vocational Designing . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 The ‘Glorious Thirty’ or Keynesian Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 The Growth and the Contribution of Career Counseling
and Vocational Designing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Conclusions: Social Significance… in Favor of a Part
of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Threats and Challenges of the XXI Century and the Role
of Career Counseling and Vocational Designing . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 Introduction: From the Recent Past to Present Times . . . . . . 15
2.2 Neoliberal Ideological Derivations of the Present Era . . . . . . 15
2.3 And Again: Globalization, Precariousness, Competition,
Financialization, Migration, Robotization, Outsourcing,
Externalization, Privatization, Exploitation of Natural
Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 Inequalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.5 The Myths of the Current Period: Meritocracy
and Self-employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.6 Conclusions: What About Career Counseling
and Vocational Designing? Could They Be a Tool
for a ‘Rainbow New Deal’? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3 Life Designing for an Inclusive, Sustainable and Equitable
Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.2 Complexity in Career Counseling and in Professional
Designing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.3 The Life Design International Research Group . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.4 Towards Life Design Processes in Order to Build
Inclusive and Sustainable Futures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5 Inclusion and Sustainability to Build the Future . . . . . . . . . . 47
xi
xii Contents

3.6 Rediscovering Social Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

3.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4 New Dimensions Instruments for An Inclusive Sustainable
Career Counseling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.2 Cosmopolitanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.3 Curiosity and Imagination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.4 Courage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.5 Activism for Our Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.6 Conclusions: Acting and Demonstrating for an Inclusive,
Sustainable and Socially Just Future . . . . . . ............. 76
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. 78
5 The Project “Stay Inclusive, Sustainable, Curious,
Cosmopolitan, Aspirant, Etc.” : An Example of Operational
Paths and Trajectories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.2 Give a Voice to People and Promote Inclusive
and Sustainable ‘Aspirations’ Towards the Future . . . . . . . . 82
5.3 Today’s Adolescents and the Necessity to Encourage
Aspirations Towards an Inclusive and Sustainable
Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.4 Career Counseling and Vocational Designing
Workshops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.5 The Project “Stay Inclusive, Sustainable, Curious,
Cosmopolitan, Aspirant” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5.6 Doing Basic Workshops with High School Students . . . . . . 92
5.7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Appendix C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Appendix D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Appendix E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Appendix F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Appendix G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
 Career Counseling and Vocational
Designing, from the Origins 1
to the End of the Last Century: The
Moment of Maximum Possibilities

combine with interests and abilities, the above-

1.1 Introduction
mentioned pairing: all these phenomena owe
their existence to elements that are present in
When preparing this chapter, we thought about
people’s life contexts and are able to encourage
the stories of people who stood out in culture,
and foster them (Vallerand, 2010).
sports, arts, show business, science, politics.
The beautiful professional life stories of
People who gave a large contribution to the
middle-aged people could be the result of
above-mentioned fields, and they experienced
extraordinary personal talents, of particularly
levels of satisfaction, recently described by a
‘rich and inspiring’ environments, of unique sit-
colleague in a volume (Scandella, 2019). When
uations, or, more simply, of a particular historical
reading those professional life stories and look-
period, the one between the ‘60s and ‘80s (Sor-
ing also at other narrations of people that today
esi, 2019). This period is characterized by very
are between 50 and 70 years old, we thought that
different working conditions with respect to the
it is quite possible that these stories revolve
ones we are experiencing nowadays and that
around the pairing of interests and abilities, and
young people who are in school today will live.
are often the result of unintentional initiatives of
In order to give birth to ambitious professional
different actors, belonging to family, social and
projects, young people will have to learn how to
working contexts. In contrast to what is often
not be inhibited by social pressures, by rules, by
seen today, those stories do not present high
the desire to obtain satisfaction and fulfillment in
levels of discomfort coming from worries asso-
the present, in the here and now, in the short
ciated with the topics of unemployment,
term.
underemployment, precariousness, mobility and
With this chapter we would like to let the
professional retraining (Soresi, 2019).
readers ‘jump into the past’, in order to encour-
Moreover, in those stories passions play a
age them to consider the historical periods that
central role: these activities are considered
precede the current one, from the early 1900s
interesting, pleasant, able to ‘absorb’, they make
until World War II and ‘The Glorious Thirty’,
time pass faster and they allow people to expe-
that is to say from the end of World War II to the
rience a sense of happiness and wellbeing. It is
‘70s. This examination of history will allow
important to distinguish between ‘positive’ pas-
understanding why the majority of young people
sions, the ones that encourage to act and to
during ‘50s and ‘60s experienced the above-
deepen topics productively, and ‘negative’ pas-
mentioned stories and how career counseling and
sions, the ones that should be controlled in order
vocational designing were born to face the
to avoid worrying addictions which are bad for
requests of specific periods, detecting
health and for life quality. Passions tend to

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1
Switzerland AG 2020
L. Nota et al., Sustainable Development, Career Counselling and Career Education,
Sustainable Development Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60046-4_1
2 1 Career Counseling and Vocational Designing, from the Origins …

procedures, tools and operational tracks useful Arrighi (1994) states that the economic prac-
for the past ages, taking up this social significant tices tend to become ‘institutionalized’ in Europe
role. The emphasis on all these aspects should between the XIV and XV centuries and concern
help us to underline that what was good in that the possibility to buy or sell, in a free market,
moment of the past and could have supported the goods, capitals, and work: the so-called factors of
construction of satisfying professional lives is production. All of this is associated with the
nowadays inadequate, also in a perspective that, spread of Adam Smith’s thought. Smith is con-
in a fairer way, takes into consideration the sidered the father of the economic thought and
people and the lands of those who do not come his concept of the ‘invisible hand’ is the
from Western countries. cornerstone of the liberal doctrine of laissez-
faire: “following their egoistic preferences, the
owners of capital prefer to invest in activities
1.2 From the Early 1900s Until located in their own country, creating in this way
World War II and the Birth benefits for it and its society, even if this was not
of Career Counseling their intention”. The basic concept is that, in
and Vocational Designing following their personal interests, individuals
manage to create social order and to develop,
Western history is characterized in many respects even if in an unintentional way, a context that is
by the rise of capitalism, which shaped our way not free from government policies but it is from
of acting, thinking, doing. This word means “the unproductive activities (Mazzuccato, 2018).
economic system based on the use of capital— Many factors contributed to the expansion of
composed of money and physical goods—with modern capitalism: the industrial revolution, the
the purpose of developing activities aimed at invention of steam machines, larger factories,
producing goods and provide a profit to whom mass production, the expansion of the market on
employed the capital. The owners of capital are an international scale and the adoption of more
called capitalists. The capitalistic development efficient accounting criteria. As a consequence,
happens when capitalists, after having bought capitalism spread in England first and in the
machines and raw materials for their businesses, United States after, which in the early 1900s
after having paid workers’ salaries, after having become the most important industrial power.
sold the goods, and after having received a per- From the Early 1900s until World War II.
sonal gain, make a profit. This surplus enlarges During the first decades of 1900, mostly in the
and improves the production process” (Treccani United States, there was a period of prosperity
Vocabulary). and socio-economic progress driven by the
The origins of capitalism can be found during automotive sector, which functioned as a stimu-
the Middle Ages. During that period, Europe has lus for the development of other sectors such as
seen an increase in trading, a more consistent metallurgical, rubber, transport and construction
monetary circulation, higher consumptions and industries. During the ‘20s, the American econ-
the emergence of professional figures such as omy experienced a constant and fast growth
bankers and merchants. In addition, many geo- thanks to industry and agriculture, sectors that
graphical discoveries have been made during the exported a good part of production towards
XV and XVI centuries, which permitted import, Europe, since in the old continent production
at the expense of the colonized lands, raw facilities were still in the phase of post-war
materials, gold, and silver, making commercial reconstruction (Milanovic, 2017).
trade easier. Thanks to bankers and merchants- In this period of economic expansion, the
entrepreneurs, capitals were used to buy raw concept of Laissez-faire took shape, intended as
materials, in order to give them to small busi- the idea that the State should not interfere with
nesses and to finally bring the produced goods on economy and society. Companies, industries and
the marketplace. so on were put at the center of the scene, with
1.2 From the Early 1900s Until World War II and the Birth of Career … 3

specific necessities such as workforce: people capitalists needed to find a profitable use of their
who can deal with specific tasks that do not saving surplus outside their countries, so they
require high qualification. The arrival of immi- opened new doors to ‘colonialism’. This process
grants covered the necessities of workforce for was characterized by the physical control of the
low qualified jobs. place and by a kind of a ‘colonial contract’ for
After World War I and with the completion of local development so that colonies could trade
the reconstruction, it began a progressive over- exclusively with the colonizer country and could
production, most of all in the field of agriculture. not produce finished products. There was some
This caused a general price drop and, as a con- sort of division, since some European countries
sequence, a return to protectionism. After this aimed at colonizing Africa, Russia aimed at
period, there is the so-called ‘Crash of 1929’ and Siberia and the United States at Mexico (Mila-
the Great Depression: overproduction and Wall novic, 2017).
Street Crash of 1929 caused a structural crisis, The crisis, the economic difficulties of the
companies stopped to invest, there was a pro- majority of the population and the perceived
duction drop and the raise of unemployment. inequalities determined a delegitimization of
The crisis that hit the United States rapidly capitalism and of its abilities to prevent unem-
spread to the rest of the world. As a matter of ployment. The doubts increased, even if it was
fact, the United States were the most important hard to think about something else, as the words
financial center in the world. During the ‘20s, of Keynes show: “Capitalism is not smart,
American investment in Europe constantly grew, beautiful, fair, virtuous and does not keep pro-
most of all towards Germany. With the Wall mises. In short, we do not like it and we are
Street Crash, this flow of capitals was inter- beginning to despise it. But when we wonder
rupted, jeopardizing Western economies. The about what to put in its place, we are extremely
greatest crisis was obviously in Germany, where, puzzled” (Keynes, 1933). As time went by,
in addition to the economic crisis, there also was people realized that, by raising productivity and
an institutional one that overwhelmed the weak lowering salaries, capitalism creates inequalities,
Weimer Republic and brought to the power reduces consumption capacity and creates a sur-
Hitler’s National Socialists. The recession plus of goods that have no market. During the
pushed the countries to go towards protectionism ‘30s, there was a need to overcome the crisis and
and to underline both economic and military look for prevention methods. The economists of
contrasts, which became the premises for World the time, led by John Maynard Keynes, begin to
War II. state that capitalism should be subjected to reg-
Galbraith (2009) pointed out that the biggest ulation. Solutions needed to be applied with the
problems of this period of capitalistic manage- intervention of the State, that allows to reduce
ment regarded a bad income distribution, inade- unemployment, raise salaries and encourage
quate companies’ management and a scarce goods’ demands by consumers, in order to
efficacy of banking and financial systems, guarantee a constant economic growth and social
excessive speculative loans and the mistakes wellbeing, giving birth to a compromise between
made by economists who aimed at keeping the capital and work (Hickel, 2012).
State outside the economy, because it was con- At the turn of this period and the consecutive
sidered a penalizing factor. All these problems one, there was also what Milanovic (2017) calls
created a historical period with high rates of First Kuznets Wave, which goes from the
inequality both in terms of income and richness. industrial revolution until more or less the ‘80s,
In order to face the difficult situation of the and that is associated with the growth of
time, the economic programs, that is to say the inequality. The greatest levels are observed
public spending, were essentially based on rear- between the end of the XIX and the beginning of
mament and colonialism, avoiding the interna- the XX century, with the following decreasing
tional treaties that forbade it. As a matter of fact, until more or less the ‘70s/’80s.
4 1 Career Counseling and Vocational Designing, from the Origins …

The Birth of Career Counseling and Voca- consideration, that is to say, the
tional Designing. Taking into consideration the affective/cognitive component of working per-
expansionary moments of the above-mentioned formances. For this purpose, we can mention the
historical periods and thinking about the birth of work by Strong with his Vocational Interest
career counseling and vocational designing, we Blank and the work by Kuder with his Kuder
should focus our attention on what happened first Preference Record Vocational at the end of the
of all in the United States. More precisely, we ‘30s (Crites, 1974; Soresi & Nota, 2000).
should focus on the mass arrival of people It should be underlined that all of this, at that
coming from Europe: they were desperate, time, could be considered innovative. As a matter
deprived of everything, encouraged to leave and of fact, before this historical period, people were
go somewhere else, towards a country that nee- ‘trapped’ into their social class, they were not
ded workforce to support its industrial develop- ‘used’ to choose a job, there were no jobs to be
ment (Pallante, 2018). There, in that period, the chosen or to be prepared for. The school itself
first ‘counseling’ actions are observed. Back was constructed as a ‘status confirmation’ sys-
then, European people did not have an elevated tem, that aimed at keeping the existing differ-
culture: the most frequent condition was illiter- ences between higher social classes and lower
acy, which tends to be associated with a higher ones that had a basic education (Collins, 1979).
difficulty to perform introspective analysis and to On one hand we can say that matching was
highlight what could be more adequate for them useful for companies interested in finding ‘suit-
from a professional point of view. It begins to be able’ people, on the other hand we can also say
obvious that something needs to be done in order that these ‘counseling’ activities were useful for
to help people who are looking for a job and, individuals, in particular for those with the big-
more importantly, for a means of support. They gest vulnerabilities, who, for the first time, were
should be helped to detect a ‘solution’ that suits asked what they were able to do and what they
their own characteristics. This is how the first preferred to do. Vocational designing was
steps in the fields of career counseling and ‘placed between the company and the individ-
vocational designing have been made: in 1909 ual’, giving space to the individual and gaining
the work by Frank Parsons, engineer, marks the social importance (Fig. 1.1).
birth of career counseling. He introduced tools to
detect ‘the inclinations’ and to support the
detection of the ‘most suitable’ workplace to this 1.3 The ‘Glorious Thirty’
multitude of individuals without specific abili- or Keynesian Period
ties. This is how the ‘matching model’ is born,
which consists of matching the person’s charac- It is a period that goes from the end of World
teristics and working context’s ones. At that War II to the ‘70s, characterized by an expan-
time, different instruments focused on sensorial sionary stage and by a recession, with its dis-
and perceptive abilities and reaction times started tinctive features. In this period counseling
to be used. These tools came from the field of the models are born, aimed at helping people to
rising psychological studies and of psycho- detect a satisfying option for their educational
physiology and were used in order to verify if and professional life, having many different
the individual could operate specific working possibilities.
performances regarding most of all assembly line Expansionary Stage. In Western societies,
actions. there was a delegitimization of unbridled capi-
With the development of psychological stud- talism and of its abilities to prevent unemploy-
ies, in particular of psychometry, during the ‘30s ment and the social crises that brought to World
and ‘40s, interests started to be taken into War II. At the same time, there was The Great
1.3 The ‘Glorious Thirty’ or Keynesian Period 5

Fig. 1.1 The origins of

career counseling and
vocational designing
Beginning of 1900 World War II

1909 Psychometry Development

Parson Affective/Cognitive Components
The right place Interests
Matching Vocational Interest Blank- Strong.
‘Attitudes’ 1927, 1938
Sensorial, perceptive Kuder Preference Record Vocational
aspects and reaction times Kuder, 1938-1941

Leveling, born in socialist countries and associ- between workers and capitalists. As a conse-
ated with the idea that it was necessary to create quence, rich classes tended to accept measures
economic management systems that were par- able to create a wide middle class, because of the
tially not capitalist, with public investments. In fear of new socialist movements and capital
these countries, most of the companies were expropriations.
nationalized, simplifying a different richness It is also important to underline that, thanks to
distribution and the compression of salaries. the effect of investments and to scientific dis-
Moreover, the nationalization of production coveries, in Western countries there was a second
means implicated the abolition of business expansion of the manufacturing and commercial
incomes and of incomes coming from patrimo- sectors. This expansion is associated with the
nial estates, since companies were banned. In manpower transfer from agriculture to manufac-
addition, there were guaranteed job opportuni- turing, from the rural areas to urban ones. It is
ties, the absence of unemployment, pensions and also associated with the reduction of the gap
the presence of basic products. Basically, edu- between urban and rural contexts and of the
cation and property, two essential elements in respective inequalities. The population was
market-economies, became irrelevant. In this gradually becoming older, with much higher
way, the ‘prize for education’ is also reduced, numbers with respect to the past, which impli-
since the salaries of low qualified workers were cates a higher demand for social services such as
quite high, and the salaries of high qualified social welfare and healthcare. Moreover, educa-
workers were quite low. There was a certain tion was extended to the majority of the popu-
amount of hostility towards technology and little lation: this implicates, also in Western contexts, a
attention was given to innovation. This will reduction of the prize for education (Goldin &
create problems in the long run: Milanovic Katz, 2008).
(2017) states that there has been an excessive School took on two goals: supporting upward
push to equality that discouraged people in terms social mobility and preparing a qualified work-
of commitment to work, education, and force. For the first time school is considered a
innovation. resource of social policies, aimed at overcoming,
Thanks to this and to the work done by the rather than confirming, the existing social divi-
left-wing parties, the consensus towards socialist sions. This change of pace regarding education is
forms of economic management spread among related to the spread of social rights but also to a
European and American working classes, even if considerable demand for a more qualified work-
with authoritarian turns. It became necessary to force as concerns the clerical and technical sec-
create conditions that could limit this consensus tors. Education started to be perceived as what
by investing in more balanced relationships could support the national economy. For Italy in
6 1 Career Counseling and Vocational Designing, from the Origins …

particular, Ricuperati (1995, p. 732) stated that as the antidote to the crisis: from that moment the
“if in the fifteen-year period that was about to construction of streets, railways and houses
come there had not been the correct preparation began. He also proposed changes in the eco-
for the over 700.000 graduates needed, the nomic policies which favored rich people, based
almost 3 million technicians and qualified on what above-mentioned, with higher taxes for
employees, the economic development would rich people in order to finance better social
have been stopped or irreparably damaged”. In cohesion and the creation of different welfare
Italy, these visions are the foundation of laws that systems (healthcare, education and so on).
establish compulsory education until 14 years It is important to consider that all of this did
old, middle school education in 1962 and the not mean, in Keynes’s opinion, to abolish the old
liberalization of University in 1969. paradigm or reverse the forms of private capi-
As can be seen, space has been given to pol- talism, but, on the contrary, to save them through
itics that hold together socialist visions and less the “widening of the functions of the government
extreme visions of capitalism, so that the State […], the only possible way to avoid the complete
has to set goals such as full employment, eco- destruction of the existing economic powers, and
nomic growth and citizens’ wellbeing. State also the condition of a satisfying functioning of
power has to act freely next to market mecha- individual initiative” (Keynes, 2006, p. 338). As
nisms, also by replacing them when necessary, in a matter of fact, the State participates at an
order to achieve its goals. unprecedented level, in order to re-establish a
This is how Keynesian economic policies take consensus spirit and the collaboration by
shape: Keynes is an English economist who workers.
leaves the neoclassical tradition and proposes a Regarding the market’s processes and
new economic model called Keynesian theory, entrepreneurial/business activities, a new condi-
which is different from the previous one, based in tion is created, called ‘embedded liberalism’.
a more significant way on Laissez-faire. This condition involves social and political
According to him, the biggest failure of the free restrictions and a series of rules aimed at limiting,
market consists of the inability to offer a per- sometimes at guiding, the economic and indus-
manent workplace to those who want it. When trial strategies. There was the will to guarantee a
the demand for products is not high and impli- dignified family salary in exchange for a sub-
cates an excess of unsold goods that have no missive and productive workforce, providing to
market, businesses need to reduce their activity the middle class the means to consume essential
with consequences on the number of employees. goods of industrial production.
In order to limit this phenomenon and reduce the All of this was obviously supported by
waste of human and social resources during mass Western countries’ governments, which imag-
unemployment situations, the intervention of a ined that in this way it was possible to guarantee
third subject is necessary. This subject is the global economic stability and social wellness,
State, which is external to the market and needs and to prevent another World War. The Bretton
to provide full employment. The State needs to Woods1 institutions were created, that is to say,
rebalance markets and rule them in order to avoid the ones that later became the World Bank, the
wastes and inefficiencies (Pallante, 2018). The
1
essential task is to manage public spending in The Bretton Woods Agreement is the result of a series of
negotiations made from the 1st to the 22nd of July 1944,
order to increase demand. By increasing public
in Bretton Woods near Carroll, New Hampshire (the so-
spending and the demand for goods and services, called Bretton Woods Conference). On that occasion,
the production of businesses can be increased different rules were written. These rules regarded business
too, and, as a consequence, so is employment. and financial international relationships among the main
industrialized Western countries. As a matter of fact, they
The three cornerstones of economic policies are
are the first example of a ‘monetary order’ negotiated
public investments, progressive taxation, and among States, aimed at characterizing their monetary
social protection. Keynes proposed public works relationships.
1.3 The ‘Glorious Thirty’ or Keynesian Period 7

International Monetary Fund and the World reforms and State interventions. The concern for
Trade Organization, in order to solve the prob- the above-mentioned situation is associated (or
lems regarding the balance of payments and to gives birth to) with the upswing of the work of a
foster the reconstruction and the development of small group of thinkers: Mont Pélerin Society,
a war-torn Europe (Hickel, 2012). founded in 1947. It takes its name from the Swiss
At the same time, there was higher attention thermal location where there was the first meet-
towards rights, with an extension of social rights ing between economists, historians, philoso-
(Milanovic, 2017). The first generation of rights, phers, scholars, who gathered around the famous
that goes back to French and American revolu- Austrian philosopher and economist Friedrich
tions, brings civil freedoms such as the freedom von Hayek. Among them, there were Ludwig
of religion, expression, residence, and trade. The von Mises, the economist Milton Friedman and,
second generation brings into societies social at least once, the famous philosopher Karl Pop-
rights such as healthcare, social services, and per. They called themselves ‘liberals’, as a ref-
assistance. The Welfare State was born, which erence to the liberalism of the European tradition,
aimed at policies created to protect individuals for their essential commitment in favor of the
from the so-called ‘five giants’: misery, disease, ideals of personal freedom. They aimed at rein-
ignorance, squalor, and idleness, through the troducing the importance of setting the economy
creation of national healthcare, public education, according to capitalistic rules and without forms
public housing and full employment policies of control (Harvey, 2007).
(Beveridge, 2010).
On one hand, this social change can be the
result of a ‘political strategy’ to limit the socialist 1.4 The Growth
wave, but on the other hand, people are now able and the Contribution of Career
to strive for a minimum social status level, that Counseling and Vocational
involves education, health, social safety, jobs, Designing
and houses. On one hand, as Kennedy stated, all
of this was useful in order to limit the growing Thinking about people and their professional life
threat that a more combined and powerful in Western countries, we may say that some of
working-class movement represented for the the most important elements in this historical
constant accumulation of capital, on the other period are the following:
hand, it is clear that social rights become citi-
zenship rights and no longer represent charitable – The spreading of education;
actions (Popkewitz, 1991). – Population aging;
Recession Stage. In the late ‘60s, embedded – The increase of job opportunities in the
liberalism started to split apart, both on a national manufacturing and clerical sectors;
and international level, for different reasons such – The increase of educational options;
as the rise of inflation and the reduction of State – The possibility to start a ‘career’;
tax revenues for social spending. Moreover, there – A higher ‘specialization’ of professional
was a merging between working-class move- contexts.
ments and urban social ones, that gave the
impression of a stronger socialist alternative to A growing labor demand is observed. Quali-
the social compromise between capital and work, fied performances are required, both in the
that successfully formed the basis for post-war technical and in the clerical sectors, so that
capital accumulation. education becomes an investment for the overall
Communist and socialist parties gained economic development. Rights are extended, and
ground and were about to succeed in a large part closer attention is given to population wellness
of Europe and in the United States. Popular levels. Citizens are gradually more educated, and
forces were mobilizing for an extension of they can choose which professional path to take.
8 1 Career Counseling and Vocational Designing, from the Origins …

Greater attention is given to individual requests, concept that supported the existence of a linear
to professional fulfillment, and the idea of ‘ca- relationship between personal characteristics and
reer’ gets into the thoughts regarding profes- environmental ones. Between the person and the
sional life. context, there are much more complex relations
Choices, reflections on the best option, the than those traditionally hypothesized: both of
analysis of one’s own desires, etc. acquire great these elements are often characterized in terms of
importance in this scenario. Vocational designing emphasized flexibility and variability (Hackett &
processes, in line with the development of psy- Betz, 1981). On the basis of Bandura’s works
chological and social sciences studies, begin to regarding his construct of self-efficacy (1977) and
take into consideration all of this (Brown, 2003). his theories of social learning (Bandura, 1984,
Interests become important because they were no 1986), other dimensions of the ‘self’ gain
longer considered as mere preferences, but as importance, such as work motivation, profes-
traits, personality aspects. If interests are ‘satis- sional values, and efficacy beliefs. All these
fied’ in working contexts, that is to say, if they are elements refer to the opinions that a person has
cultivated thanks to specific working environ- regarding his/her own abilities of organizing and
ments that allow doing so, they facilitate career accomplishing everything that is necessary in
satisfaction along with career performance. order to learn how to carry out specific tasks,
Holland’s Work and RIASEC types. In this included professional ones. The person has also
context, it is important to keep in mind as the to know the factors that can foster these abilities,
person that makes a professional choice ‘looks in the belief, supported by data, that keeping in
for’ the situations that respect his/her counseling mind these variables during decision-making
hierarchy” (Holland, 1959). The choice becomes processes allows more accurate decisions
something that involves many different personal (Hackett & Lent, 1992).
features: motivation, knowledge, abilities, and An important model is the one created by
personality. Different instruments are created in Lent, Brown, & Hackett, (1994), the Social
order to measure interests, classify contexts, Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), that consists in
check congruency and so on, validated by hun- three intertwined models that focus on (a) inter-
dreds of researches. From these researches, it ests’ development, (b) choice and (c) perfor-
stands out as the majority of people can be mances and persistence in educational and
described using one of the ‘types’ that Holland professional paths (Lent, Brown, & Hackett,
himself detected and clarified through decades of 1994). Hundreds of researches have been made,
research and counseling regarding vocational highlighting how the beliefs that people have on
designing. These types are: Realistic, Investiga- their abilities are formed, what the determiners of
tive, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conven- those beliefs are, and the consequences in terms
tional. Likewise, also the working environments of preferences for specific actions, motivation,
can be differentiated using the same types. The commitment, etc. These researchers question the
implied hypothesis of this approach consists of solidity of some traditional and ‘objective’
considering career choices as the expression of measures, giving particular relevance to mark-
an individual’s personality. People doing the edly ‘private and subjective’ dimensions (such as
same jobs would be characterized by similar self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations).
personality traits and life stories (Swanson & Importance has been given to how much
Fouad, 1999; Soresi & Nota, 2000). Congruency people think they are able to perform specific
levels between the person and the environment actions, that is to say, how many efficacy self-
are based on the adaptation between personality beliefs they have for specific tasks and actions, as
and interests and the type of working environ- we would say in technical words, in the aware-
ment in which the individual is put or aspires to. ness that a lack of confidence is associated with a
Social Cognitive Career Theory. During the lack of investment. For example, a lack of self-
‘80s, there are the first ideas that question the confidence regarding mathematical skills is
1.4 The Growth and the Contribution of Career Counseling … 9

associated with a minor effort in this subject. The avoiding difficult decisions, postpone them to the
origins of efficacy beliefs have been deeply last minute, delegate them to others. On the other
analyzed, along with the range of activities and hand, people can make an effort in the choosing
gratifications to which every person is exposed process by analyzing the options, gathering
since a very young age. information, comparing them and so on, with the
Through the ‘repetition’ of certain actions, the awareness that the maladaptive strategies reduce
presence of models and feedbacks given by effort but bring, more probably, to less advanta-
important people, children and adolescents geous solutions (Nota, Mann, Soresi, & Fried-
gradually develop their abilities and interests. man, 2002).
They also promote self-efficacy in different tasks, Another career theory that should be consid-
along with a series of expectations regarding ered is the so-called ‘Planned happenstance’
what could happen if they are able to use and that, thanks most of all to John Krumboltz
take advantage of these abilities also through (1996), recognizes fundamental importance,
specific professional preferences (Nota & Soresi, mostly in presence of choices and successful
2000). Researches clearly underline that all the professional planning, to people’s ability to seize
cognitive and social predictors together represent events and unplanned opportunities. It is impor-
from the 37% to the 67% of interests’ variance tant to grasp and take advantage of these random
and from the 46% to the 75% of choice goals events, also in favor of the construction of the
(Sheu et al., 2010); the 43% of choice actions (in ‘professional career’. Being in the right place at
the STEM degree; Lent et al., 2018); and the the right moment, being in a particular situation,
20% of professional performances (Brown, Lent, facing an unpredicted and surprising meeting,
Telander, & Tramayne, 2011), the 19% of aca- getting to know an unexpected information: all
demic performances and the 28% of academic these situations would not be, according to this
persistence (Brown et al., 2008). Learning theory, just a matter of ‘luck’, but the proof of the
experiences arrive at 36% and 42%, respectively, existence of a series of advanced cognitive and
of self-efficacy variance and outcome emotional skills, that would enable people to
expectations. consider the effects of these events and to facil-
Making Decisions, Managing Indecision, itate their happening. In the presence of a lack of
Supporting Career Development. Because of the these skills, the task of vocational designing
fact that people have to choose educational paths would be to train people to handle unexpected
and professional fields, decisional models start to events, with coping strategies that help to look
be examined. It is important to mention the for directions and goals perceived as interesting
research and practical studies by Itamar Gati, and attractive.
who studied the modalities in which individuals We have to mention also the work by Peter-
make decisions about their future and how these son, Sampson, Reardon, and Lenz (1996), who
can be facilitated. In this context, the works reconsidered the cognitive theory concepts
regarding compensatory and non-compensatory regarding information processing and created a
decision-making strategies and PIC model (Pre- specific theoretical framework focused on the
screening; In-depth exploration; Choice) for career problem. This particular problem regards
professional choice have been of particular rele- the difficulty to make decisions in the presence of
vance. This prescriptive model helps to detect a a situation perceived as ambiguous, not clear,
small number of promising options, to perform a that gives little information that can help to find
deep exploration of these options in order to an immediate and efficient solution. They offer a
identify the most suitable ones, and then choose well-structured series of cognitive operations, the
the best alternative (Gati, 2013). These studies so-called ‘career problem solving’, regarding the
examine when and how much people use effec- recognition of a state of indecision, the analysis
tive decision-making strategies and if they use of its causes, the formulation of solving
adaptive or maladaptive decisional styles, such as hypotheses, the detection of different alternatives
10 1 Career Counseling and Vocational Designing, from the Origins …

and the choice of the most suitable and conve- Starting from a ‘macro-systemic’ view, we
nient option for each individual (Nota et al. mention, in line with Milanovic (2017), that in
2002). this period it is essential to aim at the construc-
Even if we are aware that we are reducing a tion of a wide middle class that allows to absorb
summary that is already too brief with respect to industrial productions from an economic point of
the existing work of many colleagues and that it view, and to have a stronghold with respect to a
should include many more perspectives than collectivistic and socialist society, to establish a
those we have examined so far, we would like to sort of control from a social point of view. Career
take into consideration another aspect. During counseling and vocational guidance, with their
the ‘50s, the world of work has allowed a certain activities, placing themselves on the person’s
number of people (today we still would say ‘a side, tried to ‘enrich the self’, to give space to the
minority’), usually Caucasian males, to profes- individual in order to improve his/her life quality
sionally evolve. In terms of career, they moved through his/her working experience. We would
from an inferior working position to a superior like to say that, even in this historical period, in
one, with greater responsibilities and a better Western countries, career counseling is able to
salary. The concepts of career and professional keep faith to its mission and to the possibility to
development begin to appear. They were inclu- have social relevance, especially when carried
ded in the ‘human being development field’, out strictly. From this perspective, vocational
similarly as other fields (linguistic, motoric, etc.), designing is characterized as a process that
that bring forward the idea that as time goes by it strengthens the possibility to make convenient
is preferable to support, in career counseling professional choices, as we also used to affirm in
activities, inclinations, and skills that help people Larios Laboratory at University of Padova,
to make advantageous choices, to ‘move’ better defining it as a process that involves the supply
among different possible options, and to pass of assistance aimed at supporting the individual
from an inferior level to a superior one in in the actions concerning the gathering, pro-
working contexts, that is to say, to build a career. cessing and use of educational and professional
One of the most important scholars is Donald information, in planning decisions in this field
Super, who has the merit of collocating career aiming, as far as possible, at the improvement of
development into the life cycle and of providing the skills involved in this process” (Soresi, 2000)
a series of useful suggestions both for ‘practical (Fig. 1.2).
uses’ and for research in the field of professional
psychology. His ‘Life Career Rainbow’ (Super,
1957, 1974) is very famous. Super’s work is 1.5 Conclusions: Social
extended, enlarged and renewed by Mark Sav- Significance… in Favor of a Part
ickas, who introduced, during the ‘90s, the of the World
Theory of Career Construction (2005, 2011).
Career counseling and vocational guidance This chapter highlighted how career counseling
take into account the work of these researches and vocational designing processes, their instru-
and aim at fostering the individual, at highlight- ments, their practices, are basically the result of
ing dimensions and skills that characterize the the times in which they are born, created by
choice decision-making process, that are many people that cannot avoid being influenced by the
and intertwined. These dimensions and skills historical period they are living. It seems clear
involve motivations, interests and professional that, at the early stages, there was the belief that it
values, decisional efficacy beliefs, professional is possible and convenient to use congruency
problem-solving skills, visualizing professional measures between people’s characteristics and
goals, decisional strategies, social skills con- the educational and professional contexts’
nected to choice and so on. There are remarkable expectations, that is to say, the matching para-
studies, tools, invitations to foster these skills. digm. As time went by, there appeared new
1.5 Conclusions: Social Significance… in Favor of a Part of the World 11

Between 1950 and 1970 80s – 90s

Holland’s Model Super’s Professional Betz, Hackett and Pic-Gati’s Model

Motivations and Development Model Lent’s Social Aspects for the

Personality Traits Life Career Rainbow Cognitive Career professional choice

Life roles Theory

Savickas’ Model
Efficacy Beliefs,

interests, values, of Career

determiners Construction

Environmental

Peterson and requests

Compensatory and
Introspection
non-compensatory Sampson’s IPP

decision-making Model

strategies Indecision and

professional problems

Irrational ideas

Fig. 1.2 The development of career counseling during the ‘Glorious Thirty’

possibilities and opportunities for many people, workplace. Furthermore, both people and pro-
for example, young people who were studying fessional environments could be ‘explored’,
both in high school and at University. It became analyzed, evaluated and described by using the
possible to be neutral, impartial, to mediate same guidelines (inclinations, interests, owned
between demand and offer, between Person’s skills) facilitating, at least theoretically, the
necessities and the Environments’ ones, the P-E mythical need to match demand and offer.
model, born with Parsons (1909) and developed Career counseling and vocational designing
and enriched over time with the works and could develop and improve people’s lives, hav-
studies of many colleagues, as we tried to ing, in most cases, as a social discipline, a social
underline, who opened the way to reflections value. This discipline tried to make people think,
regarding education, development, skills’ plan, look to the future, considering what they
improvement, inclinations, beliefs and so on. cared about the most, their wishes, their interests,
It was important for us to underline that, in the their ambitions. These elements would have
previous century, all of this has been possible fostered, if practiced and nurtured, higher levels
since things went definitely well. In that period, it of professional satisfaction, a higher investment
was still possible to make quite accurate predic- and commitment and, as a consequence, also a
tions, thanks to the fact that both people and higher efficacy in the working contexts that
educational/professional environments were rel- received them.
atively stable and predictable, to the point that Regardless of the theoretical approaches sup-
these environments ensured, more or less for ported, there is a general agreement on the fact
everyone, to have the possibility to be safe and that career counseling finds its validation in the
improve careers, remaining in the same idea that all the people have the right to choose
12 1 Career Counseling and Vocational Designing, from the Origins …

regarding their educational-professional future. highlight remarkable differences. Some people

In the world of work, people can have the thought about their future in a superficial way,
opportunity to show their characteristics, inter- perceiving an elevated sense of worry, even
ests, values, ambitions by expressing, in this thinking to not have goals to achieve, to have few
way, their own selves. Based on these concepts, perspectives and little hope. Other people per-
vocational designing built a sort of bridge, able ceived that their future job would not have rep-
to connect people and educational and profes- resented a satisfying expression of their
sional environments. characteristics and possibilities. We believed that
It probably contributed to the general well- career counseling and vocational designing had
being, at least in Western countries, mostly when most of all to facilitate the learning of new
counselors who practiced career counseling abilities, interests, beliefs, values, working habits
worked in a professional way, with a proper and personal qualities that allow every client to
education, on the people’s side, as the charter of build a satisfying life in a constantly changing
the Italian Career Counseling Association, born working (Nota & Soresi, 2000, 2004).
in 2000, states in its article 3: “The vocational However, things have greatly changed nowa-
designing expert considers his/her goal to pro- days, as we will try to examine in the following
vide assistance aimed at allowing informed chapter, and how many colleagues are confirm-
educational-professional choices and decisions. ing, among which Lent (2018) who states that
In order to reach this goal, as a consequence, economists’ predictions can no longer be trusted,
there can be both educational and support inter- as much as the tendency to use measures able to
ventions, for the person that requires them, suggest high adaptability profiles, suitability and,
regarding the actions of gathering, processing employability in this or that professional field.
and using the educational-professional informa- Development models and future models that are
tion, of planning and realizing decisions, aiming envisaged, present contrasting prediction rates, to
at the development of the client’s skills, with the the point that there are few predictions left to be
goal to foster an independent and informed promoted with enough certainty.
choice. This because every person is considered We cannot omit the fact that what is written in
able to evaluate the result of his/her behavior and this chapter, in terms of possibilities and well-
to act in order to modify the environment in ness, regards the Western countries and the
which he/she lives, through the acquisition illusion, maybe unconscious, maybe fostered,
and/or development of higher awareness levels that this kind of prosperity was something infi-
and useful skills in order to foster and predict nite. What we have experienced in terms of
interactions with others, respecting and support- options, means, goods, welfare, increase of life
ing, at the same time, one’s own developmental quality, developed on the shoulders of actions
path”. that can be defined ‘imperialistic’, colonialist, of
On the basis of everything above-mentioned, ecological and resources destruction of almost
and in particular with the conviction that career every other part of the Earth, with rural poverty,
counseling and vocational designing are useful famine, conflicts, the uncontrolled increase of
means to improve people’s skills to build a sig- illegal and informal activities, shantytowns,
nificant future, we as well, in Larios Laboratory, oppression and discrimination forms (Marshall,
have studied, have done researches and have 1972; Mingione, 2019). The ideas about the fact
created materials. With our studies, volumes, that nature did not have limits and that the fossil-
training, portfolios, that we developed, realized, fuel age and the possibility to exploit resources
tested, our goal was this: fostering abilities and would have not ended, (have) fostered in Wes-
skills regarding the satisfying management of tern countries a sort of production and con-
professional life, in particular for those who had sumption acceleration. These were a source of
lower levers of choice possibility and of self- life improvement for many people, without car-
expression. The data we gathered allowed us to ing about anyone else, without asking questions,
1.5 Conclusions: Social Significance… in Favor of a Part of the World 13

without reflecting on what was going on in other Crites, J. O. (1974). Major contribution career counseling:
parts of the planet (Pallante, 2018; Rifkin, 2019). A review of major approaches. The Counseling
Psychologist, 4(3), 3–23.
The way of thinking “based on profits’ extraction De Rosa, S. P. (2019). Trasformare il mondo: ecologia
and on unlimited growth is never questioned” politica e conflitti ambientali [Transforming the world:
stated De Rosa (2019, p. 227). Now we may say Political ecology and environmental conflicts]. In C.
that we have been absorbed in a self-centered Amadeo, et al. (Eds.), Dieci idee per ripensare il
capitalismo (pp. 209–228). Milano: Feltrinelli.
bubble, in which almost every discipline has Galbraith, J. R. (2009). The great crash 1929. New York:
been trapped, including career counseling and Penguin Books Ltd.
vocational designing, creating, despite the good Gati, I. (2013). Advances in career decision making.
intentions, a series of prerequisites for the living In W. B. Walsh, M. L. Savickas, & P. J. Hartung
(Eds.), Handbook of vocational psychology (pp. 199–
conditions we are experiencing. 232). New York, NY: Routledge.
According to us, we can no longer keep Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (2008). The race between
offering the same models and practices of the education and technology. Cambridge: Harvard
past. We need to change course, as we will University Press.
Hackett, G., & Betz, N. E. (1981). A self-efficacy
underline in the following chapters, most of all if approach to the career development of women.
we want to be useful and socially relevant, with a Journal of Vocational Behavior, 18(3), 326–339.
broader vision that involves the entire humanity Hackett, G., & Lent, R. W. (1992). Theoretical advances
and the planet we live in. and current inquiry in career psychology. Handbook of
Counseling Psychology, 2, 419–452.
Harvey, D. (2007). A brief history of neoliberalism. New
York: Oxford University Press.
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 Threats and Challenges of the XXI
Century and the Role of Career 2
Counseling and Vocational
Designing

capitalism (Hickel, 2012). During the late ‘60s

2.1 Introduction: From the Recent
and the beginning of the ‘70s an offensive was
Past to Present Times
launched in order to counter the egalitarian
actions and to support the idea that it is necessary
As we already had the opportunity to highlight,
to safeguard both rights and freedoms, with
the ‘Glorious Thirty’ has been a period of social
particular attention to that of ‘being rich’. The
progress for the Western context. During the said
belief that people were starting to belittle rich-
period, sectors of society that used to have a
ness begun and, in some instances, it was pos-
passive role began mobilizing making their
sible to witness cases of ‘persecution’ against
instances clear, widening and spreading rights.
people who had it. A push toward a different
From an economic standpoint, financial institu-
social model was recorded and neoliberal poli-
tions were entrusted with the task of fostering
cies started to acquire shape. This happened
opportunity with the circulation of resources and
thanks to phenomena such as globalization and
using a regulatory system to which banks were
technological advancements (Galli & Caligiuro,
required to join. These regulations involved
2017). In this chapter, we are keen to draw the
currency speculation and the export of capital.
reader’s attention to the different conditions that
Differentiation between commercial banks and
characterize our times. With the awareness that,
investment institutions was included in the
on one hand, we are carrying out a simple sum-
above-mentioned regulations. As a result, risky
mary of topics that deserve an in-depth analysis
investments were limited, especially the ones that
and study of the work of different colleagues
could have led to negative outcomes for the cit-
from different disciplines. On the other hand, it is
izens. Companies mostly operated in order to
important to have an initial form of awareness of
favor productive processes, having their best
what is happening so that we can find the
interest in the state of health of said companies,
strength to create new operational paths.
from which derived the general well-being. This
led to a mostly well-rounded development that
hinted at the possibility of sharing the same
process with the poorest populations. Everything
2.2 Neoliberal Ideological
was fine because the richest kept having their
Derivations of the Present Era
slice of pie and their wealth remained untouched.
Some authors (e.g., Adams & Markus, 2004)
Things changed in the ‘70s, when the growth
affirm that during these last decades there has
stopped. Wealth loss was immediately blatant,
been the spreading of a different cultural
and the holders of capital tried to exploit the
approach that has its origins in a political-
crisis as an excuse to dismantle the embedded

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 15
Switzerland AG 2020
L. Nota et al., Sustainable Development, Career Counselling and Career Education,
Sustainable Development Goals Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60046-4_2
16 2 Threats and Challenges of the XXI Century and the Role …

economic movement named ‘neoliberalism’. to depletion and destruction of natural resources

This movement is characterized by ideas, when in absence of rules and controls (Gidron &
behaviors, and beliefs that deeply affected social Hall, 2017; Mazzucato, 2018). In recent times,
and institutional structures, not always in a pos- since the 2008 crisis, in Western countries, we
itive way (Adams & Markus, 2004). We are have witnessed actions on public spending that
taking into account a sort of ‘philosophical had the purpose of saving funded institutions and
belief’, a vision of reality that, albeit its elabo- banks considered to be ‘too big’ to fail. This has
ration derives from a potpourri of different eco- to be put in relation to the large and often
nomic and political doctrines that differ uncollectable debt of households and businesses
depending on the places and circumstances, has that were caught in the stranglehold of con-
outlined modalities of conceiving the individual sumerism and credit practices (Mazzucato &
and social life that led to the spreading of vul- Jacobs 2017).
nerabilities (Beattie, 2019). We are well aware, Nowadays, we have the inclination to main-
together with other scholars, that the term is tain a certain state intervention that has the ability
being overused (Hooley, Sultana, & Thompson, to repurpose forms of banking and financial
2017). Furthermore, while considering this cul- regulation and to outline an environmental reg-
tural pattern, it would be naïve of us to think that ulation that charges polluting companies. This
behind all of this there is the work of a ‘specter’ inclination seems to be associated, among those
that operates behind our backs in order to who have considerable interests to safeguard,
deliberately give birth to the social problems of with the idea that globalization does not help to
the present day. maintain wealth and that maybe a sort of ‘na-
The society in which we live is complex, it tional neoliberalism’ is necessary (Colantone &
requires an articulated network between wealth Stanig, 2019).
redistribution processes and the creation of the Leaving transformations and chameleon-like
said wealth. It requires inclination to stability and formulas aside, what gives these trajectories a
social status quo and to social openness. These proper characterization is the idea that economy
factors are to be connected every time with dif- is the core of everything and that it may “divorce
ferent socio-economic conditions, even medi- itself from social costs, that it doesn’t have to
ated, aimed at the softening of problems deal with matters of ethical and social responsi-
(Mingardi, 2019). Anyway, a big amount of data bility” in order to support markets (Nevrakadis &
is supporting the fact that during these last dec- Giroux, 2015, p. 450).
ades we had the opportunity to witness the work In name of the economy, there has probably
of multinationals distributed on a global scale been an exceed of deregulation of professional
and stronger and stronger business groups that and environmental protection, fueled by the idea
wanted to favor global markets. In order to be that privatization is the only successful strategy.
able to produce at the lowest possible costs and The thought that the individual wellbeing is
without any regard for the human factor, they strictly connected to a series of objects and their
used operations of delocalization and unregulated functionality and consumption started to spread.
capital movement. We assisted to commercialization processes and
The focus of the economy shifted away from a the spreading of market laws in a lot of fields of
production-centered situation, typical of the pre- our lives that even concern public water supplies
vious historic context, to one that had its main and dating. Constant improvement is essential;
interest in financialization. This is linked to there is tireless research for new products, new
complex exploitation of capital, aimed at bene- markets, and new ideas. Competition and rivalry
fitting personal enrichment and at the expense of are what allow this, the ‘source of social pro-
long-term economic investment and that strives gress’, to the benefit of the individual (Dardot &
2.2 Neoliberal Ideological Derivations of the Present Era 17

Laval, 2013; Galli & Caligiuri, 2017; Nevrakadis that was given to Hayek in 1974, that highlighted
& Giroux 2015); Slavoj Žižek, a Slovenian the neoliberalist thought (Harvey, 2007).1
philosopher, considers neoliberalism a doctrine Friedman’s receipt contain three main ingre-
in which “you are free to do anything, as long as dients: (a) deregulation, intended as the elimi-
it involves shopping” (2008, p. 51), and that nation of the rules that regulate economic life and
makes us consider the push that derives from the that can limit profits; (b) privatization, intended
economic, financial and entrepreneurial world. as the replacement of public services with private
Said push was given to worldwide politics in services, giving advantage to the latter; (c) re-
order to give space to property, free markets, free duction of social expenses, particularly true for
trades, to the re-interpretation of the role of the the pension system, healthcare, and unemploy-
State. This should be considered in the same way ment support. The market needs a bigger space,
as an institution that creates cultural and fiscal given its ability of autoregulation and of giving
basis to support all of this. We have the birth to an exact number of products at the right
impression that what was born to defend the price, created by workers that receive salaries
values of liberalism, of the free market, became that are sufficient to buy those same products: a
something that is everything but free, based on perfect world of full employment, creativity and,
monopolies, financial speculations and tricks more importantly, perpetual growth.
created to preserve the wealth of those who Once these ideas begin to take shape, we
already have it (Mason, 2019). assist to a process of ‘planetarization’, with ‘ex-
Birth and Spreading of Neoliberalism. The periments’ and actions in different parts of the
birth of neoliberalism as a partially organized world that determine an assumption of these
intellectual and politic movement conventionally policies at a global level. It is important to recall,
dates back to 1947, date of the constitution of in this frame, that only the commitment of the
Mont Pelerin Society and to its actual blooming British Conservative Party in the late ‘70s starts
in 1970, with the works of the School of Chicago policies marked by neoliberalism. The same
started by some professors of the University of applies for what Ronald Reagan did in the late
Chicago. They integrated the neoclassic econ- ‘80s with the Republican Party in the United
omy with some elements of the Austrian School. States: implementing measures to contain trade
During the course of time, this school, because of unions, to deregulate industry, agriculture, and
the above-mentioned worries, begins to receive exploitation of resources, and to liberalize
financial and political backing, from the United financial activities at a national and world level.
States in particular, on behalf of billionaires and Reagan was also sure that giving more money to
companies’ big executives that were against the rich was a way to stimulate economic growth,
every form of intervention and regulation of the assuming that they would invest their finances in
State in the economic processes. The movement the improvement of production capacity, creating
started to gain the spotlight, especially in the additional profits that would gradually “trickle”
United States and in Great Britain, supported by down towards the remaining society (trickle-
various think tanks that were well-funded by down theory). Supporters of the neoliberal shift
prestigious institutions like the London Institute began occupying largely dominant positions in
of Economic Affairs and the Washington Her- research and education, especially in Universities
itage Foundation. It also synergistically worked and wealthy private research institutions, in
with the academic world institutions, among
which we have to highlight the role of the 1
Harvey (2007) underlines that the prize for economics,
University of Chicago where Milton Friedman, even if it carries the name ‘Nobel’ with it, is officially a
an important figure of the above-mentioned Swedish Bank prize for economic sciences, in the
memory of Alfred Nobel, that has nothing to deal with
approach, covered a role of paramount impor-
the other prizes that are called with the same name, and
tance. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize in that is under the strict control of the Swedish banking
economics in 1976, just a few years after the one élite.
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[190] Foully murdered later, as will be seen, because of his loyalty.
[191] His force included a levy of about 450 loyal Natives, called
out by the C.N.A.
[192] This particular spur is famous in Zulu history as being that
down which Tshaka led his army about 1823, when pursued by his
most formidable rival Zwide. In going down Gcongco, however,
Tshaka was merely pretending to flee, and, the spur being
abnormally steep, made it appear all the more probable that his
retirement was genuine flight, instead of a stroke of genius by a
master in tactics. After continuing to fly for some distance, he
suddenly rounded on his pursuers, and, taking them at a great
disadvantage, practically annihilated them.
[193] His force on this occasion was: Five squadrons, R.H. (Lieut.-
Col. J.R. Royston); 60 D.L.I. (Major G.J. Molyneux), and some 600
Natives (Lieut. W.H. London). Each man carried three days'
rations. The artillery was sent to Empandhleni with regimental
transport, escorted by D.L.I. Mr. B. Colenbrander, the local
Magistrate, with an excellent knowledge of the affairs of his district,
also accompanied the column.
[194] Report. Colonel D. McKenzie. September, 1906. The state of
the grave in 1906 is described on p. 210.
[195] 200 N.D.M.R., 100 Z.M.R., 128 N.P., 540 T.M.R., 300 R.H.,
30 M.I., D.L.I. = 1,298, also 100 Nongqai and 1,500 Natives
(levies).
[196] On the occasion of the reconnaissance to Macala, the O.C.
Troops, noticing a small kopje at the mouth of Mome gorge, on
which guns could be placed to shell the gorge, caused a sketch to
be prepared and subsequently handed to Barker.
[197] The columns as re-formed were as follows: Under
McKenzie's direct command—Northern District Mounted Rifles,
Zululand Mounted Rifles, Royston's Horse, Natal Field Artillery
(two 15-pounders and two pompoms), Durban Light Infantry (two
companies). Under Mansel's command—Natal Naval Corps,
Transvaal Mounted Rifles, Natal Police (Field Force), Natal Field
Artillery (two 15-pounders), Nongqai (Zululand Native Police).
[198] Particularly was this the case at Ezigqileni, the principal kraal
of the care-taker of Cetshwayo's grave. This small kraal (close to
the Nkunzana river), a few hundred yards from the grave,
contained no fewer than nineteen large grain pits, that is, about
five times as many as the average for a kraal of that size.
[199] Report. September, 1906.
[200] It will presently be seen that Sigananda did not come in, at
any rate, not on the day he had said he would do so.
[201] Among the other officers were: Major A.B. Boyd-Wilson,
second in command; Lieut.-Col. J.J. Furze, T.L.I. (temporarily
assuming the rank of Major), commanding Right Half; and Captain
O. Schuller, T.L.I., Adjutant.
[202] Consisting of 100 N.C. (this squadron—under Capt. G.R.
Richards—is the one that arrived with Murray-Smith on the 24th),
100 Z.M.R., 300 R.H., 120 N.D.M.R., 20 T.M.R., 25 M.I., D.L.I.,
and 300 Natives.
[203] Report. September, 1906.
[204] His column then consisted of the whole of N.C., Right and
Left Wings (excepting D squadron); a section, N.F.A.; and the
Estcourt, Ladysmith, Dundee, and Newcastle Reserves.
Mackay, of course, knew that Helpmakaar was an important
strategical post, but, with the recent removal of Kula, the still more
recent smashing up of Mtele's and Nondubela's factions by
Murray-Smith, and his own operations round about Mahlaba (see
p. 267), he decided to recommend his moving to Nqutu district in
order to drive on to McKenzie the local and other rebels known to
be there. Believing the recommendation had been approved by
the Commandant, which, however, was certainly not the case, he
took with him the troops referred to. This meant that Helpmakaar
became practically evacuated, for the N.M.R., until recently posted
at Helpmakaar, got orders from the Commandant on the 25th,
when at Nkandhla, to join the U.F.F. at Greytown as speedily as
possible. Had Mackay known that his action involved the almost
total evacuation of Helpmakaar, he probably would not have taken
with him as many troops as he did.
 XII.
OPERATIONS BY (a) UMVOTI FIELD FORCE, (b) MACKAY'S
COLUMN.—BATTLE OF MPUKUNYONI.
Before proceeding to describe McKenzie's further operations at
Nkandhla, it is necessary to turn to the Natal side of the Tugela, and
see what account was being given of itself by the Umvoti Field Force.
Except for his co-operating with McKenzie, Barker, and Mansel on the
17th May, in the converging movement on Cetshwayo's grave, the
last we saw of Leuchars was when his force, having failed to get in
touch with Bambata at Mpanza, withdrew to Greytown on April the
11th.
Although Bambata had escaped, there was still work to be done in
the ex-Chief's ward. A composite squadron (100), under Major S.
Carter, accordingly proceeded thither on Thursday the 12th to destroy
rebels' kraals and capture stock, as well as escort members of the
Natal Telegraph Corps on their way to repair the line recently cut in a
couple of places. This force remained in the thorns until Saturday
night, when all the stock that had been captured was brought back,
including four prisoners. The troops had been accompanied by
Funizwe, Bambata's own younger brother. This man pointed out the
kraals of rebels and generally assisted the troops in other ways.
A squadron (62) under Capt. W.J. Gallwey, was sent on Sunday the
15th to Krantzkop (Hopetown), where there was much unrest. The
Reserves of that part had, in consequence, mobilized and gone with
the other European residents into lager.[205] Those of the ordinary
Native Police employed at the magistracy, who were members of
more or less disaffected tribes in the immediate vicinity, and therefore
suspected of being disloyal, were replaced by others from Estcourt
division.
By this time, Magwababa, who, it will be recollected, had been carried
off some distance by Bambata, had returned from Pietermaritzburg.
He, Funizwe and others were interviewed by Leuchars at Greytown in
regard to the future management of the tribe. A few loyalists, whose
kraals had been burnt and their stock seized by mistake, were told
that compensation, assessed by a Board, would be paid by the
Government.
Between the 13th and 19th, the country round about Greytown was
thoroughly patrolled. On the latter day, a sale of loot stock, captured
in Bambata's ward, was held, realizing nearly £2,000.
Capt. J. Stuart, N.F.A., was, on the 21st, sent with Funizwe and four
other Natives to Empandhleni. These Natives were required by the
Commissioner in Zululand for identifying rebels of Bambata's tribe
whenever necessary. The party, travelling by Ngubevu drift and
Qudeni, reached their destination on the 23rd.
Much disquieting information was received about this time at
Krantzkop, chiefly from members of tribes adjacent to Nkandhla
district. One of the Chiefs, Hlangabeza, assembled his tribe although
his application to do so had been refused by the Magistrate. The
Intelligence Officer at this important post was Capt. M. Landsberg,
U.M.R., whose information from the date of his assumption of duty to
the conclusion of the Rebellion was remarkably full and accurate.
Leuchars visited Krantzkop on the 22nd, finding the defences highly
satisfactory.
A company of the Natal Royal Rifles was dispatched on the 26th April
to Krantzkop to take up the garrison duties being performed by the
U.M.R. squadron. Capt. J. Fraser and forty men, N.R.R., came to
Greytown to replace those sent to Krantzkop. At this time, it was
ascertained that many loyalists were crossing from Zululand into
Natal.[206] The Chiefs were accordingly warned to report all refugees
and cattle entering their wards.
Lieut. J.H.C. Nuss, with thirty men, was directed by Leuchars to
proceed to Keate's Drift, Mooi River, to relieve the N.P. stationed
there; the latter travelled by rail to Gingindhlovu and joined Mansel's
column at Fort Yolland on the 2nd May, three days before the action
at Bobe.
The attitude of the Chiefs Gayede and Hlangabeza continued for
some time to cause much apprehension, especially owing to their
being so close to the disaffected areas in Zululand, and from the fact
that many inter-marriages were known to have taken place between
their tribes and those in the Nkandhla district. As a result of this
intimacy, many refugees fled into their wards. On one occasion,
Mbuzana, of Mpumela's tribe, crossed into Gayede's ward for
protection with the inmates of twenty-eight kraals. Strict orders were
given that invasion of their wards by rebels was to be resisted by
force. It was discovered that they were not properly guarding the
drifts, and, in fact, acting as spies on behalf of the enemy. To so great
an extent did they sympathize with the rebels that, had our arms
suffered a reverse, they would probably have rebelled. As it was, a
portion of Tshutshutshu's tribe was reported to be arming and eleven
kraals of Gayede's tribe as having joined Sigananda,[207] whilst small
batches of Ngobizembe's (in Mapumulo division) proceeded to
Nkandhla, some of them already doctored for war.
News arrived on the 30th that rebels were busy removing grain from
their kraals to the forests at Nkandhla. A patrol of fifty men from the
U.F.F. visited Middle Drift.
On the 1st May, the U.F.F. marched to a position near the Inadi,
where it was joined by the squadron that had been posted at
Krantzkop, as well as by about eighty of the First Umvoti Reserves,
under Chief Leader J.A. Nel.[208]
A patrol by a squadron was made through Sibindi's ward, the tribe
much appreciating the action. Owing to this Chief's activity on behalf
of the Government, he had become intensely disliked by the many
who were in sympathy with the rebels, with the result that his people
were in danger of attack at any moment by Gayede's tribe, or other
neighbouring ones.
A squadron U.M.R., under Capt. E. Simkins, with forty Reserves from
Krantzkop, proceeded on the 5th to Watton's store, in consequence
of information to the effect that an impi had been seen in that locality,
and that the store had been looted and burnt; the intelligence was
subsequently found to be correct. The party crossed into Nkandhla
district, destroyed several kraals there and seized about sixty cattle.
These cattle were subsequently claimed by loyalists of Mpumela's
tribe, who had taken refuge in Natal. The stock had been driven by
them to graze across the river in Zululand, i.e. in the district from
which they had recently fled. After inquiry of the Commissioner in
Zululand, the stock was restored to the claimants.
At this time, many women and children belonging to Bambata's tribe
were wandering about without sufficient food, and hiding in bushes in
the wards of Bambata, Sibindi and Silwana. Sibindi asked permission
to collect those in his ward and take them to Greytown. On
permission being granted, all who came in were fed and well looked
after. A suggestion by Leuchars that a concentration camp should be
erected for them at Pietermaritzburg was not acted upon. All the
women had, therefore, to be placed temporarily in charge of their
relations, i.e. members of adjoining tribes that had hitherto remained
loyal.
Requiring in the field a larger force of mounted men than was already
at his disposal, Leuchars, on the authority of the Commandant,
caused the First Greytown Reserves to be re-mobilized and to
proceed to Greytown to relieve the Umvoti District Reserves, who
thereupon joined him at the farm "Solitude," some six miles from
Krantzkop magistracy and nearer the Tugela.
Persistent rumours were afloat to the effect that Gayede and
Hlangabeza's tribes would join the rebels should the latter invade
Natal. It was also reported on reliable authority that large numbers of
Kula's tribe were in arms under that Chief's uncle Mtele in the
Umsinga division. It further transpired that Gobeyana, a son of
Gayede, had actually asked his father's permission to arm the tribe
and aid the enemy, after Bambata, flying from Mpanza, had gone
through his ward. Permission was, however, refused.
On the other hand, an offer of help was received from Chief
Ngqambuzana of Weenen division in the event of its being required
by the Government.
In consequence of the Zululand Field Force being sent to Nkandhla—
arriving there, as has been seen, on the 8th May—it now became
necessary for Leuchars to co-operate as much as possible in
connection therewith, without, however, actually crossing into
Zululand, except for a few hours at a time. This policy, which was
quite in harmony with the Commandant's general plan of campaign
and, indeed, formed an essential part thereof, was adhered to so long
as Nkandhla continued to be the principal rallying-ground of the
rebels. The U.F.F. accordingly confined its attentions primarily to the
rugged regions immediately south of the Tugela and lying between
Middle Drift and Ngubevu. Thus, whilst keeping such powerful Chiefs
as Silwana, Hlangabeza and Gayede in check, by constantly
demonstrating in or near their tribes, the column was, at the same
time, in the position of being able to assist materially in Zululand in
any extensive, quickly-executed operations the O.C. at Nkandhla
might wish to undertake.
Moving to "Solitude" on the 10th, Leuchars, on the 11th, having heard
that the rebels were in strength at Macala, marched at 2 a.m. with
150 U.M.R. and 60 Umvoti Reserves for Watton's Drift. He reached it
at sunrise and, crossing at once, occupied ridges facing the drift.
None of the enemy were to be seen. He then proceeded for about
eight miles down the river, clearing a belt of country on the left bank
to a width of five or six miles. Returning to a spot opposite the drift,
the column, after a halt, moved up the Manyane valley to a point
immediately below and about 1,500 yards from the Macala bush.
Numbers of the enemy could be seen scouting on the hill-tops, but
they would not allow the troops to come within range. The Tugela drift
was reached at 5, and the camp at "Solitude" at 8 p.m. The eighteen
hours' march, with but two halts, through exceedingly rough country,
was well borne by man and beast.
Owing to difficulties as regards water, the U.F.F. was obliged to move
to the farm "Spekfontein" and nearer to Krantzkop magistracy. Further
intelligence was there received from different sources betraying a
strong disposition on the part of Chiefs Kula in Umsinga, Gayede in
Krantzkop, and Meseni, Mtamo, Ndhlovu, Swaimana and
Ngobizembe in Mapumulo, divisions, to rebel as soon as others like
Mehlokazulu had actually begun to fight in Zululand. Swaimana
personally was loyal, though practically the whole of his tribe was the
reverse. The various tribes in Mapumulo division were, moreover,
observed to be openly carrying arms. Their demeanour was insolent.
The people of Ngobizembe's tribe were being doctored for war. The
kraals of loyalists, too, near Hot Springs[209] were being burnt by
rebels. Chief Mpumela applied for permission to come into Natal, as
he was being harassed by the enemy. This Leuchars refused to grant,
instructing him to place himself under the protection of the nearest
column in Zululand.
Under the foregoing circumstances, Leuchars resolved to make a
dash into Zululand through Middle Drift. After moving to Krantzkop on
the 14th, he marched to the drift, reaching it at 5 a.m.[210] Here the
N.R.R. were left, also a squadron of U.M.R.; the remainder of the
force moved to Hot Springs. The 15-pounders, with a troop U.M.R.,
were placed on a position commanding the opposite country. The rest
of the force operated in Zululand in a north-easterly direction. Many
kraals were destroyed and 400 cattle captured, also goats. Small
parties of the enemy were seen and fired on, ten being killed; as a
rule, however, they were careful to keep on the hill-tops and beyond
rifle range. "An unfortunate accident," says Leuchars, "occurred
during the operations, which resulted in the wounding of a woman
and a child. Two men were observed running across a mealie-field
and were fired upon at about 1,000 yards. They escaped, but the
woman and child, who were hiding in a mealie hut past which the
men ran, were wounded. The medical officer attended to them and
they were placed in charge of an elderly male prisoner who was
released to take care of them."
The column returned to Hot Springs at 3 p.m. Here it was found the
goats would not face the water, so had to be left. While crossing the
remainder of the stock, a few shots were fired at those engaged in
the work. Sibindi's men were left in charge of the goats, whilst
Leuchars went on to Middle Drift. Presently, word came that the
former had been again sniped at. A troop was immediately sent back,
when a couple of rebels were observed crossing from an island to the
Zululand side. One of them was captured. The goats were got across
with great difficulty on the 16th.
It was at this stage that Leuchars received the invitation to co-operate
in the general converging movement on Cetshwayo's grave. His
operations on that occasion have already been described on pp. 242-
244.
The troops re-crossed the river at 7 a.m. on the 18th, reached Hot
Springs camp at mid-day, and moved up to Krantzkop the following
morning. The N.F.A. horses performed the heavy work required of
them on this occasion without a hitch, although a section of the road
up a steep cutting was greatly out of repair.
The country between Middle and Watton's Drifts having been fairly
well cleared, Leuchars resolved to take his force viâ Inadi to
Ngubevu, "so as to be in a position to co-operate with any column
which might work towards the Mfongozi from the Zululand side."
Nuss, at Keate's Drift, relieved by twenty-five N.R.R., and the
detachment of the 1st Umvoti District Reserves, at Greytown, joined
Leuchars at Ngubevu on the 21st. The 2nd U.D.R. were sent back to
Greytown for demobilization. Leuchars' force now consisted of
U.M.R.; 1st U.D.R.; and twenty Krantzkop Reserves.
Intelligence was received to the effect that a rebel impi under Mtele
was camped where the Mazabeko stream joins the Buffalo, whilst
Kula's brother Manuka, induna over that portion of the tribe which
occupied the Mngeni valley, was in league with Mtele.[211]
Leuchars pitched his camp beside the Mfongozi road drift. A strong
bush fence was erected round the camp. Here a message was
received from Sibindi to say he was mobilizing and would join the
U.F.F. forthwith. He was, however, directed to stand fast for the night.
He came over on the 22nd, to say that if the column was crossing into
Zululand, he would like to accompany it with his levy. Leuchars
replied that he had no intention of doing this and instructed him to
cross into the Umsinga portion of his ward, and, after taking up a
suitable position on his boundary, to watch the actions of Manuka's
people whose ward was conterminous with his own. "This action of
Sibindi in mobilizing his impi," says Leuchars, "was entirely voluntary,
as I had not sent word to him of my intention to pass through his
location."
A troop went into Zululand on the 23rd to reconnoitre. On the 24th, it
was reported that Gunderson's store on the Qudeni had been looted,
and that an impi of about 150 was in Hlatikulu forest (Qudeni).
Further intelligence went to show that Manuka's section of Kula's tribe
had risen and joined the rebels under Mtele and Mehlokazulu. It also
appeared that the Kombe forest and Qudeni mountain generally were
now the principal resorts of the enemy.
Being of the view that co-operation between the different columns
was essential to success, Leuchars wired in this sense to the
Commandant of Militia as well as to McKenzie and Mackay. The
latter, on this day, was engaged operating in difficult country about
Mahlaba, barely seven miles, as it happened, from Mpukunyoni hill
(in Zululand), soon to become the scene of a notable action by
Leuchars. Leuchars rode to Tugela Ferry, on the Pomeroy-Greytown
road, on the 25th, to confer by telephone with the Commandant. At 9
p.m. he received a wire from McKenzie saying a column was being
sent to the bush close to Ensingabantu store, and that it was timed to
arrive there at dawn (26th). A messenger was thereupon sent by
Leuchars to Major W.J.S. Newmarch, instructing him to proceed with
three squadrons to the neck overlooking Mfongozi valley and there
keep a sharp look-out for rebels who might fly from McKenzie.
Leuchars joined Newmarch at 2.30 p.m. Small parties of the enemy
were seen about Hlatikulu, but out of reach. Nothing was seen or
heard of McKenzie's column. On Leuchars' retiring, a hundred or so
of the enemy came out of Hlatikulu to watch his departure; owing,
however, to the lateness of the hour and to difficult intervening
country, no attempt was made to engage or trap them.
OPERATIONS BY MACKAY'S COLUMN
Mackay left Empandhleni for Helpmakaar viâ Nondweni and Nqutu on
the 11th May, returning by the same route he had taken on the
forward journey. Nothing of importance occurred on the march.
Nondweni was reached on the 13th.[212]
When at Empandhleni, he had received unsatisfactory accounts of
Mehlokazulu's behaviour towards the Magistrate. Notwithstanding two
or three orders to appear at the magistracy (Nqutu) he had failed to
do so on the plea of ill-health. On reaching Nqutu, Mackay sent his
Intelligence Officer, Capt. J. Stuart, accompanied by Sergt. Roberts,
N.P., early on the 16th, to Mehlokazulu's kraal to instruct that Chief to
meet him the same afternoon at Rorke's Drift. Stuart visited three
kraals, but could not find Mehlokazulu; the latter purposely avoided a
meeting. He vacated his third and furthest kraal Pumulefile (with
death comes rest) at dawn, no doubt because suspicious of being in
some way deceived. This kraal was at the foot of a precipice and
reached only with difficulty by horsemen. Every effort was made to
find him, but, in the absence of his induna, his mother and wives
either did not know or would reveal nothing. In consequence of this
well-intentioned mission—carried out in the belief that a man, for
years notorious as one of the actual starters of the Zulu War of 1879,
would probably wish not to be associated a second time with such
nefarious practices—Mehlokazulu, realizing he had lost an
opportunity of coming to the troops and explaining his conduct,
forthwith quitted his kraal and ward and entered upon a mad career of
open rebellion. He collected as many malcontents as he could from
his own tribe—luckily, however, the majority of the tribe remained
loyal to the Government—and combined with those on the opposite
side of the Buffalo in Natal under Nondubela (Mavukutu) and Mtele,
who had just clashed with the N.M.R. at Elands Kraal (12th May).[213]
The amalgamated force, constantly threatened by Mackay's strong
and active column, decided to move towards the storm-centre at
Nkandhla, picking up recruits in Faku's and other Chiefs' wards on
the way down. The largest number of accessions was obtained from
the ancient Ntombela tribe under Faku (the last of Sir Garnet
Wolseley's famous "thirteen kinglets"), whilst a few came from
Matshana ka Mondise's and other tribes. The tribes of Mpiyake,
Matshana ka Sitshakuza, Gadaleni, Nonga-mulana (a near relation of
Bambata) and the Basutos, under Mayime, remained entirely loyal
throughout the Rebellion.
The posting of a column near Helpmakaar, where Mackay arrived on
the 14th May,[214] was a wise and far-sighted step on the part of the
Commandant, for it had the effect of holding both Kula in Natal and
Mehlokazulu in check. As it happened, the rebels fled before
Mackay's column wherever it went, no doubt because of its being
extra strong and because it traversed ground that did not afford much
cover, though often difficult to operate in, especially near and on both
sides of the Buffalo.
At 6 a.m. on the 23rd, all available men were promptly sent to defend
Helpmakaar on receipt of a report that Mehlokazulu's impi, said to
have just entered Natal, was about to attack the village. The news,
however, turned out to be false.
Mackay operated on the 24th and 25th May in the exceedingly rough
country about Mahlaba and Mahlabana (in Natal), barely seven miles
as the crow flies from Mpukunyoni. This, together with his further
moves in the direction of Rorke's Drift on the 26th, and Isandhlwana
on the 27th, undoubtedly had the effect of driving the rebels from
those parts of Natal and Zululand, further into Zululand, and, as it
happened, right on to Leuchars, who, as will presently be seen,
stepped across at Ngubevu to Mpukunyoni on the 27th and almost
immediately came into conflict with a large force of the enemy.
As already explained, it was owing to a misunderstanding that
Mackay, on the morning of the 26th, left his camp near Helpmakaar
for Zululand.
At 9 p.m. (26th), Leuchars got a wire from Mackay, saying he was
marching with a force 600 strong from Rorke's Drift on the 27th to
operate about ten miles down the Buffalo river on the Zululand side.
He at once decided to move into Zululand with a force and gain touch
with Mackay, though he did not inform Mackay he was doing so.[215]
Orders were sent to Sibindi (then in Umsinga division) to march his
impi across the Buffalo to meet Leuchars in the vicinity of Ngqulu and
Mpukunyoni hills, six miles west of Qudeni mountain. Owing to the
country on both sides of the Buffalo being exceedingly broken, orders
were given that only a top-coat or blanket, 3 lbs. of grain, and one
day's rations were to be carried. The actual duration of the incursion
was to be governed by circumstances, it being felt that, in case of
necessity, the troops could easily live on the country for a week.
Getting away at 5.30 a.m. (27th), the force, consisting of 180 U.M.R.
and 60 U.D.R., with the Krantzkop Reserves, after much severe
climbing over rocky thorn country, reached the ledge about half-way
up on the western face of Qudeni mountain.
On the way up, Colonel Leuchars' horse, which had got above him,
fell. It knocked him down and rolled over him. But for a thorn bush, it
must have gone to the bottom of the mountain. Leuchars, who was
badly bruised and shaken, had great difficulty in getting along, either
walking or riding. Although he must have been in great pain, he did
not delay the column.
A number of recently vacated huts belonging to disloyal members of
Mbuzo's tribe were destroyed, as also supplies of grain found there.
Many rebels could be seen on the mountain top, but as it was
important to keep the appointment with Sibindi, the column was not
delayed on their account.
As far as could be seen, there were no cattle in Mbuzo's ward, which
lay to the right along the Tugela. All had apparently been removed to
the top of the mountain. In Matshana ka Mondise's ward, however,
there were large numbers, but they were for the most part the
property of Matshana himself. They were not interfered with, as all
the intelligence went to show that that Chief and the majority of his
people were loyal, although five of his sons had rebelled. A number of
kraals in the ward, belonging to rebels, were destroyed.
Matshana's kraal on the Qudeni was reached at 11.30 a.m., when an
interview took place between Leuchars and the Chief. The latter was
delighted to see a European force, as he was afraid lest the rebels,
led by his sons—who wished him out of the way—should attack him.
He was, therefore, sorry to learn the column would be in that part only
a day or so, leaving him to protect himself as best he could in the
absence of his loyal young men. These, in response to the
Government's call, had gone off to assist at Nkandhla.
Guides were now furnished by the Chief, when the force moved to
Mpukunyoni hill, reaching there at 12.30 p.m. After off-saddling for an
hour at another of Matshana's kraals, the troops divided into three
sections and proceeded to different positions on the long ridge
opposite to, and immediately north of, Mpukunyoni. One of these
bodies surprised a party of ten armed rebels driving cattle towards
Faku's ward, nearly the whole of whose people were already in open
rebellion. A troop, under Lieut. H.E.G. Fannin, was dismounted and
sent to a small, wooded valley into which these rebels had fled. The
valley was driven, with the result that eight Natives were killed and
the cattle captured.
The other portions of the force had, in the meantime, gone off to the
north-east into Faku's ward, where they burnt a number of kraals.
At 4.30 p.m. Sibindi joined Leuchars with about 1,100 men.
It now became necessary to select a site on which to bivouack for the
night. The only water available was a little stream called Burobo,
which flows from east to west, and about a mile from Mpukunyoni.
Between the stream and Mpukunyoni the country is intersected by
dongas which run from the base of the hill to open on to different
parts of the stream. With the object of being near water, Leuchars
selected an old mealie garden between two of the dongas referred to,
and only 200 yards from the stream. This spot was by no means a
good one for defensive purposes, being in the midst of broken and
somewhat bush-covered country, with high tambookie grass, and
commanded by high ground in several directions, especially on the
immediate north. In other respects the ground was favourable for a
Zulu army to operate in. The 'chest' could form up and advance
unseen up a donga in one direction, whilst somewhat similar
advantages were available for each of the 'horns.' From a soldier's
point of view, therefore, the site was somewhat questionable. There
was, indeed, safer ground higher up nearer the hill, but Leuchars was
a diplomat as well as a soldier, and, with a lengthy experience in
Natal, he thoroughly understood the Native character. He knew that
manœuvring in itself would have little or no effect on the rebels. As at
Nkandhla, a collision was essential, but to bring it about, it was
necessary to give the enemy a fancied advantage.
The bivouac took the form of a square, each side of which was 120
yards long. Two squadrons U.M.R. (Headquarters and City) occupied
the eastern face; one squadron U.M.R. (Noodsberg) and one
squadron U.D.R. the southern; and Sibindi the other two faces.
Sibindi's men were particularly adapted for night work, having
magnificent eyesight, and a keen sense of hearing.
The squadron which had been operating on the north-east, returned
at 6 p.m. to report having observed an impi, about the same size as
Sibindi's, moving towards Mpukunyoni from high hills on the north-
east. This force, Leuchars concluded, was moving away from
Mackay. It was, however, too late then to operate against it.
Soon after the men had settled down for the night, a man arrived from
Matshana ka Mondise to warn Leuchars to be particularly careful as
the enemy was near by, and to point out that, in his opinion, the
column had bivouacked in a dangerous locality.
Every precaution was taken to safeguard the square against surprise.
Sentries and pickets were directed to be extra vigilant. During the
night, which was a bitterly cold one, two false alarms occurred, one at
10.30 p.m., the other about 2 a.m., both caused by young sentries of
Sibindi's levy. The alacrity with which every man sprang to his place,
without the least confusion, was highly satisfactory.
At 4.30 a.m. all stood to arms. Half an hour later, a troop under Lieut.
J.H.C. Nuss was sent out, with orders to reconnoitre in the direction
in which the impi had been seen the previous evening. If it was not in
sight, he was to go to a suitable hill and try and get into
communication with Mackay by heliograph.
About 6 a.m., however, Nuss and his troop, after firing a couple of
shots by way of alarm, rode back to report that the enemy was
approaching in force and was close at hand. As he spoke, the latter
could be heard shouting their war-cry "Usutu" as they advanced. In a
few moments, a dark mass could be observed in the half-light of early
dawn,[216] streaming rapidly over a small neck some 700 yards north-
east of the square. They moved at once into the bed of the stream
where, it so happened, the cattle seized by Leuchars on the
preceding day had been left for the night. A smaller force (left 'horn')
could, about the same time, be seen sweeping along the foot of
Mpukunyoni in rear of the bivouac, as if to attack from the donga on
the west. Another force, evidently the right 'horn,' detaching itself from
the 'chest,' came down the stream to engage the north side of the
square.
The attack opened at 6.15 a.m. on the eastern face, by the enemy
causing the cattle, which they had driven ahead of them, to rush
wildly at the square on emerging from the donga referred to. The
order was thereupon given to fire, when, at the first volley, fifteen of
the cattle fell within 15 or 20 yards of the troops. Two or three of
those rebels who were advancing under cover of the cattle were also
killed. This had the effect of checking the enemy's rush for a time.
The rebels then proceeded to encircle the square, keeping well under
the excellent available cover. Repeated attempts were made to rush
at the bivouac through the open ground between it and the dongas,
but, on each occasion, the attack was overwhelmed by steady, well-
directed fire.
The fight had by now assumed practically all the characteristics
peculiar to South African warfare. There were the Militia Reserves,
the majority of them Dutchmen, their horses already saddled,
prepared, in accordance with the practice of their forefathers, on
being too hardly pressed, to mount and retire to the next ridge and
again contend against overwhelming odds. There, too, were the
Active Militia, most of them the descendants of Scotchmen or
Englishmen, who, true to the custom of their ancestors, had, with
saddles planted on the ground, taken shelter behind them, having
come to stay and fight to the bitter end.
The enemy, again, delivered his attack in true Zulu style. The 'horns'
had deployed from the 'chest' to right and left in the ancient orthodox
manner with the idea of encircling, closing in on, and eventually
massacring, their opponents to a man. Sibindi and his men, too, were
there, though only at a later stage did they get a chance of exhibiting
the martial instincts of their tribe.
Whilst the various attacks were in progress, the leaders urging the
men to close in, it was observed that the enemy had approached to
within 80 yards of Sibindi's men, causing the latter to become a little
nervous. It was accordingly considered necessary for all sides of the
square to be held by riflemen. To do this, some were withdrawn from
other parts, and the sides of the square reduced by about 20 yards.
The movement, which took place about 6.45 a.m., was carried out
with the utmost coolness, enabling the enemy to be opposed at every
point with heavy, effective fire.
During the whole of this time, there had been an incessant fire from
two or three men who were armed with modern weapons and
concealed on the long high ridge on the north. They were between
700 and 800 yards from the square. This fire caused a considerable
number of casualties, including Tpr. H. Steele, U.D.R., killed; Tprs. S.
Mackenzie and P. Braithwaite, U.D.R., wounded; sub-Leader T.J. van
Rooyen, Krantzkop Reserves, wounded (three places); twenty-one
men of Sibindi's levy, wounded—three of them succumbing to their
injuries within three hours. There were also many narrow escapes,
and casualties among the horses. All but three of the casualties
among the men were caused by Mauser bullets.
The whole of the cover on the ridge in question was carefully
searched by picked marksmen. Later on a man, reported to be Faku's
induna, was found dead there. The principal sniper, however,
escaped, a man named Magadise.
Up to 7.30 a.m., Sibindi's men had remained practically inactive.
When superseded by the riflemen, they had withdrawn into the
square. They did not, however, like quitting the cover afforded by the
grass. They then quietly abided the issue, sustaining the many
casualties referred to whilst conforming to methods of warfare which
must have appeared to them strange. When, however, the enemy's
attacks became less vigorous, they realized that their turn to pursue
must shortly arrive. The order came. In about five minutes, Sibindi got
his men to charge. This they did strictly in accordance with the
custom of their forefathers, shouting their tribal war-cry "Undi! Undi"
as they bounded forth to deal destruction to their flying foes.
Many rebels escaped viâ the waterfall and down the great valley on
the west of the square. Others were pursued up the ridge, and in
numerous other directions. The levy alone succeeded in killing
thirteen at the waterfall.
A squadron was sent in pursuit of those that had attacked from the
donga on the west and then retreated round Mpukunyoni. Troops
were, moreover, sent in pursuit to the north-east. One of these
discovered the enemy's blankets, etc., at a kraal about one and a half
miles off. The things has been left there just prior to attacking.
The dead were counted in th scrub and dongas immediately round
the lager, fifty-seven bodies being found, exclusive of those killed by
Sibindi's men. The aggregate was probably not less than a hundred.
Among the slain was Babazeleni, Faku's chief induna and principal
commander of the impi.
The losses sustained by the Reserves were attributed by Leuchars to
their having saddled up when the alarm was given, and stood on their
line with the bridles over their arms. The saddled horses naturally
afforded a good target for the snipers.
The wounded were attended to by Dr. C.H. Crass, N.M.C., who, with
three members of the Signalling Corps as assistants, performed his
duties during the action and afterwards in an eminently satisfactory
manner.
The attacking rebels proved to be only about 800 strong. They were
composed of Faku's and Mtele's tribes, with some from Makafula and
Mehlokazulu. A number of them were Christians. One of these, as
was proved from a pocket-book found on him, was a certificated
preacher of the Gordon Memorial Mission, Natal.
Owing to several of the wounded having to be carried on improvised
stretchers, to there being no sign of Mackay, and to the enemy having
been seen at Qudeni on the 27th, Leuchars resolved to return to
Ngubevu, though by a different route, namely viâ Ngqulu, the Buffalo
valley and Sibindi's location.
 MPUKUNYONI
Dispositions are at moment impi appeared on the neck near A

Scale: 4 inches = 1 mile. Contours Ver. Int. = 30 ft.

REFERENCE

A = Position of the cattle

B = Where first attack began
C = Point of subsequent attack. Enemy advanced to C under cover of
donga
D = Point of another attack,—from the river bed
E and F = Enemy's snipers; most destructive was at E
G = Waterfall; many escaped here
H = Where enemy stopped before attacking. Clothing left at the two
trees near by
J = Leuchars' square
K = Where Nuss was when he caught sight of impi
crescent = Enemy .__.__ Lines of enemy's advance
The return journey began at 10.30 a.m., but proved most arduous on
account of the wounded having to be carried by relays of U.M.R., the
Reserves, and Sibindi's levy. After the column had gone three or four
miles, gun fire could be heard, and shells were seen bursting on
Hlazakazi Mountain, about eight or nine miles to the north in a direct
line.[217]
A halt was called at the Buffalo at 3 p.m., after which the column
moved on to the Copper Syndicate Works on Umsinga Mountain,
where Steele was buried.
In consequence of having stabbed and killed a number of the enemy,
Sibindi's men, on the march back, carried their assegais, as
customary on such occasions, with the blades upwards. On getting to
the Buffalo, they bound certain green rushes round their heads, and
otherwise doctored and cleansed themselves.
The column moved further up the same mountain and, at 7 p.m.,
bivouacked for the night at the kraal of Sikota, one of Sibindi's
indunas.[218]
At 11 a.m. on the same day, Leuchars sent a message to Lieut. M.W.
Bennett, N.F.A., who was in charge of the camp at Ngubevu, directing
him to send bread for the troops, also medical comforts and
stretchers for the wounded. These reached the column about 3 a.m.
on the 29th.
The march was resumed at 7 a.m. on the following morning, the
camp at Ngubevu being reached at 1 p.m.
The Krantzkop Reserves were now sent back to Krantzkop, with
orders for the Second and Third Krantzkop Reserves to demobilize.

At the moment Leuchars was dealing the enemy a heavy blow at

Mpukunyoni (28th), Mackay was operating in difficult country about
Malakata and Hlazakazi mountains, some fifteen and eleven miles
respectively from Mpukunyoni in a direct line.