Methodology Briefing
Visual Orientation: A Systemic Mapping Method for Career Guidance
A research-based framework using personal imagery and systems thinking to help students map their career identity — and how MyCareerVerse puts these principles to work in every Irish guidance session.
The Research
Where This Method Comes From
Visual Orientation was developed in Italy by Isabel de Maurissens and Camilla Torna, published in April 2025 as part of Career Guidance in Schools under European and International Perspectives — a book from the CAREER LEAD European Scientific Network for Career Guidance.
The method has been tested in Italian high schools with students, teachers and school administrators, and with professionals navigating upskilling or reskilling transitions. It is currently undergoing formal validation with European universities across middle school, secondary and university levels.
"Personal images, both singularly and in mappings, have proven powerful tools for identity reinforcement and have guided the person in self-orientation and envisioning multiple futures."— de Maurissens & Torna (2025), DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14944870
de Maurissens, I. & Torna, C. (2025). Visual Orientation: A Systemic Mapping Method for Career Guidance. In Schröder, R. et al. (Eds.), Career guidance in schools under European and international perspectives. Career Lead Network.
Open access on ZenodoKey Competences for Lifelong Learning · LifeComp · EntreComp · GreenComp — grounding the method in a rapidly changing labour market context.
The Method Explained
How Visual Orientation Works
The method is built on a deceptively simple insight: when students choose and arrange their own images, they reveal things about their identity, capabilities and aspirations that structured questionnaires rarely reach. The counsellor's role is to hold the space and make meaning visible.
Personal Images, Not Standard Tests
The starting material is not a questionnaire — it is images chosen by the student themselves. Not standardised stimulus cards; personally meaningful visuals that the student selects and then narrates. This shifts the locus of authority from the instrument to the individual.
Semantic and Syntactic Functions
Images serve two simultaneous roles: semantically, they mediate between student and counsellor — creating a shared object to discuss without the defensiveness that direct self-description can trigger. Syntactically, the same images are arranged into three progressive maps that build one from the other.
Individual and Collective
The method works both one-to-one and in classroom settings. When tested in classes, students participated and were inspired by each other's maps — making it viable for Transition Year group sessions, not only individual guidance appointments.
Inclusive by Design
Because it is primarily visual, the method is accessible to students with limited language proficiency — including first-generation immigrants. The research also found that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds particularly valued being shown a comprehensive view of their capabilities and given agency in charting their path forward.
The Three Maps
From Narrative to Systemic
The three maps are not separate exercises — each develops from the previous, deepening the student's self-understanding at each stage.
Narrative Stage
The student narrates who they are through personal images.
The student selects images that feel personally meaningful and builds an initial map — a portrait of self that includes interests, values, relationships and experiences. There is no right answer; the counsellor listens and reflects.
This stage surfaces identity material that structured questionnaires typically cannot reach, and creates a safe starting point for deeper exploration.
Explorative Stage
The student maps capabilities and begins to envision futures.
The same images are rearranged and expanded into a second map that draws out capabilities, strengths and aspirations. Multiple possible futures can emerge simultaneously — the method encourages plural thinking rather than a single correct career path.
Research found that mapping surfaced significant aspects and brought new information to both students and teachers that narrative alone did not.
Systemic Stage
The student is placed within their full context and ecosystem.
The third map zooms out — locating the student within their relationships, socioeconomic context, the labour market and the education system. Systems Thinking tools help the student see how capabilities connect outward to the world of work.
Participants quickly learned to let personal capabilities and relationships emerge in the maps, developing a sense of personal sustainability in the process.
MyCareerVerse for Counsellors
Where MyCareerVerse Fits In
MyCareerVerse does not replicate Visual Orientation — it provides the structured Irish career data layer that counsellors need to act on what the method surfaces. It gives the explorative and systemic stages their real-world traction.
Building the Student's Profile
The student's image-based narrative builds a picture of who they are. MyCareerVerse's Career DNA Quiz complements this by generating a structured RIASEC interest profile — giving the counsellor an additional validated lens on the same student. The two approaches triangulate each other: images reveal what questionnaires miss, and scores provide comparative context that images alone cannot.
A 12-question RIASEC-based assessment generating a six-axis interest profile — Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional — and a Holland code the counsellor can use as a session anchor.
Results are stored to the student's account and revisitable across school years, tracking how their profile evolves as they develop.
Envisioning Multiple Futures
The explorative stage asks what futures are possible for this student. The method encourages plural thinking — more than one viable future should emerge. The counsellor needs real-world data to make those futures concrete. MyCareerVerse's Career Finder delivers this: 271 careers scored by RIASEC match, each with a visual interest profile and links to roles students can research independently.
Filter 271 careers by RIASEC code, NFQ level and keyword. Each card shows a radar chart of interest alignment, a plain-English role description, typical salary range and direct links to related courses.
The Best Match sort surfaces the most aligned roles automatically from the student's Career DNA score — giving the counsellor an immediate shortlist to explore together in session.
Mapping the Full Ecosystem
The systemic stage places the student within their real-world context — socioeconomic circumstances, access routes and the structure of Irish education. The research found that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds particularly benefited from being shown the full landscape of options. MyCareerVerse is built precisely for this: every route visible, no pathway hidden.
All 1,583 CAO courses tagged by RIASEC code. Every QQI-accredited PLC. Every SOLAS apprenticeship. EU study options. All filterable by interest profile, NFQ level, location and points range.
DARE and HEAR access schemes are integrated into pathway filtering — ensuring equity routes are never invisible to a student who needs them.
Session Guide
A Practical Session Framework
This is not a rigid script — it is a suggested flow for integrating Visual Orientation principles with MyCareerVerse data across a 45–60 minute guidance session. Adapt freely to the student in front of you.
The Core Principle
The student decides how deeply to describe their images and their maps. The counsellor facilitates — they do not prescribe. MyCareerVerse data enters the conversation as a reference point, not a verdict. Agency always stays with the student.
Before the Session
Ask the student to complete the Career DNA Quiz on MyCareerVerse ahead of the appointment. This gives both parties a structured RIASEC profile to refer to — and gives the student time to sit with their results before you meet.
Narrative Map — Open with Images
Ask the student to bring three to five images that feel meaningful to them — from a phone, a magazine or drawn by hand. Invite them to arrange and narrate. Listen without steering. Note themes, energy and contradiction. Set the Career DNA results aside for now.
Explorative Map — Introduce the Career Data
Open the Career Finder together and apply the student's Holland code as a filter. Explore the top matches — not to close down options, but to open questions. Do the careers that appear resonate with the images they chose? Where do they diverge? Use the radar charts to make abstract interest scores tangible.
Systemic Map — Surface All Pathways
For one or two careers of genuine interest, open the Course Finder and show every route in: CAO Level 8, Level 7, PLC, apprenticeship, EU alternative. Apply DARE/HEAR filters if relevant. Make the full landscape visible before the student narrows down. The goal is informed agency, not premature closure.
Close with a Live Action Plan
End the session with two or three concrete next steps: a course to research, an open day to register for, a person to speak to. Book the follow-up before the student leaves. The maps — both the student's images and their MCV profile — continue to evolve across TY, Fifth Year and Sixth Year.
Social Justice in Guidance
Built for Every Student, Not Just the Points-Ready Ones
Both Visual Orientation and MyCareerVerse share an explicit commitment to equity. The research and the platform are designed to ensure that a student's background does not limit the breadth of their career map.
Language-Inclusive
Visual Orientation's image-based approach is accessible to students with limited English — a key research finding with direct relevance to newly arrived students in Irish secondary schools.
DARE & HEAR Visibility
MCV's course filtering treats DARE and HEAR access routes as first-class options — not footnotes. Students who qualify see these pathways alongside standard CAO routes from the very first search.
No Route Left Invisible
Apprenticeships, PLCs and EU study sit alongside Level 8 degrees in every pathway search. A student who never considered a trade or a Springboard+ programme sees it as a live option, not an afterthought.
Agency Over Aspiration Gaps
The research found that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds valued being given agency in bridging the gap between aspirations and resources. MCV's systemic pathway view gives counsellors the tool to make that concrete.
Try It With Your Students
MyCareerVerse is Free for Students
Students take the Career DNA Quiz, generate their RIASEC profile and begin exploring careers and courses — all before they sit down with you. Book a one-to-one with Angela to discuss how to integrate the platform into your school's guidance programme.
Source
de Maurissens & Torna (2025). Visual Orientation: A Systemic Mapping Method for Career Guidance.
Read on Zenodo — Open Access