Synchronicity Learning Theory: Happenstance Learning Theory Re-envisioned

The purpose of this study is twofold: firstly, to listen for elements of Krumboltz's (2009) Happenstance Learning Theory (HLT) within the stories of women, including risk, curiosity, optimism, flexibility, and persistence; and secondly, to determine whether these women frame their stories within a worldview that values other ways of knowing, such as intuition, that cannot be easily measured or observed. These women have been selected because they are at least fifty years old and have acquired the embodied wisdom that results from years of lived experience. Their stories have potential to contribute women's voices to inform a new model of career counselling which re-envisions HLT, where an exploration of worldview is considered part of the conversation around meaningful happenstance, called synchronicity. Counsellors may offer this new approach, named Synchronicity Learning Theory (SLT), in order to encourage an awareness of synchronistic experiences that help guide decision making within an interconnected and interdependent world. Using a narrative inquiry design, in-depth interviews were recorded, and verbatim transcriptions were woven together in a storied form that includes six main themes that help inform SLT: 1) risk; 2) boundaries; 3) kindred spirits; 4) seasons; 5) flux; and 6) synchronicity. Implications for future research, career theory development, and counselling practice are discussed.