It was, as always, a great pleasure to be associated with this IRTAC consultation, and I would like to thank and congratulate all those involved m orgamslng and running it I would like also to thank and congratulate the members of the working groups with whom I was m a particular way related They worked hard and earnestly and gave of their best unstlntmgly It was a pleasure to circulate among them I think that moving, as I did, m rotation from one group to another, gave me a feeling, an insight, into their dehberatlons which made the following contribution, to me at least, more mtelhglble and easier to compile than might otherwise have been the case I hope that I have been able to pull out the main themes in very complex and vclde-rangmg discussions over many hours by individuals from at least 21 countries and nearly as many cultures First let me say that cultural differences surfaced man~ times, as indeed they should A culture is a whole way of hfe, an interlocked meaningful pattern of values, attitudes, aspirations, material artefacts, intellectual and artistic norms and achievements, behefs and rituals, within which the individual member of a society hves, moves and has his being, is humanlsed and SOclahsed, achieves his identity, his various roles, and his psychological security It IS no wonder then that he values and prizes his culture, and rightly feels threatened if his culture is threatened Let me say at once therefore that concern was expressed many times that 'Western' cultural Items, when conveyed to individuals of other cultures through the counselling process, could seriously disrupt, even destroy, some of the prized and valued aspects of the recewlng culture This is undoubtedly a great problem in all three areas where the groups I am reporting on were revolvednamely 'Cultural and Social Influences on Career Guidance', 'Conflicts between the Needs of Society and the Indwldual m Careers Guidance', and 'The Career Guidance Process and the Psychology of the Indlvadual' These are clearly raterrelated and interdependent themes, and form a unity which makes this report easier to compile than might otherwise have been the case