Beyond the Subject Curriculum:

the Employability agenda

Dr Helena Mitchell – Oxford Brookes University : hmitchell@brookes.ac.uk

Dr Julie Anderson – University of Bristol /

ESCalate – the Subject Centre for Education: julie.anderson@bristol.ac.uk

Why employability?

• Important national agenda

• Links to widening participation

• Increasing opportunities for work based learning

• Recording academic achievement and potential

• Enabling students to make informed choices

What do we mean by employability?

“A set of skills, knowledge and personal attributes that make an individual more likely to secure and be successful in their chosen occupation(s) to the benefit of themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy”

Centre for Employability, University of Central Lancashire

What do we mean by employability?

‘Employability goes well beyond the simplistic notion of key skills, and is evidenced in the application of a mix of personal qualities and beliefs, understandings, skilful practices and the ability to reflect productively on experience.’

Yorke, 2004:11

First Destination Survey

“Feedback from graduates…indicates that they fail to engage with Careers issues early enough in their academic programmes. This probably limits their use of opportunities for personal and skills development, may restrict their vision of the career opportunities available and means that they don’t give sufficient time to how to communicate their skills and aptitudes to prospective employers.” Froud, L., 2003 , Feedback to VAG

What do employers want from graduates?

Employers have said…

• Essential attributes they want in graduate employees include ( in descending order of importance):– Good communication skills

– Ability to work in a team

– Effective time management

– Critical appraisal skills

The National Policy context / ESECT

• 1997 Dearing Committee report into HE recommended that all courses should give intended outcomes for students completing courses in terms of :

• Knowledge and understanding

• Key skills

• Cognitive skills

• Subject specific skills

• ESECT’s ( Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination Team) - approach was to concentrate on the curriculum as the main route to improving employability.

The National Policy Context cont.

• By 2005/6 all students in HE are entitled to:

• A transcript which provides a record of their learning and

achievement

• A Personal Development Plan through which an individual can ‘monitor, build upon and reflect upon their personal development’

Employability in the academic curriculum: Personal Development Planning ( PDP)

Primary objectives for PDP:

Overall it should be a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and / or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development.

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/crntwork/progfileHE/contents.htm

HEFCE funded work with the Subject Centres and associated institutions

ESCalate (Education ) was in the second phase of small funded projects, working with Oxford Brookes staff and students and Careers service

• - focused on students taking Education and Early Childhood Studies

• - data collection through questionnaires, card sorts, focus group and a workshop.

Employability Card Sort

Please … Set out the 5 header cards Allocate each of the “employability is…” cards to one

of the headers Add in your own definitions on the pink cards if you

wish!

Interview questions for year 3 students re: employability

1. Why did you decide to take a degree course?

2. Did you have any specific ideas for potential careers or employment when you began your degree course?

3. What do you think about your previous experience, in addition to your degree course, in terms of future employment prospects?

Questions cont.

4. When did you first become aware of the need to think about your plans after graduation? How did it feel ( scary/ overwhelming/exciting)?

5. What impact did the focus group/card sort activity have on your thinking about future employment, if any? Had you thought about the need to focus on your strengths or areas for development prior to the employability workshops?

7. How has the workshop impacted on your thinking and practice in the last year or so?

8. What kind of changes have you made to your programme as a result?

Questions cont.

9. Can you identify your strengths and suggest how you might convey these to a potential employer? Do you feel you might be underselling yourself?

10. How would you advise current students in years one

and two to think about employability

References/ further reading / urls

Knight, P. T. and Yorke, M. (2004) Learning, Curriculum and Employability. London: Routledge/Falmer.

Sills,M. (2003)Employability/ Health Sciences and Practice, Burlington Group meeting

The 'Guidelines for HE progress files', developed by CVCP (now, Universities UK and including Universities Scotland), SCOP, QAA and LTSN, suggest that the PDP element of the policy objectives should be operational across the whole HE system and for all HE awards by 2005/06. See http://www.qaa.ac.uk/crntwork/progfileHE/contents.htm

Yorke, M. (2004) Employability in Higher Education: what it is and what it is not. York: the Learning and Teaching Support Network.

Yorke, M and Knight, P. T. (2004a) Employability: judging and communicating achievement. York: the Learning and Teaching Support Network.

References cont.

Yorke, M and Knight, P. T. (2004b) Embedding Employability into the Curriculum. York: the Learning and Teaching Support Network. www.ltsn.ac.uk/ESECT

http://www.hefce.ac.uk (HEFCE)

http://www.hefce.ac.uk/Learning/TInits/esect/ (ESECT)

http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/dearing/ (Sir Ron Dearing, National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, 1997 )

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/PDP.htm

http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/issues/employability/cardsort/

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/employability

Part Two – the employability repurposing work in collaboration with the Physical

Sciences Subject Centre in Hull

A module for adapting and importing into programmes

The Project

• A collaborative piece of work. It is:

– Online course developed using Blackboard Learning System™ (Release 6)

– Adapted for education students from a course suitable for physical sciences graduates

– An interactive course with personal study dimensions also supported by university staff

Project Aims

• The principle project aim was the design of a flexible, attractive and engaging course that enhances the employability of education students. It is:

– Comprehensive: encompassing where the student is now in terms of their perception of their skills and experience and taking them forward to look at their possibilities

– Task-based: a course of multiple parts, most sub-sections involve reflection or an appropriate small research activity.

– Augmented by web resources, software, paper-based resources and an interactive discussion board.

Sections 1-3

Section 1- Where are you now?

Contains - Tasks to assess where students are in relation to choosing their next step after graduation.

Section 2 - Where do you want to be?

Contains - Information on employment, postgraduate courses and other options.

Section 3 - Getting the balance right

Contains - Information and advice about aspects of jobs that can impact on life outside of work.

Sections 4-6

Section 4 - Skills audit

Contains - Exercises to encourage students to discover where their skills and motivations lie.

Section 5 - Skills development

Contains - Work on improving presentation skills; advice on how to go about improving other skills.

Section 6 - Searching for opportunities

Contains - Information on where to look to find information about job vacancies or postgraduate courses or work placements.

Sections 10-12

Section 10 - Interviews

Contains - Advice about the interview process along with some videos of sample interviews.

Section 11 - Assessment centres 1

Contains - Information about assessment centres plus information about and practice of tasks that applicants complete individually.

Section 12 - Assessment centres 2

Contains - Information about and practice of group activities which take place at assessment centres.

Sections 13-14

Section 13 - Application outcomes

Contains - Information and advice for both successful and unsuccessful applicants.

Section 14 - Where to go from here

Contains - Information about how to organise the final year in order to be ready for the next step upon graduation.

At all points in the course, we welcome feedback from students.

Desired Outcomes

– A tool to encourage engagement with employability issues.

– A tool to enhance preparedness for further study or work upon graduation.

– Ideally, a tool that can enhance the career prospects of education undergraduates.

– A tool that can be refined on the basis of evaluation: both individual feedback and feedback arising from focus groups.