Future Directions Conference 2014Global Graduates: Enabling Flexible Learning The Higher Education

Academy

HEA Teaching and Learning Summit 2012

• HEIs are under pressure to meet the expectations of students, employers and the government

however

• Found a lack of clarity in how to adopt a coherent approach to addressing employability

•What is the ‘rationale’ that underpins all this work and what holds it all together?

•Why do we do what we do? What are we not doing that we could do?

•How can we ‘wrap all of this up’ in terms of defining an ‘approach’ to employability?

A Framework for employabilityThe Context

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to support HEIs in evaluating employability provision

to encourage collaboration to disseminate good practice

to support the review and mapping of support

to encourage evaluation & quality assurance

to review role and involvement of all stakeholders in the shaping and execution of employability strategies

To engage students, staff must also be engaged, understand the relevance of employability and be confident in delivering support.

Recommendation : develop a framework for employability

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What is your definition of ‘employability’?

Employability

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Government expectations

Relevance to global economy –Wilson Review

KIS, HEAR, employability strategies and statements

Competition for students

Student expectations

tuition fees, league tables, competitive labour market

Employer expectations

Need graduate skills, knowledge, attributes that support them to

be effective and competitive in a global labour market

Employability: the drivers

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More than half of major employers say that the graduates they hire are not ‘work ready’ on leaving university

‘Communication skills, teamwork, resilience and punctuality are among the attributes employers want’

Research by YouGov with 635 employers, The Times (2013)

Students lack understanding of the skills and attributes that employers’ want.

Tibby, M. (2012). employer and student perspectives of

employability.

Recent news or old news?

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Global graduates: employability for employment and life

WHYThe need for skills, knowledge and attributes that enable them to be successful and able to deal with constantly changing circumstances

WHATPreparing graduates for the future; for a constantly changing global labour market and a constantly changing society.

Despite the use of the term ‘employability’ at the highest level, it still remains a contested term used in a range of contexts (Hillage & Pollard, 1998).

Supporting this notion Philpott (1999) describes employability as a ‘buzzword’ which is often used but which is interpreted in a number of ways,

Gazier, (1998:298) (Cited in McQuaid & Lindsay, 2005:197) states employability is ‘a fuzzy notion, often ill-defined and sometimes not defined at all’.

Cole,D. Literature Review 2007

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Learning Lessons ?

Employability: What is it?

Kumar (2007) Dacre Pool & Sewell (2007)

Knight & Yorke (2004)

Employability: What it isn’t

• Common misconceptions/assumptions – Short-term / Limited views

• “Employment” V “Employability” – Employment is about a job, employability is about a career!

• Lack of understanding / Resistance / An insult to academic purity!

• “Vocational “v “Employability”

Background• Dacre Pool and Sewell (2007) raise concern that too many people may

have a rather over-simplistic view of employability as being about securing a job or merely developing a number of individual skills.

• " ...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." (Higher Education Academy Online)

•Work placements

•Internships in the UK and overseas

•Embedded work related learning

•Career management

•Live projects and briefs

An ad hoc approach?

•The HEAR

•Community projects

• Employers consulted on course design

•Guest lectures and industry panels

•Alumni networks and partnerships

What is missing?

Where is the sector now ?

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Employability: we have a number of definitions & models & we describe how we ‘do it’

There is very little in relation to the praxis describing how these two areas connect

What is the ‘rationale’ that underpins all this work and what holds it all together?

Why do we do what we do? What are we not doing that we could do? Have we got a joined up approach?

How can we ‘wrap all of this up’ in terms of defining an ‘approach’ to employability?

What does the research tell us?

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• Designed to engage a diverse range of people

• Deliberately concise to promote accessibility and encourage ownership and use.

• Key models suggested and reference to further reading and resources

• Seeks to stimulate and facilitate discussion

• Seeks to encourage reflection and action

• Intended to be used in conjunction with the HEA publication ‘Pedagogy for Employability’ (2012),

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The framework for employability

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• Attempts to support us in developing a defined, more systematic and cohesive approach to employability

• Aims to make the ‘implicit’ much more ‘explicit’

• Provides questions at each stage to aid reflection and encourage discussion

• Seeks to engage by providing stakeholders with ownership of the process

• Supports by providing an underpinning structure

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The framework for employability

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Defining and developing your approach to Employability

Goal: A defined,

cohesive and more

comprehensive approach

to employability

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Stage 1. Discussion & Reflection 'Creating and

defining a shared point of

reference.'

Stage 2. Review / MappingWhat are we

doing/not doing?

Stage 3. Action

How do we share and enhance

existing practice?How do we

address 'gaps' in provision?

Stage 4. Evaluate

What does success look like & how is

it measured?How can we

enhance practice further?

Time for reflection

• Stage 2 - In relation to your definition at stage one, what are you already doing? Where are the gaps?

• Stage 3 - How could you share good practice more effectively / proactively? How might you begin to address any gaps?

• Stage 4 – How and when will you ‘measure’ and share your success?

Bucks New University Approach: the opportunities and

challenges

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Background at Bucks

• Bridging the ‘gap’ between the Careers & Employability Service and academics (engaging all academics with employability!)

• Moving careers and employability in to the new ‘Learning & Teaching Directorate’

• First 6 months in post – research & listening!

• Findings showed great variety in interpretation, understanding and language used and subsequent ‘approaches’

• The guide provides a structured process which takes into account current practice and allows ownership at a course level

Embedding & Engagement

• Are personal relationships enough? Support from the top? The challenges!

• All departments were required to complete the ‘Programme Review & Evaluation’ process as a requirement from the Academic Quality Directorate (Existing process not additional). Embedded section with this

• ‘Building a foundation’ - Understanding current interpretations / Sharing good practice / Identifying gaps and targeting support

• Whole process has been designed with workload and time pressures in mind but at the same time needing to be meaningful

• Thank you for your time

• Maureen Tibby (Academic Lead –Employability) Maureen.Tibby@heacademy.ac.uk

• Doug Cole (Employability Project Manager, Bucks New University) doug.cole@bucks.ac.uk

Questions?

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