Developing Employability Skills through the Curriculum

Sarra Saffron Powell Educational Development

Curriculum Review Coordinator TeamSarrasaf@liv.ac.uk

xt. 41180

Give someone a fish and they will eat well for a day. Give them a fishing rod and they will eat well

for life.Anon.

Learning Outcomes

• Participants will explore ways in which Employability impacts curricula s and will consider skills and attribute development through a range of frameworks including the CBI Framework, Learning and Digital Literacies, and professional & statutory bodies.

• Participants will consider implementation, integration, learning activities and assessment.

• Participants will be introduced to a tool to get started, other information sources and who can help (curriculum review support structure).

Introductions

Briefly introduce yourselves…

School and teaching responsibilities?

What are the drivers for employability?

Sector wide?

Local (University of Liverpool)?

Professional Bodies?

10 mins

Fees (economic contracts and consumer choice)Access Agreements (Panel on Fair Access to the Professions 2009)Student expectationNSS – Guild agendasRussell Group CompetitorsUoL Strategy and Policy (Strategic Aims)Improving Student ExperienceHigher Education Achievement Record (HEAR) Internationalisation (global economy)QA standardsProfessional Bodies and CouncilsCo/extra curricula (Liverpool Life)Curriculum ReviewEmployers – CBI skill setsLow economic growth …… …others?

HEFCE fundingDigital technologiesEmployment Strategy

Embedding employability into the core of higher education will continue to be a key priority of Government, universities and colleges, and employers. This will bring both significant private and public benefit, demonstrating higher education’s broader role in contributing to economic growth as well as its vital role in social and cultural development. (HEFCE 2011, p5)

Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for employability, HEA, York

NB: HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) allocates funding from the Government to universities and colleges

Employability is high on the agenda

Challenges for HEIs – Employability is a significant response

In an environment of high tuition fees and low economic growth, student expectations of both the qualification, and the experience of higher education (HE) itself, have been raised and questioned. Many HEIs are now adopting a renewed focus on the student experience and in engaging students as partners in learning. The challenge for HEIs is to address this through enhancing the quality of pedagogical approaches: the context of delivery, curricula construction and recognition of the impact that co-curricular and extra-curricular activities have in encouraging students to become confident learners and individuals capable of making a full contribution to society.

Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for employability, HEA, York

So what is Employability?

Two definitions and a starting point

A set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy. (ESECT*, based on Yorke 2006)

Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for employability, HEA, York * Higher Education Academy and the Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination Team (ESECT)

An employment approach

Employability is not just about getting a job. …Employability is more than about developing attributes, techniques or experience just to enable a student to get a job, or to progress within a current career. It is about learning and the emphasis is less on ‘employ’ and more on ‘ability’. In essence, the emphasis is on developing critical, reflective abilities, with a view to empowering and enhancing the learner. (Harvey 2003)

Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for employability, HEA, York

An employability approach

The “skills” debate…

What are the differences between skills and attributes? (no clear, agreed

definitions in lit.)

How can we ensure they are adequately developed?

So what is Employability at UoL?

UoL Employability StrategyA 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 ((HEA, 2006).

The development of University wide Employability Strategy requires an integrated approach based in a curricular, co curricula and extra curricula collaboration.

University of Liverpool, Employability Strategy, 2012

CBI skills sets

NUS, CBI (2012) Working towards your future: Making the most of your timein higher education, http://www.nus.org.uk/Global/CBI_NUS_Employability%20report_May%202011.pdf

CBI skills sets

1. Self-reliance skills: self-management, readiness to accept responsibility, flexibility, resilience, time-management;

2. People skills: teamwork, communication skills, listening and questioning, respecting others, contributing to discussions;

3. General employment skills: problem solving, literacy, numeracy;

4. Specialist skills: business and customer awareness, application of IT.

University of Liverpool, Employability Strategy, 2012

Overlap and synergy with Digital Literacy and Learning Skills Strategy*

*In consolation Nov 2012

Digital Literacy and Learning Strategy*

The University of Liverpool, Learning and Digital Literacy Learning Strategy, 2012 Draft, *in consultation - revised Learning and study Skills Strategy

all students are given the opportunity to develop learning and study skills students are able to develop the digital learning skills they need for study and employment the contribution that the development of learning and digital literacy skills makes to the enhancement of student employability is clearly articulated

digital learning competences ensure students are adequately equipped for living, learning, working and researching in a continually developing digital world

Employers are increasingly expecting graduates to be conversant with a range of information, communication and media tools.

ESECT Key findings• Development takes time – months and years.

• Development takes practice.

• Students need to hear, repeatedly, what it is intended that they learn in order to understand what that means, to know ways of judging what they have achieved, and to see how to improve.

• Ideally, this would mean programme-level planning having priority over planning at the level of the module.

Mantz Y, Knight P T, ( 2006) Embedding employability into the curriculum, HEA, York* Higher Education Academy and the Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination Team (ESECT)

So how might employability in the curriculum look?

Employability through the whole curriculum?

Employability in the core (key skills) curriculum?

Work-based or work-related learning incorporated as one or more components within the curriculum?

Employability-related module(s) within the curriculum?

Work-based or work-related learning in parallel with the curriculum?

Mantz Y, Knight P T, ( 2006) Embedding employability into the curriculum, HEA, York

So how does employability in your current curriculum look?

Does it support digital literacy ad learning skills?

When is employability introduced to your students –

how and who by?

In reality hybrid models most effective

Skills auditing – a common auditing tool for employability

Skills auditing identifies the gaps

Foregrounds programme <>module correlations

Based on pedagogical model: curriculum alignment

Underpinned by ‘Constructive alignment’ (outcomes based approach), Biggs, (2003)

Learning Outcomes (LO) – Taught

activities most likely to lead to LO - Practice

assessment of LO - Assess

arrive at final grade

– Module Leaders discuss interpretation of terms (what they mean and is there synergy with Digital Literacy and learning skills?)

– Check understanding of proformas (e.g how much evidence constitutes confirmation that a skill is taught/practised/assessed?)

– Module leaders undertake mapping exercise where skills are explicitly taught/practiced assessed

Curriculum mapping

Information from the mapping performance can collated into the chart/spreadsheet to look at the overall picture (see example)

Issues/questions can then be discussed - e.g. are all skills covered; are there any instances where the students are assessed the skill level not been taught their skill; are there issues of skill development and progression from years 1 to 2 in 2 to 3 (for undergraduate courses)

Curriculum mapping

The information from the mapping for the modules could not be used to revisit the learning outcomes each patrol/programmes. The whole process can often highlight skills may not previously explicitly stated as learning outcomes

Curriculum mapping

You are not alone….

Curriculum Review Team

curriculumreview@liverpool.ac.uk

Liverpool Life

iLearn (student skills development)

250+ resourcesSkills diagnosticSubject specific:ManagementKey lab skills PhysicsStats for Psychology

sarrasaf@liv.ac.uk

Developing Digital Literacies Working Group

Tunde Varga Atkin tva@liv.ac.uksarrasaf@liv.ac.uk

iTeach (relaunch Aug 2013)

Sarrasaf@liv.ac.uk

Sources of support, resources and tools

• Careers Faculty Employability consultants (Employability Strategy Implementation Plans)

• Student facing workshops• Employer led programmes• Online Programme and Module Planner (coming soon!)• eLearning Unit• Educational Development (workshops)• PGCert – 402 Module Design and Evaluation • Guild input• Professional Bodies guidance and Subject Benchmarking • Higher Education Academy • ESECT literature etc

Summary• In response to economic conditions, Employability is high on all

national and local agendas• Employability is defined variously and not always helpfully• Employability can take many shapes in the curriculum

• Employability Strategy to be implemented across University• The strategy is based on CBI skills sets which must be included in

curriculum• The strategy adopts a curricula, co curricula and extra curricula

model• Employability is closely related to digital literacy and learning

skills development• Skills auditing is a useful starting point to embed Employability

into the curriculum• There are a range of resources to develop curriculum

• Feedback please

ReferencesPegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for employability, HEA, York

Educational Development and Developing Digital Literacies Working Group (Feb 2012), Learning and Digital Literacy Skills Strategy, draft version 7, Educational Development and Developing Digital Literacies Working Group

Mantz Y, Knight P T, ( 2006) Embedding employability into the curriculum, HEA, York [accessed 29/11/2012]http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/employability/id460_embedding_employability_into_the_curriculum_338.pdf

NUS, CBI (2012) Working towards your future: Making the most of your time in higher education, [accessed 29/11/2012] http://www.nus.org.uk/Global/CBI_NUS_Employability%20report_May%202011.pdf

University of Liverpool, Employability Strategy, 2012,

Biggs, J (2003) Aligning Teaching and Assessment to Curriculum Objectives, (Imaginative Curriculum Project, LTSN Generic Centre)