Course Design: Employability

‘It’s not what you teach, but the way that you teach it’Liz Clifford, AEU

Becky Murphy, SPS

7th March 2012

Session Aims

• What does an employable graduate look like?• What is the current context for education in

relation to employability?• How do we use this knowledge and our own

experiences to inform practice at personal, module and programme level?

Context to scheme of work

• 7004PCLTHE Design for Learning in the Higher Education Context

– Consideration of the context/subject/professional body you are working within or to– Subject and other national benchmarks– Consideration of the employability agenda, e.g. LJMU’s WoW Strategy– Critique of models of curriculum design – Appropriateness for student group– Response to Peer Learning Group feedback and discussion – Consideration of any alternatives in the light of critical scrutiny including a brief self

reflection on how this module changed your thinking/practice– Programme values should underpin discussion

Session Plan

• Group task – what does an employable graduate look like?

• Political and institutional perspectives on employability

• Models of employability• Student Perspectives • Developing employability in Sport and Exercise

Science: A case study• Group task: considerations for practice

Plotting your position ...... Where do you stand? Supporting students in employability

focused development is very much part of my responsibility

Supporting students in employability focused development is not my

responsibility

I am unclear about the ways in which the

programme can support students in

employability focused development

I am clear about the ways in which the programme can

support students in employability focused

development

What does an employable graduate look like?

Using flip chart paper and coloured pens create a poster that

encapsulates your group’s idea of what an employable graduate

looks like?

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5 MinutesStart Timer

Context: Expectations and Measures• Wilson Review (Feb 2012) A Review of Business-University

CollaborationJust as castles provided the source of strength for medieval towns, and

factories provided prosperity in the industrial age, universities are the source of strength in the knowledge based economy of the twenty first ‐ ‐century.

Lord Dearing, September 2002• 50+ Recommendations (specific and reflective)

– Processes for Graduate recruitment to be reviewed– Careers and employability support to be a continuous feature of student experience– Greater focus on employability within Masters/Doctoral provision– Renewed emphasis on placements/internships, particularly international– Emphasis on Higher Education Achievement Report as means of presenting

achievements– Employability and enterprise skills in the formal curriculum– Review mechanisms for gathering data on graduate employment

Employer expectations

Graduates “who are excited by ideas, capable

of challenging assumptions and most importantly, have the

ability to keep learning”.

Employability Skills Work Experience

Positive Attitude Degree Subject

Future Fit: Preparing Graduates for the World of Work (CBI,2009)

QAA, 2012

QAA Expectations• QAA Framework for Higher Education Qualifications

Descriptor for Level 6“And holders will have:the qualities and transferable skills necessary foremployment requiring:• the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility• decision-making in complex and unpredictable

contexts• the learning ability needed to undertake appropriate

further training of a professional or equivalent nature.”http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/

FHEQ08.pdf

What is important to new students?

Satisfaction with the experience is key but also employability

Source: HEFCE (2010) Understanding the information needs of users of public information about higher education, available at: www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2010/rd12_10/

Graduate Destinations: how do we know what happens to our students?

• Higher Education Achievement Report – richer narrative of graduate achievements

• ‘Employability statement’ on Unistats/UCAS websites

• Destination of Leavers from HE (DLHE)• Alumni• LJMU Graduation Survey

What are we preparing our students for?

• ‘to be employed is to be at risk, to be employable is to be secure’ Peter Hawkins 1999

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv8pmIr3a7k&t=45s

• Student Finance Calculator http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14785676

What is your own working life like? How well did your degree prepare you for it?

Poster from Student Employability Workshop – University of Central Lancashire.  Used with permission from L Dacre Pool and P J Sewell

Employability: a complex problem

• Students required to develop ‘complex achievements’ – ‘fluctuating and contested social constructs, not real and

stable’(Knight, 2007, p.76)– ‘they are slow to grow, the products of months and years,

not of days and weeks; they are the outcomes of whole…programmes, not…individual…modules’ (ibid)

• Focus on curriculum processes ‘creating environments and experiences that afford rich possibilities for development’ (ibid, p.81)

• Students need experience of ‘ill-defined, interdisciplinary and real-world problems’ (Nicol, 2010, p.5)

Models of Employability

Elusive concept

Models of Employability

“key”, “personal”, “transferable” or “employability”

a set of achievements – skills and understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations” (2003, p. 3)

Figure 1. The USEM account of employability (Yorke and Knight, 2004, p. 5)

EMPLOYABILITY

METACOGNITION (M)

PERSONAL QUALITIES; SELF THEORIES AND EFFICACY BELIEFS

(E)

SKILLS (S)

SUBJECT UNDERSTANDING (U)

Yorke, M. and Knight, P.T. (2004). Embedding employability into the curriculum, August 2010, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/ese/relatedpubs/Embedding%20employability%20into%20the%20curriculum.pdf

USEM in practice ………

• Subject understanding (U) - specific teaching and assessment activities

• Employability related skills (S) -employment based training (work-related learning opportunities, careers advice, employability related modules, personal development portfolios)

• Metacognition (M) and self-theories (E) -teaching and assessment practices that foster good learning. Instructional strategies inquiry based teaching, collaboration among students and teachers, strategy instruction, development of mental models and conceptual change, use of technology and student and teacher beliefs concept mapping and reflection

Dacre Pool, L. and Sewell, P. (2007) The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability. Education and Training, 49(4), 277-289.

Career Development

Learning

Experience(Work and Life)

Knowledge, Understanding,

Skills

Generic SkillsEmotional

Intelligence

REFLECTION AND EVALUATION

EMPLOYABILITY

SELF -EFFICACY

SELF-CONFIDENCE

SELF-ESTEEM

Employability in practice ……. Developing a pedagogy for

employability • Programme level – designated personal

skills/employability/work related learning modules (The Pedagogy for Employability Group, 2006)

• Modular level – teaching activities that foster good learning

• Employer involvement in course design (Cranmer, 2006)

Cranmer, S. (2006). Enhancing graduate employability: best intentions and mixed outcomes. Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 169-184. The Pedagogy for Employability Group. (2006). Pedagogy for employability, August 2010,

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/ourwork/tla/employability/id383_pedagogy_for_employability_357.pdf

Self Regulated Learning

SELF -EFFICACY

SELF-CONFIDENCE

SELF-ESTEEM

• VICARIOUS EXPERIENCES • MASTERY EXPERIENCES • SOCIAL PERSUASION

Level of achievement is influenced by how people feel about themselves

What do students value?

• Opportunities for placements/ work-based experiences‘Good life experiences from lecturers who have worked in the industry’

‘Practical based aspects are good for real life problems.’

‘Giving me ability to work in the real world!’

• Staff: experience, enthusiasm, helpfulness, learn from their experiences

“The teaching staff are always happy to help and there is a sense of community on the course”

“Lecturers are enthusiastic about the course and it shows…how they get you involved…so you’re not just sitting there”

“ Good life experiences from lecturers who have worked in the industry”

‘Tutors take long to reply to emails and they don't help, e.g. 'find out for yourself‘’.

• Breadth, challenge, difference and variety ‘The University is able to push me to produce work that I would never have thought I was capable of’

‘Giving us something and telling us to play around with it.’

‘Good variety of projects given-using different skills.’

‘Too many lectures on theory, with no practical work to re-enforce what we learnt’

• Interaction and interactivity‘I didn’t feel as though the lecturers helped us to integrate with other students’

‘interactive days help to engage and focus students and allow things to be explained in a way that a classroom cannot, field trips and more engaging methods should be used more often …also extremely good experiences for life as a graduate to allow talking points in interviews etc rather than just talking about the theories and practices that were taught in a classroom.’

‘Residential was fun and exciting and helped the whole course bond’

• Groupwork‘Somehow make group work better’ ‘far too much and marking criteria not clear’

‘I'm not happy with the over-reliance on group work. I understand that group work is key to the working environment, but…feel that group work has significantly affected my grades due to lack of enthusiasm and teamwork from other students’

‘More advice on how to work as a group’

• Relevance and Benefit

‘The course has some modules, which seem irrelevant’

‘Reflection tasks felt pointless’

Opportunities for personal development

‘I have had time to reflect on my life and achievements so far and set myself some clear goals for the future’

‘The opportunities within my course have helped me gain confidence and a wider understanding on what personal skills and life skills are needed when leaving university. My time here has helped me grow as a person.’

Observations• Importance and value of WRL, particularly placement

experiences, in terms of student satisfaction but also personal, academic and skills development

• Further consideration of how tla activities can support increasing self-confidence and self-efficacy through adapting to learning in new situations

• Cumulative effect of experiences both within and outside of curriculum

• Supporting students to make connections and make most of all opportunities

How does the whole student experience of university build up to give students confidence

in themselves but also confidence in the experience they have had?

timetabling….helpfulness of staff….facilities… peer support…..extra-curricular activities

communication of changes….feedback……clarity and consistency….interaction with staff

connections to ‘real world’ practice…..

Break

Developing employability in Sport Science Students ……. Philosophy and Practice

Developmental "core curriculum" approach to embedding employability at

all levels of undergraduate study

Sport Science: "core curriculum" approach

• Level four (Familiarisation), the students are familiarised with the various types of careers open to them within the area of sport and exercise science.

• Level five (Skilling-up), students are provided with vocational training as part of their core modules. The emphasis is on acquiring the practical skills necessary for a career in sport and exercise science.

• Level six (Engagement), the students should have the appropriate practical skills and self-belief to engage in an externally driven, sustained Work Related Learning project that has been developed with a potential employer

Scientists and Practitioners

RESEARCH

Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge Transfer

Discipline

Content

Methods

Skills

Project

Familiarization

Skilling-up

Engagement

WRL

Students are required to apply their knowledge and provide some practical support to a provider, that supports the academic criteria of their modules.

When does a student’s career in Sport and Exercise Science begin?

Diversity of communication“You need to comfortable in speaking to people, speaking to groups, so bar all the technical work you have got to be confident ….. good communication skills”

Practical Experience “Although I didn’t have the degrees, the PhDs behind me what I learned (from coaching rugby) on a grass roots level was I got a flavour of what worked with people and how to speak to them at their level”

Subject specific knowledge“If I was involved in an interview I would want to be enthused by somebody who I felt could really motivate children into having a healthier lifestyle, and that would be more important than if they got a 2:1 or a 1st” (Child Obesity Officer)“You need to be comfortable in speaking to people, speaking to groups …. so bar all the technical work you have got to be confident, you have got to have good communication skills. Good presentation skills as well, lots of experience of presentations is absolutely essential because daily you are presenting to 20 patients plus, and then the odd time you are expected to go out and talk to other health professionals as well.”

Developing a pedagogy for employability …….

Work Based Learning

World of Work Career Centre

Reflection as practitioners

Guest Speakers

Staff working in field (Consultant Nutritionist and Consultant Sport Scientist)

Research Informed curriculum

Inquiry Based learning …….

Context to scheme of work

• 7004PCLTHE Design for Learning in the Higher Education Context

– Consideration of the context/subject/professional body you are working within or to– Subject and other national benchmarks– Consideration of the employability agenda, e.g. LJMU’s WoW Strategy– Critique of models of curriculum design – Appropriateness for student group– Response to Peer Learning Group feedback and discussion – Consideration of any alternatives in the light of critical scrutiny including a brief self

reflection on how this module changed your thinking/practice– Programme values should underpin discussion

Task• Think about the features of an employable graduate you

identified and how a module/programme with which you are involved could be ‘fine-tuned’ to better support student development for employability

• Think about all aspects of its design and delivery• Use the resources and prompts on the tables to help you• In using the prompts think,

– Should this aspect be developed in this programme?– Does it already appear?– If so, does it link coherently with other aspects of employability in the

programme? Is there duplication/over-use of particular methods?– Are staff and students aware of its value/purpose for student

development?– Are students expected to deal with both familiar and unfamiliar

problems?

EmployabilityStudents: what do they bring? what are they aiming for?

Social/Economic factors

Institutional reputation and links with employers

Discipline studied

Curriculum: how the subject is taught?

Extra-curricular provisionEngagement

with Careers Education

Professional requirements

Work experience

References• Wilson Review Business-University Collaboration:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/further-education-skills/docs/w/12-610-wilson-review-business-university-collaboration

• The Graduate Market 2011: Annual Review of graduate vacancies and starting salaries at Britain’s leading employers, High Fliers Research. http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/GMReport11.pdf

• QAA. Enterprise and entrepreneurship education: Guidance for UK higher education providers. Draft for Consultation. Feb 2012 http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Pages/EE-draft-consultation.aspx

• Future Fit: Preparing graduates for the world of work. CBI. 2009 http://www.agcas.org.uk/agcas_resources/104-Future-fit-Preparing-graduates-for-the-world-of-work-

• Pegg, A., Waldock, J., Hendy-Isaac, S., Lawton, R. (Feb 2012) Pedagogy for Employability. HEA. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/employability/pedagogy_for_employability_update_2012.pdf

• Knight, P. (2007) Grading, classifying and future learning, in Boud, D and Falchikov, N. (eds) Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education: Learning for the longer term. Routledge. Abingdon

• Schraw, G.S., Crippin, K.J. and Hartley, K. (2006). Promoting self regulation in Science Education: Metacognition as part of a broader perspective on learning. Research in Science Education, 36, 111-139.

• Knight, P and Yorke, M. (2004) Learning, Curriculum and Employability in Higher Education. RoutledgeFalmer. London

• Nicol, D (2010) The foundation for Graduate Attributes: developing self-regulation through self and peer assessment. QAA. Available from: http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/resources/publications/graduates-for-the-21st-century

• Student Finance Calculator: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14785676• Cranmer, S. (2006). Enhancing graduate employability: best intentions and mixed

outcomes. Studies in Higher Education, 31(2), 169-184. • The Pedagogy for Employability Group. (2006). Pedagogy for employability,

Accessed August 2010, http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/ourwork/tla/employability/id383_pedagogy_for_employability_357.pdf

• Yorke, M. and Knight, P.T. (2004). Embedding employability into the curriculum, Accessed August 2010, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/ese/relatedpubs/Embedding%20employability%20into%20the%20curriculum.pdf

• Dacre Pool, L. and Sewell, P. (2007) The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability. Education and Training, 49(4), 277-289.

• Hawkins, P. (1999) The Art of Building Windmills: career tactics for the 21st century. Graduate Into Employment Unit. Liverpool