students: an integrated approach Paul Greenbank Centre for Learning - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Developing the employability of our students: an integrated approach

Paul Greenbank Centre for Learning and Teaching

Introduction

• Employability can be defined as:

A set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen

• ccupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce,

the community and the economy (Pegg et al., 2012, p. 4)

• Employability has become a key issue for HEIs
• There can be resistance to the employability agenda

Any comments on the case studies: ‘A tale of Two Students’?

Recently I’ve been trying to do everything because I just couldn’t ignore careers. I thought OH GOD I need a job lined up for when I graduate. All these graduate schemes, they’re all closing too and I‘ve been kind of leaving my assignments, but now it’s oh my assignments (laughs). I just saw the deadlines, panicked and put a couple of applications in. It was just a case of trying to get SOMEWHERE. I don’t know who I am anymore (laughs). I think when I first came to uni I was stronger I knew what I wanted and stuff but now I feel a bit like – I don’t know what the word is – a bit lost because I’ve been in education all my life and like it’s coming to an end and when you do leave and you’re having a full on job like it’s

• worrying. I’ve been like for years doing essays and

you’re not going to be doing essays really. I don’t feel prepared DEFINITELY not (starts crying). It’s the fact that the end of uni’s getting so near now and you know I feel I’ve got no plan and I’m going to be graduating and not knowing what will I do.

Interviews carried out with final year students – just before their final examinations …

Preparing students for the transition from education to employment: overview

Understand the (graduate) labour market Reflect on (and change?) their ‘competency values’ Develop their decision-making skills ‘Know themselves’ and the type of career/job they want

Action plan

Personal capital Skills for the recruitment and selection process Strategy for applying for jobs

Understanding the (graduate) labour market

• http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lmac/graduates-in-the-labour-market/2013/video---graduates-in-the-uk-labour-market-

2013.html?translation-component=&calling-id=77-337889&currLang=English&format=contrast

• More competitive
• Risk of unemployment & underemployment
• More diverse and vertically segmented graduate

labour market

• Recruitment often begins whilst students are still

at university

• Employers are adopting more rigorous and

sophisticated recruitment and selection strategies

Recruitment and selection methods

Method 1999 (%) 2009 (%) Only accept on-line applications 2 81 Only accept paper applications 98 11 Willing to accept CV 50 7 Telephone screening 10 40 On-line exercises 2 36 Psychometric tests 27 66 Personality tests 35 64 Numeracy tests 25 80 Verbal reasoning 23 71 Interviews 100 98 Assessment centres 21 85

Redmond (2010, Table 25, p. 144)

Skills (values, personality traits, etc. )

• Most cited skills and

attributes according to Maher and Graves (2008,

• pp. 16-17):
• Communication
• Team working/working with others
• Self-confidence
• Self-motivation
• Self-management
• Problem-solving
• Numeracy
• Commitment
• Intellectual skills
• Other skills (e.g. flexibility/adaptability,

IT/computer literacy, ability to work under pressure, ability to cope with uncertainty)

• Skills (and attitudes)

demanded of graduates according to Redmond (2010, p. 42) – in order of importance:

• Oral communication
• Team work
• Enthusiasm
• Motivation
• Initiative
• Leadership
• Commitment
• Interpersonal skills
• Organisation
• Foreign language skills

Of course students will need to find out exactly what sort of skills and attributes specific employers are seeking

Students should critically reflect

• n their competency values

Fate/dependency Purist orientation Living for today Intuition Rationality Agency/proactivity Player orientation Future orientation v v v v

Students should develop their decision-making skills

System 1 thinking System 2 thinking (Intuition)

(Rational decision-making)

Students need to ‘know themselves’ and the type of career/job they want

Personality Skills Values Occupation Sector Organisational size Self-employment Portfolio worker

Integrated approach: overview

Action

Action planning Reflection Unfreezing

Reinforcement Input (labour market,

decision-making, preparing for the recruitment and selection process)

Approaches

• Pedagogic

– ‘Transformative pedagogies’ (unfreezing)

• Challenge existing values (critically evaluate past decision-

making behaviour)

• Multiple case studies (in conjunction with analogical

encoding)

• Lecture input (including use of outside speakers)
• Developing future possible-selves (feared, ideal, possible)

According to Rossiter (2007 ‘[P]eople are more likely to take action … if they have a well developed possible self … If an individual really cannot envision herself or himself doing something, it is unlikely that behaviour will be directed towards that end’ (p. 90)

• Pedagogic (continued)

– Emphasis on active learning and the development of student skills and attributes – Focus on groups of students

• Key role for …

– Careers advisers – Personal tutors – Personal Development Planning (PDP) – Higher Education Achievement Report? (HEAR)

• Curriculum development …

– Employability modules – Credit for extra-curricular activities (recognition of ‘life-wide learning’)

Action planning

Year 1

• Identifying ‘future

possible selves’

• Setting career objectives

(including contingency plans)

• Developing and

evidencing personal capital through curricular and extra- curricular activities

Year 2

• Continuing to develop

and evidence personal capital

• Refining career
• bjectives
• Developing skills for the

recruitment and selection process

Year 3

• Strategy for applying for

jobs

• Reflecting on progress in

the recruitment and selection process

Resources see: http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/clt/professional-development/events/

Developing decision-making skills in students: an active learning approach Guidelines for personal tutors: helping students to develop their employability Resources on employability Publications