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WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT MAKE? CONSTRUCTING A THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT MAKE? CONSTRUCTING A THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING Education and Employers Taskforce Conference 12 October 2011.

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WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT MAKE? CONSTRUCTING A THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING

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  1. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT MAKE? CONSTRUCTING A THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING Education and Employers Taskforce Conference 12 October 2011 Julian StanleyHead of the Centre for Education and Industry, University of WarwickJ.A.Stanley@warwick.ac.ukAnthony MannDirector of Policy and Research, Education and Employers TaskforceAnthony.Mann@educationandemployers.org

  2. Tina and Anglee Kumar are introduced to Sir Stuart Rose (ex chairman of M&S) at Business in the Community’s ‘Turning Work-Experience into Inspiration’ event

  3. Tina and Anglee are introduced by Sir Michael Rose to Antony Jenkins, Chief Executive of Barclays Bank

  4. Tina and Anglee organise a fashion show at school to raise funds for charity. Stuart Rose provides clothes, shoes and press gifts. Antony Jenkins provides work experience placement and personal gift of £100 towards event. ‘it has given me and my twin, Anglee, a wonderful experience as young entrepreneurs and I have to say I am really proud of myself and Anglee’ Tina Kumar

  5. Employer engagement = direct involvement of employers in the education of young people, e.g. work experience, enterprise education, mentoring, visits, reading support etc.

  6. Questions • How can employer engagement affect social, economic and educational outcomes for young people? • How can we situate accounts of employer engagement in relation to broader sociological and economic theorising about education?

  7. Some social theories about education • Life course analysis: education is a trajectory where prior experiences and outcomes influence succeeding experiences and outcomes (Elder, Gorard). • Human Capital: education and workplace experience increase labour productivity (Becker). • Social Capital: social relationships give access to resources and information and influence (Coleman, Granovetter, Bourdieu). • Cultural Capital: knowledge, qualifications, habits and cultural objects shape access to resources and people (Bourdieu, Bernstein).

  8. Employer engagement: • Increases human capital as evidenced in attainment and labour market outcomes. (Hypothesis 1) • Increases social capital as evidenced in enhanced access to networks of economic value. (Hypothesis 2) • Increases cultural capital as evidenced in changes in habitus – improved navigation through the education system and on into employment. (Hypothesis 3) • Interacts with pre-existing accumulations of human, social and cultural capital to enhance pre-existing advantage and/or to compensate for comparative disadvantage. (Hypothesis 4)

  9. Four Surveys • 986 young Britons aged 19-24, exploring labour market position, experience and perceptions of employer engagement activities undertaken while in education, aged 14-19. Fieldwork, February 2011. YouGov. • 208 employers involved in the Taskforce’s 2010 Visit our Schools and Colleges campaign. Fieldwork, January 2011. Taskforce. • 40 young people aged 16-19 enrolled in Cumbrian education institutions. Fieldwork, March 2011, Taskforce • 333 young people aged 14-17, exploring experiences of employer engagement activities and confidence in career progression. Fieldwork, March 2010. B-live.

  10. EE increases human capital as evidenced in attainment and labour market outcomes

  11. EE increases social capital as evidenced in enhanced access to networks of economic value • Offered unpaid work experience placements to school pupils – 74%. • Offered paid employment opportunities to school-age pupils or school leavers – 50%. • Had ever offered paid employment to someone who had previously been on an unpaid work experience placement - 41% (82%). Source: 203 employers. January 2011.

  12. EE increases social capital as evidenced in enhanced access to networks of economic value How important was it [for employment decision] that they did the work experience with you? (1-10) • 55% - 6+ • 40% - 7+ • 24% - 1 (irrelevant)

  13. EE increases social capital as evidenced in enhanced access to networks of economic value Survey of 40 young people aged 16-19. Cumbria. March 2011. • 45% stayed in touch with the employer they did their work experience for at least a few months with and half that number for more than a year. • 22.5% were offered paid employment after the placement with a further 20% having discussed employment as a future opportunity.

  14. EE increases cultural capital as evidenced in changes in habitus – improved navigation through the education system and on into employment.

  15. EE increases cultural capital as evidenced in changes in habitus

  16. EE interacts with pre-existing accumulations of human, social and cultural capital which can serve to enhance pre-existing advantage and/or to compensate for comparative disadvantage

  17. EE interacts with pre-existing accumulations of human, social and cultural capital which can serve to enhance pre-existing advantage and/or to compensate for comparative disadvantage

  18. EE interacts with pre-existing accumulations of human, social and cultural capital in different ways for individuals and definable social groups which can serve to enhance pre-existing advantage and to compensate for comparative disadvantage

  19. Environmental factors contributing to capital formation Family Peer Group Locality Gender Ethnicity School Work Other institutions Life-course Employer interventions contributing to capital formation Employer Engagement 1 Employer Engagement 2 Employer Engagement 3

  20. Implications for Research • Robust research to explore the difference that employer engagement makes to a range of outcomes, e.g. achievement, employment, self-efficacy etc. • Longitudinal work to explore how interventions combine with ‘environmental factors’ and accumulated outcomes over life-course. • Explore different impact of different kinds of employer engagement with different groups. • Explore sources of employer engagement, e.g. individual, social and corporate motivations. • Theoretical work to conceptualise relationships between different kinds of capital and their application.

  21. Conclusions • There is some rigorous evidence of impact in relation to some of the outcomes under investigation. • The concepts of social, cultural and human capital can be used separately to make sense of the evidence arising from the evaluation of employer engagement. • There is scope to bring together ‘capital’ concepts to provide a more satisfactory account of how employer engagement works. • A life-course approach is helpful – but some outcomes from each stage will have a more lasting impact upon later stages than others. • EE raises policy issues: universal versus compensatory deployment

  22. Julian StanleyHead of the Centre for Education and Industry, University of WarwickJ.A.Stanley@warwick.ac.ukAnthony MannDirector of Policy and Research, Education and Employers TaskforceAnthony.Mann@educationandemployers.org

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