PEPE INC 2008

1. Making transitions from academic literacy to professional literacy: the nexus of the practical and the theoretical.

2. PEPE INC 2008 • Jan Millwater ( Dr.) • President, PEPE INC . Journal Editor. • Faculty of EducationQueensland University of TechnologyKELVIN GROVE  Q  4059 • Brisbane ( temperature 29 degrees C) Australia.

3. Transitions Learning and Employability I wish to acknowledge the work contributed by the QUT team- Professor Peter Taylor-ED, Dr Robyn Nash- Health, Deidre Seeto - MD, Melinda Service- Health, Christy Collis &, Shaaron Boughen - Creative Industries.

4. Key words Transitions tertiary literacy graduate attributes graduate capabilities employability skills transferable skills lifelong learning. professional literacy

5. Methodology • literature search into government and university reports on university/employers needs with regard to employability • interviews with staff (especially course leaders and coordinators) • students in focus groups • an analysis of reports from final year students in capstone units (Internships and the Education Faculty Stepping Out Conference) • case studies of exemplary teaching and learning events and strategies • our own stories/experiences.

6. Conceptual framework • Department of Education Science and Training, 2006 ; • Business Industry and Higher Education Collaboration Council, 2007; • Watts, 2006; • Yorke & Knight, 2006; • Washer, 2007; • Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services, 2005.

7. Transitions Learning • students’ sense of themselves, as individuals and as learners • the sense-of-self that students are challenged to re-construct in order to achieve transition • Commitment to change

8. Transition phases over time. Taylor, P. G., Millwater, J., & Nash, R. (2007). Talking about transitions: the value of a conceptual approach (p. 3).

9. Employabilty • assumes the ability to effectively apply knowledge and a range of skills which workers need to enter and continue to use effectively within work environments. • is contained within graduate attributes of the individual • should not be confused with simply getting employment

10. Graduate Attributes • the qualities, skills and understandings a university community agrees its students would desirably develop during their time at the institutions (Bowden, Hart, King, Trigwell, & Watts, 2000) • shape the contribution they are able to make to their profession and as well as a citizen…

11. Graduate capabilities • equivalent to employability skills and are generic across the university • generic to a whole range of life and work contexts

12. Tertiary literacies v. Professional literacies

13. Professional Literacy • As work-ready preservice professionals make the transition out of university they look forward to being further professionally developed within a new environment by their employers • PL cannot be attained until a job is attained – extension of levels of attributes • Context variables shape new learning

14. Articulation of GA into PL. In using a Learning Continuum concept an appreciation of the particular principles listed below generate the deep learning ability which forms integrated knowledge and understanding and attitudes • Acquisition • Application • Personalisation • Actualisation

15. Institution embeddednesss • In particular, the four recommendations of the project, with reference to course curriculum design ,are these: • All courses draw on a shared QUT-wide understanding of and language for transitions • All courses systematically scaffold students’ understanding, confidence, and self-management of their transitions into new professional environments thorugh enlightened and engaging teaching and learning processes • All courses systematically scaffold the development of students’ employability • All three above be embedded in the core curriculum and must be monitored and evaluated through a university wide assessment scheme..

16. Thank you Please email me on j.millwater@qut.edu.au For paper (incl. references.)