Brown Bag Lunch Series : Classrooms to careers – where do you fit in?

1. Brown Bag Lunch Series:Classrooms to careers – where do you fit in? Ruth Lawton: University Learning & Teaching Fellow for Employability, Birmingham City University, UK

2. PLan • What are we talking about? • Why are we talking about it? • What could you be doing? • Who can help you? • What next?

3. Harvey Weingarten, president of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. • “It’s reasonable for the student to say, ‘Look, I gave you $6,000 a year for four years, what did you do for me – other than teach me a bunch of facts and figures?’ And it’s reasonable for an employer to say, ‘Do you actually have the skills that we are looking for?’ And frankly, it is also reasonable for a government to say, ‘We are putting several billion dollars a year in public postsecondary education. We want students to fuel the social fabric of our community, to fuel the economy – are they graduating with the skill sets we know are important?’” (Anderssen 2012)

4. Definitions A rose by any other name?

5. What are we talking about? • ‘To be employed is to be at risk, to be employable is to be secure’Peter Hawkins • “having a set of skills, knowledge, understanding and personal attributes that make a person more likely to choose and secure occupations in which they can be satisfied and successful” Dacre Pool and Sewell

6. Drivers for Employability • International HE • Competition • Economic downturn • Graduates who stand out from the crowd • Destinations • Statistics – unemployment / underemployment League tables • Funding / fees – value for money

7. October 2012 • In 1975 - 370,000 students enrolled in Canadian universities: in 2012 - 1.1 m • Just saying “our education gets you a job” won’t cut it (Usher 2012) • OECD has Canadian underemployment at one third • >one third of graduates in jobs that require no post-secondary qualifications (Coates & Morrison 2012)

8. ‘Generic’ UK Examples • From bolt-on to embedded • Careers consultant does optional session > tutor present • Specific assessed module > UG Curriculum design • Employer engagement • Placements • Makes a difference to degree classification (Green, 2010) and to destinations (in UK) • Student engagement and reflection • Students need to recognise, value, record and be able to articulate their own employability

9. BCU Employability Skills • Identified from research with employers • Creating Future-Proof Graduates project • Annual surveys of employers / professional organisations • Language… skills, attributes, qualities and behaviours… ACTIVITY • Which of the 22 skills do you have from your work?

10. What are you already doing? Employability café • Recognising and / or assessing skills • Working with the careers service • Experiential Education • Working with employers / alumni Activity • First table - 10 mins - Use flip chart for suggestions / examples • Move on – 5 mins add to what is already there • Keep moving ‘til been to all tables

11. Issues identified in Pedagogy for Employability 2012 (Pegg et al) • Faculty issues • Rewarding research activity rather than scholarly activity • Not recognising that ‘doing it for years’ doesn’t make it explicit or current • Is successful practice in developing employability of the same value as technical skills and academic knowledge? • Need to consider: timetabling; resourcing; empowering students & staff; suitable spaces and practices • Skills needed to ‘teach’ employability (Lawton 2010) • And what is it anyway • Balancing educational purposes and pragmatic work-related outcomes • Particularly statutory / professional bodies content • ‘Prove it’ – evidence base lacking (Gibbs 2010)

12. Help is at hand! • Dianne Twombly, MSWManager, Career DevelopmentCareer Center • Teaching Commons

13. What next?

14. References • Anderssen E (2012) Can Canada’s schools pass the next great intelligence test article, The Globe and Mail, Torontohttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/can-canadas-schools-pass-the-next-great-intelligence-test/article4591606/(accessed 16/10/12) • Blasko, Z. with Brennan, J, Little, B. and Shah, T. (2002) Access to what: analysis of factors determining graduate employability[A report to HEFCE]. London: Open University, Centre for Higher Education Research and Information. • Bridgstock, R. (2009) The graduate attributes we’ve overlooked: enhancing graduate employability through career management skills. Higher Education Research & Development. 28 (1), pp31-44. Available from:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360802444347 (Accessed 27/9/2011). • Brown, P. and Hesketh, A. (2004) The Mismanagement of Talent Oxford:, Oxford University Press. • Coates K, Morrison W (2012) The Uses and Abuses of University The Walrus, October 2012 http://click.xydo.com/toolbar_view/1797/1/839?e=W1VOSVFVRV0 (accessed 15/10/12) • Dacre Pool, L & Sewell, P (2007). The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability. Education + Training, 49 (4), 277 – 289. • Gibbs, G. (2010) Dimensions of quality. York: HEA. Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/evidence_informed_practice/Dimensions_of_ Quality.pdf [13 February 2012]. • Green J (2010) The Impact of a Work Placement or internship year on a student Presentation given at 3rd Higher Education Institutional research (HEIR) International Conference, Dublin, 2010 • Hall, M., Higson, H. and Bullivant, N. (2009) The Role of the Undergraduate Work Placement in Developing Competencies: results from a 5 year study of employers. Birmingham: Aston Business School. Available from: http://www.decowe.org/static/uploaded/htmlarea/files/Decowe_Hall_Higson_and_Bullivant.pdf [27 /9/11].

15. References cont • Hawkins P (1999) The Art of Building Windmills Liverpool, GIEU • Knight, P. and ESECT colleagues (2003) Briefings on Employability 3: The contribution of LTA and other curriculum projects to student employability. York: HEA. Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/tla/employability/briefing_3_the_contribution_of_ learning_teaching.pdf [13/2/2012]. • Lawton, R. (2010) Start with the staff: Embedding personal and professional development in higher education. BCU LATHE: Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. 1 (1). Available from: http://portfolio.bcu.ac.uk/artefact/file/download.php?file=212826&view=32606 [13 February 2012]. • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) quoted in Coates K, Morrison W (2012) The Uses and Abuses of University The Walrus, October 2012 http://click.xydo.com/toolbar_view/1797/1/839?e=W1VOSVFVRV0 (accessed 15/10/12) • Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for Employability (revised edition) York; Higher Education Academy • Usher A (2012) The other demographic challenge One thought to start your day. Higher Education Strategy Associates October 15th 2012 http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=ll5rlkdab&v=001rD-jOQuHnZ72b6zOHHnQ884KkvfWm_yVcMdvK0FXCuj2IOs988qXkFyXQ6YXwPt8Ra-RF-dJn0J2JAEWM4CZI9WRB2DOoN_3lk1NYrRZKk4NjdDQMGC6JgmvBrBu-WUVXfw-T905HbCL8FI3mzFRYvQqyaWPBkf_HsPqIg06B3E%3D • Yorke, M. (2010) Employability: aligning the message, the medium and academic values. Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. 1 (1), pp2-12. Available from: http://jtlge.curtin.edu.au/index.php/jtlge/article/view/7 [13 February 2012] (requires free registration). • Yorke M (2011) Assessing the Complexity of Professional Achievement http://learningtobeprofessional.pbworks.com/f/CHAPTER+A10+FINAL.pdf [Accessed 10/9/2012]