Being a Graduate in the Twenty-first Century

Sub-brand to go here Being a Graduate in the Twenty-first Century Ronald Barnett, Institute of Education, London University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada 12 April, 2011 Centre for Higher Education Studies

Context – and Emma’s tale A present context: the unemployed graduate ‘Last year, I created a new society for the University, for my course. That involved quite a lot of responsibility and taking control and I’ve never been in that, sort of, leadership position before. … the society stuff definitely helped my degree – if no other reason than just feeling more accessible to the lecturers and the tutors. ‘I’m [also] an artist .. I tend to do [large] landscapes in acrylics. Q Do you see that as something quite separate or do you think it spills over in any way? ‘Yeah, I think it does in a way because I was thinking about how long it takes me to do the paintings, I think that’s, kind of, patience and the motivation to do it because there’s times when I think, I just want to give up.’

Beginning questions So from these two starting points: • Just what is it to be a graduate in the C21? • Just what might we hope for from our students? • What might they want of themselves? • How might we understand ‘career’ now (eg amid (worldwide) recession) • What is it to learn in a university? What are the responsibilities of a university towards its students?

Changing answers • Higher education - built successively around the themes of: • knowledge/ understanding (‘initiation’) • skills (‘employability’) • And now emerging? • wellbeing (‘therapy’) • citizenship (‘the global citizen’)

The twenty-first century • Challenge • Change • Uncertainty • Complexity/ supercomplexity • Division – differences – of values, of resources, of perspectives • Global dimension

A student’s story • ‘ … I had no … awareness of my own ability, so when you get an inspiring teacher that has faith in you, or helps you understand a topic, then, you know, it’s amazing • ‘… you get excited … it makes you want to know, say, if it’s about a particular topic, then you want to go and know more about it, you want to find more … and that way you end up learning more. • ‘… if a teacher inspires you in a subject, then you are going to pay a lot more attention, feel that drive to get involved in a way.’ • (4th yr student, post 92 university) • - A continuing pedagogical challenge

Students as Global Citizens • A care/ concern for the world • A sense of interconnectedness • Not living in one’s own world • Helping to bring about a better world (cf ‘wisdom’) • A project of ‘engagement’ • Implies first-handedness; genuine (critical) thought & action • Impact on curricula • And on opportunities while a student

Forms of learning • Sense that learning takes place in multiple sites • Even for the student • Is anything special about the student’s academic learning? • Lifewide learning – horizontal learning • Lifelong learning – learning through time (We’ll come back to these matters in a moment.)

Moving on • ‘ Overall, the four years I spent at [university] have been tiring and frustrating at times but mainly exciting, challenging and immensely rewarding … I have graduated a different person from who I was when I entered … better equipped for all aspects of life’. (female engineering student) • ‘It’s been a huge learning curve and building process as a person. I am completely different from how I was in the first place.’

The ideas of ‘graduate attributes’ & ‘graduateness’ • (So) the world presents human being with considerable challenges – technical, social, communicative, personal • We look to graduates esp to be human beings who can live purposively in the face of these challenges • Even to be exemplary human beings • Such a world requires, in the first place, neither knowledge nor skills but dispositions and qualities of certain kinds

Dispositions for a world of challenge • A will to learn • A will to engage • A preparedness to listen • A preparedness to explore • A willingness to hold oneself open to experiences • A determination to keep going forward

Qualities for a world of challenge • Carefulness • Courage • Resilience • Self-discipline • Integrity • Restraint • Respect for others • Openness

Dispositions and qualities compared • The dispositions are necessary; the qualities have a degree of optionality in them • Hence, just a few dispositions; but many qualities • The dispositions enable one to go forward • The qualities colour that forward movement; give it ‘character’

The (higher) educational significance of the dispositions and qualities • The dispositions and qualities are concomitants of a genuine higher education • Curricula and pedagogies could nurture them • But often fall short • Students are denied curricula space, and pedagogical affirmation • But the dispositions and qualities (above) are logically implied in a ‘higher’ education.

Nurturing the dispositions and qualities – the linguist’s tale • I’ve always had a huge passion for languages. But coming to [x university], I found the French and the Italian departments very different, and I did start to feel a bit bitter towards French. I wasn’t enjoying that any more. I loved it at school more than Italian. I found the French department very rigid … I did feel like I was back in school, but not in the sixth form … I didn’t feel very free to express myself in the lessons. With the Italian department, we all sit around a big table or chairs without tables in front. There would be a lot more interaction … It was more friendly, just a liberating atmosphere.’

The idea of a career • The idea of ‘career’ implied steady progression in a particular (and challenging) field of work • And that there were clear boundaries between work and non-work • Both of those axioms have to be ditched • Against the considerations here, a ‘career’ becomes the continuous public working out of one’s possibilities in an uncertain world • It is the sedimentation of the dispositions and the widening and strengthening of the qualities • In particular, the will to learn (disposition) and courage and openness (qualities) are paramount

Coping with complexity • ‘(beginning the student journey) is [an entry into] a scary, exciting and fascinating world … We need … self-belief to survive and prosper … I remember thinking … this is amazing, exciting, exhilarating and downright terrifying … Working with a complex world is … about … not giving up when you feel overwhelmed …’ • ‘… What’s fascinating about Alison’s courses is the amount of panic, you know, that surrounds the essays and I felt it personally … It was a very, very scary thing to do because … there were no right answers.’

Conclusions • Becoming clearer about being a graduate in the C21 calls for a sense of the world in which graduates find themselves • & of the responsibilities graduates have in the world • - to themselves and to others and even to the world itself • In turn, the idea of ‘career’ diminishes • But there arises larger questions as to the relationship between graduates and the wider world • In turn, arise profound issues over curriculum & pedagogy • & in turn, arise qs as to the responsibilities of universities • And so arises the question of the university in the C21 • It is that, no less, that lies before us in these considerations. Institute of Education University of London 20 Bedford Way London WC1H 0AL Tel +44 (0)20 7612 6000 Fax +44 (0)20 7612 6126 Email info@ioe.ac.uk Web www.ioe.ac.uk

Being a Graduate in the Twenty-first Century