© University of Reading 2006 www.reading.ac.uk/ccms

University Employability Strategies

How do they work?David Stanbury, Joint Director CCMS CETL

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Centre for Career Management Skills

1. Debate – Research (led by Dr Julia Horn)

2. Dissemination– 22 & 23 Sept International Careers Studies Symposium

3. Development– 40 Fellowships (at Reading and elsewhere)– Beyond the PhD– Student Stories (to be launched Dec 09)

Outline

• What do we mean by strategies that ‘work’?

• How do strategies ‘work’ for students?

• Implications for T&L

• The Reading journey

• Some transferable insights

• Keeping it local

• Tools for diversification

• Enduring challenges

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Works for whom?

• For employers?

• For government?

• For parents?

• For the university managers?

• For academics?

• For careers staff?

• For students?

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What does employability look like?

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“Although participants left college with their externally acquired formulas for career success, they quickly discovered a major missing piece to the career success puzzle – themselves.” (Baxter Magolda, 2001)

http://www.sixfigurecopy.com/puzzle.jpg

It’s multi-faceted

Sewell & Dacre-Pool identify the components as:1. Self esteem (self efficacy + self confidence)

2. Reflection

3. Career development learning (includes CMS)• Decision making• Opportunity awareness• Self-awareness [+ identity]• Transition learning

4. Work / life experience

5. Degree (knowledge, understanding and skills)

6. Generic skills

7. Emotional intelligence

Employability extends beyond

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How does it work for students?

• Different types of outcomes: different types of learning– T&L activities for creativity might be quite different from

learning how to perform well in a job interview– Knowledge of physiology might be different from developing

reflective ability

• Ill-structured problems (Knight and Yorke, 2003)– Characterise professional careers (Schon, 1987)– Higher cognitive development (Moon, 2004)

• Far transfer – Mastery developed through different situations– Progressively less structured and supported

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Identity

• The self concept develops (Super)

• Lifespan development theorist (Kroger, 2004)– Self can become progressively advanced– Openness, autonomy, stand apart from influences of family,

employer and culture– Disequilibrium

• Social learning (Krumboltz) – Activity preferences are learnt through experiences– Community / context– Cognitive beliefs (about self and learning)

• Meaning, emotion and narrative

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Complex learning takes time

• “We cannot call to mind any psychological text that commends one-off skills development units and recall that many say that ‘skills’ are best developed by being applied to a range of worthwhile material. Skilful practices are best developed across a whole programme in order to provide practice, reinforcement and opportunities to apply those practices to different content through increasingly authentic tasks.” (Knight & Yorke, 2004. p43)

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Look for strategies that:

• Build over the course of a programme– Presumption that the interventions will to a varying extent be

programme specific

• Entail real world learning experiences– Work experiences– Work related learning– Extra-curricula activities

• Reflection

• Address conceptual underpinnings

• Complement T&L with individual support

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The Reading journey

• 5 credit module component for all UG (2003) – Second year – Focused on self awareness, opportunity awareness and

transition learning

• Unusually, was a top down initiative

• Loosely coordinated with embedding transferable skills across the curriculum

• Mainly delivered by CAS

• Marked by the department

• Supported by internet learning resources, CMS Online

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Lessons

• Universities are organised anarchies

• Tribes and territories (Becher & Trowler, 2001)– Have their own ‘intransigent integrity’

• Programmes are owned by schools

• Develop employability from the grass-roots

• FDF have refrained from defining employability (to encourage academics to work out what it means)

• Schools need to identify what employability means for them and their students

• Conversations are key here

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We are moving to

• New models for CMS – Patterned across 3 years– Menu based selection– Greater focus on self-efficacy etc.

• CCMS Fellowships

• More ‘stars’ and new constellations– Practice of entrepreneurship– iLearn (PDP tool)– MASIV (SU voluntary work accreditation scheme)

• Careers Advisors as educational developers

• Wide angle focus through Period Review process

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Different HEIs = different approaches

• Reading University – Employability addressed through L&T strategy– Push for real world experiences– Diversification within broad expectations – CAS strong T&L focus but based in Student Services

• Bedford (SOAR)

• Birmingham

• LJMs (WOW)

• Coventry (Add+Vantage)

• Leeds Met Sch of Applied Global Ethics (Engagement)

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Future Fit CBI & UUK (2008) report

• Dedicated resources

• Strategic coordination

• Involve employers in win-win collaborations

• Employability responsibility should be shared across HEI

• Work experience

• HR policies that reward academics

• Avoid one hit wonders

• The report regrettably made few links with the substantial body of research and theory

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Facilitating creativity

• How do you enable school specific employability approaches to grow in diverse departments, universities and colleges?

• Key challenge for the Centre for Career Management Skills

• Change management identifies adaptable tools as supporting empowerment

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Destinations® - What is it?• Advice, information, interactive activities

– 500+ pages– 150 Videos– 50 downloads

• Fully functioning for – Autonomous users– Guided learners

• Learning tool configured for flexible curriculum use

• Comprehensive DOTS coverage

• Comes with T&L materials and curriculum models

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49 HEIs in UK and ROI

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Partner Fellows

PILOTS

• Birmingham

• Bradford

• Cornwall College

• Limerick

• Roehampton

• Ulster

OTHERS PARTNERS

• Brunel (International issues)

• Leeds Met (FDs)

• Liverpool (PBL)

• Oxford (Careers interviews)

• Westminster (Interactives)

• Wolverhampton (Pebble Pad)

And here today

• Aston

• Bournemouth

• Coventry

• SHU

• Thames Valley

• Winchester

• York St. John

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Re-usable learning objects

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Works with range of VLEs

University of Ulster

• Career Development Unit is delivery careers education modules to 29 degree programmes using Destinations®– Project led by Dr. Sharon Milner– Developed suite of career lessons to go with the website

• An Ulster student: ‘… the site is beneficial to all university students in order to prepare them for leaving education and successfully getting a career of their choice… The website offers all the advice that a student may need before getting further help from a member of staff...’

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Would you use the site again?

YES

NO

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100

150

200

YES NO

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What makes a strategy work?

• People

• Motivated

• Committed

• Determined

• Dig in for the long term

• Challenge and ask questions

• Support each other

• Connect with students

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Development is…

“… a continuous and sometimes unpredictable voyage throughout life, sailing from seas that have become familiar into oceans as yet uncharted toward destinations to be imagined, defined and redefined as the voyage proceeds...”

(Ford & Lerner, 1992)

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Alfred North Whitehead

“… Each individual embodies an adventure of existence. The art of

life is the guidance of this adventure.”

http://www.reading.ac.uk/ccms/

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