Last year, many of my friends (and I) turned forty (!) and at every party, we reminisced about the numerous gaffes and blunders we had survived as we made our way through schools and colleges into our first experiences of work and life. Most of us (but not all!) had recovered sufficiently from these misadventures to be able to laugh as we looked back. In hindsight we were unanimous in saying, “If we had known then what we know now….”
This is exactly what education for employability is about. You can read about it in a series of publications called the Learning and Employability Series produced among others, the by the Pedagogy for Employability Group, in consultation with the Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination Team (ESECT) and the Higher Education Academy (Generic Centre). You can also access some of these and other related papers here.
This series of publications, (edited by Professor Mantz Yorke) offers an in-depth, balanced and thought provoking discussion of the key issues in providing an education that ensures that learners can “hit the ground running fast”.
So what exactly is employability?
Most definitions say it's "a set of skills, knowledge and personal attributes” that improve an individual's chances of success in whatever path they may opt for after their education. It's essentially about teaching individuals to reflect on what makes them tick and finding out what they really want to do in life.
“Employability derives from complex learning, and is a concept of wider range than those of ‘core’ and ‘key’ skills.”
“Employability is not merely an attribute of the new graduate. It needs to be continuously refreshed throughout a person’s working life.”
Source: Employability and Curriculum Design (Kenneth Aitchison and Melanie Giles).
Moving beyond content mastery
While different teaching approaches can lead to similar levels of content mastery in a subject, they can lead to significant differences in other outcomes.
Conventional passive delivery approaches are not renown for fostering independent thought, creative problem solving, critical thinking, experimentation, reflection and transfer of learning to other contexts. Problem based or scenario based learning approaches may be better suited for such outcomes.
The underlying ethos of this series of publications is that there is no conflict of interest between promoting good learning and in promoting employability and that it essentially involves a shift in perspective and approach, a fine-tuning of the curriculum to include the development of skills and attributes in addition to and not in lieu of content mastery.
The primary purpose for the introduction of personal development planning (PDP) in schools is to develop in learners the capacity for reflection and self-awareness. The exercise is meant to help them gain clarity about their attitudes, aptitudes, personal goals and explore how they can work toward these goals.
Making explicit connections
It is now univerally acknowledged that for real understanding, learners must be made to see the big picture. It's critical to make clear the rationale behind these PDP exercises by means of explicit connection building, because,
“provision without student awareness is a missed opportunity. Students need to know that PDP has these purposes and to see how it can link to job-getting and employability generally. They need to see the significance of PDP for their personal development, rather than treat it as an externally imposed requirement (which might be perceived merely as a bureaucratic chore with no apparent benefit).” (Pedagogy for Employability, p. 14)
More to come. Once I’ve passed my driving test (critical to employability)!
