Introduction: '2022 Careers & Employability' Series
Evidence from satisfaction trends, graduate surveys, and daily interactions with anxious undergraduates has made one thing increasingly clear: the role of the University extends well beyond facilitating students in acquiring knowledge. This raises core questions for course and programme design:
- What do we owe our students?
- How do we prepare them – from early years to recent graduates, from first-generation learners to mature researchers – for the world outside the protective confines of the laboratory, library, or tutorial?
- What skills and attributes do students need, particularly in a post-Covid, globalised, digitised world, to succeed?
- How do we help students redefine what their success can look like?
Colm Harmon, Vice Principal (Students) at The University of Edinburgh, encapsulates these questions in a blog post co-written with Helen Stringer, Assistant Director at the Careers Service:
“What has been most obvious in our discussions to date is how students fear what is coming next, and feel that the University must play a critical role in their future directions. Not necessarily in training them to be something or other, but rather having some interest and instinct for what they will need to make the first steps in this altogether more uncertain world, in life and career.”
In the 2022 Careers & Employability series at Teaching Matters, seven blog posts grapple with what this ‘critical role’ should (and often does) look like at the University and beyond. They provide insights into employability that cohere from several rich sources, ranging from student reflections to literature reviews to project assessments. They offer a glimpse of our Careers Services’ ambition to support post-University life, and the diverse efforts needed to secure meaningful professional futures for all our students.
In this newsletter, you will find five lessons learned from the different sources referred to in this series. These will be followed by our regular features: Collegiate Commentary, In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), and Coming Soon at Teaching Matters! If you'd like to keep up with Teaching Matters, sign up to our Monthly Newsletter Mailing List.
Five lessons from the ‘2022 Careers & Employability’ series
Lesson #1: From the literature
In her post, Helen Stringer addresses the latest AdvanceHE review of employability literature. She revisits this comprehensive assessment of 2016-2021 research to break it down into key themes (such as work-integrated learning and employment inequality), offering a refresher for readers across all levels of subject expertise. Also of interest, as suggested by Helen’s post, is how some of the fundamentals of employability research can be up for dynamic debate. How exactly do we measure employability, for instance, or hiring inequities? What do such research gaps tell us about our industries more broadly?
Taking us further into employability literature, and how we might embed its benefits directly into the curriculum, is Sharon Maguire’s post on ‘Life Design’. This “creative, iterative, human-centered, problem-solving methodology” is designed to shape students – who, as Sharon tells us, can find it difficult to transition from the safety nets of education into the risky world of work – into reflective, confident, and collaborative individuals. Looking to curriculum futures, Sharon writes that a programme-level Life Design would...
"... support students to be intentional about how they build experience during their time at Edinburgh (within and outside the curriculum) ... the content and activities will encourage students to develop those mind-sets and behaviours fundamental to career planning: finding connections, being curious, managing uncertainty, and building resilience."
Lesson #2: From our Careers Services
Life Design's focus on supporting transitions into, within, and out of the classroom echoes what Colm Harmon has identified as a key task of the University:
“The university experience is marked by transitions, whether into, through or beyond... Our role is to foster a fertile environment where students can explore, experiment, and experience, and to support them in crafting, implementing and achieving their future.”
An essential step forward in supporting these transitions has been the move towards strengthening connections between the Careers Service and the University’s student support systems. In her post, Susan Bird explores a successful attempt at fostering these ties and, in so doing, smoothening academic and professional transitions for students – particularly transitions into the University, to Honours, and out of the University. Susan’s reflections on the ins and outs of this project make for a useful case study of what can work best for all stakeholders involved in professional development. For example, we might note how short, flexible sessions were prioritised in Susan’s project, as it was critical to not over-burden both staff and students: after all, as Susan writes, “trying to cover too much, too soon, will see them reaching for the off switch”.
Lesson #3: From the pandemic
Susan Bird’s focus on more ‘bite-sized’ interventions into employability responds strategically to the professional and academic stresses that have deepened since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital information overload continues to characterise the University experience, with students in particular juggling online classes, online work, and online socialising.
Lucy Everett calls this ‘virtual fatigue’; a state of mind that both students and employers may identify with. In her post on how the pandemic has transformed the relationship between students, employers, and careers services, Lucy notes that all parties have benefited enormously from moving hiring and working to online platforms (less travel, fewer costs, greater reach, and better accessibility).
However, the University’s Careers Service’s increasing shift towards more hybrid, personalised modes appears to be the right decision. Addressing a recent survey of students at The University of Edinburgh, Lucy observes that “the breadth of online opportunities has been overwhelming for many. They want us to help them sift through the plethora of activities to find those relevant for them.”
Lesson #4: From our students
Two posts in this series spotlight undergraduate experiences of the internship scheme managed by The University of Edinburgh’s Careers Service: Employ.ed. As the University’s primary nexus for academic and professional development, Employ.ed supports students during a critical transitional moment in their lives.
In her post, Niamh clarifies that part of the terror of moving from the classroom to the workspace is a sheer lack of practical work experience integrated into the curriculum. This is exactly the gap in the student experience that schemes like Employ.ed seeks to correct. Reflecting on her experience, from application to wrap-up, Niamh offers an expansive look at her own internship process at the exciting Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Clarissa’s experience chimes with Niamh’s. As an intern at the Institute for Academic Development, Clarissa found herself working on several initiatives, from producing resources on course design to editing the Teaching Matters blog. As she notes, these commitments offered her the perfect spaces and mentors to help improve not only her self-confidence and professionalism, but also more specific skills ranging from the technical (such as web design) to the collaborative (such as networking) to the contingent (such as damage control, when things don’t quite go according to plan!)
Lesson #5: From our government
We’ve seen how our careers services remain as essential as ever to the University. In her post, Shelagh Green, Director of Careers Service at The University of Edinburgh, extends this scope to examine how careers services have become a matter of national importance. Her post offers us a succinct, University of Edinburgh-focused overview of the Scottish Government’s 2022 review of careers services for young people, which accepted all proposed recommendations to improve employability prospects for under-25s. A detailed summary of this Review, which has been scheduled for near-immediate implementation, is available here.
Shelagh's post for this series assesses a handful of the Review’s ambitious recommendations – from increasing ‘outcome-based measures’ to skill accreditation – making sure to outline both the opportunities and challenges they pose at the level of execution. Ultimately, however, Shelagh is motivated by the promise of the University’s Curriculum Transformation Project, which she refers to as a “golden opportunity” to better integrate these recommendations and re-define the professional futures of our students.
Collegiate Commentary
with Ruth O'Riordan, Assistant Head of Careers at The University of Dundee
While Teaching Matters primarily showcases University of Edinburgh teaching and learning practice, our core values of collegiality and support extend beyond our institution, inviting a wider, international community to engage in Teaching Matters. In this feature, we ask colleagues from other Universities to provide a short commentary on ‘Five things...’, and share their own learning and teaching resource or output, which we can learn from.
Ruth's Commentary on "Five lessons learned from the 2022 Careers & Employability'"series
Employability is important to all higher education stakeholders, and a core factor when students are selecting their degree subject and place of study. A measurable return on investment is expected, and evidence to support this is visible in the metrics of university league tables. Employability is not just the job of a Careers Service. A whole institution approach is necessary, and it is exciting to see the enthusiasm and perceived opportunities that The University of Edinburgh’s Curriculum Transformation Project brings.
Self-awareness: The development of students’ self-awareness is at the very foundation of many of the initiatives outlined in this blog series. “Being self-aware” can be true perhaps for a short space in time, but when circumstances, hopes, fears, external influence, priorities, constraints or plans change, then the process resets and the journey of discovery resumes anew. Supporting students to develop the tools to enhance their self-awareness in times of decision, transition, personal development and future planning is desirable, and something that universities, as the producers of graduates, cannot ignore. Planning and managing one’s career is a skill in itself, and Sharon’s blog post illustrates how student’s need support and reassurance as they develop their self-awareness.
The development of transferable skills and recognition of graduate attributes has long been a stalwart of careers services. The ability to evidence these and articulate them in written and verbal formats illustrates enhanced self-awareness. Employability skills are generally not as narrowly prescribed as they used to be, and now contain more social and developmental elements relating to attributes such as resilience, professionalism, sustainability, growth mindset, and so forth. This brings us to thinking about work-based learning, internships, and placements.
Work-based learning, internships, and placements: I love how Clarissa and Niamh recognise the value and challenge of developing networking skills, and the enormous value of having a network around you. Furthermore, both students mention developing professional workplace and management skills, which are often difficult to experience without being in work – a simulation or work-related assignment can only go so far! Picking up on Helen’s blog post, I wholeheartedly support the research that asserts that an internship experience is more powerful if wrapped with pre and post placement reflection. Helen mentions “Opportunity Stacking” and “Time to engage” in relation to inequalities in accessing employability enhancing activities.
The University of Dundee (UoD) Careers: At UoD, we run a number of credit-bearing careers modules including one for our summer school, which allows us to build early relationships with students. In two of our internship modules, we source micro-placements that students complete during one semester of their second year at University. The Internship Module won the University of Dundee Inclusive Practice Award in recognition of it’s levelling of the playing field and where students don’t have to choose between their part-time job, which is a necessity to pay the bills, and completing an internship. The wrap-around support with sourcing, competing for, and completing, the experience means that students can secure life-changing experiences and know how to apply their newfound-employability skills to their future.
“Don't hesitate to take the module. Apart from giving you an opportunity to get an internship and boost your CV, the tutors and Careers Services are absolutely amazing in helping you realise what the whole 'world of graduates' is about. 100% can recommend.”
Alongside internship modules, we deliver a range of Career Management modules. Externally-funded, sector-leading, and national award-winning research illustrated that almost three-quarters (72.7%) of graduates who took a UoD careers module had a clear plan for after they graduated, versus 27.3% who did not take one and felt less prepared. Furthermore, the odds of finding graduate level employment were 40.1% higher if a careers module was undertaken (see: Measuring the impact of credit bearing careers education through funded research and Impact of careers education on graduate success).
Careers Advisers manage, prepare, deliver and mark assignments across all of the employability modules at UoD. We are fully aware of QA processes, write learning outcomes, set authentic assessments and support students with gaining academic credit whilst enhancing their employability. Being involved in such processes and committees raises our profile across the institution and through tracking learning gain we are able to showcase their value.
Of course, not all academic programmes have space in their curriculum to accommodate a full careers and employability module. We work with our academic colleagues to embed quality employability interactions across the curriculum using our clean, clear and adaptable Curriculum Design Principles (CDP) Framework. The Employability thread of CDP asserts that all programmes should contain three clear employability steps: Self-awareness and skills development; Work-based learning; and Careers Transition Learning. This adaptable and effective strategy ensures that Careers Consultants have clear focus when discussing careers in the curriculum, and the content is planned early to ensure that it is timetabled.
A successful employability strategy needs to be adaptable. Subject disciplines need to feel they can take ownership of it and tailor activities to their student’s needs. A one-size fits all approach would reduce engagement. Careers Advisers are the experts in supporting students with career transitions and must be part of the conversation regarding developing in curriculum content but do not always have to deliver it. And finally, a strategy is of no value if it is not shared with our students – share with them what they can expect, inspire them to get involved, include them in content design and co-deliver for enhanced engagement.
About Ruth: Ruth O’Riordan is Assistant Head of Careers at The University of Dundee. She is passionate about careers education, and more specifically ensuring equality of opportunity through embedding careers and employability learning into the curriculum. She has published research into the effectiveness and value of credit bearing career education, and enjoys supporting all students to raise their aspirations and realise their potential. She posts on Twitter as RuthO’Riordan1, and is delighted to talk to anyone about employability-focussed authentic assessments, and embedding career learning into the curriculum.
In case you missed it (ICYMI)
At the end of last year, our Learning and Teaching Enhancement Series - Reflective Learning - explored the importance of reflective learning and the diverse forms such experiential pedagogy can take, as well as showcasing how such learning is already being implemented in our classrooms and can be supported further. Check out the most popular post from this series: Reflective design: Programme-level reflection and its assessment, by Sabine Rolle and Andy Cross.
Don't forget to read our recent extra posts:
- Find out what our top ten most read blog posts were in 2022: Teaching Matters Top 10 of 2022.
- Discover how to embed creativity in a science curriculum: Student creativity at the centre of the new biology curriculum.
- Learn how to create a mindfulness-based wellbeing course for doctoral students.
- Join Moray House School of Education & Sport in Celebrating 50 years of Outdoor & Environmental Education programmes.
- Discover the do's and don't of academic CV writing.
Coming soon at Teaching Matters
Upcoming blog themes
We begin 2023 with a series co-edited by Academic Services celebrating QAA's 20 years of Enhancement Themes.
March & April's Hot Topic will feature a range of thought pieces centred around ChatGPT, while the L&T Enhancement Theme will showcase current Student Voice good practice across the University. Please get in touch if you would like to contribute to one of these series: teachingmatters@ed.ac.uk.
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