Presentation at the HEA-funded workshop 'Employability and the sociological imagination' The workshop examined the potential of using the ‘sociological imagination’ to raise awareness of employability by engaging students in a reflective sociological critique of the concept. It considered how a pedagogic approach can be used to support personal development and career planning in a less-obviously vocational discipline. This presentation is part of a related blog post that provides an overview of the event: http://bit.ly/1impOjY For further details of the HEA's work on employability and global citizenship in the Social Sciences, please see: http://bit.ly/17n8Knj

1. Employability
and
the
sociological
imagina3on:
Fostering
a
cri3cal
awareness
of
employability
in
a
discipline
where
linkage
to
professional
career
development
is
less
clearly
ar3culated
Kety
Faina,
Gordon
Heggie,
Jade
McCarroll,
Neil
McPherson,
Paul
McShane,
John
Melia,
Donna
Russell,
Iqra
Tusadiq
Higher
Educa3on
Academy:
Social
Sciences
workshop
and
seminar
series
2013-­‐14.

2. Employability
Partnership
Learner
journey
Cri3cal
thinking
Targets
Student
feedback
Student
experience
Research
mindedness
Engagement
Ac3ve
learning
Collabora3on
Crea3vity
Flexible
curriculum
Ci3zenship
Interdisciplinarity
Communica3on
Change
Student
as
producer
Curriculum
design
Performance
Inquiry-­‐based
learning
Peer
evalua3on
Resilience
Peer-­‐assisted
learning

3. Going
round
in
circles
Searching
for
an
approach
to
employability
A
framework
for
employability
(Cole
&
Tibby,
2013:
10)
Stage
1.
Discussion
&
reflec1on
‘Crea3ng
and
defining
a
shared
point
of
reference’
Stage
2.
Review/Mapping
What
are
we
doing/not
doing?
Stage
4.
Evaluate
What
does
success
look
like
&
how
is
it
measured?
How
can
we
enhance
prac3ce
further?
Goal:
A
defined,
cohesive
and
more
Comprehensive
approach
to
employability
Stage
3.
Ac1on
How
do
we
share
&
enhance
exis3ng
prac3ce?
How
do
we
address
‘gaps’
in
provision?

4. First
steps
Two
key
developments
• Create
a
series
of
core
modules
that
reconfigured
the
rela3onship
between
teaching
and
research
through
the
introduc3on
of
ac3ve
inquiry-­‐based
learning
• Address
an
employability
agenda
where
students
are
increasingly
viewed
‘as
consumers
of
educa3on
and
academics’
iden3fica3ons
as
producers
of
consumer
(that
is
teaching-­‐and-­‐learning)
services’
(Boden
&
Eps3en
2006:
227)
• Searching
for
a
solu3on
to
what
Neary
(2012)
calls
the
‘impossible
project’

5. Reconfiguring
the
curriculum
Engaging
students
in
research
and
inquiry
‘our
goal
here
is
to
move
more
curricula
in
the
direc3on
of
developing
students
as
par3cipants
in
research
and
inquiry,
so
that
they
are
producers,
not
just
consumers
of
knowledge’
(Healey
&
Jenkins
2009:
6)
(encouraging)…’the
development
of
collabora3ve
rela3ons
between
student
and
academic
for
the
produc3on
of
knowledge’
(Neary
&
Winn
2010:
137)

6. Unpacking
the
employability
agenda
Employability
and
higher
educa3on
‘Many
of
the
graduates
I
met
were
unprepared,
uninformed
and
lacking
in
self-­‐
awareness.
They
struggled
to
demonstrate
what
it
was
they
wanted
from
a
job
and
what
they
could
bring
to
it.
Carl
Gilleard,
Chief
Execu3ve
of
the
Associa3on
of
Graduate
Recruiters
(2006)
[Universi3es
need
to
improve]…
the
business
relevance
of
undergraduate
courses.
Business
of
course
have
a
key
role
in
stepping
up
to
work
with
universi3es
to
improve
the
relevance
of
course
content…[and]..to
see
moves
to
greater
flexibility
in
course
design
and
delivery,
leading
to
courses
that
fit
beier
with
the
needs
of
businesses…a
readiness
to
take
a
much
greater
share
of
the
market
for
training
provision.’
CBI
(2013)
Changing
the
pace:
educa3on
and
skills
survey,
pg.57

7. Embedding
employability
‘Embedding
employability
into
the
core
of
higher
educa3on
will
con3nue
to
be
a
key
priority
of
Government,
universi3es
and
colleges,
and
employers.
This
will
bring
both
significant
private
and
public
benefit,
demonstra3ng
higher
educa3on’s
broader
role
in
contribu3ng
to
economic
growth
as
well
as
its
vital
role
in
social
and
cultural
development.’
(HEFCE,
2011,
pg.5)
[But]…‘the
complexity
of
employability
and
the
variety
that
exists
in
curricula
in
UK
higher
educa3on
mean
that
no
single,
ideal,
prescrip3on
for
the
embedding
of
employability
can
be
provided.’
(Yorke
&
Knight
2006:
2)

8. Our
ini3al
model

9. Our
ini3al
mapping
Embedding
employability
in
the
social
science
curriculum
• Mapping
of
modules
to
CIHE
competencies
and
HEA
student
employability
profiles
• Raising
staff/students
awareness
of
the
way
in
which
employability
competencies
are
embedded
in
the
curriculum
• Promo3ng
graduate
aiributes

10. Our
ini3al
map

11. Ques3oning
the
employability
agenda
‘The
concept
of
employability…was
introduced
by
corpora3ons,
marketed
as
a
response
to
the
need
to
be
flexible
in
the
face
of
global
compe33on…
Companies…could
no
longer
offer
job
security
to
employees
and
introduced
'employability'
instead,
as
the
new
psychological
contract.
As
such,
it
forms
part
of
'the
new
spirit
of
capitalism’
(Chertkovskaya,
2013,
non-­‐paginated)

12. Targets,
targets,
targets
• By
the
end
of
AY
14/15,
UWS
will
achieve
a
graduate-­‐level
employment
rate
of
65%
within
the
annual
DLHE
survey
2013-­‐14
SFC-­‐UWS
Outcome
Agreement
• By
the
end
of
AY
14/15,
UWS
will
achieve
a
minimum
graduate-­‐level
employment
rate
of
75%
for
our
graduates
within
3
years
of
gradua3on’
2013-­‐14
SFC-­‐UWS
Outcome
Agreement
• The
propor3on
of
graduate
professional/
managerial
employment
will
match
(within
2%)
or
exceed
average
performance
of
post
1992
Scoqsh
HEI
in
each
subject
area’
UWS
LTAS
V1.1,
5.4

13. But
employability…
• ‘Employability…is
about
learning
and
the
emphasis
is
less
on
‘employ’
and
more
on
‘ability’.
In
essence,
the
emphasis
is
on
developing
cri3cal,
reflec3ve
abili3es,
with
a
view
to
empowering
and
enhancing
the
learner.’
(Harvey,
quoted
in
Pegg,
2012:
4)
• ‘Is
clearly
not
the
same
as
graduate
employment
rates’
(Knight
&
Yorke
2004:
9)
• Nor
is
it…
‘something
that
can
be
quan3fied
by
any
single
measure.
Des3na3ons
of
Leavers
from
Higher
Educa3on
(DLHE)
survey
is
a
measure
of
employment
not
employability’
(Cole
&
Tibby
2013:
6)

14. The
employability
agenda
Ques3oning
the
role
of
the
University
‘[Employability]
is
now
claiming
3me
on
syllabi
at
the
expense
of
academic
subjects
and
inculca3ng
market
values
at
the
expense
of
free
and
cri3cal
thinking’
(Sarson,
2013,
non-­‐paginated)
‘the
public
and
democra3c
character
of
the
university
is
undermined,
while
humani3es
and
social
sciences
which,
by
their
very
nature,
cannot
airact
market
interest
are
marginalized’
(Panayota
&
Grollios,
2012:
317).
Ques3oning
the
role
of
social
science

15. How
do
we
square
the
circle?
Key
issues
from
Tibby
(2012)
• Disparity
between
students’
percep3on
of
employability
and
those
of
employers
• Many
students
are
not
engaged
with
employability
• Employers
and
students
value
work-­‐experience
but
barriers
exist
in
provision
and
access

16. Understanding
what
employers
want
Most
important
factors
considered
when
recrui3ng
graduates
Source:
CBI.
Learning
to
Grow
-­‐
Educa3on
and
Skills
Survey
2012

17. Understanding
our
students
Which
of
the
the
following
do
you
think
are
the
most
important
factors
employers
consider
when
recrui1ng
graduates
(%)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Language
Degree
classifica3on
Work
experience
Degree
subject
Employability
skills
Hamilton
Paisley

18. Understanding
our
students
0
20
40
60
80
Yes
No
Do
you
have
a
par1cular
job/career
path
in
mind
aHer
you
finish
your
studies?
(%)
Hamilton
Paisley

19. Understanding
our
students
Survey
of
L7
social
science
students
undertaken
in
week
1

20. Understanding
our
students
Raising
awareness:
an
employability
VLE

21. Understanding
our
students
Employment
and
the
social
sciences

22. Bridging
the
gap
Learning
in
partnership

23. Does
it
work?
What
students
say
The
tasks
have
been
interes3ng
because
they
gave
an
actual
taste
of
what
a
research
is
like,
on
all
its
levels,
from
organisa3on
to
prac3cal
issues
such
as
funding
or
ethical
approval
…has
given
a
good
insight
into
real
life
problems
and
opportuni3es
The
research/inquiry
based
learning
focus
of
the
module
has
been
great
and
grown
my
confidence
in
rela3on
to
independent
study.
…led
to
me
becoming
more
aware
as
to
what
employability
skills
I
have
been
developing
whilst
learning
in
other
modules
…made
me
reflect
on
my
learning
journey
so
far,
and
I
now
feel
that
it's
easier
to
make
connec3ons
between
skills
developed
by
doing
different
types
of
assessments
and
the
skills
sought
out
by
employers

24. Our
new
model

25. Making
employability
‘real’
Our
employability-­‐integrated
assessment
map

26. Have
we
squared
the
circle?
Returning
to
Tibby
(2012)
-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐
Disparity
between
students’
percep3on
of
employability
and
those
of
employers
Our
solu3on:
embed
in
the
curriculum
through
employability-­‐
integrated
assessment
and
partnership
learning
-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐
Many
students
are
not
engaged
with
employability
Our
solu3on:
embed
in
the
curriculum
through
employability-­‐
integrated
assessment
and
partnership
learning
-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐
Employers
and
students
value
work-­‐experience
but
barriers
exist
in
provision
and
access
Is
WBL
necessary?
Can
WRL
be
fully
embedded
in
the
curriculum?

27. For
cri3cal
friends
To
provide
feedback,
comments
or
to
ask
any
ques3ons,
please
contact:
Dr
Gordon
Heggie
Lecturer
in
Social
Sciences
University
of
the
West
of
Scotland
gordon.heggie2@uws.ac.uk
Dr
Neil
McPherson
Lecturer
in
Social
Sciences
University
of
the
West
of
Scotland
neil.mcpherson@uws.ac.uk