Employer Engagement and Employability after the Crash

Free to download is the latest copy of Why Social Science Matters published by C-SAP the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics. Issues 2 is focuses on employability and employer engagement issues and includes papers from Patrick Ainley, Annika Coughlin, Vincent Carpentier, Max Farrar, Yiu Tung Suen, Matt Badcock Àngels Trias i Valls and myself. The issues derives from a C-SAP workshop earlier in 2007 and is well worth a read.

Work-based learning and assessment Conference

Here is a conference that may be of interest.

Work-based learning and assessment for the next decade

16 – 17 March 2010

Weetwood Hall, Leeds, UK

ALPS’ aim over the past five years has been to increase the confidence and competence of students graduating in health and social care. With a high proportion of many undergraduate courses being taught within practice settings, work-based learning and assessment has increasingly been at the forefront of education development.

The ALPS Conference 2010 will facilitate the dissemination of ALPS’ work and act as a springboard from which programme outputs and embedding projects may be launched. The conference will also:

* identify the trends and potential developments of work-based learning and assessment over the next 10 years
* review current and up-and-coming learning technologies
* highlight factors affecting the employability of graduating students

The Conference will be of interest to all those working in health and social care education, as well as researchers, professionals, and anyone concerned with the future of work-based learning and assessment.

Workshops, roundtable and oral presentations will be focused on one of the two conference themes:

1. Working in partnership to improve employability
* Ensuring and assuring professional competence
* How should Higher Education respond to the changing employment landscape? (e.g., the changing face of the NHS)
* ‘All together now’ – interprofessional working, learning and assessment
* Working in collaboration
* Services for students (support during fieldwork, work experience, practice placements etc.)

2. Learning and assessment in the technological age
* Learning without walls
* Student expectations of learning and assessment
* Mobile learning in a mobile world
* Technology as an enhancement to learning
* Long-arm supervision of students at work-based placements
* Sustainability and scalability of learning and assessment innovations

For details of the conference and registration: http://www.alps-cetl.ac.uk/2010registration.html

Post conference thoughts

The last few weeks have been a busy time for conferences, with the fdf Conference in October followed by the UVAC and C-SAP conferences in November. As I mentioned in my last post, I was particularly looking forward to hearing the contrasting views of the Minister of State for Higher Education, David Lammy MP and his shadow John Hayes MP. Unfortunately due to ministerial business David Lammy was unable to attend – a great shame as it would have been an excellent opportunity for the minister to talk with the people who are trying to make the higher skill agenda a reality on a day-to-day basis. The address by John Hayes was long on criticism of current government policy, but rather short on policy proposals to overcome the problems identified. Such is the luxury of opposition.

Party Politics

With the next general election approaching, the parties are getting busy outlining their policies. Whether they will have the funds available to pay for these is of course another matter, but following on from the Liberal Democrats commitment to 10,000 extra university places and 50,000 extra college places for Foundation degrees (see blog entry for 12th September), the Conservatives have also pledged 10,000 additional university places. From their press release there seems to be no mention of additional Foundation Degree places whether college or university based. However, the point that does interest me is that both parties are proposing these as a response to rising levels of youth unemployment in the current downturn. It’s easy to see the short-term political logic of getting people off the unemployment figures, but less clear how this might relate to a longer term skills strategy aimed at addressing the skills needs of the economy.

Perhaps we shall hear more at the forthcoming UVAC conference where both the Minister of State for Higher Education, David Lammy MP and the Shadow Minister John Hayes MP are scheduled to speak.

Research and Foundation Degrees

A review of research literature relating to Foundation degrees has recently been published on the fdf website. I've not had a chance to read it all yet - but from what I have seen, it provides an excellent survey of publications up to the start of this year.

Lib Dems Call for Big Expansion of FDs

Last week the Lib Dems called for 50,000 more Foundation Degree places to be made available to help tackle unemployment among younger adults. Given that they estimate that around 82,000 students were enrolled on these courses in 2008/09, this is substantial commitment to expand numbers. The focus of the proposal is on the FE sector and the proposal specifically refers to “college based foundation degree places”. It is true that around two-thirds of FD students are taught at Further Education Colleges, but much FD provision (particularly for part-time students) is in the university sector and it is important that this is not overlooked. The Lib Dems also propose to make it easier for FECs to gain Foundation Degree awarding powers individually or collectively. My personal view is that the positive approach of the current government towards extending of awarding should be supported. However, I would fear that the scale of what the Lib Dems propose would put quantity before quality and put at risk the reputation of the sector.

HE in FE: Which way forward?

The TES is reporting that the Ascociation of Colleges have dropped their campaign for a new Bachelor of Vocational Studies degree. I think this is the right decision. Many of us who have been involved with Foundation Degrees over the years know how difficult it has been to establish a new qualification in the minds of the public, employers and colleagues. The Bachelor of Vocational Studies degree might well have faced even greater challenges. There name could easily be confused with BA/BSc courses which they were unlike, while there structure would be similar to exisitng Foundation Degrees (for which colleges can already apply for awarding powers). In addition, the validating 'National Skills University' might have proved to be costly and bureaucratic. Let me emphasise, I have seen excellent examples of higher education delivered in FECs and take the view that they can and should play a greater role in future HE provision. However, I don’t think the Vocational Studies idea was a good one and I’m glad to see that it has been dropped.

Employability - International Dimesions

Here's news of a one day workshop focusing on international dimensions of graduate employability. Looks interesting.

The FDTL5 Enhancing Graduate Employability Project is delighted to invite you to attend a one-day workshop entitled:

International Dimensions of Graduate Employability: Developing the global citizen

Friday 16th October 2009

Oxford Brookes University

Confirmed Speakers include:

· Brenda Little, Principal Policy Analyst, Centre for Higher Education Research and Information

· Chris Shiel, Director of the Centre for Global Perspectives, Bournemouth University

· David Bagley, Head of Enterprise and Employability, University of Central Lancashire

This workshop will provide an opportunity to:

· Explore institutional approaches to embedding employability

· Explore some key issues surrounding graduate employability with a specific focus on international perspectives

· Consider the demand for graduate skills in a difficult economic climate

· Enable the sharing of best practice within the higher education sector to enhance graduate level employability

Attendance is free of charge but places are limited. The event will be of interest to academics with an interest in employability from across subject disciplines, careers advisors, senior institutional staff and employers.

To register your interest in this workshop please e-mail: hlst@brookes.ac.uk.

Complimentary copies of the following publications will be made available on the day:

“Delivering Graduate Employability:

Case studies in Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism”

Edited by Sarah Graves and Angela Maher

and

“Graduate Employability: Can higher education deliver?”

Angela Maher and Sarah Graves

The workshop is being run by the FDTL5 Enhancing Graduate Employability Project and is supported by the HLST and BMAF Higher Education Academy Subject Centres and the Oxford Brookes University Careers and Employment Service.

The FDTL5 ‘Enhancing Graduate Employability’ project is directed by Oxford Brookes University and funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL). Further detailed information and resources can be found on the project website at www.enhancingemployability.org.uk

Employability in the Curriculum Conference

Followers of this blog may be interested in a conference just announced by the ceth CETL (Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning) which is developing work around the employability of humanities and social science students.

The announcement and call for papers is below.

Employability in the Curriculum: Beyond the Bolt-on?
First Call for Papers
A ceth conference; www.uclan.ac.uk/ceth

Key Note Speakers so far include:
- Professor Freda Tallantyre (HEA)
- Professor Lee Harvey (Copenhagen Business School)
- Professor Ronald Barnett (Institute of Education, University of London)

The University of Central Lancashire’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and
Learning (ceth) invites you to explore the processes, value, and impact of
different ways of delivering employability within subject curricula and asks
whether we have moved beyond the bolt-on and to what effect?

You are invited to register and to submit a paper.

The main themes we wish to explore include:
• Embedding employability in non-vocational disciplines
• Work-based learning
• Learning spaces and real/realistic work environments
• Employer, community and alumni engagement
• Teaching, identifying and assessing employability skills
• Evaluation and impact
• The voice of the students
Further details can be seen at
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ahss/ceth/conference.php along with registration
forms and details for submitting a presentation, or call us on 01772 892250.

Janet Lange
Director, ceth at the University of Central Lancashire, jlange@uclan.ac.uk

Applicantion Patterns

UCAS figures published yesterday for applications to higher education course for 2009-10 show some interesting patterns for applications for social science degrees and foundation degrees.

Overall, there is a rise of 8.1% in applications for BA/BSc course, with politics achieving a 16.7% rise and Sociology a 4.3% rise. Social Policy applications, by contrast, have fallen by 2.8%.

Foundation degrees applications overall show an overall rise of around 20%, but the numbers applying to most social science Foundation degrees that are included in these figures is low. One application for a politics foundation degree and thirty three for sociology. Social Policy once again is rather different with a 64.2% increase in foundation degree applications at 944 overall.

Clearly there are many stories behind these figures. Some foundation degrees may use direct applications and there are technical points about the number of choices made by students on UCAS forms. For me, the key questions are whether the social sciences are making the most of the increased interest by applicants in foundation degree courses? Does the low application rate reflect the lack of interest by applicants in more vocational pathways within our subject areas or a lack attractive provision on our part?

Of course the outcome of all these applications depends in part on the degree to which the government may or may not fund further increases in student numbers – which is of course a political question.

Some words of comfort?

David Lammy’s speech to the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) is worth a read. The headline message is a defence of the liberal arts within higher education – this being justified on the dual basis that it is both good for the economy and good in itself.

Perhaps the underlying message is ‘don’t fear the swallowing of DIUS by BIS’. Of course, beyond the rhetoric, funding decisions and policy will reveal the real balance of power and priority in the merged department and we will need to wait a little longer to see how that turns out.

For my part, I was interested in the rather traditional conception of higher education that seems to inform the speech. References to “music societies, film clubs, bridge clubs, sports clubs, science clubs, political clubs, voluntary societies, foreign language societies” and the “annual play put on in the German Department” suggest to me a particular type of higher education experience. My hope is that the commitment to a liberal conceptualization of higher education is one that all learners are able to benefit from.

Breaking News

Following the reports from today's reshuffle it appears that:

• DIUS has now been merged into a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
• Lord Mandelson is now the Secretary of State in charge of HE

Given the way that things are unfolding in government, I am tempted to think this might have more to do with expediency than strategic policy - but it does mean that HE is now clearly linked to business rather than the rest of education within government. It will be interesting to see if this has any consequences.

Who’s the customer? Who’s the employer?

Within higher education these days, we often come across the idea that students should be seen as customers. This can sometimes become a rather polemic debate, with the best and worst implications of the term becoming centre stage. However, whether we recoil from the idea of our students seeing our modules as just another item on the supermarket shelf or embrace the notion of students taking a more active role in choosing what and how they want to study, in both cases it is the student who remains at the centre of attention. Contrast this with the idea expressed in the CBI report Stepping Higher (supported by UUK and HEFCE) that we should “re-think that traditional university-student relationship to give employers a central role” (p.11). The dangers of an approach that replaces a student focus with an employer focus is highlighted in a recent paper published in Education and Training by Julie Drake, Joanne Blake and Wayne Swallow. Drawing on a case study of a Foundation Degree produced in partnership by the University of Huddersfield and First Direct, they argue convincingly that the higher skills agenda “has to include engagement of employees rather than just engaging employers” (p.40).

Of course, in some cases, it can be difficult to identify who the employer is at all. In a paper that Sarah Hale and I presented to the Higher Education Academy conference in 2008 we considered the result of work that Sarah had undertaken exploring the experiences of local councillors studying higher education courses. The elected councillors are not ‘employees’ in any normal sense and might well be considered the employers themselves, as they have overall charge of the council. Yet, they are often cast in the role of employees and the object of training and development programmes. If all this shows us anything, it is that the identities of all those involved in the higher skills agenda are perhaps more complicated and fluid than simple definitions may suggest. All the more work for us social scientists to try and make some sense out of then – as both researchers and teachers.

Welcome to ‘Social Science and the Higher Skills Agenda’ (SocSciHi)

This is new blog designed to provide an on-going commentary on employer engagement and work-based learning in higher education from the perspective of a social scientist.

The idea for the blog grew out of the C-SAP funded project ‘Politics after Leitch: What can we learn from Foundation Degrees’. The project consisted of a web-based survey of Foundation Degrees based on politics subject content and a series of follow-up interviews to identify examples of good and innovative practice (click here to see the survey results)

In the course of undertaking this project, we generated a range of materials for dissemination relating to FDs based in the area of politics. One option was simply to set-up a website, but this seemed too static an approach for a topic that continues to move forward and which gives rise to such a large amount of discussion and debate. In addition to this, during the project it became clear to me that some of the issues that were being raised would be of interest not just to colleagues teaching politics, government and public management/administration– but also to those in other areas of social science, such as sociology, criminology, social policy and anthropology.

My solution to this - set-up SocSciHi.

On it I will post:

• On-going project outputs, including examples of good and innovative practice relating to the higher skills agenda (HSA) and focusing on courses within the social sciences.
• Commentary on on-going policy development relating to the implementation of HSA. Since I am a politics academic – this interests me because I both work in HE and like to study how governments work.
• Links to and reviews of books, articles and reports that use social science approaches to analyse and critique the HAS.

No doubt, as things unfold, this list will grow and develop.

I welcome your comments, ideas and suggestions and offer the deal that if you follow the blog and join the conversation, I will to post to it at least once a month.

John