Dr Zoe Robinson, Keele University. Re-orienting skills programmes, GEES employer engagement conference, Edinburgh, July 2008 Engaging employers in re-orienting

Dr Zoe Robinson, Keele University. Re-orienting skills programmes, GEES employer engagement conference, Edinburgh, July 2008

Engaging employers in re-orienting Engaging employers in re-orienting skills programmes for careers skills programmes for careers

relevancyrelevancy

Dr Zoe RobinsonSchool of Physical and Geographical Sciences,

Keele University, UKand

Gareth Digges la Touche, Golders Associates (formerly MJCA)


Talk outlineTalk outline

• The wider context

• An employer’s view of skills gaps

• Case study: reorienting a traditional physical geography skills programme

• Benefits and pitfalls of employer engagement


The Current ContextThe Current Context

• The need to produce ‘employment ready’ The need to produce ‘employment ready’ graduatesgraduates

• …….with minimal effort.with minimal effort

Students expect itStudents expect itEmployers expect itEmployers expect it


HE responsibilitiesHE responsibilities

• QAA Code of Practice “to ensure that [HEIs] are meeting students’ expectations in respect of their preparedness for their future career, and that they are producing graduates equipped to meet the demands of the employment market of today and tomorrow”


The challengesThe challenges• Fear that an emphasis on employability

will lead to erosion of the development of “critical intellectual skills”

• Geographers less successful than other disciplines in forming effective links with the world of employment (Jenkins and Healey, 1995)

• Pressures of student numbers, and reduction in the unit of resource for teaching students


But what we teach But what we teach isis relevant… relevant…• But students don’t easily make the linkBut students don’t easily make the link

Therefore we’re failing to fulfil (or even address?) students’ employment expectations


Case study: The starting pointCase study: The starting point

• A series of traditional physical geography skills-based practical sessions– Soil analysis– Water chemistry– Surveying

• Step-by-step workbook assessment

• Group work, not all students do all practical work

No rationaleNo rationale

No reference to ‘real world’ No reference to ‘real world’ skills/techniquesskills/techniques

Superficial learning (if any)Superficial learning (if any) Limited thinking!Limited thinking!

Lack of exposure to all Lack of exposure to all skills/techniquesskills/techniques


Engaging employersEngaging employers• Environmental consultancyEnvironmental consultancy a major ‘geo’

employer (although students unaware of)• Stages of environmental consultant

engagement:– Identifying ideal skills portfolio and skills

gaps– Curriculum design– Providing legislative framework– Presenting introductory material– Evaluating student work– Evaluating project


Employers’ concernsEmployers’ concerns

• Students/graduates often lack skills in “drawing together disparate sets of information to form coherent evidence-based arguments”

• Loss of critical intellectual skills as a result of modularised system

• Lack skills making easy transition from university to workplace

Gathering dataGathering data

Synthesising dataSynthesising data

Integrating knowledgeIntegrating knowledge

Report writingReport writing


Aims of interventions …Aims of interventions …

• Emphasise career relevancy and context of skills taught

• Environmental Baseline Simulation - major part of work of consultancies

•Project aimProject aim: to produce a technical report summarising the environmental baseline

conditions of a lake catchment on the Keele campus


The Environmental Baseline SurveyThe Environmental Baseline Survey


Student tasksStudent tasks• Project runs over 3-4 weeks.

One 3 hour session/week• Student activities:

– Project planning and budgeting

– Risk assessment– Field data collection

• Surface water samples• Groundwater samples• In situ measurements• Groundwater level measurements

– Laboratory analysis– Data analysis– Report production– Personal reflection


Skills and knowledgeSkills and knowledge

‘Personal transferable/employability skills’ – Project planning– Group working, management and leadership– Numeracy and data synthesis and manipulation– Report writing– Etc, etc

And ‘subject and career specific skills’ (and knowledge)

-Soil and hydrological field sampling and measurement techniques -Soil laboratory analytical techniques -Secondary data sources -Error analysis -Careers knowledge etc etc


What the students thought…What the students thought…• Generally appreciated the careers relevance and

helped engagement - the “real lifeness made it a lot more interesting”

• They enjoyed, “learning the methods used by professionals that could one day be crucial to [their] careers”

• They valued the “practical skills which could be of use in careers”

• These are the same skills that have been taught before


Project outcomesProject outcomes• 80% of students had a greater understanding of careers

available in environmental consultancy• Greater awareness of the relationship between careers

and the curriculum• ‘Looking back’ students saw the benefits of a report-

based assessment– Preparation for dissertation– Made to think more about conclusions– Able to ‘place’ different aspects of the project

• Does it help having an ‘employer’ introduce the work?– Few students seemed to notice!– When asked explicitly one student said that it was a ‘really good

idea’ and showing that it was not just ‘an academic piece of work’


Benefits (and pitfalls) of employer Benefits (and pitfalls) of employer engagementengagement

• Benefits to all parties– Employers: Recruitment, better graduates– Students: increases careers knowledge– Academics: Helps employers understand

what different disciplines do, collaboration potential…

If we don’t engage with employers we are seen as teaching in isolation from how the skills and knowledge taught will be applied


So…So…• Existing material can easily be ‘reoriented’ to be

more employment specific• Involve industry…

– It ensures career relevancy– Places work in a legislative/management context– They’re willing and there are benefits

• Report writing based on the drawing together of disparate sets of data is a key employability skill

• Engagement with the employability agenda can increase critical intellectual skills

Suitable approach for a range of field activities and Suitable approach for a range of field activities and teaching and assessment formatsteaching and assessment formats



DiscussionDiscussion

1. What are the core subject-specific employability skills of a GEES graduate?

2. How improve employers’ understanding of subject disciplines?

3. Ways of reorienting other types of material/assessments to give an employment context?

Documents

Dr Zoe Robinson, Keele University. Re-orienting skills programmes, GEES employer engagement conference, Edinburgh, July 2008 Engaging employers in re-orienting