27
Implementing a ‘Skills and Employability’ Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast [email protected] GEES Annual Meeting, Edinburgh, 2-3 July 2008 NB References can be found in the ‘Notes’ section. Pdfs and .xls files of material used can be found at my website: web.gg.qub.ac.uk/people/staff/whalley/teaching/ under ‘skills’

Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast [email protected] GEES Annual Meeting,

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Implementing a ‘Skills andEmployability’ Agenda at

Departmental LevelBrian Whalley

Queens University of [email protected]

GEES Annual Meeting, Edinburgh, 2-3 July 2008

NB References can be found in the ‘Notes’ section. Pdfs and .xls files of material used can be found at my website: web.gg.qub.ac.uk/people/staff/whalley/teaching/ under ‘skills’

Page 2: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Institutional Policy• Do you have one?

– Now, next year? coming real soon?– Skills only?– Employability only?

• Departmental Policy?‘Here is our shiny new Institutional policy -’

• So go away and implement it!• Quick show of hands:

– Do you have one now? Soon? Having to implement it? Wondering how the … to do it?

Page 3: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Yippee!

• A quick analysis, please indicate:• If you are in favour of employability in

your ‘Curriculum’• If you know your students are in favour

of employability in their programmes (How do you know?)

• If you know the majority of staff are behind you? (Is this why you are here?)

Page 4: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Another question(this workshop is all about

reflection!)• Have you a departmental statement

about what you want to produce?– (and yes, you are on a production line)– One you could use in promotion e.g.

What sort of graduate are we expecting from ‘GEES’ in the 21st Century?*

• Graduateness etc, what does this mean(Do all staff contribute to this concept?)

Page 5: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

What do we mean by ‘employability’

A quick brainstorm……

“A set of achievements, understandings and personal attributes that make individuals more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations”

(ESECT, 2004)Do all your staff agree on this?

Page 6: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

What I want to do is

• Look at some detail rather than the strategy

• Not look at specific employability modules (although I have borrowed bit from Brian Chalkley’s workshop material)

• Explore what you (and your colleagues, and your students) think about these issues. (Rather than give you fully fledged answers)

Page 7: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

What do we means by skills?

Well, we all know don’t we!

Ability to think, write, draw, take digital pictures and use MS Office…….

Do you have a departmental consensus on skills?

A quick show of hands?

Page 8: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Skills

Graduates should leave higher education better in many ways than when they entered it, and this improvement should be attributable to the undergraduate curriculum, rather than to the fact they are simply three or four years older. …….. They need to be equipped with skills that they can use to ‘sell themselves’ to employers.

(Washer, 2007, p. 60)

Do you agree? How do we bring GEES in this?

Page 9: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Directions

• Institution Top-down is only a guide• Departmental top-down is tricky to implement• Taking colleagues on board may be tricky

• High level discussion• Leitch promoted - we have to do ‘something’• Warhurst et al. What’s happening to ‘skill’?• Oblinger and Verville - ‘What business wants

from Higher Education’

Page 10: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Typologies, e.g.

• Subject-Specific (Intellectual) skills• Key skills• Employability Skills

Page 11: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Cognitive/intellectual skills, which include being able to:

• identify, analyse and solve problems by prioritising tasks, coping with complexity, setting achievable goals and taking action

• work with information and handle a mass of diverse data, assess risk and draw conclusions (analysis, attention to detail, judgement)

• apply subject knowledge and understanding from the degree pathway

QUB Employability and Skills Policy, 2008

Page 12: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Generic skills (Geography Benchmark 07)

As a result of taking their degree, geography students should develop skills in the following areas:

• learning and study, written communication• verbal presentation, contextualising information• numeracy and computation• spatial awareness and observation• field and laboratory studies (both scientific and computational)• ICT• information handling and retrieval (including the use of online

computer searches and the internet); identifying, retrieving, sorting and exchanging information;

• investigating a wide range of sources; and understanding intellectual property and copyright

• interpersonal situations, including working with groups/teams and recognising and respecting the viewpoints of others.

Page 13: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Embedding

• Taught - where?• Practiced - how?• Assessed - by what means?

Are skills (and employability) stated in your module LOs?)

Page 14: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

!!!!!!!! ???????

How on earth do we deliver all that?Is anybody prepared to?

Oh and there is entrepreneurship too!So, when you thought you’d got it sorted….

Page 15: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

A bit like the Daleks arriving….

Page 16: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Skills should:

• Cover subject-specific and key skills• Include formal teaching of skills• Provide opportunities for practice and

transfer• Allow students to reflect on their

performance• Be assessed• Exist in a curriculum that is progressive(Derived from Brian Chalkley’s workshop at QUB)

Page 17: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

What skills do you prioritise?

• Intellectual (eg problem-solving*)• Professional attributes (eg team-

working, adaptability, creativity etc.)

• IT skills• Business and organisation skills

(eg how businesses operate, entrepreneurship and innovation)

(Derived from Brian Chalkley’s workshop at QUB)

Page 18: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

In the press

• A hard line on softer skills (Tasha Kosviner, Guardian Feb 20th 08)‘many students enter the business world unprepared. So who is responsible for teaching them employability’

Page 19: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

And further

“….students must look at how they go about developing these capabilities. They must think about what skills they're acquiring from their course, look at complementing that with extra-curricular experience and then think about how they can articulate the skills they've gained to potential employers."

Page 20: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Employability and attributes

model (Napier University;

adapted from Laybourn et al.

2000)

Reflective skillsLearning to learn

Analysis of products and processes of learningIdentification of appropriate strategies, activities for effectiveness

Identification of personal strengths and development needs

Reflective skills

Key skillsImproving personal performanceWorking with othersTime managementStudy skillsProblem solvingCommunicationNumeracyICT

Personal qualitiesSelf-motivation

Self-relianceAdaptability

FlexibilityCreativity

nous

Understanding how organisations work

Knowledge of working practicesProfessional behaviour

Recognition of organisational culture

Traditional intellectual skillsCritical evaluation of evidenceArgue logicallyApply theory to practiceModel problemsChallenge assumptions

Page 21: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Skills and Employability(Knight and Yorke,2003)

• Personal Qualities• Core skills• Process skills

• Skills Plus project (see GEES stand)

Page 22: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

PBL - a way forward?

• A progressive programme• Importance of Problem-based learning techniques - in

general• Application generally (to L2)• More academic at L3?

• The dissertation as a problem solving task with project planning(I would argue that we are problem-solving animals - and so pretty much all that we do should be in this vein.)

Page 23: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

So…

• Can we make something manageable out of all this?

With a bit of help from Bob the Builder and the Doctor‘Yes, we can’

Enter Peter Washer!

Washer, P. (2007). Revisiting Key Skills: A Practical Framework for Higher Education. Quality in Higher Education 13: 57-67.

Page 24: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Level-graded progression

Entry - yellowL1 - greenL2 - pinkL3/graduation - blue

• Basic + additions for GEES• Have a look at them

Then, in a group of 2-3 see what you might do for a module that you know.

Page 25: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Assessment (it always comes down to assessment!)

Given Brian Chalkley’s precepts• How do you develop skills and

specifically employability in your module(s)?

A guide to the way to go……?

Page 26: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Dror and Mentkowski(and a bit of Csiksentmihalyi)

• Control - handing to students

• Challenge - student abilities

• Commitment - to learning opportunities etc

To help produce Student• Competence (encouragement by challenge and remarks)

• Confidence (encouragement by control and remarks)

• Critical thinking

• Creativity • Collaboration and Commonality of Purpose

Page 27: Implementing a Skills and Employability Agenda at Departmental Level Brian Whalley Queens University of Belfast b.whalley@qub.ac.uk GEES Annual Meeting,

Things to help

• GEES website and wiki• HEA website• Sheffield Hallam CETL• Oxford Brookes - Enhancing employability

(includes programme audit document) ‘Enhancing Graduate Employability: embedding employability in the curriculum’ - (Good practice guide; due early 08)

• White Rose consortium