The student voice is currently absent from the employability agenda for higher education in the UK. A government-led neo-liberal model of employability, claiming what employers want when employing graduates, has been uncritically adopted by many universities in the UK to inform higher education strategy and policy. Many undergraduates and graduates perceive this employability model as incongruent and disingenuous to their experiences in gaining and sustaining work. The dominant employability discourse masks inequalities in the contemporary labour market. In developing policies for the future of higher education, British government departments should recognise the student lens by researching students' qualitative experiences and reflections of teaching, learning and work. Students should be a collaborative part of future planning, and their voices should be continuously informing higher education practice. Student and graduate views can be used to inform higher education curricula and develop meaningful future policy relating to higher education.

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This article focuses specifically on drama and theatre higher education (HE) programmes and preparation for potential graduate work. The article investigates working in the creative industries and in the performing arts (particularly within acting) and how HE students in the United Kingdom prepare for this life. The growth of the creative industries and successful applied drama in the public and private sectors has also brought business interest in how drama and theatre processes can benefit other workplaces, outside of the creative arts. The article addresses current policy, initiatives and partnerships to broaden inclusion and access to creative work. The research explores drama undergraduate degrees and the university’s role in supporting a successful transition from HE to graduate work. Students perceive the university world as safe and the graduate world as precarious and unsafe. The research findings have resonance with other undergraduate degrees, outside of the arts and the role the university plays in student transitions from the university to the graduate environment.

Higher education students and employers in the creative industries dismiss the prevailing skills-focused concept of ‘employability’ as inadequate. Entry into the creative world and subsequent survival require access to contact networks, confidence and the adaptability to cope with uncertainty and with changing contexts for business, partnerships and innovative opportunities. ‘Complexability’, it is suggested, better describes such interactive abilities. In close work with undergraduates, graduates and practitioners in two contrasting disciplines, architecture and dance, a set of interlocking briefs – the ‘creatour’ construct – emerges for the development of the necessary abilities and perspectives. A dance student’s passion for parkour inspired the construct. The article sets out the rationale behind the development of creatour and the methodology through which it was achieved. Its key stages are explained in detail and initial evaluations are reviewed. Although initially developed for the creative arts, unexpectedly creatour has also been seen as applicable to law, business and medicine.

Much is made of the potential of prison education to impart knowledge and skills and transform life chances. Prison education is tasked with delivering qualifications and effecting recidivism. In assessing current arrangements for the delivery of prison education and reviews and evaluations of its impact on recidivism in England and Wales, this article argues that prison education should be an inclusive activity. Specifically, prison education should focus less on individual development and more on whole class ‘domains,’ in particular, knowledge of (re)integration. Research, policy, and practice on civic/citizenship education provide models in this regard.