Integrating career development learning into the curriculum: Collaboration with the careers service for employability

Bridgstock, Ruth; Grant-Iramu, Michelle; McAlpine, Alan

doi:10.21153/jtlge2019vol10no1art785

Cited by 60 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…To some degree there is an expectation that a university degree will least help students develop employability skills. Prior literature on this topic also reveals that "career development learning has a demonstrable positive impact on the graduate employability of higher education learners" (p. 56, Bridgstock, Grant-Imaru, & McAlpine;. However, the finding of this study reveals that the responsibility for employability skill development was not wholly considered to be the responsibility of faculty members.…”

Section: Summary Discussion and Conclusioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

Employability Skill Development: Faculty Members’ Perspectives in Non-Professional Programs

Gregory

2022

cjcd

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The purpose of this study was to explore faculty perspectives about employability and employability skill development through curricular activities in non-professional programs. Using pre and post semi-structured interviews, this study embedded employability skills in three academic courses to gain insight into faculty members’ perspectives on employability skill development. Results reveal that the faculty members involved in the study addressed employability to differing degrees in their courses, yet each recognized the importance for students. The outcomes of this study support the need for the development of employability initiatives in higher education and highlights that faculty members can benefit from support in identifying and assessing the employability skills practiced in academic courses.

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Section: Summary Discussion and Conclusioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

Employability Skill Development: Faculty Members’ Perspectives in Non-Professional Programs

Gregory

2022

cjcd

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“…Undergraduate career development is more likely to be successful if it is in-curriculum, assessed and course-wide (Bridgstock, 2009;Bridgstock, Grant-Imaru, & McAlpine, 2019). Indeed, in-curriculum undergraduate career development programs have been associated with reductions in unemployment, job-search times and with improved engagement with career development (Ciarocco, 2018;Hughes, Bosley, Bowes, & Bysshe, 2002;Thomas & McDaniel, 2004).…”

Section: How To Effectively Engage Undergraduates With Their Career Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are limited published studies of undergraduate in-curriculum career development programs and their impacts on students' career awareness or employability, and even less that focus on nonvocational degrees (Bridgstock et al, 2019). In a 2018 review of published in-curriculum approaches to career preparation and professional development for US undergraduate psychology majors, it was reported that they lead to students having a better understanding of psychology-related careers, are more knowledgeable about how to access career information and are more likely to exhibit career information seeking behaviour (Ciarocco, 2018).…”

Section: Do Other Undergraduate In-curriculum Career Development Progmentioning

confidence: 99%

A professional development program with an assessed ePortfolio: A practical solution for engaging undergraduates with their career development in large student cohorts

Choate

Demaria

Etheve

et al. 2019

JTLGE

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Undergraduate biomedical science degree-programs are considered to be non-vocational, with a diverse range of career outcomes. At our university, student and academic feedback indicated that biomedical science students were anxious and uncertain about their career options. In response to this careers anxiety, an in-curriculum, course-wide and assessed professional development program (PDP) was developed and delivered into the biomedical science degree-program by an integrated team of careers educators and biomedical academics. This program aimed to engage a large cohort of biomedical students (>1000) with their career development, improving their careers awareness and reducing their anxiety about careers options. The impacts of the program on students’ career and employability skills development, as well as their self-reported levels of psychological distress, were evaluated with on-line anonymous student surveys. Student engagement with the program was linked with program assessment submission rates and student interactions with the University Careers Service. Completion of the program increased students’ careers knowledge and confidence, enhanced their awareness of career options and employability skills and increased their engagement with the University Careers Service. It did not alter students’ self-reported levels of depression, anxiety and stress, but students who rated themselves poorly on careers awareness and confidence statements were more likely to have severe depression, anxiety and stress. This program provides a practical approach for students’ career and employability skills development in large cohorts, but could be expanded to include an intervention to reduce student anxiety.

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“…A number of theorists have pointed out the advantages of a "processual" approach (Holmes, 2001) to researching employability, and also to employability learning itself (Bridgstock, Grant-Iramu, & McAlpine, 2019;Jackson, 2016;Tomlinson, 2017). By viewing employability as a process of sense-making, discovery, and selfconstruction (Savickas, 2011), a wide range of internal and external influences including skill development can be explored in context, through a subjective lens.…”

Section: The Importance Of the Student's Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Graduate Employability 2.0

Bridgstock¹

2019

Education for Employability (Volume 1)

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Graduates' narratives and lived experiences of employability and their career developmentThe most common definitions of graduate employability emphasise the possession of understandings, skills and attributes necessary to acquire graduate level work, perform adequately at work, and to build a career (Hillage & Pollard, 1998).University key performance indicators for graduate employability tend to focus on the proportion of graduates in full-time employment a few months after course completion (Jackson & Bridgstock, 2018). This chapter takes as its starting point that neither the dominant skills-based definition of graduate employability, nor the established key performance measures, are adequate, and that higher education institutions may be doing themselves and their learners a disservice by continuing to use them. We draw upon Business and Creative Industries graduates' narratives about their career trajectories up to five years after course completion, exploring individual accounts of the value of professional relationships, and career experiences as they transition beyond university, to tease out a more nuanced conceptualisation of graduate employability. This emergent conceptualisation embraces longer time frames for career launch, and evolving career identities. It confirms the importance of the subjective indicators of success advocated by Jackson and Bridgstock (2018), incorporating graduates' own aims and goals, and recognising the different ways that they can add value. Finally, it acknowledges that employability is influenced by a wide range of factors beyond the graduate's skills and knowledge. By sharing graduates' narratives and lived experiences of their early career trajectories, this chapter starts to suggest how universities can better foster graduates' capacities to make meaningful and productive contributions through work and life. GRADUATE EMPLOYABILITY: DEFINITIONS AND MEASURESUntil fairly recently, higher education was primarily a vehicle for liberal and civic education for a small elite. Graduates were assured of professional employment at the end of their degrees if they sought it, particularly in the public service. However, over the last few decades, higher education has become much more tightly coupled to economic needs. Massification of degree enrolments, increasing economic emphasis on competition, efficiency and productivity, and human capital policy arguments about education driving economic growth (Brown, Hesketh & Williams, 2004) have changed the relationship between higher education and the labour market. The graduate employability agenda is a response to this evolving relationship that strengthens the vocational mission of higher education (Harvey,

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Integrating career development learning into the curriculum: Collaboration with the careers service for employability

Cited by 60 publications

References 19 publications

Employability Skill Development: Faculty Members’ Perspectives in Non-Professional Programs

Employability Skill Development: Faculty Members’ Perspectives in Non-Professional Programs

A professional development program with an assessed ePortfolio: A practical solution for engaging undergraduates with their career development in large student cohorts

Graduate Employability 2.0

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