PDP and Employability:
practice and research @
Birmingham City University
Jo Powell & Rachel Moule
Centre for Enhancement of Learning and
Teaching
Centre for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching
What’s happening with PDP?
• Ongoing support for staff one-to-one and workshops
including supporting staff’s own PDP
• BCU generic PDP moodle site: Your Personal and
Professional Development
• E-Portfolio Mahara launched with tools and pedagogic
framework
• Researching academic staff perceptions of PDP
• In development- SEDA approved course for staff
supporting PDP
• Researching student use of e-Portfolio for PDP
• 10 step reflective feedback model to support modules
Centre for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching
Status of Employability
• Birmingham City University cited as good example* for
‘embedding (employability) into all documents that bear on
how the organisation works’
• Also integrated into PG Cert / staff MA Ed modules
• NTF project: Creating Future Proof Graduates
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/futureproof/
• Graduate Employability Skills Framework for mapping
employability skills opportunities to the curriculum
• Employability and Entrepreneurship Working group
established
• In development-BCU Employability Award to include ePDP
* UK Commission for Employment & Skills - The
Employability Challenge 2009
Centre for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching
PDP NARN research with students
Research project investigated students’ reasons for
engaging or not engaging with PDP via e-Portfolio.
Focus group with 8 first year non-traditional UG students.
Student perspectives confirm the literature:
– they really value the opportunities afforded by ePDP
– BUT it feels ‘indulgent’
– If given academic acknowledgement they would give
it a higher priority
– Needs to be very clearly integrated and signposted
throughout the course, preferably via personal tutorial
system
Centre for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching
PDP NARN research with staff
• Research project investigating staff perceptions PDP
and its parts and how valued they are
– Questionnaire of 125 cross faculty academic staff
– Asked to rate value of PDP and its parts
– Asked to define PDP
• PDP seen as important – although elements of
reflection, self awareness, action planning and
employability rated more important separately
• Different faculties see different elements as most
important
Centre for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching
Interested? Please call us:
Ruth Lawton
University Teaching Fellow
for Employability
Centre for the Enhancement
of Learning and Teaching
Jo Powell
Tutor for PDP and
Employability
Centre for the Enhancement
of Learning and Teaching
ruth.lawton@bcu.ac.uk
0121 331 5126
jo.powell@bcu.ac.uk
0121 331 6412
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/celt/employability-personal-development
Centre for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching