Workshop title: Employability
Presented by –
Date –
Aim and objectives
Aim: To develop an understanding of the complexities
surrounding employability
Objectives:
By the end of the session learners will be able to:
• Analyse a variety of perspectives on employability
• State what employability means in their own organisations
• Describe the main employability skills required for their
learners
• Discuss how to increase the development of employability
skills in their learners.
Introductions
• Find a partner and introduce yourself – name, job role,
involvement in careers learning information advice and
guidance
• Interview each other to ascertain what each thinks makes
them employable
• Be prepared to feed back your findings to the whole group
• You have five minutes for this exercise.
Student-centred view
A pictorial view
Colourful view
Linear view
Employer’s view
YouTube clip of employability from an employer’s perspective
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22qn6z1VPSk
Employability skills
“Employability defines the knowledge, skills, attitudes and
behaviours required by individuals to seek, obtain and
sustain employment at all levels in the labour market.”
Skills for Business Network definition, 2007
http://tlp.excellencegateway.org.uk/tlp/xcurricula/employability/i
ndex.php?i=11
Unemployable
Individually consider at least three aspects that would make
someone unemployable. 1 minute.
Work with three others and depict an unemployable individual.
5 minutes.
Put your creations where everyone can see them.
Newspaper report
Report of the experiences of one business:
• Texting mates halfway through a selection interview
• Flossing teeth with a loose bit of wool from own jumper in
front of the managing director
• Group visiting IT firm say they do not want to work there as,
it is not glamorous enough
Scotland on Sunday, 6 March 2011
Employability skills definition
Set of basic/generic and attitudinal/behavioural
characteristics that are believed to be essential for
individuals to secure and sustain employment,
and also to progress in the work place.
UKCES Employability Skills briefing paper (2010)
Review of employability skills
Look at the handout from the UKCES “The Employability
Challenge,” 2009 report.
Read through the entries and note are the common
employability skills identified?
Would you have expected these skills to have been at the top
of the list?
UKCES perspective
LSIS perspective
• A positive attitude and confidence in using and transferring
personal, social and communication skills and qualities (as
well as occupationally specific skills) in order to enter
employment;
• To respond positively and flexibly to a rapidly changing
workplace which presents technical and economic challenges;
and
• To manage their own learning and development and display a
range of employability skills.
http://tlp.excellencegateway.org.uk/tlp/xcurricula/employability/in
dex.php?i=11
Changing worlds
Video from YouTube about changing worlds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bXRepor6Sw&feature=related
Canadian Blueprint philosophy
Career development is about growing through life and work;
about learning, experiencing, living, working and changing;
about creating and discovering pathways through one’s life
and work. When intentional, career development is about
actively creating the life one wants to live and the work one
wants to do.
http://206.191.51.163/blueprint/whatis.cfm
Your organisation and skills
Look at the handout from the UKCES “The Employability
Challenge,” 2009 report.
Read through the entries and note are the common
employability skills identified?
Would you have expected these skills to have been at the top
of the list?
How to develop
employability skills
“The development of employability skills is not complex, it is,
however, difficult to put into practice; it calls for effort and
commitment.”
The core of developing employability skills:
•
•
•
Experiential action- learning
Work experience
Opportunities for reflection and integration
UKCES (2009), OFSTED Good Practice Database
How to develop employability
skills in FE
“Use learning strategies such as:
• Workplace projects, problem-solving learning
• Identify the right teachers for the job, i.e. those who have high
levels of experience in generic skills and workplace experience
• Consider how employability skills can be assessed
• Develop partnership arrangements with employers
• Implement work-related codes of conduct
• Give the students as much responsibility as possible
• Get the learners to quality check each other’s work before the
tutor does and encourage them to give and receive criticism in
a positive way.”
CDELL, 2007
Requirements for a successful
implementation
Strong institutional support to bring in new practices and ensure
they work holistically
Varying approaches from different groups with different
aspirations
The personal commitment to set and enforce high expectations
Teacher autonomy, flexibility and personalisation.
UKCES (2009)
Case studies
Work in groups of four or five and read the given case study.
Discuss:
• Your views on what is being delivered, the achievements made
and the impact on learners
• How the case study links to the recommendations from the
research covered in the past three slides
• Whether you could adopt any of the approaches in your
organisations.
You will be asked to feed back your findings.
You have 25 minutes for this activity.
Employability wheel
UKCES the Employability Challenge Report 2009
Self-assessment
Individually look at the employability wheel handout and
self-assess your organisation against the three levels within the
wheel, noting strengths and development areas.
You have 5 minutes for this part of the exercise.
Find a partner and interview each other on your organisation’s
strengths and development needs resulting in an action plan of
personal actions you could take to improve the delivery and
impact of employability skills.
You have 10 minutes for each interview.
Be prepared to give general feedback on your findings.
Summary
1. What does employability mean to you and your learners?
2. What skills do you think should be included in a list of
employability skills?
3. How can you improve your learners employability skills?
4. How can your organisation improve their delivery of
employability skills?
References
• OFSTED Good practice Database
http://excellence.qia.org.ukpage.aspx?o=goodpracticedatabase
• UK Commission for Employability Studies (2010)
The Employability Challenge.
• The Centre for Developing and Evaluating Lifelong Learning (2007)
The Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Generic Employability
Skills. University of Nottingham, and the South West Skills and
Learning Intelligence Module, University of Exeter.
• Johnson, S And Burden, T (2003) Young People, Employability and
the Induction Process. Rowntree Foundation.
• British youth fear for post-recession job prospects. Youth Commission
report 2010.