ENHANCING STUDENT EMPLOYABILITY:
Higher Education and Workforce Development
Ninth Quality in Higher Education International Seminar in collaboration with ESECT and
The Independent. Birmingham 27th-28th January 2005
Benchmarking Careers Education: support for enhancing
student employability
Jane Stapleford, David Stanbury and Arti Kuma*
Principal Lecturer & Teacher Fellow, Employability & Career Development, Leeds
Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK
Theme 1: Embedding and enhancing employability &
Abstract
Careers education is an important part of trans-disciplinary learning within higher
education and makes a vital contribution to graduate employability. The Careers
Education Benchmark Statement project (CEBS) is a major initiative from the Association
of Graduate Careers Advisory Services supported by the Higher Education Academy,
Association of Graduate Recruiters and Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in
the UK. It aims to describe the key features of good careers education by providing an
external reference point for undergraduate curriculum development, review and quality
enhancement. This interactive session will give an overview of the project and enable
participants to contribute to the draft and discuss ways of developing, promoting and
implementing the CEBS.
Introduction
This paper describes the Careers Education Benchmark Statement project (CEBS) and
seeks support, ideas and suggestions for its further development.
The project is a major initiative by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services
(ACGAS). It is supported by the Higher Education Academy, the Quality Assurance
Agency (QAA) the Guidance Council (GC) and the Association of Graduate Recruiters
(AGR). The project has the potential to enhance the quality and standards of degree
level careers education and thereby promote improved student employability. This
paper is presented on behalf of the CEBS Steering Group at a stage where the
development of the statement is fairly advanced but open to modifications arising from
consultation. The conference workshop will give participants an in-depth insight into the
emerging benchmark statement, provide opportunity for feedback on it, and invite
advice on the wider consultation and dissemination processes.
What are benchmark statements?
Benchmarks play a key role in setting standards across a wide range of professional
spheres. They are statements encapsulating an agreed set of expectations that are
accepted by a community of practitioners. As such they have an objective quality and
can be used to place individual systems and procedures within a wider context.
Benchmark statements play an important part in higher education (HE) as a reference
point for curriculum development and review. As in the business world they identify key
features, best and leading edge practice. They provide guidance for articulating the
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learning outcomes of a programme whilst encouraging innovation within an agreed
overall framework. They also represent general expectations about the standards and
critical criteria for providing a quality programme.
How do benchmark statements function within the QAA system?
The QAA Code of Practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher
education, attributes this benchmarking role to what it variously terms ‘external
reference points’ and ‘external indicators’. These umbrella terms cover different sorts of
documents, all of which potentially, can have an important part to play in curriculum
development and review. We can see this from Section 7 of the Code which states: ‘In
evaluating the effectiveness of their policies and practices for programme design,
approval and review …institutions will need to consider whether due account is taken of:
external reference points, including any relevant subject benchmark statements,
national qualifications framework for higher education and, where appropriate, the
requirements of professional and statutory bodies and employers.’
These external reference points are specifically mentioned in the guidelines on subject
review in relation to considering the appropriateness of programme learning outcomes,
and are intended as prompts for academic reviewers.
One specific type of benchmark – the subject benchmark – has risen to prominence. A
subject benchmark provides ‘a means for the academic community to describe the
nature and characteristics of programmes in a specific subject’. and is ‘designed to make
explicit the general academic characteristics and standards of honours degrees in the
UK’. These subject benchmarks have been produced by teams of subject specialists
under the aegis of the QAA. The first 21 of these were agreed with the QAA in 2000.
Phase II development saw a further 25 added in May 2002.
While these subject benchmarks have an undeniably unique place in the HE landscape,
they do not preclude other external sources being taken into consideration. The
Handbook for Academic Review notes: ‘For some programmes more than one benchmark
statement may be relevant, while in some specialist, innovative or inter-disciplinary
fields there may not be any statement that is of direct relevance. In such cases, the level
descriptors of the overall qualifications framework, and the guidance in the Code of
Practice section on programme approval, monitoring and review, will assist institutions in
ensuring that their provision meets generally accepted standards for a given level of
award. In all cases the institution remains responsible for identifying and assuring the
standards of its awards and for ensuring that they reflect appropriate external
indicators.’ (paragraph 36).
Where will the careers education benchmark fit into this framework?
The overarching goal of this project is to produce a document which authoritatively
describes the desirable features of careers education within the undergraduate
curriculum, and which is formally recognised as being a relevant external reference point
for QAA purposes. This will complement the section of the Code of Practice Section 8 on
Careers Information, Education and Guidance which is likely to be revised towards the
end of 2005.
It is the contention of this paper that this document properly bears the title ‘benchmark
statement’ as it sets out the substantive features of careers education, which is a
defined field of academic study. However, as careers education almost invariably occurs
as a part rather than the whole of a degree, the careers education benchmark is clearly
to be distinguished from the full subject benchmarks. As such it is perhaps unique, in
that it shares with subject benchmarks a concern for academic rigour, yet applies this to
a transdisciplinary process.
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Why Benchmark Careers Education?
Careers education features in an increasing number of degrees as a formal part of the
curriculum, in colleges and universities both new and old. Careers education occurs in a
surprisingly diverse range of forms: sometimes it is called career development learning
or career management skills, while in other places it may be covered under the umbrella
of professional practice or personal development planning (PDP). Careers education may
be found as a compact 5 credit module component, or constitute a whole 20 credit
module, for example. This expansion of careers education provision reflects the need to
prepare undergraduates to face the greater challenges of what is becoming a
progressively more complex graduate labour market. Careers education aims to enable
students to make the transition from university to the world of work and to equip
graduates to be lifelong managers of their own careers.
Since the Dearing Report (1997) advocated that careers services move into the
academic mainstream, a succession of public policy imperatives and statutory obligations
for HE institutions (HEIs) have resulted in careers education becoming more integral to
the University experience:
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HEFCE introduced new performance indicators in 2000 for the employment
outcomes of graduates; also institutional audits analyse how each university
measures up to the benchmarks for employability, and whether procedures to
address this are integrated into the curriculum.
QAA Code of Practice for Careers Education, Information and Guidance (2001)
places a responsibility on HEIs to provide integrated careers services. Indeed the
Code implicitly presumes that HEIs will provide programmes of careers education,
although these need not necessarily be a compulsory part of the curriculum.
The Harris Report (2001) Developing Modern HE Careers Services emphasised
better collaboration between careers services and academic staff.
QCA Key Skills recommendations set out a transcript of higher level skills
descriptors that students should develop and be able to use in self promotion.
The White Paper: The Future of HE (2003) reinforced the need to relate curricula
to employers’ needs. Foundation degrees were promoted, which placed a strong
emphasis on personal and career development.
The new fees environment and the widening participation agenda require that HE
should demonstrably provide value for money that will often be judged by
enhanced skills and employability outcomes.
QAA’s Progress Files/PDP requirements (timescale 2000-2005/6) oblige HEIs to
offer opportunities to all undergraduates for holistic development and recording of
achievements that will be of value to the individual, to employers and to society.
Many HEIs have now begun to see careers education as a vehicle for PDP, and to
acknowledge that students will engage best with this if it is an accredited and
assessed part of the curriculum.
The CEBS project was initiated in September 2002 in response to these external drivers.
It is a timely initiative given moves by the QAA to reconsider the scope of benchmarks,
and the review of the Code of Practice on Careers Education, Information and Guidance
which is likely to occur towards the end of 2005.
Aims of the Benchmarking Project
The aims of the project are:
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To produce a statement that sets out the key features of, and standards for, a
good undergraduate careers education programme; one that is likely to enhance
students’ personal development and employability.
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To provide an external reference point for curriculum development and review
that is widely recognised within the careers guidance community as being
authoritative and representative of good practice.
To raise awareness of the academic credentials and pedagogy of careers
education.
To enable the careers education community to refine its own understanding of its
practice.
To clearly articulate the links between careers education and other related
initiatives (e.g. PDP, work experience and entrepreneurship).
To complement the Code of Practice on Careers Education, Information and
Guidance which, in its current form, sets out broad precepts, but gives only
limited guidance on the content and characteristics of a good careers education
programme.
Target audience and usage
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Practitioners, external examiners, learning support and quality assurance
professionals may use the benchmarks as a set of external reference points, enabling
comparison and evaluation of levels of study and standards achieved.
Staff working in other sectors (e.g. schools, further education) and in related areas
such as employability, work related learning, placement offices, volunteer bureaux
and job shops should find them of interest – especially in defining the links and
synergy between such areas.
External stakeholders (e.g. professional bodies, employers, policy makers) may use
them as a clear developmental framework which makes it possible to map what help
students are receiving, what else can and needs to be done, and to address barriers
to change.
Students may gain insights into this subject area and its benefits.
Organisations involved in the CEBS Project
This benchmark has been developed by a representative range of practitioners involved
in careers education design and delivery: careers advisers, learning support staff,
academic lecturers and representatives from professional bodies and employers.
The core of the CEBS Steering Group is the AGCAS Careers Education Task Group
also includes other AGCAS members, academic staff, representatives from the
Academy/LTSN Generic Centre and Subject Centres, AGR, Guidance Council, and
Guidance Accreditation Board (GAB). The QAA and SCOP have also contributed to
discussions.
but
HE
the
the
The Process of Developing the CEBS
Initial discussions between AGCAS members and the QAA and LTSN began in September
2003. Over 100 external stakeholders were surveyed in November 2003 to gauge
opinions and the level of support for the project. The CEBS Steering Group was
established at the end of 2003 and by September 2004 90% of the text for the final
draft was complete. A final draft will be sent to all UK Universities and other stakeholders
for systematic consultation in Spring 2005.
The Steering Group will then seek
endorsement by the HE Academy, QAA, AGR etc before disseminating and promoting the
final Careers Education Benchmark Statement. In the meantime feedback, suggestions
and ideas from participants at the ESECT January conference would be timely and
extremely welcome.
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The content and style of the Careers education benchmark
The document will cover:
 Rationale for the benchmark
 Nature, characteristics and defining principles
 Teaching, learning and assessment
 Different ways in which careers education features within the curriculum
 The institutional context within which careers education occurs
 Learning outcomes at different levels
It will include (anonymous) case studies illustrating the diversity of practice within the
UK, and examples of the types of assessment used in careers education.
Underpinning pedagogy and principles
An important aim of the benchmark statement will be to delineate the contours of the
discipline of careers education, to mark out its territory and indicate how it is
complementary to, but different from other, related employability initiatives.
This paper argues that Careers Education is concerned with the ways in which individuals
can take control of their careers, the study of how career choices are made by
individuals, and the wider range of socio-economic factors that impinge on these
processes.
It is distinctively concerned with enabling students to develop an understanding of their
skills, knowledge, motivations and attributes in order to become lifelong managers of
their own careers. It aims to establish a relationship between the acquisition of this
knowledge and the subsequent planning, decision-making and career actions of the
individual.
Theoretical framework
Careers Education is an academic discipline with its own history, evidence base,
theoretical frameworks and methodologies. It is transdisciplinary and synthesises a
variety of subject perspectives including Psychology, Sociology, Human Resource
Management, Organisational Management, Labour Studies, Economics and History.
The discipline is underpinned by four distinctive theoretical perspectives from which to
analyse an individual’s career development:
 Trait-and–factor theories (which emphasise the stable structures of the individual,
such as abilities and preferences);
 Self–concept theories (which emphasise the interactive and developmental nature
of the individual);
 Opportunity–structure theories (which emphasise the role of socio-economic
structures and constraints);
 Community–interaction theories (which emphasise the role of personal
encounters and social networks in affecting career choice).
Careers education shares considerable common ground with PDP, in particular the
concern with the personal development of the student and the integration of the
student’s academic and vocational self. Careers Education has its own distinctive
contribution to make to PDP and properly understood forms an integral aspect of PDP,
which in turn facilitates the processes of careers education.
The meta-skills that careers education and PDP fosters (e.g. self reflection, skills
transfer) have the capacity to make students more effective learners. The subject has
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the potential to motivate students by helping them to identify gains and improvement, in
addition to the intrinsic satisfaction gained from studying their degree subject.
The most widely used framework in the UK for conceptualising careers education is the
DOTS model (Law and Watts 1977), and its recent refinement, the post-DOTS model
(Watts et al, 1997) which proposes an approach based on career learning theory. A
broader framework for employability is provided by the USEM system (Yorke & Knight
2004) that address the dimensions of Understanding, Skills, Efficacy beliefs and
Metacognition.
The DOTS model identifies four themes for careers education: Decision making (being
able to weigh up personal factors to make a sound plan); Opportunity awareness
(knowledge of career and study opportunities and the ability to research these);
Transition learning (understanding of how to seek and secure opportunities); Self
awareness (the ability to identify and articulate motivations, skills, personality and
priorities as they affect career plans).
To be effective, these elements need to be dynamically articulated: self awareness
interacting with opportunity awareness, leading to decision making that is actionable
(transition learning). Indeed the cyclical pattern may be repeated many times by an
individual during their lifetime, as they progressively revisit their plans.
The careers benchmark statement proposes that careers education is under-pinned by
the following guiding principles:
1. It should enable learners to determine their own definition of career success, taking
into account their values, interests, attitudes, skills and personality, and increase the
likelihood that they will be able to realise their plans through accessing opportunities
to apply knowledge in a practical way.
2. It should promote self knowledge and equip students to investigate and exploit the
range of options open to them, and be able to make soundly based career decisions.
3. It should promote equality of opportunity and value diversity, and be responsive to
the needs of the learners.
4. It should acknowledge that careers education is a process of conveying an applied
body of knowledge, which is different from but should be supported by suitable
opportunities for individual careers guidance.
5. It should achieve a balance between academic rigour and personal learning,
combining both formative and summative aspects.
6. It should be informed by accurate and up-to-date information about labour market
changes.
7. It should draw on a wide range of theoretical, academic, empirical and applied
perspectives to help students develop and progress their careers.
8. It should take cognisance of and, where feasible, be coordinated and interrelated to
other congruent learning opportunities within an institution (for example, Progress
File activities, Life Long Learning initiatives).
Challenges
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The writing of the CEBS for a diverse audience and for a subject that is utilised in such a
variety of ways has presented considerable challenges, including how to:
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create flexible statements that can accommodate the huge diversity of practice.
produce a statement that enables rather than constrains future developments.
present careers education as fitting into, and relating to, other key aspects of the
curriculum such as PDP and entrepreneurship.
accommodate the QAA model of subject benchmark statements but not be
constrained by it.
make the statement accessible, factual, aspirational and inspirational.
support and encourage effective assessment of careers education
be applicable to all forms of careers education inputs, both those that are
discrete and those that are highly embedded within subject disciplines.
It is these challenges that would form the core of the discussion of this paper at
conference. The paper should also stimulate ideas about further ways of developing,
promoting and implementing the benchmark statement so that the quality and credibility
of careers education is enhanced across the HE sector. The presenters would welcome
feedback on the emergent careers benchmark statement. The document will be made
available for public access from the AGCAS web site at least two weeks before the
conference, and can be found at: http://www.agcas.org.uk/
References
Harris, M., (2001), Developing Modern Higher Education Careers Services
(London:DfEE)
National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, (1997), Higher Education in the
Learning Society, Sir Ron Dearing, Summary Report
Quality Assurance Agency, (2001), Code of Practice Section 8, Careers Education,
Information and Guidance
The Future of Higher Education White Paper (2003), Dept. Of Education and Skills,
Crown Copy Right
www.qaa.ac.uk/crntwork/benchmarks/index.htm Benchmark statements
www.qaa.ac.uk/crntwork/nqf/nqf.htm
National qualifications framework
www.qaa.ac.uk/crntwork/progfileHE/guidelines/contents.htm
Guidelines for Progress
Files in HE
*AUTHORS
Jane Stapleford, Principal Lecturer Employability, Leeds Metropolitan University (coauthor and paper presenter)
David Stanbury, Careers Education Officer, The University of Reading (co-author)
Arti Kumar, Senior Careers Adviser, University of Luton (co-author)
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