Employability Strategy: integrating work experience in the curriculum
National and Institutional Context
Employability is becoming an increasingly important factor in the government’s funding
proposals for the Higher Education sector. This has most recently become obvious in Peter
Mandelson’s and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ ‘Higher Ambitions’
framework document for Higher Education (3 November 2009), which states that ‘it is a top
concern for business that students should leave university better equipped with a wider range
of employability skills. All universities should be expected to demonstrate how their institution
prepares its students for employment, including through training in modern workplace skills
such as team working, business awareness, and communication skills.’ Information about
institutions’ graduate employment figures, it is suggested, will influence students’ choice of
course. This message is repeated in Peter Mandelson’s funding letter to HEFCE (22 December
2009). It is anticipated that with the arrival of differential fees graduate employment figures
will come under yet greater scrutiny. The high profile of employability for the government has
translated into national league tables, in which the results of the yearly Destinations of
Leavers of Higher Education (or DELHE) survey count as a Key Performance Indicator. The
media have also picked up on the importance of graduate employment, with headlines in the
national press about the 44% increase in graduate unemployment in 2009.
In 2008-9, as the recession began to hit graduates, the Exeter results showed a clear dip,
having steadily risen for the previous 4 years (up from 62% in 2004 to 72% in 2007; down to
67% in 2008 – the figure for English is 66.6%). Competitor universities including St.Andrews,
Durham and Bristol did not suffer to the same extent. The University has responded by
setting up a Task Force and investing yet more strongly in the Careers and Employment
Service (including the appointment of Laura Blatchford, a 0.5FTE Work Placement Coordinator for SALL). Employability is a key component of the University’s Education Strategy
for 2010-2015. In order to sustain the University’s Top 10 position, the Education Strategy
recognises that ‘we need to ensure that the education we provide and the student experience
we offer helps our students to develop the knowledge, skills, qualities and attitude they will
need to succeed in this new world. We must provide the opportunities and we must explain
how these opportunities are designed to help them prepare for the future.’ The need to
transform our students’ prospects for graduate employment and further study has become
one of the 5 strategic goals identified in the Education Strategy. The strategy states that we
must:
 support all our students and graduates to secure top graduate level employment or
further study
 ensure that all our graduates are highly employable and have developed the skills,
experience and qualities to secure rewarding graduate level employment
 engage employers & alumni in helping to enhance the employability skills of our
students and employment prospects of our graduates
 be recognised as one of the best providers of extra-curricular opportunities.
SALL and the Department of English
At SALL level the response has been to set up the SALL Employability Strategy Group, which
was led by Nick Kaye and included departmental Employability Officers from all SALL
departments (Jon Primrose, Christine Walters and Pascale Aebischer), as well as Andrew
McRae, Sara Smart and Jerri Daboo. Pascale Aebischer was appointed to lead and implement
the SALL Employability Strategy devised by the Strategy Group in 2009-10.
One of the first steps taken by the group was to ask each SALL department to review its
current employability provision and carry out an audit of the curriculum. The audit for English
was carried out jointly by Joe Kember and Pascale Aebischer and is attached. The audits
revealed that all three departments currently provide a rich mixture of employability-related
skills. It has also shown that these skills tend to be concentrated in specific modules. While
there is a good provision overall, this provision is not rigorously structured. There is, at
present, no clear ‘narrative’ of how students will gain a comprehensive set of skills as they
progress through the various curricula. Students’ progression in the acquisition of transferable
skills could be mapped out more effectively.
The Employability Strategy Group has also concentrated on the need to integrate work
experience in the curriculum. Research by ESECT (Enhancing Student Employability Coordination Team) suggests that ‘for graduates as a whole there were measurable
employment benefits to be gained from a substantial period of work experience during their
time in higher education, especially for those who had taken a non-vocational course.’ This
research and that of the HEAFC (Higher Education Active Community Fund) finds that
accreditation of the work experience is a crucial factor. For the past five years, the University
has provided an opportunity to gain credits for work experience through its Independent
Work Experience Module. However, for structural reasons, uptake of this module by SALL
students has been minimal. The module will be discontinued in 2010, with an expectation
that Work Experience Modules will be integrated in departmental curricula.
In view of this, the Employability Strategy Group recommended that work experience be
integrated in the curriculum of each department in the form of an appropriate subject-specific
module. This was agreed by Executive Committee on 2 December 2009, presented to the
Department of English on the same day and has led to the creation of a Task & Finish Group
(consisting of Pascale Aebischer, Angelique Richardson, Sam North, James Lyons and Dan
North, with help from Laura Blatchford as well as of representatives of Community Action, the
Guild, the Careers Service, and Modern Languages).
“English in the Workplace” module
The tabled Level 2 module is the result of this work. It is a flexible 30-credit module that is
‘long and thin’ in that it spans the entire year (allowing for a maximal exploitation of vacationtime work placement opportunities), but that is also concentrated in its delivery, with a twoday intensive workshop to start it off, three further fortnightly workshops to move it along,
followed by a long period of limited email and office hour contact with the module leader, as
and when the need arises. It is rounded off by two assessment deadlines: one piece of
reflective writing and an oral presentation on the work experience, at which it is envisaged
both the current and the next cohort of students on the module will be present. The module
is designed to be convened by a member of the Department of English, who also acts as the
module tutor and principal point of contact. Specialist teaching (e.g. about CV writing,
interview skills, occupational profiles, etc.) is meant to be carried out by Careers and
Employment Service staff (in particular Mark Armitage and Kate Foster) and, where
appropriate, Laura Blatchford.
The T&F group recommends that the module be capped at one seminar group (i.e. 17
students) in the first year. The students will benefit from the expertise and experience of
Laura Blatchford as SALL Work Placement Co-ordinator, who is confident that sufficient high
quality placements can be secured in the publishing industry, journalism and other relevant
careers. We are also working with Del Thorpe of Community Action, who is in the process of
organising work placements for students of English wanting to help under-privileged children
with their literacy and who has established contacts with a local Secondary School, where
teaching placements may be secured.
It is the view of the T&F group that opportunities for work placements over the Summer
Vacation can be exploited best by starting the module in Term 3 of Year 1, with an
opportunity for students joining in later to catch up with repeat delivery of the content of the
two-day intensive workshop at the beginning of Term 1 of Year 2. Work placements are often
full-time and last for four weeks, which would be more difficult to accommodate outside the
Summer Vacation.
Supporting documentation:
- English Department Skills Audit (JK and PA, December 2009)
- ‘English in the Workplace’ in table form
- ‘English in the Workplace’ module description
PA, 20 January 2010