âEnhancing employability in higher education through work based learningâ is written at a time of rapid change in higher education when universities are facing a deeper, and more commercial, accountability to their students. A culture has been created that requires student degrees to âcountâ and that, as result of their studies, students will have a value-added experience or âlearning gain â (BIS 2015, 2016) that takes them forward into further study or employment. Globally, there is an increased emphasis on the âstudent voiceâ, and academic debate on the rise of student consumerism within higher education. Although this may vary across the student population, Tomlinson (2017, p. 464) concludes that from the studentsâ perspective âthere are many shared concerns; particularly around getting a beneficial and equitable âreturnâ and value from higher educationâ.
Boden and Nedeva (2010, p. 41) identify that the âthird missionâ of universities, to serve wider society, has been replaced by a ârelational to functionalâ remit where âuniversities must now pursue direct, immediate and demonstrable economic utilityâ. In the UK the changing relationship between student and their higher education institution has been formalised through significant policies such as the Teaching Excellence Framework (BIS 2015, 2016) and the new degree apprenticeships (UUK 2016). Both explicitly link the success of degrees with the ability to gain employment afterwards. This year, higher education has become increasingly dominated by the employability agenda and the challenges of enhancing studentsâ chances for post degree employment in line with their educational investment.
Although the mechanisms to achieve âlearning gainâ vary across the international higher education landscape, universities have met these increasing pressures by traditionally responding in two ways. The first embeds employability skills within university curricula as taught components of courses. The second increases studentsâ exposure to real life practice by either sending students out to work placements or increasingly bringing the employersâ influence into higher education courses.
Despite the many initiatives to embed employability skills within curricula, evidence suggests that generic skills development in higher education institutions is a less effective approach (Atkins 1999; Bridgstock 2009; Mason et al. 2009). Cranmer (2006) questions the development of employment skills outside of the work environment and recommends the policy of increasing work based learning and employer engagement in courses.
Irrespective of previous policies to introduce employability into higher education, universities are recognised for their tradition and expertise to facilitate the creation of well-rounded and reflexive employees of the future (UUK 2016). In the UK, it is not unusual for students to pursue a career away from the knowledge content of their university courses. Students, even in more vocational courses, are discovering that their future professional roles are in a constant state of flux and the ability to manage this can only be learnt from the integration of real life practice and practitioners within their education.
This book argues for a move away from stand-alone placement experiences for students in higher education to more sophisticated models where work based learning is integrated and used creatively in academic curricula. Boden and Nedeva (2010) advocate that the employability agenda is only partly satisfied by âgaining a jobâ. Working towards employability involves the building of reflexive skills and attributes over longer periods of time. This book addresses the need to engage university staff and students in forward facing curricula that views future employability skills as part of the teaching and experience of higher education.
The core to the success of employability lies in the recognition of work based learning as a potentially transformative pedagogy where students can accelerate their development and maturity in ways that their academic learning may not reach. It is, however, important that this awareness acknowledges that work based learning is taught and supported in different ways to academic learning. Previous models of âadd on placementsâ, that remained disconnected from the rest of the studentsâ learning, dilute the potential of holistic student development and increases the risk of work and learning being viewed as two distinct entities accentuating a âtheory- practice â gap (Evans et al. 2010).
Under the right conditions, studentsâ learning can challenge established practice in the workplace. Students can bring a fresh perspective to a placement where they may be the catalyst for re questioning and analysis of placement practice (Brown and Duguid 1991). Ellstrom (2001, 2011) provides an overview of the potential of studentsâ learning to repeat practice (adaptive learning) or to augment practice (developmental or innovative learning). Argyris and Schön (1974) describe this difference as âsingle loopâ and âdouble loopâ learning; the latter being where wider, more creative solutions are sought on reoccurring issues. It is these types of employability skills that will mark out successful employees of the future and universities can be instrumental in creating these opportunities.
Schön (1983) argues that the complexity of professional decision making also needs to accommodate for the unplanned circumstances of practice. Often work situations arise where professional conformity to recognised theory does not allow solutions to âmesses incapable of technical solutionâ (Schön 1983, p. 42). Schön (1983, p. 43) graphically describes the choice as the safe high ground of familiar practice against the swampy lowlands where practitioners âdeliberately involve themselves in messy but crucially important problems and, when asked to describe their methods of inquiry, they speak of experience, trial and error, intuition, and muddling throughâ. By learning in work environments, often less planned and controlled than the academic setting, students have real opportunities to challenge and extend their performance. By doing so students can appreciate the complexity and nuances of managing themselves in an environment where their priorities are re-orientated to lifelong learning and the ability to move with greater confidence between different work roles.
The chapters within the book showcase examples from UK higher education work based learning practice that demonstrates an appreciation of this wider perspective. For the purposes of this book, âwork based learningâ, has been defined broadly as student development that may be based before, in and after studentsâ experiences in the âworld of workâ. By taking this wider approach the chapters demonstrate the initiative and creativity of academics in UK higher education who have recognised the significance of real life practice to their studentsâ development and future employability. Some chapters provide examples of extracting core learning for employability, that may be passed by unnoticed by a student while on work placement, if it had not been made explicit in their work based learning. Other chapters focus on studentsâ âwork readinessâ and preparing them for work based learning in simulated settings as part of course or online learning.
The examples presented within the book are supported by theory, carefully detailed practice pedagogy and evaluated so readers may benefit from the book in their own institutions of higher education.
Section I: Setting Up University Infrastructures to Support Students in Work Based Learning
Section I, âSetting Up University Infrastructures to Support Students in Work Based Learningâ provides an appreciation of the wider university infrastructures that support studentsâ work based learning through the work of the Centre of Work Related Studies at the University of Chester (UK). The three chapters discuss the challenges of running large scale work based learning courses.
Chapter 2 examines the management of the tripartite relationship of educational providers, participants and employers in a work based postgraduate business programme. The chapter explores the challenges faced by providers and the prevalent themes and issues surrounding employer expectations of graduate employability and learner expectations of the workplace. The authors illustrate how a clearer understanding of stakeholder perspectives can enhance participant experiences, engage and develop academic skillsets and support employers as they aim to nurture and grow talent. Chapter 3 questions how large work based learning courses can be personalised for a mass and diverse market with a course that aims to develop workplace experiential learning and transferable skills. This chapter highlights the logistical and pedagogical challenges of such an approach, including the complexity of required support. Finally, Chap. 4 comments on managing Degree Apprenticeships through a Work Based Learning Framework. The opportunities and challenges of implementing and managing an innovative Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship within the new political reforms are explored. The author considers the academic implications of adapting a business and management degree to a workplace apprenticeship. It incorporates an evaluation of one of the earliest cohorts with viewpoints taken from each stakeholder, collectively identifying a complex range of themes and issues in designing, supporting and further developing apprenticeship programmes.
Section II: Teaching at University to Prepare Students for Work Based Learning
Section II, âTeaching at University to Prepare Students for Work Based Learningâ showcases university teaching that enhances studentsâ insight into the reality and nuanced nature of work based learning. The cognitive psychologist, Gary Klein, (Fadde and Klein 2010) believes that expertise in professional practice can be accelerated by focusing particularly on skills that require improvement. In the two chapters included, students from health disciplines immerse themselves in carefully managed teaching environments that allow them to grow particular aspects of their de...