Workshop title: Employability Presented by – Date –

Workshop title: EmployabilityPresented 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 perspectivehttp://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, 2007http://tlp.excellencegateway.org.uk/tlp/xcurricula/employability/index.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/index.php?i=11

Changing worlds

Video from YouTube about changing worldshttp://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.