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Employability and Lifewide Learning

Page history last edited by Norman Jackson 12 years, 3 months ago

Tackling the wicked problem of student employability through a lifewide concept of learning, education and personal development

Norman Jackson

Chalk Mountain Education and Media Services (chalkmountain.co.uk)

Lifewide Education Community Interest Company (lifewideeducation.co.uk)

 

POWERPOINT SLIDES

HANDOUT

BACKGROUND NOTES (coming soon)

VIDEO CLIPS BELOW

 

Some propositions

1 Employability is associated with 'being employed', 'having a job', 'working' and 'earning an income' in order to sustain living. Being employed can mean working for others or working for yourself. 

2 At the most basic level, employability relates to the ability to be in employment or self-employment. It also means the set of characteristics that increase the chances of an individual being involved in work. More comprehensive definitions of employability move beyond securing employment to include the ability to stay employed and to progress within and between different employment/ self-employment situations.   

3 In some contexts in order to find, gain and stay in employment individuals have to demonstrate that they have developed certain knowledge and skills through a programme of formal education. They may also have to demonstrate certain professional behaviours, values, and capabilities that can only come from the experience of performing in professional situations working alongside other professionals. The more demanding and complex a role, the more complex is the idea of what being professional means. 

4 The concept of employability has embedded within in it the ideas of capability (being able to), wilfulness (wanting and willing to be), potential (the opportunity to demonstrate), achievement (securing and maintaining employment), development in and through employment and to be able to progress to new employment, and professionalism - complex sets of behaviours, values, capabilities and performances. 

5 The concept also contains within it the idea of personal narrative or self-authorship (the unique unfolding story of our life and identity). A narrative that connects us to the rest of our life: a narrative that is shaped by personal circumstances and events in the world around us: a narrative that is often subject to disruption and requires adaptation or even re-invention

6 Coping with radical change, discontinuity and disruption are common. Being able to cope with being unemployed is a key capability for being employed.

7  An individual's employability is not just about their will, ability and  resourcefulness, it is also influenced by their personal situations and the world they inhabit.(McQuaid et al 2006) summarises these as:

Individual factors: Skills and attributes, personal competencies, qualifications and educational attainment, work knowledge-base, labour market attachment or work history, demographic characteristics, health and wellbeing, job seeking approach, adaptability and mobility.

Personal circumstances: Caring and dependent responsibilities, ability to access appropriate and secure housing, existence of work culture and support within the family, access to transport, financial and social capital.

Demand factors: Local labour market demand/character, macro-economic factors, vacancy characteristics (e.g. terms and conditions of work), recruitment processes, employment policy factors (e.g. accessibility of employment services, availability of training), accessibility and affordability of other public services such as transport, childcare and other support. 

Our employability has lifelong and lifewide dimensions (page 2). Employability is best appreciated as an evolving and emergent process involving individuals, their particular life circumstances and situations, and the evolving economic and social world around them, it makes sense to view employability through its most holistic conceptions. Higher education could do much more to enable students to develop their capacity and capability for employment if we adopted a lifewide concept of education.

 

VIDEO CLIPS TO ILLUSTRATE THE CONCEPT & EFFECTS OF LIFEWIDE LEARNING

 

 

 

 

 

 

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