Download The Higher Education Academy - University of Wolverhampton

Workplace learning : the student and
employer experience
Professor Freda Tallantyre,
Senior Associate,
Higher Education Academy
University of Wolverhampton,
June 25th 2009
Employability for undergraduates
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Preparation of graduates to enter employment
Vocational and academic curriculum components
Incorporation of higher level skills into curriculum
Provision of work experience : sandwich placements
and other
Incorporation of enterprise/entrepreneurship into
curriculum
Careers guidance
Personal and professional development (PDP)
Employer views
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81% thought graduates well prepared for work
80%+ large employers thought level 4 good proxy for
skills
• Need more business awareness
• Need more science/maths combined with ability to
work effectively
• Need better IAG
CBI Study, 2008
Lifelong learning
“Lifelong learning, by contrast, connotes a world of
active learners constructing their own knowledge,
and seeking out learning resources as and when they
need them, in response to the changing
circumstances of life and work.”
Ben Knights
Director: English Subject Centre
Higher Education Academy
Academy Exchange, Issue 6, Summer 07, p3
Boud and Solomon, 2001
“Critical reflection is important . . Because it is only
through deeper critique that work situations can be
improved, workplaces transformed and productivity
significantly enhanced. It is about noticing and
questioning the taken-for-granted assumptions that
one holds and that are held by others. While it can be
a discomforting process, it is necessary in all
situations that do not involve perpetuating the status
quo.”
Web 2 possibilities
Constructivist approach : learning effective when active,
by doing, undertaken in a community and focussed
on the learner’s interests.
• Blogs : closed to tutor and student or open to peers
• Wikis : content creation by groups of students
• Social bookmarking : expansion of initial reading lists,
with scope for commentaries on texts
• Social networking : hosting discussion or project
groups and answering queries
• Immersive technologies : role playing, especially in
professional courses
Adapted from HE in a Web 2 World, Melville Report,
May 09
Motivation for employees and employers
Validate and formalise
experience
Open up opportunities for
progression
Develop specialist
knowledge/expertise
Develop practical skills for
performance
Develop staff knowledge, skills,
expertise
Support staff retention
Extend in-house training
Invest in biggest asset
Employee and employer wants
Flexibility of content and pace
Credit accumulation
Convenient location
Relevance to work
Compatible learning style
Reasonable cost
Fit with work schedule
Minimal release
Influence workplace change
Link theory and practice
Characteristics of WBL
Task-related
Performance based or issue led
Innovative
Strategic and just in time
Autonomously managed and self-regulated
Self motivated
Team based
Concerned with enhancing performance
Concerned with improving business
Learndirect
Benefits to employees
Personal
Increased confidence
Higher aspirations/motivation
Raised personal status
Greater self awareness
Learning to think and challenge
assumptions
Understanding of specific
issues
New and enhanced skills
Reflection on performance
Professional
Improved performance
Greater responsibility
Changed jobs/promotion
Salary increase
Able to see wider points of view
Positive change in ways of thinking
at work
Reduce stress and increase
contentment
Able to coach others
Professional recognition and
membership
Benefits to employers
Clearer direction of travel for organisation
Develop new/improved policies, standards, contracts
Improved quality and service provision
Increased innovation
More self sufficient employees
Positive attitudinal/behavioural change
External recognition and prestige
Promoting to employees
You can do it!
No A levels required
Vocational qualifications can get
you in.
Current experience and quals
may attract credit
No student debt – learn while
earn
Emphasis on practical learning
Tailored to your needs
Support at college and in
workplace
Personal development bonus
Career development
Professional recognition
Hard work but worth it
Nationally recognised quals
Springboard to further
achievement
Promoting to employers
Flexible and tailored to your
needs
Motivated and highly skilled
employees
Better qualified workforce
Higher staff retention
Meets skills shortages
Fuels business growth
Limits time off job
Projects that improve business
performance
You can help design, deliver
Support for mentors and
assessors
Good value compared to private
sector training
Direct links to further
qualifications, progression and
CPD
Employer support
Time off to study
Use of resources and access to expertise
Funding full or part cost
Mentors or advisers in workplace
Fieldwork with colleagues
Opportunities to present findings
Designated links personnel to university
Brokerage
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Could interfere with existing good relationships
Often matches employers needs to providers
products in supply driven way
Traditional TNA does not convey range of flexible
support available
May not know enough about HE services
May have narrow focus on specific needs, rather than
developments opportunities
May concentrate on the presenting problem, rather
than the deeper needs
Large businesses to target are:
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In competitive product markets
Competing on factors other than price
Growing in output and/or employment
Introducing new products or services
Strategic in their training
Case Study : Employer Engagement
Get Energy brokers relations of energy industries with training
providers and universities on an international basis
Convenes strategic exchanges at which all learn about responses
to workforce needs and industry developments
Compares governmental and strategic initiatives
Brokers partnership between business and HEIs, but also HEIs
internationally
Enables national and regional skills development
Operates in business manner rather than academic conference
SMES to target are:
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In business and professional services
Employ professional, technical and management staff
Introducing new products, services, technology
Undergoing organisational change
Introducing new working methods
Are exporting
Have graduate manager
Case study : Employer Engagement
Creative Collaborations : NTU & Broadway Media Centre
Predominantly sole traders or micro businesses
Nottingham Creative Network – natural networkers - included
students, staff and professional employees
NTI funding offered small equipment grants as lure
Structured conferences around issues of concern, with on-line
follow-up
Short courses led to p/t MA for creative professionals
Research, teaching and practice interrelate and research feeds into
courses
Successful programmes for SMEs
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Critical self-reflection
Opportunity to learn from experience of peers
Ability to access large firm’s supply chain or network
Management skills
Networking in cluster
Solving actual business problems
Using experienced mentors
Rooted & contextualised in actual workplaces
Preferred processes
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Avoid long chunks of text on screen
Start with activity, not reading, and use theory to underpin
Preference for paper documents rather than on screen
Personalised contact at least once a week
Rapid response to questions asked
3 hrs per week for study
EL sessions between 45 mins and 2hrs
Stone and Braidford, March 08, for SSDA
Some implications of recession
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Graduate destinations eroded and placements
impacted
Training budgets reduced
Traditional professions hit e.g. financial services
Unemployment increases and needs to retrain
Value businesses prosper
Export increases
Companies need support to reorient and upskill
HE Participation rates increase