Dr Ken Brown, Dr David Laughton, Ms Maria Lee

Embedding, enhancing and integrating employability within the curriculum - towards a pedagogy for employability

David Laughton is Head of Learning, Teaching and Assessment in the Faculty of Organisation and Management at Sheffield Hallam University, and Director of the University’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for Employability. He is a member of the International Business Subject Group within his Faculty, and his research interests include work-based learning, employer perspectives on education, international management and internationalising the curriculum.

The Workshop

There is considerable interest in the notion of employability in contemporary Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This can be seen as the outcome of a complex historical process of interaction and debate between the state and HEIs concerning their role and purpose, and a current view that HEIs have much to contribute to the economic progress of (particularly advanced) nations through the development of intellectual property and human capital formation. Employability is, however, both contested and complex, and there is a need to stimulate discussion about how employability can best be promoted by HEIs within their institutional processes, and how learning, teaching and assessment can be designed to maximise employability outcomes.

This workshop provided participants with the opportunity to explore their own understanding of the notion of employability, and facilitated a debate about what employability means at different levels within the university: macro (university strategy and processes), meso (programme/course design) and micro (module and the design of learning tasks). Participants then had the opportunity to develop proposals for changing practice within their programmes/courses/modules by using an audit tool to generate ideas that can be taken forward with colleagues in the context of curriculum planning. It concluded by offering some thoughts on what a pedagogy for employability means for the design of learning tasks.

If you missed this interactive workshop please download Dr Laughton's PowerPoint presentation

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