1. Developing Employability Skills
through the Curriculum
Give someone a fish and they will eat well for a
day. Give them a fishing rod and they will eat well
for life.
Anon.
Sarra Saffron Powell
Educational Development
Curriculum Review Coordinator Team
Sarrasaf@liv.ac.uk
xt. 41180

2. Learning Outcomes
• Participants will explore ways in which Employability impacts
curricula s and will consider skills and attribute development
through a range of frameworks including the CBI Framework,
Learning and Digital Literacies, and professional & statutory
bodies.
• Participants will consider implementation, integration,
learning activities and assessment.
• Participants will be introduced to a tool to get started, other
information sources and who can help (curriculum review
support structure).

3. Introductions
Briefly introduce yourselves…
School and teaching
responsibilities?

4. What are the drivers for
employability?
Sector wide?
Local (University of Liverpool)?
Professional Bodies?
10 mins

5. Fees (economic contracts and consumer choice)
Access Agreements (Panel on Fair Access to the
Professions 2009) HEFCE funding
Student expectation Digital technologies
NSS – Guild agendas Employment Strategy
Russell Group Competitors
UoL Strategy and Policy (Strategic Aims)
Improving Student Experience
Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR)
Internationalisation (global economy)
QA standards
Professional Bodies and Councils
Co/extra curricula (Liverpool Life)
Curriculum Review
Employers – CBI skill sets
Low economic growth …… …others?

6. Employability is high on the agenda
Embedding employability into the core of higher education will
continue to be a key priority of Government, universities and
colleges, and employers. This will bring both significant private
and public benefit, demonstrating higher education’s broader
role in contributing to economic growth as well as its vital role in
social and cultural development. (HEFCE 2011, p5)
Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for
employability, HEA, York
NB: HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) allocates funding from the
Government to universities and colleges

7. Challenges for HEIs – Employability is a
significant response
In an environment of high tuition fees and low economic growth,
student expectations of both the qualification, and the
experience of higher education (HE) itself, have been raised and
questioned. Many HEIs are now adopting a renewed focus on
the student experience and in engaging students as partners in
learning. The challenge for HEIs is to address this through
enhancing the quality of pedagogical approaches: the context of
delivery, curricula construction and recognition of the impact
that co-curricular and extra-curricular activities have in
encouraging students to become confident learners and
individuals capable of making a full contribution to society.
Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for employability, HEA,
York

8. So what is Employability?

9. Two definitions and a starting point
A set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal
attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain
employment and be successful in their chosen
occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the
community and the economy.
(ESECT*, based on Yorke 2006)
Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for
employability, HEA, York
* Higher Education Academy and the Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination
Team (ESECT)
An employment approach

10. Employability is not just about getting a job. …Employability is
more than about developing attributes, techniques or
experience just to enable a student to get a job, or to progress
within a current career. It is about learning and the emphasis is
less on ‘employ’ and more on ‘ability’. In essence, the emphasis
is on developing critical, reflective abilities, with a view to
empowering and enhancing the learner.
(Harvey 2003)
Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for
employability, HEA, York
An employability approach

11. The “skills” debate…
What are the differences between skills
and attributes? (no clear, agreed
definitions in lit.)
How can we ensure they are adequately
developed?

12. So what is Employability
at UoL?

13. UoL Employability Strategy
A set of skills, knowledge and personal attributes that make an
individual more likely to secure and be successful in their
chosen occupation(s) to the benefit of themselves, the
workforce the community and the economy ((HEA, 2006).
The development of University wide Employability Strategy
requires an integrated approach based in a curricular, co
curricula and extra curricula collaboration.
University of Liverpool, Employability Strategy, 2012

14. CBI skills sets
NUS, CBI (2012) Working towards your future: Making the most of your time
in higher education,
http://www.nus.org.uk/Global/CBI_NUS_Employability%20report_May%202011.pdf

15. CBI skills sets
1. Self-reliance skills: self-management, readiness to accept
responsibility, flexibility, resilience, time-management;
2. People skills: teamwork, communication skills, listening and
questioning, respecting others, contributing to discussions;
3. General employment skills: problem solving, literacy,
numeracy;
4. Specialist skills: business and customer awareness,
application of IT.
University of Liverpool, Employability Strategy, 2012

16. Overlap and synergy with Digital
Literacy and Learning Skills Strategy*
*In consolation Nov 2012

17. Digital Literacy and Learning Strategy*
all students are given the opportunity to develop learning and
study skills
students are able to develop the digital learning skills they need
for study and employment
the contribution that the development of learning and digital
literacy skills makes to the enhancement of student employability
is clearly articulated
The University of Liverpool, Learning and Digital Literacy Learning Strategy, 2012 Draft,
*in consultation - revised Learning and study Skills Strategy

18. digital learning competences ensure students are adequately
equipped for living, learning, working and researching in a
continually developing digital world
Employers are increasingly expecting graduates to be conversant
with a range of information, communication and media tools.

20. ESECT Key findings
• Development takes time – months and years.
• Development takes practice.
• Students need to hear, repeatedly, what it is intended that
they learn in order to understand what that means, to know
ways of judging what they have achieved, and to see how to
improve.
• Ideally, this would mean programme-level planning having
priority over planning at the level of the module.
Mantz Y, Knight P T, ( 2006) Embedding employability into the curriculum, HEA, York
* Higher Education Academy and the Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination
Team (ESECT)

21. So how might employability in the
curriculum look?

22. Employability through the whole curriculum?
Employability in the core (key skills) curriculum?
Work-based or work-related learning incorporated as
one or more components within the curriculum?
Employability-related module(s) within the curriculum?
Work-based or work-related learning in parallel with
the curriculum?
Mantz Y, Knight P T, ( 2006) Embedding employability into the curriculum, HEA, York

23. So how does employability in
your current curriculum look?
Does it support digital literacy ad
learning skills?
When is employability
introduced to your students –
how and who by?

24. In reality hybrid models most
effective

25. Skills auditing – a common auditing
tool for employability
Skills auditing identifies the gaps
Foregrounds programme <>module correlations
Based on pedagogical model: curriculum alignment

26. Underpinned by ‘Constructive alignment’
(outcomes based approach), Biggs, (2003)
Learning Outcomes (LO) – Taught
activities most likely to lead to LO - Practice
assessment of LO - Assess
arrive at final grade

27. Curriculum mapping
– Module Leaders discuss interpretation of terms (what they
mean and is there synergy with Digital Literacy and
learning skills?)
– Check understanding of proformas (e.g how much
evidence constitutes confirmation that a skill is
taught/practised/assessed?)
– Module leaders undertake mapping exercise where skills
are explicitly taught/practiced assessed

28. Curriculum mapping
Information from the mapping performance can collated into
the chart/spreadsheet to look at the overall picture (see
example)
Issues/questions can then be discussed - e.g. are all skills
covered; are there any instances where the students are
assessed the skill level not been taught their skill; are there
issues of skill development and progression from years 1 to 2 in
2 to 3 (for undergraduate courses)

29. Curriculum mapping
The information from the mapping for the modules
could not be used to revisit the learning outcomes each
patrol/programmes. The whole process can often
highlight skills may not previously explicitly stated as
learning outcomes

30. You are not alone….

31. Curriculum Review Team
curriculumreview@liverpool.ac.uk

32. Liverpool Life

33. iLearn (student skills development)
250+ resources
Skills diagnostic
Subject specific:
Management
Key lab skills Physics
Stats for Psychology
sarrasaf@liv.ac.uk

34. Developing Digital Literacies Working
Group
Tunde Varga Atkin
tva@liv.ac.uk
sarrasaf@liv.ac.uk

35. iTeach (relaunch Aug 2013)
Sarrasaf@liv.ac.uk

36. Sources of support, resources and
tools
• Careers Faculty Employability consultants (Employability
Strategy Implementation Plans)
• Student facing workshops
• Employer led programmes
• Online Programme and Module Planner (coming soon!)
• eLearning Unit
• Educational Development (workshops)
• PGCert – 402 Module Design and Evaluation
• Guild input
• Professional Bodies guidance and Subject Benchmarking
• Higher Education Academy
• ESECT literature etc

37. Summary
• In response to economic conditions, Employability is high on all
national and local agendas
• Employability is defined variously and not always helpfully
• Employability can take many shapes in the curriculum
• Employability Strategy to be implemented across University
• The strategy is based on CBI skills sets which must be included in
curriculum
• The strategy adopts a curricula, co curricula and extra curricula
model
• Employability is closely related to digital literacy and learning
skills development
• Skills auditing is a useful starting point to embed Employability
into the curriculum
• There are a range of resources to develop curriculum

38. • Feedback please

39. References
Pegg A, Waldock J, Hendy-Isaac S, Lawton R, (2012) Pedagogy for employability, HEA, York
Educational Development and Developing Digital Literacies Working Group (Feb 2012), Learning and Digital
Literacy Skills Strategy, draft version 7, Educational Development and Developing Digital Literacies Working
Group
Mantz Y, Knight P T, ( 2006) Embedding employability into the curriculum, HEA, York [accessed 29/11/2012]
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/employability/id460_embedding_employability_into_the_cu
rriculum_338.pdf
NUS, CBI (2012) Working towards your future: Making the most of your time in higher education, [accessed
29/11/2012] http://www.nus.org.uk/Global/CBI_NUS_Employability%20report_May%202011.pdf
University of Liverpool, Employability Strategy, 2012,
Biggs, J (2003) Aligning Teaching and Assessment to Curriculum Objectives, (Imaginative Curriculum
Project, LTSN Generic Centre)