RAPPORT
The International Journal for Recording Achievement, Planning and Portfolios
WWW. RECORDINGACHIEVEMENT. AC. UK Issue 1( 2017)
Making a difference to employability through assessment – Challenges and Opportunities
Authors: Andy Hollyhead and Jon Curwin, Birmingham City University, based upon original work with Ruth Lawton
Within the context of Higher Education, assessment is accepted as a major driver of student behaviour( Kirkwood, 2009; Rowntree, 1989), informing how they are going to be judged and in what ways they can be successful. In this article we explore the notion that effectivelydesigned assessment, particularly at course level, can do more than this- it can support student employability. Well-intentioned, piecemeal efforts like a single employability-focussed assignment in one isolated module or an optional CV writing workshop might make a difference to some individuals, but are likely to make little impact on the student cohort as a whole. However, to engage students with their course and future possibilities a more cohesive and thoughtful strategy across a course is required which includes content, activities and assessment explicitly addressing the challenges of employability. If employability is important then achieving outcomes that will be valued by graduate employers, among others, must be part of assessment formulation:
“ If we want our students to demonstrate employability when they graduate, our assignments need to be designed to be practice-based, whether in terms of the practice of being a researcher or applications to professional contexts such as being an artist, an accountant, a health practitioner or a quality surveyor. Rather than assessing a learner’ s ability to write about good practice, an effective assessment strategy would seek to measure how the student can put into practice the learning achieved”( Brown, 2004, p. 83).
The authors argue that assessment is too important to be piecemeal. Assessment can do more than produce the right mark and show the level of completion across a number of modules. The challenge is to design assessment that will meet the practical constraints of course delivery and support student personal and professional development.
The challenge of employability Employability is not the same as employment but having that sought-after job is indicative of those qualities. More formally employability can be defined in terms of:“ A set of attributes, skills and knowledge that all labour market participants should possess to ensure they have the capability of being effective in the workplace – to the benefit of themselves, their employers and the wider economy”( National Union of Students and Confederation of British Industry, 2009, p. 12).
Individuals need to find ways to stand out from the crowd, for instance a significant and positive online presence or fluency in another language will make a difference. Curwin and Lawton( 2015) argue that the driver should be the achievement of competitive advantage through differentiation: students need to do more than merely develop a checklist of skills:“[ which ] can be thought of as threshold skills; without which an applicant will struggle to compete. If being uniquely good is important, then the applicant needs to be advised to evidence these threshold skills but they will also need to be advised to evidence all those attributes, characteristics and insights that make them special. To stand out an applicant will need to showcase those qualities and skills that make them different.”( Curwin and Lawton, 2015, p. 42). In the joint report by the Confederation of British Industries and Universities UK( Confederation of British Industry, 2009, p. 8) a positive attitude is seen as the factor underpinning successful employability skills, exemplified by“ a can-do approach, a readiness to take part and contribute, openness to new ideas and drive to make these happen”.
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