2 minute read
MEASURING THE IMPACT OF CAREER LEARNING IN A DISCIPLINARY CONTEXT
Tony Taylor, Careers Adviser at the University of Hull, outlines a research study evaluating the impact of curriculum-based career management skills (CMS) on the career readiness of final year students. B uilding upon my earlier research evaluating career management skills, this study sought to gain an understanding of students’ perceptions of their career readiness for making the what I learnt was useful and relevant for my current or future career”, I wanted to investigate the career readiness of students who have taken a module with career management skills (CMS) embedded within it. In addition, the School wanted to know whether the syllabus covered by the module transition from undergraduate study into was useful in enhancing the employability either work or further study. I was particularly skills of their finalists. interested in the perceptions of finalists in order to be able to better support this group STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS of students at a time when the future of Data was collected by online questionnaire. graduate jobs is uncertain, and graduate The questions focused on students’ underemployment is likely to rise over the perceptions of the impact of embedded coming decade. CMS upon their career readiness. The questionnaire had a 20% response rate COMPLEMENTING TEACHING which, although low, is an adequate response The participants in my study, Biomedical rate for a class size of under 150 (Nulty, Science and Human Biology undergraduate 2008). I found 69% of participants made a students, have all taken a compulsory positive self-assessment about their career Level 5 module. The rationale for the readiness compared to 15% of participants module is to increase student employability through a focus on personal and career development, and research skills in biological disciplines that will complement teaching in the Biomedical Sciences portfolio of programmes. One of the aims of this module is to enable students to reflect on their career development and identify transferable skills gained during their degree programme.
Although the current module evaluation questionnaire poses the question “I feel that
who did not. It is clear from these results that there is a relationship between participation in the module and positive perception of career readiness. Though a correlation does not necessarily signal a cause, this study does suggest that there is substantial value in careers service input to academic modules.
This study provides evidence to suggest that a module with embedded CMS is an effective strategy to enhance the career readiness of students. It encourages students to develop a plan of action towards their future career, carry out relevant research into career options and take a targeted approach to applications. The study suggests that when career learning is situated within students’ disciplinary context, there are considerable employability benefits. This research is replicable in other academic disciplines to enable an evidence-based review of employability support that might have a positive impact on the transition process.
/in/tony-taylor a.r.taylor@hull.ac.uk
