Stage 3

How higher education courses and study contexts studies impacted on students’ assessments, evaluations and predictions of educational outcomes.

This paper engaged with the literature on ‘employability’, pointing out that a plethora of diverse phenomena has been gathered under this heading and used in different contexts and ‘mixes’ by different commentators, conflating social, educational and organisational skills and knowledge. These have ranged from basic literacy and numeracy skills, attitudinal and personality traits, social skills, evidence of potential to engage in further learning and adapt to new environments, through commercial awareness and general organisational skills, to the formally learned skills and knowledge that constitute competence in a specific occupation or context. There is a tendency on the part of some advocates of work experience to assume that development of ‘employability skills’ is implicit in work experience.

Stage 3 Summary

'Job search and motivations', Gaby Atfield and Kate Purcell.

 'The impact of paid and unpaid work and of student debt on experience of higher education', Kate Purcell and Peter Elias.

 'Skills Development and Perceptions of Skills Required', Gaby Atfield and Kate Purcell