Module leader: Korin Grant

Module running in 2024/25

Aims

• To develop a knowledge and understanding of the critical role played by LMI and career-related information in supporting and enabling clients’ and learners’ employability skills
• To integrate and apply this knowledge and critical understanding to a range of career development and coaching core concepts, contexts and practices
• To integrate career development theories, the learning alliance, and career coaching concepts and models to ensure critically-informed practice

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Identify a wide range of labour market and career-related information sources and critically analyse their nature, basis and scope
• Critically evaluate their significance for developing clients' and learner's employability skills, including career decision-making and career-related learning
• Develop the knowledge and skills to source and use such information appropriately and effectively when working with clients and learners in a wide range of practitioner contexts
• Communicate effectively by sharing information and discussing good practice in the design of Labour Market Information and Employability, using the current course guides to presentation and referencing.
• Critically assess the implications of labour market information for promoting social justice and equity as part of career development and coaching work
• Be able to integrate key concepts and theories from the overall course programme, including career development theories, the learning alliance, and career coaching, into this critical area of professional development and practice

Outline Syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

• Exploring the definitions of labour market and career-related information; and identifying the typology, nature, basis and scope of such sources and concepts
• Exploring the definitions of employability and the role that LMI can play in enabling the development of employability skills
• Exploring political, economic, social, technological and environmental contexts that shape the labour market and related opportunity structures; and that influence the nature of available information
• Critically analysing theories and models that account for the ways in which information is interpreted and used by clients and learners as part of their employability skills' development
• Critically exploring the methodology and methods by which such information is sourced and used in a wide variety of practice contexts to support and enable the development of employability skills
• Exploring the skills of sourcing and generating labour market and career-related information products in response to practice context, and clients’ and learners’ needs
• Ethics and values when using such information in practitioner contexts
• The role that expertise in labour market and career related information plays in the professionalism of career development and coaching practitioners
• Developing a critical understanding of how practitioners' expertise in labour market information may promote equity, social justice and aspiration

Summary of teaching

30 hours of blended learning that is predominantly intensive, residential workshops with further materials provided via a virtual learning environment supported by a module reading pack and tutorial support.

Module timing and duration

Usually, this module runs once a year. See Modules and Key Dates.

Assessment

The assignment consists of a 5000 word project (100%). Typically, participants are asked to research and analyse available information about one aspect of the labour market (a role, location or sector) and critique career development policy in a selected area.