Group 3: Employability and transitions

employability, transitions, higher education, competences

The main focus of the comparative group work is the development of employability of young adults at higher education level. The stress on graduates’ employability is an important challenge for Universities to support graduates’ transitions from higher education to labour market. The framework of the group work is the concept of employability and its main definitions (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2014; Yorke, 2006), according to its influence on higher education policies and practices. In the context of knowledge economies and high-skilled labour demand (ICF GHK and Cedefop, 2014), employability acts as an educational process that support the transition from university to work.

Starting from the theoretical point of view, and its implication into current national and international policies, students will develop the study of employability at macro level (international and national policies and laws) and meso level (strategies and measures implemented by universities in the home country). The employability agenda of main institutions (OECD, European Commission, National Ministries) through documents and recommendations impacts directly on higher education offer; on the other side, at the university level, many programmes have been implemented to support employability (i.e. changes to the curriculum, career service offices, placement activities, link between employability and quality assurance measures).

In a cooperative learning setup, Master’s and PhD students will join a discussion group focused on this theme, and they will acquire collective problem-solving, team-building, relationship and communication skills by striving for a common goal. Moreover, they will be highly involved in a very valuable, engaging and productive learning experience. A coordinator will be engaged in the monitoring and supervision of the learning process in order to guarantee and improve the quality of the process. The coordinator will moreover promote and increase the level of efficiency of the group work.

Comparative research question:

1. What is the institutional framework of employability (policies and laws) that influences strategies in higher education in your country?
2. What is the relationship between the theoretical dimension of employability (i.e. employment-centred or competence-centred definitions) and policies at national level?
3. According to national level, what are the main documents that outline the employability agenda in higher education?
4. What kind of educational actions (i.e. guidance, job placement or career service) have been implemented at your home university? What kind of specific programmes have been implemented to support young adults’ preparing for future career?
5. What are specific programmes implemented at university level to support young adults’ employability? Are there employability-related measures according to the curriculum (i.e. specific modules) or relating to the services offered by your University?
6. What is the impact of these educational activities on the development of young adults’ employability?

Context of comparison:

The comparison will deal with the educational policies and strategies that are developed at a global, national and local level to foster the employability of young persons. These will be studied with a pedagogical perspective and students will be asked to answer to some questions in order to understand if the comparison is possible.

At the same time the comparative group will focus the attention on the competences that are required to graduates in Adult Education from the Social Economy at a mega, macro and meso level and that can ease the transitions from.

Categories of comparison:

1. Social Economy will be considered a category because it represents the most important labour field for graduates in adult education, within consortia, cooperatives etc. The Social economy has different characteristics according to the country. So it has to be considered when discussing about employability.
2. Employability will be considered a category defined by Yorke (2006) as «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»
3. Transitions from higher education to the labour market will be considered a category because they are linked with identity, agency and structure/context and are very important from a pedagogical point of view for the study of the dynamic processes towards adulthood and the design and management of educational actions.
4. Professionalization will be considered a category because it represents a development path made of structural and non-structural factors (Egetenmeyer und Schüssler 2014). It is important for studying the individual approach to adult education as a labour context.

References:

Boffo, V. (2015). ‘Employability for the Social Economy: the Role of Higher Education’. In Boffo, V., Federighi, P., Torlone, F. (2015). Educational Jobs: Youth and Employability in the Social Economy. Firenze: Firenze University Press, pp. 147-168; European Commission/EACEA/ Eurydice, (2012). The European Higher Education Area in 2012: Bologna Process Implementation Report. Brussels: EACEA; European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, (2014). Modernisation of Higher Education in Europe: Access, Retention and Employability 2014. Eurydice Report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union; Hillage, J., Pollard, E., (1998), Employability: Developing a Framework for Policy Analysis. Research Report N° 85, Institute for Employment Studies, Department for Education and Employment; ICF GHK, Cedefop (2014). Employability and skills of higher education graduates. Analytical Highlight. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union; Matherly, C., Tillman, M. (2015) Higher Education and the Employability Agenda. In Huisman, J., De Boer, H., Dill, D., SoutoOtero, M. (2015). The Palgrave International Handbook of Higher Education Policy and Governance. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 281-299; Pegg A., Waldock J., Hendy-Isaac S., Lawton R. (2012), Pedagogy for Employability. York: ESECT and HEA; Stephenson, J. (1998). ‘The Concept of Capability and its Importance in Higher Education’. In Stephenson, J., Yorke, M. (1998). Capability and Quality in Higher Education. London: Kogan Page Limited; Yorke, M., Knight, P. (2006) Embedding Employability into the Curriculum. Heslington: The Higher Education Academy; Yorke, M. (2006). Employability and Higher Education. What it is - What it is not. Heslington: The Higher Education Academy

Prof. Vanna Boffo, University of Florence, Italy

Prof. Vanna Boffo, University of Florence, Italy earned her PhD at the Florence University Department of Education and Cultural and Training Processes (21/02/2003); Vanna Boffo is Associate Professor at the Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence and received her habilitation to Full Professor in 2015. She is the President of the European Master in Adult and Continuing Education at the University of Florence where she teaches Educational Research Methodology and General Pedagogy. She is also Rector’s Delegate for Job Placement, Member of the Scientific Board of Directors of RUIAP, the Italian Network for University and Higher education, affiliated to EUCEN, and stakeholder of the EPALE Italian Network.