Ann Jordan, Karima Kadi-hanifi and Rose Watson

An Investigation into the skills and attributes of trainee teachers in relation

to their world of work.

University of Worcester

Rationale• Importance of relevant employability skills and attributes in

the current economic climate.

• Little systematic analysis of transferability of employability skills and attributes by ITT students to non-teaching work contexts.

• Research to focus on potential areas of mis-match between employer expectations and the perceived capabilities of students in relation to students in the teaching sector.

• Research to examine the extent to which final year ITT students feel they have developed these capabilities and also the extent to which employers from the teaching and non-teaching sectors agree about the importance of such skills and attributes.

Top 10 most important skills and capabilities

• Communication skills• Team-working skills• Integrity• Intellectual ability• Confidence• Character/personality• Literacy• Numeracy• Analysis/decision making

What do Employers think and want? Archer and Davison (2008) UKCES

Largest importance-satisfaction gaps in capabilities of new graduates

• Commercial awareness• Analysis and decision making• Communication• Written literacy• Passion• Relevant work experience• Planning/organisation• Confidence• Personal Development skills

*What do Employers think and want? Archer and Davison(2008), UKCES

Chosen methodology3 separate online surveys to:

• Final year undergraduate ITT primary students, one year Primary Post Graduate students and final year Post-compulsory DTLLS students.

• Employers from primary and post- compulsory sectors and those outside the teaching sectors.

• Internal University staff, including teacher educators.

Students responding ‘good’ and ‘very good’

N=66PGCE Primary (21), UG Primary (24), FE ITT

(6), Other (15)

Students responding ‘very good’

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

N=66PGCE Primary (21), UG Primary (24), FE ITT

(6), Other (15)

Employers indicating ‘Very Important’ and ‘Important’

74 (89% total respondents) from education sector

Of Education, 63 (85%) primary, 11 (15%) post comp.

9 (11% total respondents) from nonteaching.

Employers indicating ‘Very Important’

0%20%40%60%80%

100%120%

74 (89% total respondents) from education sector

Of Education, 63 (85%) primary, 11 (15%) post comp.

9 (11% total respondents) from non teaching.

Employers from Education/Non Education sectors responding ‘Very Important’

Primary and Post-compulsory employers responding ‘Very Important’

Colleagues indicating ‘Very important’ and ‘Important’

N= 33 A return of 66% response of which 35.5 were UW, 25.8 Partner and 38.7 other

Colleagues indicating ‘very important’

0%20%40%60%80%

100%120%

N= 33 A return of 66% response of which 35.5 were UW, 25.8 Partner and 38.7 other

Students, employers and colleagues responding ‘Very important/very good’

and ‘important/good’

Students, employers, colleagues responding ‘very important/very good’

Next steps

• Further interrogation of data• Identification of emerging themes• Discussions with colleagues and employers re

strategies for enhancing employability• Embedding within the curriculum