Employability in the College Sector: A Comparative Study

Simon McGrath, Seamus Needham and Volker Wedekind withMarius Calitz, Tim Grant and Trish vd Merwe

The Project

• DBIS funding• 3 colleges / 3 universities:

• Coastal KZN College• Northlink College• West Nottinghamshire College• University of KwaZulu-Natal• University of the Western Cape• University of Nottingham

• Research approach• “Beacon colleges”• 3 day team visits to each college• Tours• Policy documents• Meetings with management• Meetings with lecturers• Employer focus groups• Student focus groups

The Deficit Model of Employability

• Employability has typically been thought about in terms of individual deficits, particularly in soft skills and attitudes• A recent employer survey in England found that employers rated the following as the 5 greatest skills needs:

• literacy• numeracy• enthusiasm• commitment• timekeeping (Lanning, Martin, Villeneuve-Smith 2008)

Expanding the Notion of Employability

• Clearly, these are important and we have heard much about the latter attitudes (and related ones) • However, it is important to ask further questions of employability

• What does employability amount to in a context of mass youth unemployment, as in South Africa?• How important are employability skills as opposed to other factors such as gender, race, poverty, caring responsibilities, transport availability/affordability?

• It is also important to recognise the limitations of employability as a notion – e.g., South African notion of productive citizenship – is employability only about being productive?

Rethinking Further Education’s Role in Employability

Students

• More than a set of skills, dispositions, attitudes and knowledge• Linked to the full cycle from application, admission, choice, support through to destination• bksb• Interviews• Selection• Student support systems

Students

• Complex Skills picture•Sectorally specific•Includes • literacy, numeracy and life skills• specialisation vs multi-skilling• need to be recognisable

• Workplace dispositions•Can do attitude•Time management•‘Spitting and swearing’•‘obedience’

Students

•Questions•Employee rights•Diversity •Structural nature of the economy•Saving, medical, insurance

Staff

•Central to the success of the system•Passion and Commitment•Generate excitement about their field

•Modelling and embodying•Staff act as mentors/masters•Model the behaviour expected in the workplace

•Time•Respect•Appearance

Staff

•Soft skills taught directly or indirectly by the discipline staff•Provide support and care•Know their students•Aware of personal troubles

•Use their networks to place students

Staff

•Issues• Retention• HE drift

• Teacher qualification• Programme requirements

• Demoralisation• Diversity management

Institution

• Employable institution• Spatial organisation• Simulating work environments• Income generation• The boundaryless college• Niching• Colleges as academic beacons• The data problem

Employers

• Expectations• Engagement• Concerns• Challenges

Policy

• Funding norms and funding opportunities• Joined-up government?• Strategy, opportunism and policy flip-flop