EFYE 2008 (7th – 9th May)

The benefits of embedding employability into a subject curriculum

Dr Dawn Archer, Dr Helen Dayand Angela Kilpatrick

-- and (some of) our students,Richard, Lisa and Sebastian

Let’s talk about … ELSIEThe English Language Studies Initiative

for Employability

See http://www.elsieproject.org.uk

Content:

• Introduction to ‘ELSIE’

• Answering the why question

• Answering the how (of employability)

• Our students’ experiences

• Future Developments

ELSIE is …

… an innovative subject-specific employability scheme, developed at UCLan, which helps students:

1. To get the most out of their degree

2. To reflect on their subject-specific and generic skills

3. To learn how to transfer these skills to a ‘work’ context

4. To research future career options throughout their degree and beyond

• Where does English fit into the grand scheme of things?

• What counts as “good” English now you’re at university?

• Essay writing• What your CV/job

applications say about you (language & representation)

• Drop-in session (student feedback for 1st assignment)

ELSIE is subject specific in the sense that …

“Understanding why you’re at University” (DOT model)

Self-development

Subject-based skills

Information skills

Presentation skills

Observation skills

Individual student presentations

Starting the ELSIE projects

• How do you learn?• Understanding career interests,

preferences, goals and values • What project would you like to

do in Yr 2?

It is part of the English Language Studies Workshops (1 & 2)

Breakdown of the first year experience:

• What do you need to know to do well at university?

• Making the most of library/e-resources

• Writing a “good” CV - what you need to know

• What makes a good presentation? • Mistakes to avoid when presenting!• What counts as useful feedback?

• Another look at Employability and the ELSIE projects • Reviewing what makes a good ELSIE project

Why develop ELSIE?

• A globally changing society

• Declining number in Humanities students

• Yet, English Language is a requirement for a majority of graduate jobs …

How do we “teach” employability?

OPPORTUNITY AWARENESS

SELFAWARENESS

DECISIONLEARNING

TRANSITION LEARNING

Theoretical framework adapted from Law and Watts (1977) DOTS career model.

Hearing the voices of UCLAN students at the EFYE conference …

• Richard’s experience …

• Lisa’s experience …

• Sebastian’s experience …

Richard’s experience …

• Richard is a second year, who has recently completed his employability project (as part of EG2000 = English Language Workshop II)

Lisa’s experience

• My Initial Attitude

• What ELSIE Taught Me

• Realising My Potential

• My New Attitude

Sebastian’s experience…

Our ultimate goal for ELSIE students: that they have sustainable, successful and satisfying careers (built on a firm English-language foundation).