Assessment for employability: Is synoptic assessment the answer?

Abstract

The production of job ready graduates remains one of the key requests of the business community. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the importance of assessment in developing employability skills and in making graduates more employable. One criticism often levied at higher education institutions, is that students understand ideas in subject context, but cannot transfer that knowledge into a holistic business context. As such, they have silo ‘mentality’, when to be successful in the modern complex working and business environment they need to understand and command multiplicity. As a conceptual paper, this article seeks to discuss the importance and relevance of assessment and its links to employability. The paper provides a case for the inclusion of synoptic assessment as a tool for developing and demonstrating employability skills. The article emphasises the importance of employability and surrounding issues. The paper provides originality through linking the concepts of education and assessment with the end goals of job-readiness and employability. This paper argues for a new approach to assessment which is employability driven.