Introducing Students to Employability, Skills and Reflection: A Case Study 1 from History

Abstract

Employability, an important aspect of any undergraduate level study, has the potential to be overlooked with first year delivery in favour of introducing the concept in the second and third years. In this regard, we believe such an approach has a detrimental affect on the student experience and the amount of understanding students have when developing their employability profiles, and the potential to achieve their dream jobs. From the development of the Making History module at Sheffield Hallam University, we present one method of introducing students to employability in their first year of study. We take a skills based approach, embed delivery into the schedule of lectures and workshops for the module, and include a reflective element with assessment. Students were also surveyed at two points in the module delivery to ascertain their perception of skills and skill development, the results of which are presented below. Ethical approval was sought and achieved for students to be surveyed. The data was collected via two questionnaires given to students at the start and end of the module, with completing the questionnaires on a voluntary and anonymous basis. Students were also aware that by returning the questionnaires they were granting permission for the results to be utilised by the authors for research purposes. This case study starts with an overview of the module, followed by an exploration of students’ perceptions of skills at the start of the module. Our approach to integrating employability is then presented, along with students responses to their skills development and reflection. The article concludes with an evaluation of the approach and its transferability.