“Teaching employability is not my job!”: redefining embedded employability from within the higher education curriculum

Abstract

PurposeThis paper introduces a new approach to embedding employability by extracting from higher education curriculum the knowledge, attributes, skills and experience that employers value. The Extracted Employability concept enables academics to surface the innate employability value of what they already teach across all curriculums, disciplines and programmes, enabling students to prepare better for work and make more effective career decisions.Design/methodology/approachManual textual analysis of all UK Quality Assurance Agency Subject Benchmark Statements surfaced a database of common descriptors for defining and articulating the innate employability value of higher education curriculum, enriching language in attributes and transferable skills.FindingsExtracted Employability enables academics to articulate the employability value of their existing curriculum without sacrificing rigour or integrity, which is particularly of concern in research-led universities. Piloting the concept, a database of attributes and transferable skills enabled academics to surface significantly greater value for students from curriculum in the language employers recognise, addressing the perceived “skills gap”.Practical implicationsStudents, particularly studying subjects not professionally-aligned, will find it easier to connect the extracted employability value of their curriculum with what employers are looking for. Academics can use richer language of skills for creating learning outcomes that also have employability value.Social implicationsSurfacing employability through curriculum makes it structurally unavoidable for all students to engage with, supporting social mobility and enabling students to realise more effectively the value of their higher education in work.Originality/valueResearch and practice on employability has derived from a position outside academic curriculum established by Knight and Yorke (2003), but this approach redefines employability from within academic curriculum.