When it comes to exploring how employability is perceived and taught, further education and higher education institutions are often considered separately. However, comparing the two reveals some interesting differences
Key findings:
- Further and higher education providers define employability differently, with HE students more likely than their FE counterparts to consider the development of specific skills or attributes as a key element.
- More HE students thought that creating a LinkedIn profile was evidence of having worked on their employability.
- HE students considered that part-time work or work experience developed their employability, more-so than did FE students.
- Despite these differences, there were also many similarities in how employability was conceived and presented. For example, all students and staff generally thought that employability was a shared responsibility, and not something that should be 'done to' passive students.
- At present, employability-related research, reports, careers materials and tools are divided between HE and FE. This report argues that bridging this gap and sharing resources would benefit both practitioners and students from these different education spheres.
About the report
This HECSU-funded report aims to evaluate how two distinct cohorts of both staff and students from FE and HE view employability. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected via a questionnaire distributed to students and staff at Writtle University College.
Mark Yates is a careers adviser at Writtle University College.
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