EFYE 2008 (7th – 9th May) The benefits of embedding employability into a subject curriculum Dr Dawn Archer, Dr Helen Day and Angela Kilpatrick -- and (some of) our students, Richard, Lisa and Sebastian

Let’s talk about … ELSIE The 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: To get the most out of their degree To reflect on their subject-specific and generic skills To learn how to transfer these skills to a ‘work’ context To research future career options throughout their degree and beyond

ELSIE is subject specific in the sense that … It is part of the English Language Studies Workshops (1 & 2) Breakdown of the first year experience: How do you learn? Understanding career interests, preferences, goals and values What project would you like to do in Yr 2? “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 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) 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 SELF AWARENESS DECISION LEARNING 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).