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EBL and Employability

EBL and Employability. Catherine Franc University of Manchester EBL in Languages 26 September 2008. The world is flat: employment and globalisation. 42% of the UK’s 18-21 year old study in higher education 1 million full time students. Language graduates’ careers.

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EBL and Employability

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  1. EBL and Employability Catherine Franc University of Manchester EBL in Languages 26 September 2008

  2. The world is flat: employment and globalisation • 42% of the UK’s 18-21 year old study in higher education • 1 million full time students

  3. Language graduates’ careers • 3.5% of language students go into teaching • 21% of employers consider language skills an important capability • Language graduates ‘have the highest employability rates of all humanities graduates’, coming ‘second only to graduates in more narrowly defined vocational subjects such as dentistry.’

  4. Developing ‘soft’ skills • The Leitch Report (2006) • ‘Graduates will play a vital role in creating wealth and underpinning the UK’s international competitiveness.’ Richard Brown (CIHE) • 70% of employers consider soft skills vital for potential graduate recrutees

  5. Skills favoured by employers • Skills % of employers favouring these skillsCommunication skills 86% Team-working skills 85% Integrity 83% Intellectual ability 81% Confidence 80% Character/personality 75% Planning and organisational skills 74% Literacy (good writing skills) 71% Numeracy (good with numbers) 68% Analysis & decision-making skills 67%Archer and Davidson, 2008

  6. Employers satisfaction • Importance rank Satisfaction rank Gap • Commercial awareness 13 33 -20 • Analysis and • decision-making skills 10 26 -16 • Communication skills 1 16 -15 • Literacy 8 23 -15 • Passion 12 25 -13 • Relevant work experience 17 30 -13 • Planning and organisational skills 7 17 -10 • Confidence 5 13 -8 • Personnal development skills 21 28 -7

  7. Skills developped by language students • Communication Efficient communication • Ability to work with others • Support and motivate others • Operate effectively in teams • Self-management Efficient with time management • Flexibility and adaptibility • Self-reliant • Interpersonal Leadership • Cultural awareness (to value diversity)

  8. Skills developed by language students • Intellectual/cognitive Produce material and think under pressure • Reflect and judge critically • Organise and structure ideas in a coherent manner • Mastery of the studied language • Subject-related knowledge (politics, history, literature, linguistics…) • Practical and applied Use of reference material, library research • Language related skills (self-aware independent language learners) • ICT skills • Employers categories from: King and Honeybone, 2000 • Language graduates skills categories from: Employability profiles, 2007 and QAA benchmark, 2007

  9. French language at the University of Manchester • 200+ students • 10+ languages tutors • 3 hours per week (oral, written and grammar) • The oral seminar: 25% of the overall language course

  10. The phonetics project • EBL and TBL • The task itself: scenario; organisation of the groups; information on blackboard; research; tutors’ facilitation; class presentation; dossier; self-reflection • Assessment: 10% of oral mark

  11. Language skills developed during this project: • Year 2007 2008 • Phonetics skills improved 94% 94.3% • Phonetics exam (over 60%) 86.4% 77% • Oral French improved 84% 88.6%

  12. Transferable skills developed by EBL • Cognitive skills (problem solving, work with information and handle them, draw conclusions); • Generic competences (team work, communication skills, listening and questionning, written and oral communication, organistion, interpersonal sensitivity), • Personal capabilities (improve ones self awareness, ability to start and finish a job, flexibility, creativity, initiative, leadership and tolerance of stress, responsbility), • Technical abilities (working with relevant technology, including ICT).

  13. Transferable skills developed during this project • 2007 2008 • Research 94% 92.4% • Presentation 96% 92.4% • Group work 96% 93.6%

  14. A few of the 2008 quotations • ‘Being able to give presentations confidently is a vital skill that I know I will need for my future career.’ • ‘We learned to cooperate and work together towards the same goal.’ • ‘It has helped me to understand how everyone in the group needs to communicate for a successful project’. • ‘The best aspect of doing a project like this is that one is improving their transferable skills’.

  15. More 2008 quotations • ‘It was interesting to put yourself in the place of the teacher and it did make me actively learn the phonetic rules. It is quite complicated to plan a lesson in a group, however, because it relies on everyone having the same understanding of the problem-quite frustrating sometimes.’ • ‘This project prepares you for later life, as it requires interpersonal skills, and the ability to talk in front of a group or audience.’

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