Embedding employability in the curriculum: Preparing future ready graduates

Our primary aim was to support teaching staff in preparing graduates for their future lives and careers!

Lecturing staff told us that they were committed to preparing students for their future lives and careers. They said this means developing students’ capabilities in: solution seeking, proactivity, professional ethics, independent and critical thinking and more. BUT lecturers were uncertain, they asked for guidance on how to do this within discipline based courses.

As part of an Ako Aotearoa national funded project, representatives from several tertiary institutions and the New Zealand Association of Graduate Employers partnered to discover, trial and disseminate means of embedding employability in the curriculum.

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We have built understanding of curriculum based and co-curricula approaches to building employability attributes.

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We have developed and tested effective approaches to teaching for employability.

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We have produced a pedagogical framework to guide learning designers and teachers who are embedding employability within degree programmes.

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We have delivered a national programme of workshops to lecturers, programme designers and leaders in learning and teaching. The workshops have been very successful in showing people how to apply the pedagogical framework and redesign their courses.

Get the one-page overview

The easy-to-follow one-page handout provides an overview of the Future Ready Grads Project, including the background of the project, the pedagogical framework and the resources created.

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The Four Es of Employability

The Future Ready Grads pedagogical framework identifies four archetypal strategies for teaching. The 4 Es stand for: Enthuse, Explore, Expand and Exhibit. Executed in concert these teaching strategies promote transformative learning and build transferable employability capabilities.

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