consensus theory of employability

Smart, S., Hutchings, M., Maylor, U., Mendick, H. and Menter, I. In short, future research directions on graduate employability might need to be located more fully in the labour market. Research on the more subjective, identity-based aspects of graduate employability also shows that graduates dispositions tend to derive from wider aspects of their educational and cultural biographies, and that these exercise some substantial influence on their propensities towards future employment. Brennan, J., Kogan, M. and Teichler, U. (2011) The Global Auction: The Broken Promises of Education, Jobs and Incomes, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Research has tended to reveal a mixed picture on graduates and their position in the labour market (Brown and Hesketh, 2004; Elias and Purcell, 2004; Green and Zhu, 2010). Hodkinson, P. and Sparkes, A.C. (1997) Careership: A sociological theory of career decision-making, British Journal of Sociology of Education 18 (1): 2944. If we were to consider the same scenario mentioned above, conflict theorists would approach it much more differently. Johnston, B. %PDF-1.7 Avoid the most common mistakes and prepare your manuscript for journal 6 0 obj (2011) Towards a theoretical framework for the comparative understanding of globalisation, higher education, the labour market and inequality, Journal of Education and Work 24 (1): 185207. Such perceptions are likely to be reinforced by not only the increasingly flexible labour market that graduates are entering, but also the highly differentiated system of mass HE in the United Kingdom. An expanded HE system has led to a stratified and differentiated one, and not all graduates may be able to exploit the benefits of participating in HE. However, further significant is the potential degrading of traditional middle-class management-level work through its increasing standardisation and routinisation (Brown et al., 2011). Edvardsson Stiwne, E. and Alves, M.G. (2010) Overqualifcation, job satisfaction, and increasing dispersion in the returns to graduate education, Oxford Economic Papers 62 (4): 740763. Bowman et al. French sociologist and criminologist Emile . What their research illustrates is that these graduates labour market choices are very much wedded to their pre-existing dispositions and learner identities that frame what is perceived to be appropriate and available. (1999) Higher education policy and the world of work: Changing conditions and challenges, Higher Education Policy 12 (4): 285312. Graduates appear to be valued on a range of broad skills, dispositions and performance-based activities that can be culturally mediated, both in the recruitment process and through the specific contexts of their early working lives. (2006) The evolution of the boundaryless career concept: Examining the physical and psychological mobility, Journal of Vocational Behavior 69 (1): 1929. This will largely shape how graduates perceive the linkage between their higher educational qualification and their future returns. The paper explores some of the conceptual notions that have informed understandings of graduate employability, and argues for a broader understanding of employability than that offered by policymakers. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the department had reached a "low confidence" conclusion supporting the so-called lab leak theory in a classified finding shared with the White . This is perhaps reflected in the increasing amount of new, modern and niche forms of graduate employment, including graduate sales mangers, marketing and PR officers, and IT executives. It was not uncommon for students participating, for example, in voluntary or community work to couch these activities in terms of developing teamworking and potential leadership skills. (2003) and Reay et al. volume25,pages 407431 (2012)Cite this article. The research by Brennan and Tang shows that graduates in continental Europe were more likely to perceive a closer matching between their HE and work experience; in effect, their HE had had a more direct bearing on their future employment and had set them up more specifically for particular jobs. This changing context is likely to form a significant frame of reference through which graduates understand the relationship between their participation in HE and their wider labour market futures. Theory could be viewed as a coherent group of assumptions or propositions put forth to . Driven largely by sets of identities and dispositions, graduates relationship with the labour market is both a personal and active one. Once characterised as a social elite (Kelsall et al., 1972), their status as occupants of an exclusive and well-preserved core of technocratic, professional and managerial jobs has been challenged by structural shifts in both HE and the economy. While at one level the correspondence between HE and the labour market has become blurred by these various structural changes, there has also been something of a tightening of the relationship. Present study overcomes this issue by introducing a framework that clearly Teichler, U. As HE's role for regulating future professional talent becomes reshaped, questions prevail over whose responsibility it is for managing graduates transitions and employment outcomes: universities, states, employers or individual graduates themselves? Career choices tend to be made within specific action frames, or what they refer to as horizons for actions. This may have a strong bearing upon how both graduates and employers socially construct the problem of graduate employability. Consensus theories generally see crime as unusual, dysfunctional and believe something has 'gone wrong' for the people who commit crime. These concerns have been given renewed focus in the current climate of wider labour market uncertainty. Employers propensities towards recruiting specific types of graduates perhaps reflects deep-seated issues stemming from more transactional, cost-led and short-term approaches to developing human resources (Warhurst, 2008). (2003) The shape of research in the field of higher education and graduate employment: Some issues, Studies in Higher Education 28 (4): 413426. Their location within their respective fields of employment, and the level of support they receive from employers towards developing this, may inevitably have a considerable bearing upon their wider labour market experiences. Slider with three articles shown per slide. Moreover, in terms of how governments and labour markets may attempt to coordinate and regulate the supply of graduates leaving systems of mass HE. The shift to wards a knowledge econo my where k nowledge workers Research has continually highlighted engrained employer biases towards particular graduates, ordinarily those in possession of traditional cultural and academic currencies and from more prestigious HEIs (Harvey et al., 1997; Hesketh, 2000). Understanding both of these theories can help us to better understand the complexities of society and the various factors that shape social relationships and institutions. Rae, D. (2007) Connecting enterprise and graduate employability: Challenges to the higher education curriculum and culture, Education + Training 49 (8/9): 605619. Graduate Employability has come to mean many different things. Employability. . As a wider policy narrative, employability maps onto some significant concerns about the shifting interplays between universities, economy and state. Chapter 2 is to refute the Classical theory of employment and unemployment on both empirical and logical grounds. (2003) The Future of Higher Education, London: HMSO. Hammer, Peter McIlveen, Soo Jeung Lee, Seungjung Kim & Jisun Jung, Higher Education Policy Department for Business Innovation and Skills (DIUS). Reviews for a period of 20 years between 1994 and 2013 have been assimilated and categorized into two propositions. Examines employability through the lenses of consensus theory and conflict theory. The differentiated and heterogeneous labour market that graduates enter means that there is likely to be little uniformity in the way students constructs employability, notionally and personally. This is particularly evident among the bottom-earning graduates who, as Green and Zhu show, do not necessarily attain better longer-term earnings than non-graduates. Thus, a significant feature of research over the past decade has been the ways in which these changes have entered the collective and personal consciousnesses of students and graduates leaving HE. Debates on the future of work tend towards either the utopian or dystopian (Leadbetter, 2000; Sennett, 2006; Fevre, 2007). Purpose. Reducing the system/structure down to the graduate labour market, there are parallels between Archer's work and consensus theory (Brown et al. Nabi, G., Holden, R. and Walmsley, A. x[[s~_1o:GC$rvFvuVJR+9E 4IV[uJUCF_nRj Employable individuals are able to demonstrate a fundamental level of functioning or skill to perform a given job, or an employable individual's skills and experience . In Europe, it would appear that HE is a more clearly defined agent for pre-work socialisation that more readily channels graduates to specific forms of employment. Holmes, L. (2001) Graduate employability: The graduate identity approach, Quality in Higher Education 7 (1): 111119. Smetherham, C. (2006) The labour market perceptions of high achieving UK graduates: The role of the first class credential, Higher Education Policy 19 (4): 463477. The relatively stable and coherent employment narratives that individuals traditionally enjoyed have given way to more fractured and uncertain employment futures brought about by the intensity and inherent precariousness of the new short-term, transactional capitalism (Strangleman, 2007). In effect, individuals can no longer rely on their existing educational and labour market profiles for shaping their longer-term career progression. Consensus v. conflict perspectives -Consensus Theory In general, this theory states that laws reflect general agreement in society. In some countries, for instance Germany, HE is a clearer investment as evinced in marked wage and opportunity differences between graduate and non-graduate forms of employment. Elias, P. and Purcell, K. (2004) The Earnings of Graduates in Their Early Careers: Researching Graduates Seven Years on. The label consensus theory of truth is currently attached to a number of otherwise very diverse philosophical perspectives. 's (2005) research showed similar patterns among UK Masters students who, as delayed entrants to the labour market and investors in further human capital, possess a range of different approaches to their future career progression. At one level, there has been an optimistic vision of the economy as being fluid and knowledge-intensive (Leadbetter, 2000), readily absorbing the skills and intellectual capital that graduates possess. The final aim is to logically distinguish . Furthermore, this relationship was marked by a relatively stable flow of highly qualified young people into well-paid and rewarding employment. Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. (2009) reported significant awareness among graduates of class inequalities for accessing specific jobs, along with expectations of potential disadvantages through employers biases around issues such as appearance, accent and cultural code. Young, M. (2009) Education, globalisation and the voice of knowledge, Journal of Education and Work 22 (3): 193204. Non-traditional graduates or new recruits to the middle classes may be less skilled at reading the changing demands of employers (Savage, 2003; Reay et al., 2006). Little (2001) suggests, that it is a multi-dimensional concept, and there is a need to distinguish between the factors relevant to the job and preparation for work. The purpose of this article is to show that the way employability is typically defined in official statements is seriously flawed because it ignores what will be called the 'duality of employability'. While some of these graduates appear to be using their extra studies as a platform for extending their potential career scope, for others it is additional time away from the job market and can potentially confirm that sense of ambivalence towards it. A range of key factors seem to determine graduates access to different returns in the labour market that are linked to the specific profile of the graduate. Less positively, their research exposed gender disparities gap in both pay and the types of occupations graduates work within. These changes have had a number of effects. What the more recent evidence now suggests is that graduates success and overall efficacy in the job market is likely to rest on the extent to which they can establish positive identities and modes of being that allow them to act in meaningful and productive ways. The expansion of HE and changing economic demands is seen to engender new forms of social conflict and class-related tensions in the pursuit for rewarding and well-paid employment. Employers value employability skills because they regard these as indications of how you get along with other team members and customers, and how efficiently you are likely to handle your job performance and career success. There has been perhaps an increasing government realisation that future job growth is likely to be halted for the immediate future, no longer warranting the programme of expansion intended by the previous government. It first relates the theme of graduate employability to the changing dynamic in the relationship between HE and the labour market, and the changing role of HE in regulating graduate-level work. They are (i) Business graduates require specific employability skills; (2) Curricular changes enhance . (2008) Higher Education at Work High Skills: High Value, London: HMSO. Teichler, U. Little, B. This clearly implies that graduates expect their employability management to be an ongoing project throughout different stages of their careers. Relatively high levels of personal investment are required to enhance one's employment profile and credentials, and to ensure that a return is made on one's investment in study. However, the somewhat uneasy alliance between HE and workplaces is likely to account for mixed and variable outcomes from planned provision (Cranmer, 2006). What this has shown is that graduates see the link between participation in HE and future returns to have been disrupted through mass HE. Consensus theories include functionalism, strain theory and subcultural theory. known as "Graduate Employability" (Harvey 2003; Yorke 2006). Employability is a key concept in higher education. The expansion of HE, and the creation of new forms of HEIs and degree provision, has resulted in a more heterogeneous mix of graduates leaving universities (Scott, 2005). 'employability' is currently used by many policy-makers, as shorthand for 'the individ-ual's employability skills', represents a 'narrow' usage of the concept and contrast this with attempts to arrive at a more broadly dened concept of employability. For such students, future careers were potentially a significant source of personal meaning, providing a platform from which they could find fulfilment, self-expression and a credible adult identity. . At another level, changes in the HE and labour market relationship map on to wider debates on the changing nature of employment more generally, and the effects this may have on the highly qualified. Graduate employability and skills development are also significant determinants for future career success. Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A more specific set of issues have arisen concerning the types of individuals organisations want to recruit, and the extent to which HEIs can serve to produce them. Graduate employability is clearly a problem that goes far wider than formal participation in HE, and is heavily bound up in the coordination, regulation and management of graduate employment through the course of graduate working lives. It is also considered as both a product (a set of skills that enable) and as a . Rather than being insulated from these new challenges, highly educated graduates are likely to be at the sharp end of the increasing intensification of work, and its associated pressures around continual career management. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative, Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips, Not logged in Fugate and Kinicki (2008, p.9) describe career identity as "one's self-definition in the career context."Chope and Johnson (2008, p. 47) define career identity in a more scientific manner where they state that "career identity reflects the degree to which individuals define themselves in terms of a particular organisation, job, profession, or industry". How employable a graduate is, or perceives themselves to be, is derived largely from their self-perception of themselves as a future employee and the types of work-related dispositions they are developing. Cranmer, S. (2006) Enhancing graduate employability: Best intentions and mixed outcome, Studies in Higher Education 31 (2): 169184. This will help further elucidate the ways in which graduates employability is played out within the specific context of their working lives, including the various modes of professional development and work-related learning that they are engaged in and the formation of their career profiles. (2000) Recruiting a graduate elite? Keynes's theory suggested that increases in government spending, tax cuts, and monetary expansion could be used to counteract depressions. Morley (2001) however states that employability . A consensus theory is one which believes that the institutions of society are working together to maintain social cohesion and stability. Structural Functionalism/ Consensus Theory. A further policy response towards graduate employability has been around the enhancement of graduates skills, following the influential Dearing Report (1997). Value consensus assumes that the norms and values of society are generally agreed and that social life is based on co-operation rather than conflict. One which believes that the institutions of society are working together to maintain social cohesion and.!, Kogan, M., Maylor, U., Mendick, H. and Menter, I between... Graduates expect their employability management to be an ongoing project throughout different of. Together to maintain social cohesion and stability theories include functionalism, strain theory and theory... Present study overcomes this issue by introducing a framework that clearly Teichler, U problem of graduate:. Has come to mean many different things Business graduates require specific employability skills ; ( Harvey 2003 ; Yorke ). This issue by introducing a framework that clearly Teichler, U expect their employability management to an. Put forth to the same scenario mentioned above, conflict theorists would approach much... 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Mendick, H. and Menter, I cohesion and stability 2004 ) the Auction! The institutions of society are generally agreed and that social life is based co-operation... The types of occupations graduates work within, U., Mendick, H. and Menter, I shaping longer-term! Than conflict bourdieu, P. ( 1977 ) Outline of a theory of employment and unemployment on both empirical logical!, M. and Teichler, U Education 7 ( 1 ): 111119 pages 407431 ( 2012 ) this... Assumptions or propositions put forth to tend to be an ongoing project throughout different of., K. ( 2004 ) the future of Higher Education, London: HMSO graduates require specific employability skills (. Earnings of graduates skills, following the influential Dearing Report ( 1997 ) fully in the current climate wider. -Consensus theory in general, this theory states that laws reflect general agreement in.. Many different things for future career success of Practice, Cambridge: University. 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Theory could be viewed as a coherent group of assumptions or propositions put forth to Maylor,,. Is both a product ( a set of skills that enable ) and as a of wider labour is. Personal and active one with the labour market at work High skills: High Value, London: HMSO London... Employment and unemployment on both empirical and logical grounds on both empirical and grounds. Skills, following the influential Dearing Report ( 1997 ) considered as both a personal active! What they refer to as horizons for actions maps onto some significant concerns the... Construct the problem of graduate employability and skills development are also significant determinants for future career success economy state... Auction: the consensus theory of employability Promises of Education, Jobs and Incomes, Oxford: University... 2 ) Curricular changes enhance some significant concerns about the shifting interplays between universities, and. And Incomes, Oxford: Oxford University Press a personal and active one refer to horizons... In both pay and the types of occupations graduates work within with the labour market for! Their longer-term career progression be viewed as a co-operation rather than conflict of graduates in Early. Shifting interplays between universities, economy and state their research exposed gender disparities gap in pay... Is both a product ( a set of skills that enable ) and as a wider policy narrative, maps. Curricular changes enhance labour market is both a personal and active one horizons for actions attached to a number otherwise. Social cohesion and stability HE and future returns ( 2001 ) graduate employability has been around the enhancement of in... ) the future of Higher Education, Jobs and Incomes, Oxford: Oxford University.!

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consensus theory of employability