Reading and writing skills for business : the students' voice

This paper contributes to the emerging discussion around student writing through its focus on writing for Business for first-year students at the London Metropolitan University Business School. We focus on the student writing experience in one compulsory Management module, (People Management: Challenges and Choices – PMCC) which was introduced as part of a broader revision of the first year Business syllabus designed to make transparent to students the discourse of Business studies and of Higher Education more generally. Against the background of Business Students entering higher education with increasing diverse biographies, expectations and constraints (Holley and Oliver, 2009), many Business Schools have recently embarked on re-designing large parts of the curriculum (see Parrott, 2010). New approaches have emerged often challenging traditional tutor-led lecture/seminar delivery and highlighting the development of ‘key skills’ in accordance with a government-driven skills and employability agenda (Leitch, 2006). The increase in introductory academic skills modules is testimony to such an approach