Employability in the curriculum: meeting demands through innovative and reflective teaching and learning

There is continuing demand on academics within HE to respond to the marketisation of teaching and learning through the employability agenda. One response has been to address the skills gap between what employers want and what universities are producing (Morley 2001) by developing ‘skills training’ within the curriculum. In this sense there is a conceptualisation of generic skills required (Bennett et al 1999) as well as responding to the political employability agenda. Such challenges are important to those of us teaching within the discipline of Social Sciences where most degrees do not ‘train’ students for particular jobs of work, especially when one considers the recent Browne Report (Oct 2010) alluding to funding cuts for all but priority subjects and a need to be a ‘closer fit between what is taught and the skills needed in the economy’.(Vasagar & Shepherd 12 October 2010). Lambert et al (2007) advocated a ‘reinvention of curriculum design’as a means to inform student learning, and it is through our experiences of adopting an innovative skills framework within the curriculum entitled ‘Criminology in the Professions’ (a C-SAP funded project) that we explore some of our perceptions. Dissemination of these research findings draws on reflections from students, employers and academics, and raises questions about both curriculum values and pedagogy. It also charts how we have re-evaluated our role to engage with these debates, and reassessed what skills and competencies we should be teaching students.