The paradox of ‘developing’ employability: a study of socio-cultural capital in physics graduate prospects in England

Research Student Sinead Marian D’Silva will be discussing her research into the employability of physics graduates.

Abstract

This seminar will be based on my research for my PhD.

The employability agenda in UK has been embedded into the Higher Education landscape and has generated responses that range across a spectrum of absolute endorsement to wholehearted distrust. On one end, research suggest that this enhances Learning, Teaching and Education practice, indeed the overall student experience in HE. Some stay in the middle noting that there are benefits to the agenda, yet it must be adopted critically. On the other end of the spectrum, it is felt that endorsing this policy that stresses on linking university and business within which students are considered consumers poses a threat to the education system by granting the market power over knowledge.

Yet, how do we respond to the agenda within the context of a demand for widening participation, more so in a traditionally elite discipline such as Physics, while simultaneously noting the graduate market has been making demands for “better” STEM graduates?

Through this seminar I will map out a very brief history of the growth of employability to its disciplining (mandatory Foucauldian reference) into Higher Education. Then, I shall identify some of the fractures I have observed in the employability agenda within the context of a massified service of Education and the pursuit of class inclusion. Finally, I will locate my research on how undergraduate physics students’ understand and engage with their graduate prospects.

I invite attendees to reflect on a possible balance between student learning for learning’s sake and learning for enhances job prospects. I would also seek feedback on how I intend to approach this topic.