Understanding university employability initiatives using figured world theory

Understanding university employability initiatives using figured world theory. Findings from a Post 92 university. Hannah Louise Holmes Fiona Mc. Ewen. James Rattenbury Yvonne Rennison 1

Understanding university employability initiatives using figured world theory. Findings from a Post 92 university. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The context – Background The initiative – ‘Bootcamp’ The initial perceptions The theory – ‘figured worlds’ Further findings – what next ? 2

The context… 3

Destination of Leavers from Higher Education 2012/13 DEPARTMENT Population Group Accounting, Finance & Economics FT, Home % In any work or % in Professional/ further study managerial work or further study (Graduate Prospect Score) 90%* 80. 3% 60%* 52. 6% *Institutional target 4

Employability Bootcamp Intervention – Rationale (Our prejudice? ) • Government’s ‘widening participation to higher education & the professions’. • Performance measures - DLHE data • Student cohort - comprised of a significant number of non-traditional background. i. e. first in their family and/or peer group to attend university • Perceived lack of expected professional etiquette and behaviour demanded in the business world. • Lack of engagement in 5

Employability Bootcamp Objectives • Faculty aims - Develop students as Early Career professionals • To align to the faculty strategic goals; of: – Student Employability – Improve student engagement and good honours – To support students within the Accounting Finance & Economics (AFE) department to become more confident at interacting with employers 6

About the Bootcamp • Ran for 6 weeks Nov 2014 & Feb 2016 • What did it include: • Training on Social media • Presentation skills • Develop Cultural capital – Museum trip • Mock Interviews • CV Guidance • Military teamwork & initiative tests • Celebration dinner with guests including graduate recruiters 7

Student Participation Nov 2014 Students who participated ( out of a cohort of 350) • Economics students=13 • Accounting and Finance students= 4 Jan 2016 Students who participated ( out of a cohort of 350) • Economics students=7 • Accounting and Finance students= 5 Attendance at the sessions • 100% with the exception of an exceptional circumstance for one session 8

The theory… Holland et al (1998) ‘Figured Worlds’ BAFA CONFERENCE 9

Figured worlds • A figured world is a “socially and culturally constructed realm of interpretation in which particular characters and actors are recognized, significance is assigned to certain acts and particular outcomes are valued over others”. (Holland 1998 p. 52) • We conceptualise the movement of graduates between school, university and the labour market as a transition of identity by actors (students/new graduates) between figured worlds. 10

Figured Worlds 3 Key Theorists Vygotsky Bakhtin Bourdieu

The self-authoring ‘The world must be answered - authorship is not a choice - but the form of answer is not predetermined. . . . authorship is a matter of orchestration: of arranging the identifiable social discourses/ practices that are one’s resources (which Bakhtin glossed as voices) in order to craft a response in a time and space defined by others’ standpoints in activity. ’ (Holland et al, 1998, p. 272)

Heteroglossia – (multivoicedness) ‘The presence of two or more expressed viewpoints in text or other artistic work’ OED ‘. . . the simultaneity of different languages and of their associated values and presuppositions, is the rule in social life…within an abstractly unitary national language a multitude of concrete worlds, a multitude of bounded verbal-ideological and social belief systems…’ (Holland et al. 1998, p. 170)

Narrative ‘The author of a narrative generates novelty by taking a position from which meaning is made – a position that enters a dialogue and takes a particular stance in addressing and answering others and the world …In weaving a narrative, the speaker places herself, her listeners, and those who populate the narrative in certain positions and relations that are figured by larger cultural meanings or worlds. Narrative acts may reinforce or challenge these figured worlds. ’ (Skinner et al, 2001, quoted in Solomon, 2012, p. 176)

Some data collected from pilot… - Transcribed Interviews held with three Bootcamp students 1. J (male early 20 s) is from South Asian descent but family live in a Gulf state. The previous year was on placement with a multi-national company 2. N (male early 20 s) describes himself a British Muslim Asian - the previous year was on placement in a finance company 3. T (female early 20 s) White British – 3 year degree 16

Examples of students authoring themselves and Heteoglossia (multi-voicedness) influences on them • Quote 1: N reflecting on…family expectation • well I am encouraged by my sisters and my brother because they have done well for themselves and I want to do well for myself as well. I look at them, they are my example, my brother in laws and my sisters. I have got a brother in law who is a doctor, I have got one who is an engineer, I have got a sister who is a solicitor, I have got a sister that is a chartered accountant 17

• Quote 2: N reflecting on …motivation for study at university (ethnic perspective) • ‘because the Asian ones (students) that come to Uni that do that kind of finance or business, and they just come to get their degree because their parents want them to have a degree and they will probably just go and do something different, something like going into a family business, because a lot of Asians have businesses. 18

• Quote 3: T reflecting on … influence of other (non-family) ‘authoritative voices’ • … Influences of other authoritative voices can be heard in the student who was deterred from studying maths at university and advised by sixth form teachers to study accountancy instead. • “…he (the teacher) did maths at uni and he told me, kind of, how intense it was (laughs) … and so it put me off a bit that, but then he talked to me about, like, “Well, you could go down, like, the finance route…” 19

What happened and further research • DLHE metrics have improved (2014 leavers) – but through university interventions or economic recovery? • Quantitative study September 2016 – Survey of 350 first year Accounting and Economics students • Longitudinal study through undergraduate study and post-graduation 21

Questions for the audience • How could we usefully develop the research? – i. e. can the approach be altered to make it more generalizable – quantitative approach, without losing the richness? – Longitudinal study • How might an understanding of Figured Worlds help inform policy in your own institutions? 22