Promoting Employability Skills Through Active Learning

The Higher Education (HE) landscape in England has changed dramatically in the last two decades. There is a political drive to improve accessibility and transparency of information available to current and prospective students. This combined with the new funding structure is placing more demand on HE intuitions to ensure students receive a positive experience and value for money. Employability by its very nature can only be assessed after graduation. However, developing strategies for enhancing student employability skills is a key area in HE. Traditional methods of teaching and learning however limit the development and evaluation of employability skills. Active learning strategies in contrast offer educators the opportunity to embed skill enhancement. It is imperative that graduates have developed life skills of problem solving, teamwork, communication and an enthusiasm for their selected career in addition to discipline knowledge. This paper details the development of employability skills within an apparel product development unit at level 6. The unit employed an active learning strategy using an operational framework. It was delivered over a period of 24 weeks for two consecutive years. It was found that there was evidence to suggest that active learning encouraged the development of employability skills.