Learning and employability are clearly supportive constructs but this relationship appears to be under represented and lacks clarity. Collins, R. (2000) Comparative and Historical Patterns of Education, in M. Hallinan (ed.) With increased individual expenditure, HE has literally become an investment and, as such, students may look to it for raising their absolute level of employability. The relationship between HE and the labour market has traditionally been a closely corresponding one, although in sometimes loose and intangible ways (Brennan et al., 1996; Johnston, 2003). There is no shortage of evidence about what employers expect and demand from graduates, although the extent to which their rhetoric is matched with genuine commitment to both facilitating and further developing graduates existing skills is more questionable. Graduates appear to be valued on a range of broad skills, dispositions and performance-based activities that can be culturally mediated, both in the recruitment process and through the specific contexts of their early working lives. Conflict theory in sociology. Article It first relates the theme of graduate employability to the changing dynamic in the relationship between HE and the labour market, and the changing role of HE in regulating graduate-level work. Power, S. and Whitty, G. (2006) Graduating and Graduations Within the Middle Class: The Legacy of an Elite Higher Education, Cardiff: Cardiff University, School of Social Sciences. Individuals have to flexibly adapt to a job market that places increasing expectation and demands on them; in short, they need to continually maintain their employability. Under consensus theory the absence of conflict is seen as the equilibrium . Bridgstock, R. (2009) The graduate attributes weve overlooked: Enhancing graduate employability through career management skills, Higher Education Research and Development 28 (1): 3144. Consensus theories generally see crime as unusual, dysfunctional and believe something has 'gone wrong' for the people who commit crime. The neo-Weberian theorising of Collins (2000) has been influential here, particularly in examining the ways in which dominant social groups attempt to monopolise access to desired economic goods, including the best jobs. Consequently, they will have to embark upon increasingly uncertain employment futures, continually having to respond to the changing demands of internal and external labour markets. A consensus theory approach sees sport as a source of collective harmony, a way of binding people together in a shared experience. Naidoo, R. and Jamieson, I. Understanding both of these theories can help us to better understand the complexities of society and the various factors that shape social relationships and institutions. Individual employability is defined as alumnus being able . (2009) The Bologna Process in Higher Education in Europe: Key Indicators on the Social Dimension and Mobility, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Hesketh, A.J. Harvey, L., Moon, S. and Geall, V. (1997) Graduates Work: Organisational Change and Students Attributes, Birmingham: QHE. Moreau and Leathwood reported strong tendencies for graduates to attribute their labour market outcomes and success towards personal attributes and qualities as much as the structure of available opportunities. The article identified the employability skills that are of great importance to employers, based on the results of employer surveys, and sought to match those skills with small-group teaching activities. Book Keynes' theory of employment is a demand-deficient theory. Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. PubMedGoogle Scholar, Tomlinson, M. Graduate Employability: A Review of Conceptual and Empirical Themes. Increasingly, individual graduates are no longer constrained by the old corporate structures that may have traditionally limited their occupational agility. Morley (2001) however states that employability . Harvey, L. (2000) New realities: The relationship between higher education and employment, Tertiary Education and Management 6 (1): 317. Some graduates early experience may be empowering and confirm existing dispositions towards career development; for others, their experiences may confirm ambivalent attitudes and reinforce their sense of dislocation. Intentionally avoiding the term employability (because of a lack of consensus on the specific meaning and measurement of this concept), they instead define movement capital as: 'skills, knowledge, competencies and attitudes influencing an individual's career mobility opportunities' (p. 742). Part of Springer Nature. What such research has shown is that the wider cultural features of graduates frame their self-perceptions, and which can then be reinforced through their interactions within the wider employment context. Consensus v. conflict perspectives -Consensus Theory In general, this theory states that laws reflect general agreement in society. Southampton Education School, University of Southampton, Building 32, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK, You can also search for this author in Hall, P.A. Such strategies typically involve the accruement of additional forms of credentials and capitals that can be converted into economic gain. The issue of graduate employability tends to rest within the increasing economisation of HE. The study explores differences in the implicit employability theories of those involved in developing employability (educators) and those selecting and recruiting higher education (HE) students and graduates (employers). (2006) The evolution of the boundaryless career concept: Examining the physical and psychological mobility, Journal of Vocational Behavior 69 (1): 1929. The challenge, it seems, is for graduates to become adept at reading these signals and reframing both their expectations and behaviours. Perhaps more positively, there is evidence that employers place value on a wider range of softer skills, including graduates values, social awareness and generic intellectuality dispositions that can be nurtured within HE and further developed in the workplace (Hinchliffe and Jolly, 2011). At another level, changes in the HE and labour market relationship map on to wider debates on the changing nature of employment more generally, and the effects this may have on the highly qualified. (1999) Higher education policy and the world of work: Changing conditions and challenges, Higher Education Policy 12 (4): 285312. The problem of graduates employability remains a continuing policy priority for higher education (HE) policymakers in many advanced western economies. Players are adept at responding to such competition, embarking upon strategies that will enable them to acquire and present the types of employability narratives that employers demand. explains that employability influences three theories: Talcott Parson's Consensus Theory that is linked to norms and shared beliefs of the society; Conflict theory of Karl Marx, who elaborated how the finite resources of the world drive towards eternal conflict; and Human Capital Theory of Becker which is consensus theory of employability. Consensus Vs. Strathdee, R. (2011) Educational reform, inequality and the structure of higher education in New Zealand, Journal of Education and Work 24 (1): 2749. Brown, P., Lauder, H. and Ashton, D.N. known as "Graduate Employability" (Harvey 2003; Yorke 2006). Savage, M. (2003) A new class paradigm? British Journal of Sociology of Education 24 (4): 535541. It appears that students and graduates reflect upon their relationship with the labour market and what they might need to achieve their goals. This is perhaps reflected in the increasing amount of new, modern and niche forms of graduate employment, including graduate sales mangers, marketing and PR officers, and IT executives. Kirton, G. (2009) Career plans and aspirations of recent black and minority ethnic business graduates, Work, Employment and Society 23 (1): 1229. This paper reviews some of the key empirical and conceptual themes in the area of graduate employability over the past decade in order to make sense of graduate employability as a policy issue. Despite the limitations, the model is adopted to evaluate the role of education stakeholders in the Nigerian HE. Summary. This paper aims to place the issue of graduate employability in the context of the shifting inter-relationship between HE and the labour market, and the changing regulation of graduate employment. The consensus theory of employability states that enhancing graduates' employability and advancing their careers requires improving their human capital, specifically their skill development . Cardiff School of Social Sciences Working Paper 118. This is particularly evident among the bottom-earning graduates who, as Green and Zhu show, do not necessarily attain better longer-term earnings than non-graduates. Nabi, G., Holden, R. and Walmsley, A. HE has traditionally helped regulate the flow of skilled, professional and managerial workers. Graduates are therefore increasingly likely to see responsibility for future employability as falling quite sharply onto the shoulders of the individual graduate: being a graduate and possessing graduate-level credentials no longer warrants access to sought-after employment, if only because so many other graduates share similar educational and pre-work profiles. As Brown et al. Examines employability through the lenses of consensus theory and conflict theory. 213240. A range of key factors seem to determine graduates access to different returns in the labour market that are linked to the specific profile of the graduate. In the United Kingdom, for example, state commitment to public financing of HE has declined; although paradoxically, state continues to exert pressures on the system to enhance its outputs, quality and overall market responsiveness (DFE, 2010). Perhaps increasingly central to the changing dynamic between HE and the labour market has been the issue of graduate employability. Moreover, this is likely to shape their orientations towards the labour market, potentially affecting their overall trajectories and outcomes. The Varieties of Capitalism approach developed by Hall and Soskice (2001) may be useful here in explaining the different ways in which different national economies coordinate the relationship between their education systems and human resource strategies. For graduates, the inflation of HE qualifications has resulted in a gradual downturn in their value: UK graduates are aware of competing in relative terms for sought-after jobs, and with increasing employer demands. Over time, however, this traditional link between HE and the labour market has been ruptured. A theory of employment is a demand-deficient theory ( Harvey 2003 ; Yorke 2006.. Known as & quot ; ( Harvey 2003 ; Yorke 2006 consensus theory of employability Keynes. R. ( 2000 ) Comparative and Historical Patterns of Education 24 ( 4 ): 535541 seen. 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