Employability skills in social sciences: parent and students expectations

This 6 month project evaluated perceptions of the employability value of Social Science courses held by pre-university students and their parents.1 Through the research findings from three regional schools, parental and pre-entry student‟s expectations and perceptions were assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings indicated that there were a number of themes including the availability of university places, financial commitments with clear reflection on the increased fees, and return on investment offered from a course and employability after graduation. Parents were more concerned with long term opportunities offering the students to „grow as a person‟. Pre-entry students highlighted the importance of skills and competences within a degree, the issue of employability and a degree improving their career opportunities, but still were keen to experience „university life‟. Parents, schools and family/friends were important as sources of information and guidance for pre-entry students

Subject interest group case study: criminology in the professions

In 2009 Jill Jameson; Kate Strudwick; Sue Bond- Taylor (Senior lecturers in Criminology at the University of Lincoln) worked with Mandy Jones, Head of Opportunities at Lincoln University, to develop a curriculum based level two employability module entitled ‘Criminology in the Professions’ for Criminology and Criminology and forensic Investigation students. The module ran in Semester B of the academic year (January to May 2010). The main aim was to explore the issue of employability through introducing a dedicated module into the curriculum rather than this being a separate skills module. The learning outcomes included: • Exploring professional opportunities, recruitment and selection methods related to criminological study and understanding how methodological and academic skills can support this exploration; • Enabling an understanding of how a theoretical, political and practical reflection is useful in personal professional development and enabling the students to work independently, and in a group situation, to develop knowledge and techniques that can be applied to future recruitment opportunities. • Enabling students to reflect critically upon their own research skills and academic development. The overriding aim of the module was to adopt an academic approach to teaching skills and employability and careers planning within the curriculum

Browne, employability and the rhetoric of choice: student as producer and the sustainability of HE

This paper presents a critical reflection of the rhetoric of choice offered in the current system of HE. The theoretical foundation of the discussion draws on the work of Bauman (2007) as a support for a critical stance on the implementation of the recent reviews of HE, for instance by Browne (2010) and Dearing (1997). The concept and agenda of the student as ‘producer’, versus the student as consumer or even student as commodity, are further evaluated in the context of the ‘free’ market and the apparent 'industrialisation’ of HE, which has arguably brought graduate ‘employability’ to centre stage. The work goes on to discuss how student choice of course appears to go beyond judgments about potential job prospects. Along with this, it is argued that the values espoused by consumerism may well have a detrimental effect on the way that students develop the types of skills that employers say they want. Counteracting this, the student as producer is investigated as a means by which students become active producers of themselves as enterprising citizens, which also has benefit in respect of their future employability

The troubling concept of class: reflecting on our ‘failure’ to encourage sociology students to re-cognise their classed locations using autobiographical methods

This paper provides a narrative of the four authors‟ commitment to auto/biographical methods as teachers and researchers in „new‟ universities. As they went about their work, they observed that, whereas students engage with the gendered, sexualised and racialised processes when negotiating their identities, they are reluctant or unable to conceptualise „class-ifying‟ processes as key determinants of their life chances. This general inability puzzled the authors, given the students‟ predominantly working-class backgrounds. Through application of their own stories, the authors explore the sociological significance of this pedagogical „failure‟ to account for the troubling concept of class not only in the classroom but also in contemporary society

Debating Student as Producer: relationships, contexts and challenges for higher education

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Student as Producer, as a form of curriculum development in higher education based on the practice and principles of research-engaged teaching. The paper provides an account of my experiences embedding and adopting Student as Producer within my own research and teaching at the University of Lincoln, an institution which is recognised as being a pioneer in research-engaged teaching. My work includes, the role as guest editor for a special ‘Student as Producer’ edition of the journal Enhancing Learning in Social Sciences (ELiSS), teaching Criminology in the Professions, and working on funded research projects at Lincoln around aspects of the undergraduate student experience, e.g. student as partners and student engagement. As well as this focus on my own teaching practice the paper sets out the theory and concepts which underpin Student as Producer and the way in which it has responded to current government policy, in particular the notion of student as consumer

The enigmatic owner of the coffins of Nespawershefyt at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, houses a group of 21st dynasty coffins, consisting of an inner coffin, an outer coffin and a mummy board, which are registered under the number E.1.1822. They were collected in Egypt by two graduates of the University of Cambridge, Barnard Hanbury and George Waddington, and presented to the university in 1822. Since that date, they have received relatively little attention. In 2005, the coffins were taken off display for the first time for many years, as part of the project to re-display the Egyptian collection at the museum. The coffins are inscribed with the names Nespawershefyt, Nesamun and Nesamunemhetep. The coffin owner was a God’s Father of Amun-Re king of the gods, wab-priest, supervisor of workshops and supervisors of scribes of the domain of Amun. He also had the title aA n mw n pr imn, which may be rendered “great one of the water of the domain of Amun”. The decoration is well preserved on the inner coffin and mummy board, although fill material between sections of wood has fallen out in many places. The decoration of the outer coffin is somewhat less well preserved. The inscriptions on these coffins show evidence of having been changed, although these changes are limited to the titles, while the names remain untouched. Although there is increasing evidence that coffins were commonly reused at this date (Niwinski, Cooney), these coffins do not appear to be examples of re-use; rather I suggest that their owner had more than one name and that his own inscriptions were modified after the decoration of the coffins was completed

Criminology in the professions: turning academic benchmarks into employability skills

This report reflects on a case study example of teaching a dedicated employability module in an undergraduate criminology curriculum. The report uses various sets of data collected from students, criminology alumni, a sample of employers and university academic and support staff, to reflect on pertinent issues relating to graduate employability. Findings suggest that understanding the links between critical academic theory, technical knowledge and generic skills, are empowering both for staff and students, and such a framework represents a creative way of addressing the QAA criminology employability benchmarks. Whilst staff are unable to change the national context relating to graduate employability, understanding the pertinent issues and contradictions within the area helps in counteracting potential ‘bad news’ and also enables students to be more aware of what they need, beyond their degree, to be successful in gaining appropriate employment. Apart from the research detailed below, outcomes include a DVD entitled ‘Life after Criminology’ which features contributions from criminology alumni, academic and careers staff and students, and also a Mahara portfolio including materials used for a criminology information day held in July 2010

A Contemporary Consideration of the Role of Metaphysics in Systematic Theology: The Contributions of Pope John Paul II and Claude Tresmontant

It has been traditionally held that Catholic theology has notable metaphysical threads deeply connected with the fabric of its faith and its systematic presentation. This dissertation focuses upon those metaphysical threads in order to explore their past, present and possible future status within theology. In each section the goal is to investigate the contributions of John Paul II and Claude Tresmontant and the role they believe metaphysics has within Catholic Systematic theology. This work attempts to present and assess whether, which, and why components of metaphysics, according to John Paul II and Tresmontant, should be retained even in light of modern philosophical challenges. Chapter Two highlights the thought of Claude Tresmontant. Tresmontant was convinced that there was a distinct Christian Metaphysics. He maintains that metaphysics is a necessary outgrowth of a thoughtful commitment to a Judeo-Christian biblical perspective. His metaphysical focus draws our attention towards cosmological and anthropological considerations. Chapter Three explores the thought of Pope John Paul II who advocated metaphysics as a way to ground both the contributions of phenomenology and Christian ethics, as well as being a precondition for achieving rationally grounded thought. Since Pope John Paul II\u27s Fides et Ratio calls for metaphysics to be reinstated to its proper place within the Catholic intellectual tradition, this chapter investigates how John Paul II envisions integrating metaphysics within systematic Catholic thought. A thoughtful reflection upon these two thinkers seeks to provide a better understanding of at least some of what may be at stake by either maintaining, significantly revising, or abandoning the metaphysical tradition. Chapter Four presents the postmodern challenge to a continued metaphysics within Christian philosophical theology. The arguments of both Jean-Luc Marion and Gianni Vattimo seek to explicate the perspectives of thinkers of the postmodern philosophical tradition, arguing for the elimination of foundationalism in all its forms. Chapter Five places all four thinkers in dialogue and concludes with some propositions for future collaboration

Predicting Vulnerability to Math Stereotype Threat

Research suggests that stereotype threat—which occurs when a social group feels anxiety about confirming a negative stereotype about their group—may play a role in gender gaps in STEM, but it is important to identify individual differences in vulnerability to stereotype threat. Two-hundred and fourteen participants, ranging in age from 18 to 36 (53.3% female, 18.7% ethnic minority) were recruited from three sections of a university introductory calculus class. Participants completed measures of personality, math self-concept, math self-efficacy, anxiety sensitivity, assertiveness, neighborhood social capital, grades, and demographic questions. Stereotype vulnerability was measured as the primary outcome measure using the Stereotype Vulnerability Scale (SVS). Analyses showed that conscientiousness (r = -.26, p = .006) and social cohesion (r = -.29, p = .002) were negatively associated with stereotype vulnerability in women. Both variables remained significant predictors of SVS when controlling for other predictors. Predicted grade was the strongest predictor of course grade for both genders. High levels of conscientiousness and orderliness as well as social support acted to reduce stereotype vulnerability and should be investigated further through an experimental design to better understand their relationship with stereotype threat