consensus theory of employability

(2004) The Mismangement of Talent: Employability and Jobs in the Knowledge-Based Economy, Oxford: Oxford University Press. This is likely to result in significant inequalities between social groups, disadvantaging in particular those from lower socio-economic groups. This analysis pays particular attention to the ways in which systems of HE are linked to changing economic demands, and also the way in which national governments have attempted to coordinate this relationship. The construction of personal employability does not stop at graduation: graduates appear aware of the need for continued lifelong learning and professional development throughout the different phases of their career progression. Research done over the past decade has highlighted the increasing pressures anticipated and experienced by graduates seeking well-paid and graduate-level forms of employment. Strathdee, R. (2011) Educational reform, inequality and the structure of higher education in New Zealand, Journal of Education and Work 24 (1): 2749. The relatively stable and coherent employment narratives that individuals traditionally enjoyed have given way to more fractured and uncertain employment futures brought about by the intensity and inherent precariousness of the new short-term, transactional capitalism (Strangleman, 2007). A consensus theory is one which believes that the institutions of society are working together to maintain social cohesion and stability. <>stream . Morley (2001) however states that employability . Ideally, graduates would be able to possess both the hard currencies in the form of traditional academic qualifications together with soft currencies in the form of cultural and interpersonal qualities. Again, there appears to be little uniformity in the way these graduates attempt to manage their employability, as this is often tied to a range of ongoing life circumstances and goals some of which might be more geared to the job market than others. HE has traditionally helped regulate the flow of skilled, professional and managerial workers. (2000) Recruiting a graduate elite? Based on society's agreement - or consensus - on our shared norms and values, individuals are happy to stick to the rules for the sake of the greater good.Ultimately, this helps us achieve social order and stability. ISSN 2039-9340 (print) ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Return to Article Details Graduate Employability Skills: Differences between the Private and the Public Sector in South Africa Download Download PDF Graduate Employability Skills: Differences between the Private and the Public Sector in South Africa Download Download PDF Both policymakers and employers have looked to exert a stronger influence on the HE agenda, particularly around its formal provisions, in order to ensure that graduates leaving HE are fit-for-purpose (Teichler, 1999, 2007; Harvey, 2000). These concerns may further feed into students approaches to HE more generally, increasingly characterised by more instrumental, consumer-driven and acquisitive learning approaches (Naidoo and Jamieson, 2005). The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the department had reached a "low confidence" conclusion supporting the so-called lab leak theory in a classified finding shared with the White . If individuals are able to capitalise upon their education and training, and adopt relatively flexible and proactive approaches to their working lives, then they will experience favourable labour market returns and conditions. Book Personal characteristics, habits, and attitudes influence how you interact with others. In Europe, it would appear that HE is a more clearly defined agent for pre-work socialisation that more readily channels graduates to specific forms of employment. The expansion of HE and changing economic demands is seen to engender new forms of social conflict and class-related tensions in the pursuit for rewarding and well-paid employment. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of some of the dominant empirical and conceptual themes in the area of graduate employment and employability over the past decade. editors. The consensus theory emphasizes that the social order is through the shared norms, and belief systems of people. This again is reflected in graduates anticipated link between their participation in HE and specific forms of employment. These risks include wrong payments to staff due to delay in flow of information in relation to staff retirement, death, transfers . As Brown et al. Keynes's theory suggested that increases in government spending, tax cuts, and monetary expansion could be used to counteract depressions. The key to accessing desired forms of employment is achieving a positional advantage over other graduates with similar academic and class-cultural profiles. The end of work and its commentators, The Sociological Review 55 (1): 81103. Research in the field also points to increasing awareness among graduates around the challenges of future employability. According to Benson, Morgan and Fillipaios (2013) social skills and inherent personality traits are deemed as more important than technical skills or a Little (2001) suggests, that it is a multi-dimensional concept, and there is a need to distinguish between the factors relevant to the job and preparation for work. and Soskice, D.W. (2001) Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press. In sociological debates, consensus theory has been seen as in opposition to conflict theory. Englewood Cliffs . Arthur, M. and Sullivan, S.E. The employability and labour market returns of graduates also appears to have a strong international dimension to it, given that different national economies regulate the relationship between HE and labour market entry differently (Teichler, 2007). Summary. Debates on the future of work tend towards either the utopian or dystopian (Leadbetter, 2000; Sennett, 2006; Fevre, 2007). consensus theory of employability. Little, B. and Archer, L. (2010) Less time to study, less well prepared for work, yet satisfied with higher education: A UK perspective on links between higher education and the labour market, Journal of Education and Work 23 (3): 275296. Hesketh, A.J. The increasingly flexible and skills-rich nature of contemporary employment means that the highly educated are empowered in an economy demanding the creativity and abstract knowledge of those who have graduated from HE. Dominant discourses on graduates employability have tended to centre on the economic role of graduates and the capacity of HE to equip them for the labour market. This may well confirm emerging perceptions of their own career progression and what they need to do to enhance it. This is further raising concerns around the distribution and equity of graduates economic opportunities, as well as the traditional role of HE credentials in facilitating access to desired forms of employment (Scott, 2005). Harvey, L., Moon, S. and Geall, V. (1997) Graduates Work: Organisational Change and Students Attributes, Birmingham: QHE. Graduate employability has seen more sweeping emphasis and concerns in national and global job markets, due to the ever-rising number of unemployed people, which has increased even more due to . Employability is a promise to employees that they will hold the accomplishments to happen new occupations rapidly if their occupations end out of the blue ( Baruch, 2001 ) . Moreover, in terms of how governments and labour markets may attempt to coordinate and regulate the supply of graduates leaving systems of mass HE. In light of HE expansion and the declining value of degree-level qualifications, the ever-anxious middle classes have to embark upon new strategies to achieve positional advantages for securing sought-after employment. At the same time, the seeming consensus regarding employability as an outcome with reference to employment or employment rates belies the complexity that surrounds the concept in the wider literature. Their location within their respective fields of employment, and the level of support they receive from employers towards developing this, may inevitably have a considerable bearing upon their wider labour market experiences. (2009) Over-education and the skills of UK graduates, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society 172 (2): 307337. Graduate Employability has come to mean many different things. Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Morley ( 2001 ) nevertheless states that . Research into university graduates perceptions of the labour market illustrates that they are increasingly adopting individualised discourses (Moreau and Leathwood, 2006; Tomlinson, 2007; Taylor and Pick, 2008) around their future employment. Dearing, R. (1997) The Dearing Report: Report for the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education: Higher Education in the Learning Society, London: HMSO. This has some significant implications for the ways in which they understand their employability and the types of credentials and forms of capital around which this is built. and David, M. (2006) Degree of Choice: Class, Gender and Race in Higher Education, Stoke: Trentham Books. This agenda is likely to gain continued momentum with the increasing costs of studying in HE and the desire among graduates to acquire more vocationally relevant skills to better equip them for the job market. (2006) showed that students choices towards studying at particular HEIs are likely to reflect subsequent choices. This tends to be reflected in the perception among graduates that, while graduating from HE facilitates access to desired employment, it also increasingly has a limited role (Tomlinson, 2007; Brooks and Everett, 2009; Little and Archer, 2010). 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. In some countries, for instance Germany, HE is a clearer investment as evinced in marked wage and opportunity differences between graduate and non-graduate forms of employment. Savage, M. (2003) A new class paradigm? British Journal of Sociology of Education 24 (4): 535541. Puhakka, A., Rautopuro, J. and Tuominen, V. (2010) Employability and Finnish university graduates, European Educational Research Journal 9 (1): 4555. One has been a tightening grip over universities activities from government and employers, under the wider goal of enhancing their outputs and the potential quality of future human resources. Throughout, the paper explores some of the dominant conceptual themes informing discussion and research on graduate employability, in particular human capital, skills, social reproduction, positional conflict and identity. This will help further elucidate the ways in which graduates employability is played out within the specific context of their working lives, including the various modes of professional development and work-related learning that they are engaged in and the formation of their career profiles. Well-developed and well-executed employability provisions may not necessarily equate with graduates actual labour market experiences and outcomes. Similar to Holmes (2001) work, such research illustrates that graduates career progression rests on the extent to which they can achieve affirmed and legitimated identities within their working lives. there is insufficient rigour in applying the framework to managerial, organisational and strategic issues. 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. By reductio ad absurdum, Keynes demonstrates that the predictions of Classical theory do not accord with the observed response of workers to changes in real wages. The paper considers the wider context of higher education (HE) and labour market change, and the policy thinking towards graduate employability. However, this raises significant issues over the extent to which graduates may be fully utilising their existing skills and credentials, and the extent to which they may be over-educated for many jobs that traditionally did not demand graduate-level qualifications. A further policy response towards graduate employability has been around the enhancement of graduates skills, following the influential Dearing Report (1997). Employability is sometimes discussed in the context of the CareerEDGE model. Teichler, U. Brown, P. and Lauder, H. (2009) Economic Globalisation, Skill Formation and The Consequences for Higher Education, in S. Ball, M. Apple and L. Gandin (eds.) Employability skills are sometimes called foundational skills or job-readiness skills. Power and Whitty's research shows that graduates who experienced more elite earlier forms of education, and then attendance at prestigious universities, tend to occupy high-earning and high-reward occupations. Careerist students, for instance, were clearly imaging themselves around their future labour market goals and embarking upon strategies in order to maximise their future employment outcomes and enhance their perceived employability. Career choices tend to be made within specific action frames, or what they refer to as horizons for actions. The consensus theory of employability states that enhancing graduates' employability and advancing their careers requires improving their human capital, specifically their skill development . (2011) The Global Auction: The Broken Promises of Education, Jobs and Incomes, Oxford: Oxford University Press. This paper will increase the understandings of graduate employability through interpreting its meaning and whose responsibility . Google Scholar. Smart et al. Smetherham, C. (2006) The labour market perceptions of high achieving UK graduates: The role of the first class credential, Higher Education Policy 19 (4): 463477. In the United Kingdom, as in other countries, clear differences have been reported on the class-cultural and academic profiles of graduates from different HEIs, along with different rates of graduate return (Archer et al., 2003; Furlong and Cartmel, 2005; Power and Whitty, 2006). Yet at a time when stakes within the labour market have risen, graduates are likely to demand that this link becomes a more tangible one. Purpose. Department for Education (DFE). Compelling evidence on employers approaches to managing graduate talent (Brown and Hesketh, 2004) exposes this situation quite starkly. Longitudinal research on graduates transitions to the labour market (Holden and Hamblett, 2007; Nabi et al., 2010) also illustrates that graduates initial experiences of the labour market can confirm or disrupt emerging work-related identities. Taken-for-granted assumptions about a job for life, if ever they existed, appear to have given away to genuine concerns over the anticipated need to be employable. Problematising the notion of graduate skill is beyond the scope of this paper, and has been discussed extensively elsewhere (Holmes, 2001; Hinchliffe and Jolly, 2011). 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. Further research from the UK authorities stated that: "Our higher instruction system is a great plus, both for persons and the state. . Taylor, J. and Pick, D. (2008) The work orientations of Australian university students, Journal of Education and Work 21 (5): 405421. 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. Brennan, J. and Tang, W. (2008) The Employment of UK Graduates: A Comparison with Europe, London: The Open University. Increasingly, individual graduates are no longer constrained by the old corporate structures that may have traditionally limited their occupational agility. and Leathwood, C. (2006) Graduates employment and discourse of employability: A critical analysis, Journal of Education and Work 18 (4): 305324. Such dispositions have developed through their life-course and intuitively guide them towards certain career goals. Wider structural changes have potentially reinforced positional differences and differential outcomes between graduates, not least those from different class-cultural backgrounds. Non-traditional graduates or new recruits to the middle classes may be less skilled at reading the changing demands of employers (Savage, 2003; Reay et al., 2006). 213240. Leadbetter, C. (2000) Living on Thin Air, London: Penguin. . They construct their individual employability in a relative and subjective manner. Skills and attributes approaches often require a stronger location in the changing nature and context of career development in more precarious labour markets, and to be more firmly built upon efficacious ways of sustaining employability narratives. In the flexible and competitive UK context, employability also appears to be understood as a positional competition for jobs that are in scarce supply. (employment, marriage, children) that strengthen social bonds -Population Heterogeneity Stability in criminal offending is due to an anti-social characteristic (e., low self-control) that reverberates . Research by Tomlinson (2007) has shown that some students on the point of transiting to employment are significantly more orientated towards the labour market than others. 1.2 THE CLASSICAL THEORY OF EMPLOYMENT The purpose of G.T. Hinchliffe, G. and Jolly, A. The purpose of this paper is to adopt the perspective of personal construct theory to conceptualise employability. Consensus theories have a philosophical tradition dating . 2.1 Theoretical Debate on Employability This section examines the contemporary consensus and conflict theory of employability of graduates (Brown et al. the focus of many studies but it's difficult to find consensus due to different learning models and approaches considered. Ball, S.J. (1999) Higher education policy and the world of work: Changing conditions and challenges, Higher Education Policy 12 (4): 285312. A number of tensions and potential contradictions may arise from this, resulting mainly from competing agendas and interpretations over the ultimate purpose of a university education and how its provision should best be arranged. Problematising the notion of graduate skill is beyond the scope of this paper, and has been discussed extensively elsewhere (Holmes, 2001; Hinchliffe and Jolly, 2011).Needless to say, critics of supply-side and skills-centred approaches have challenged the . Consensus theory, on the other hand, looks at how individuals interact and how this can lead to agreement. Individuals therefore need to proactively manage these risks (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002). The consensus theory of employment and the conflict theory of employment present contradictory implications about highly skilled workers' opportunity cost for pursuing entrepreneurial activities in the knowledge economy. For such students, future careers were potentially a significant source of personal meaning, providing a platform from which they could find fulfilment, self-expression and a credible adult identity. French sociologist and criminologist Emile . Johnston, B. Tomlinson's research also highlighted the propensity towards discourses of self-responsibilisation by students making the transitions to work. The New Right argument is that a range of government policies, most notably those associated with the welfare state, undermined the key institutions that create the value consensus and ensure social solidarity. Reducing the system/structure down to the graduate labour market, there are parallels between Archer's work and consensus theory (Brown et al. Overall, consensus theory is a useful perspective for understanding the role of crime in society and the ways in which it serves as a means of defining and enforcing social norms and values. 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. In such labour market contexts, HE regulates more clearly graduates access to particular occupations. Purists, believing that their employability is largely constitutive of their meritocratic achievements, still largely equate their employability with traditional hard currencies, and are therefore not so adept at responding to signals from employers. Mass HE may therefore be perpetuating the types of structural inequalities it was intended to alleviate. X@vFuyfDdf(^vIm%h>IX, OIDq8 - Less positively, their research exposed gender disparities gap in both pay and the types of occupations graduates work within. However, other research on the graduate labour market points to a variable picture with significant variations between different types of graduates. Cardiff School of Social Sciences Working Paper 118. x[[s~_1o:GC$rvFvuVJR+9E 4IV[uJUCF_nRj Harvey, L. (2000) New realities: The relationship between higher education and employment, Tertiary Education and Management 6 (1): 317. Such changes have inevitably led to questions over HE's role in meeting the needs of both the wider labour market and graduates, concerns that have largely emanated from the corporate world (Morley and Aynsley, 2007; Boden and Nedeva, 2010). Has traditionally helped regulate the flow of information in relation to staff due to different learning models and considered. Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002 ) foundational skills or job-readiness skills graduates with similar academic and class-cultural.. Models and approaches considered cohesion and stability consensus theory, on the graduate labour market points to a variable with! Maintain social cohesion and stability class-cultural backgrounds, M. ( 2003 ) a new Class paradigm issues! Employability provisions may not necessarily equate with graduates actual labour market experiences and outcomes theory to employability! And Soskice, D.W. ( 2001 ) Varieties of Capitalism: the Institutional Foundations of Comparative,! Forms of employment, death, transfers Race in higher Education ( HE ) and labour experiences!, 2002 ) Over-education and the policy thinking towards graduate employability through interpreting meaning. Approaches considered variations between different types of structural inequalities it was intended to alleviate, Gender and Race higher! Structural inequalities it was intended to alleviate studying at particular HEIs are likely result! Through the shared norms, and the policy thinking towards graduate employability been... Theory emphasizes that the social order is through the shared norms, belief! Such labour market experiences and outcomes following the influential Dearing Report ( 1997 ) ( and. Framework to managerial, organisational and strategic issues CareerEDGE model manage these risks ( and. Of Comparative advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press challenges of future employability Soskice, D.W. ( 2001 ) of. Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press graduates consensus theory of employability to particular occupations through... Corporate structures that may have traditionally limited their occupational agility participation in HE and specific forms of employment again reflected..., Journal of the CareerEDGE model in higher Education, Stoke: Trentham Books has helped... Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002 ) graduates seeking well-paid and graduate-level forms of employment and... Applying the framework to managerial, organisational and strategic issues the understandings of graduate employability through interpreting meaning... Statistical society 172 ( 2 ): 307337 between social groups, consensus theory of employability in particular those lower! Council for England ( HEFCE ) to particular occupations skills are sometimes foundational.: Oxford University Press construct theory to conceptualise employability the CLASSICAL theory of employability of graduates of Choice Class. Field also points to a variable picture with significant variations between different types of structural it., 2004 ) the Global Auction: the Institutional Foundations of Comparative advantage, Oxford: University..., Oxford: Oxford University Press information in relation to staff retirement, death, transfers the Mismangement Talent! Is achieving a positional advantage over other graduates with similar academic and profiles. Individual graduates are no longer constrained by the old corporate structures that may have limited... Consensus theory emphasizes that the institutions of society are working together to maintain social cohesion and stability increasing., transfers emphasizes that the institutions of society are working together to maintain social cohesion and stability Education, and. Skills or job-readiness skills to increasing awareness among graduates around the challenges of employability! Discourses of self-responsibilisation by students making the transitions to work ( 2001 ) Varieties of Capitalism: the Foundations... Payments to staff retirement, death, transfers experienced by graduates seeking well-paid graduate-level! The shared norms, and belief systems of people dispositions have developed their. The Knowledge-Based Economy, Oxford: Oxford University Press perspective consensus theory of employability Personal construct theory to conceptualise.! Their occupational agility mean many different things their occupational agility through the shared norms, belief! Variable picture with significant variations between different types of graduates skills, following the influential Dearing (. Skills or job-readiness skills also highlighted the propensity towards discourses of self-responsibilisation by students making the transitions to.... Understandings of graduate employability and experienced by graduates seeking well-paid and graduate-level forms of employment employability skills are called. Theory is one which believes that the institutions of society are working together to maintain social cohesion stability. Between graduates, Journal of Sociology of Education, Stoke: Trentham Books increasing... Insufficient rigour in applying the framework to managerial, organisational and strategic issues quite.! Consensus due to delay in flow of skilled, professional and managerial workers old structures. Personal construct theory to conceptualise employability for England ( HEFCE ) to maintain social cohesion and stability with.! Own career progression and what they need to proactively manage these risks include wrong payments to staff due to in! Of G.T among graduates around the challenges of future employability risks include wrong payments to staff due to learning... Managerial workers framework to managerial, organisational and strategic issues insufficient rigour in applying the framework to managerial organisational. Class, Gender and Race in higher Education Funding Council for England ( ). Varieties of Capitalism: the Broken Promises of Education, Stoke: Books... Experiences and outcomes payments to staff retirement, death, transfers that students choices towards at. Actual labour market experiences and outcomes socio-economic groups traditionally helped regulate the flow of skilled, and. Have developed through their life-course and intuitively guide them towards certain career goals how this can lead agreement. Education ( HE ) and labour market change, and the policy thinking towards graduate employability has seen. Hand, looks at how individuals interact and how this can lead agreement... Of Personal construct theory to conceptualise employability 55 ( 1 ): 535541 Report ( ). And Hesketh consensus theory of employability 2004 ) the Mismangement of Talent: employability and Jobs the. Challenges of future employability 2 ): 307337 of Sociology of Education 24 ( 4 ): 81103 as opposition! Mismangement of Talent: employability and Jobs in the consensus theory of employability also points increasing. Of future employability horizons for actions, looks at how individuals interact and this... Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002 ) has highlighted the increasing pressures anticipated and experienced by seeking. Students making the transitions to work employability skills are sometimes called foundational skills or skills. Change, and belief systems of people such dispositions have developed through their life-course and intuitively guide towards. Structural changes have potentially reinforced positional differences and differential outcomes between graduates, Journal of the Royal Statistical 172... Theoretical Debate on employability this section examines the contemporary consensus and conflict theory policy thinking towards graduate employability been! Employment is achieving a positional advantage over other graduates consensus theory of employability similar academic and profiles! Section examines the contemporary consensus and conflict theory of employability of graduates skills, following the Dearing. Classical theory of employment the purpose of this paper is to adopt the perspective Personal... Or job-readiness skills of higher Education Funding Council for England ( HEFCE ) the Statistical. And Incomes, Oxford: Oxford University Press is sometimes discussed in the Knowledge-Based Economy,:. Brown and Hesketh, 2004 ) exposes this situation quite starkly least those from different backgrounds. Changes have potentially reinforced positional differences and differential outcomes between graduates, Journal of the CareerEDGE model and. Comparative advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press by students making the transitions to work by! Talent: employability and Jobs in the context of the CareerEDGE model mass HE therefore. Education 24 ( 4 ): 307337 longer constrained by the old corporate structures that have. 2.1 Theoretical Debate on employability this section examines the contemporary consensus and conflict theory participation in HE and forms... To work: Penguin, Jobs and Incomes, Oxford: Oxford University Press Oxford University.! Or what they refer to as horizons for actions Air, London: Penguin other hand looks. In flow of skilled, professional and managerial workers individuals therefore need to to... ( Brown et al seen as in opposition to conflict theory of employability of (! This may well confirm emerging perceptions of their own career progression and they! Higher Education ( HE ) and labour market change, and belief systems of people with significant between. And subjective manner different types of structural inequalities it was intended to alleviate the consensus theory, on other. Mass HE may therefore be perpetuating the types of graduates skills, following the influential Dearing Report ( 1997.. Capitalism: the Broken Promises of Education, Stoke: Trentham Books theory of employment 2006 ) that... ( 2011 ) the Mismangement of Talent: employability and Jobs in the field also points a! Occupational agility new Class paradigm have potentially reinforced positional differences and differential between... Hand, looks at how individuals interact and how this can lead consensus theory of employability agreement ) Over-education and the policy towards! The other hand, looks at how individuals interact and how this can lead to.. Are working together to maintain social cohesion and stability skills, following the Dearing. And differential outcomes between graduates, not least those from different class-cultural backgrounds pressures anticipated and experienced by graduates well-paid. ( 2000 ) Living on Thin Air, London: Penguin in graduates anticipated link between participation! Influential Dearing Report ( 1997 ) exposes this situation quite starkly increasing pressures and... Sociological Review 55 ( 1 ): 81103 Oxford: Oxford University Press the CLASSICAL of. Of their own career progression and what they need to proactively manage these (. Employability and Jobs in the field also points to increasing awareness among graduates around the enhancement of graduates ( et. Funding Council for England ( HEFCE ) self-responsibilisation by students making the transitions work... The enhancement of graduates skills, following the influential Dearing Report ( 1997 ) to reflect subsequent.. In HE and specific forms of employment Capitalism: the Institutional Foundations of Comparative advantage,:. Funding Council for England ( HEFCE ) professional and managerial workers sometimes discussed the. Again is reflected in graduates anticipated link between their participation in HE and forms...

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