Preparing graduates for employment is quickly becoming an expected outcome of higher educational programs, regardless of discipline or degree level. At the same time, the 21^st century workplace is increasingly complex, interdependent, and dynamic, and workforce participants must be able to continually learn, reflect, adapt, change, and grow. Traditional forms of education and training – the transmission of knowledge, skills, and processes – are no longer sufficient as global and local conditions continually change, technology automates, and people work differently. Transformative learning approaches that focus on beyond-disciplinary skills and developing people’s capacities to see and think differently are more critical than ever.

Instead of focusing on graduates’ employment (with metrics such as job placement rates, starting salaries, and graduate satisfaction), we suggest focusing on developing learners’ employability, “the ability to find, create and sustain work and learning across lengthening working lives and multiple work settings” (http://developingemployability.edu.au/about/). The Quality Assurance Commons has partnered with 14 institutions to design a new way to evaluate educational quality focused on developing learners’ Essential Employability Qualities (EEQs). In this interactive session, we will collectively explore how transformative learning approaches support developing learners’ EEQs, and how we might consider our understanding of educational quality accordingly.

Preparing learners for employment is quickly becoming an expected outcome of all higher and postsecondary educational programs, regardless of discipline or degree level. But instead of focusing on employment, we suggest focusing on developing learners’ employability. Employability is “the ability to find, create and sustain work and learning across lengthening working lives and multiple work settings” (http://developingemployability.edu.au/about/) and thus involves developing learners’ people skills, problem-solving abilities, and professional strengths that graduates will need to thrive in and contribute to the changing world of work across their lifespans.

As Vaill (1996) suggested more than two decades ago, modern life is like “permanent white water,” full of novel situations and messy problems that require people to be able to make changes in themselves to address not only the know-what and know-how, but also the know-why of a given subject. The metaphor of permanent white water holds particularly true for 21st century work. Employees must be able to think critically, identify and solve problems creatively, engage with others collaboratively, communicate effectively, approach new situations differently, and learn continuously. These are Essential Employability Qualities (EEQs), and they are not specific to any discipline, field, or industry, but are applicable to most work-based, professional environments. They represent the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences that help ensure that graduates are not only ready for their first job, but also to support learners’ foundation for a lifetime of engaging employment and participation in the rapidly changing workplace of the 21st century.

Traditional forms of education and training – the transmission of knowledge, skills, and processes – are no longer sufficient as global and local conditions continually change, technology automates, and people must work differently. Transformative learning approaches that focus on beyond-disciplinary skills and developing people’s capacities to see and think differently are more critical than ever. Furthermore, as higher education faces extreme pressures to prepare students for this world of work, we must find a way to assure that the educational approaches appropriately prepare students with Essential Employability Qualities, and we need to find ways to evaluate and communicate the quality of programs in new ways that move beyond the easy to measure metrics of job placement.

In this interactive panel session, facilitators will highlight a new approach to quality assurance that is being co-designed with 27 higher educational programs from 14 institutions. This approach focuses on certifying programs that develop learners’ employability qualities. Participants in this session will draw upon their own experiences as educators, employees, and employers in considering the changing world of work in the 21^st century. Using a problem-based approach, the facilitator will introduce participants to the rationale for and goals of the EEQ Certification co-design project. Participants will also have the opportunity to consider the perspectives and educational practices of two of the project’s partners – University of Central Oklahoma and Guttman Community College. Participants will also engage in a facilitated discussion exploring the various ways that transformative learning practices can be aligned with and lend support to the development of learners’ Essential Employability Qualities.

The EEQs represent current and future employer expectations as reflected in numerous studies, such as those completed by Burning Glass, LinkedIn, ACT, the Foresight Alliance, Jobs for the Future, Career Tech, the Business Roundtable, O*NET, third way, National Network of Business and Industry Associations, and the Institute for the Future, to name a few.

Many of the EEQs also build upon existing learning frameworks and outcomes embedded in many academic programs. The qualities can be appropriately adapted to degree and certificate programs of different levels, timeframes, and modalities. Many of these qualities are included in existing aspects of some programs, but by necessity, they have an applied work-based character that may warrant separate or supplemental articulation and application in order to prepare graduates for a lifetime of successful employability.  There are existing frameworks that generally reflect aspects of the EEQs, including:

• Lumina Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP)
• AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes
• NACE’s Career Readiness Competencies
• Connecting Credentials Framework

Stephens, Rachel. “Automate This: Building the Perfect 21st-Century Worker.” ThirdWay. April 7, 2017. http://www.thirdway.org/report/automate-this-building-the-perfect-21st-century-worker

Stokes, Peter. (2015). Higher Education and Employability: New Models for Integrating Learning and Work. MA: Harvard Education Press.

Vaill, Peter. (1996). Learning as a Way of Being: Strategies for Survival in a World of Permanent White Water. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 

50-Minute Interactive Session

Measuring Transformative Learning
Communicating Transformative Learning