Essays on Employer Engagement in Education

Building on new theories about the meaning of employability in the twenty-first century and the power of social and cultural capital in enabling access to economic opportunities, Essays on Employer Engagement in Education considers how employer engagement is delivered and explores the employment and attainment outcomes linked to participation. Introducing international policy, research and conceptual approaches, contributors to the volume illustrate the role of employer engagement within schooling and the life courses of young people. The book considers employer engagement within economic and educational contexts and its delivery and impact from a global perspective. The work explores strategic approaches to the engagement of employers in education and concludes with a discussion of the implications for policy, practice and future research. Essays on Employer Engagement in Education will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students engaged in the study of careers guidance, work-related learning, teacher professional development, the sociology of education, educational policy and human resource management. It will also be essential reading for policymakers and practitioners working for organisations engaging employers in education.

Table of Contents:
Preface Andreas Schleicher Introduction Anthony Mann 1. ‘Employers at the heart of the system?’ The role of employers in qualification development Prue Huddleston and Andrea Laczik 2. Investigating how benefits of an industry-school partnership vary between industry sectors. Kerry Lee, Fatima Abdulghani and John Hope 3. Who is getting prepared? Year 11 students’ views on careers education and work experience in English secondary schools Julie Moote and Louise Archer 4. Competences, Capabilities and Capitals: conceptual paradigms in the educational-employment relationship Michael Tomlinson 5. Socialised social capital? The capacity of schools to use careers provision to compensate for social capital deficiencies among teenagers Anthony Mann, Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel and Christian Percy 6. Tell it like it is: Education and employer engagement, freelance and self-employment Prue Huddleston and Heidi Ashton 7. ‘Selling the dream’: stakeholder perceptions of the translation of employability policy into university strategy. Roy Priest 8. "My brother’s football team mate's dad was a pathologist": serendipity and employer engagement in medical careers Steven Jones, Anthony Mann, Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel and Rachael McKeown 9. Someone in your life who really believes in you – Evidence and practice in employer mentoring Tristram Hooley and Jonathan Boys 10. Aligning school to work: Assessing the impact of employer engagement in young people’s transitions from education to work Terence Hogarth and Lynn Gambin 11. Ethnographies of Work and Possible Futures: New ways for young people to learn about work, and choose a meaningful first career Nancy Hoffman and Mary Gatta 12. What impact can employer engagement have on student attitudes towards school and their academic achievement? An analysis of OECD PISA Data Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel, Jordan Rehill and Matteo Schleicher 13. Young people in the labour market: how teenage employer engagement makes a difference to adult outcomes Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel, Anthony Mann, Rachael McKeown, Jordan Rehill, and Prue Huddleston 14. Insiders or outsiders, who do you trust? Engaging employers in school-based career activities Christian Percy and Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel 15. Between two worlds: linking education and employment Simon Field Conclusion Prue Huddleston

About the Author :
Anthony Mann is Senior Policy Advisor (Vocational Education and Training) at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Prue Huddleston is Emeritus Professor in the Centre for Education Studies, University of Warwick, UK Elnaz Kashefpakdel is Head of Research at the Education and Employers, a UK education charity.

Review :
"This useful book examines how employers do, and could, engage with education providers to help all young people transition successfully to full-time work. Some chapters examine problems; others evaluate particular programs. As well as contributing to knowledge, the book provides food for thought for practitioners in schools, careers services and within companies, and for policy makers. Its particular strength is in the empirical research reported, especially the frequent use of young people’s voices, increasing our understanding of how young people imagine their employment futures and how they can get there." Erica Smith, Professor of Vocational Education and Training, Federation University Australia. "This new collection presents new and timely evidence on how workplace involvement can influence the economic and academic outcomes of young people. The editors are leading experts in their field who have curated a collection that advances thinking on employer engagement in education, what it can mean to young people and how schools can deploy it to greatest strategic advantage. In a subject long under-theorized, authors draw on concepts of social and cultural capital to make sense of changes observed in outcomes, and the patterns of disadvantage identified in participation. Foregrounding student voices, authors cast a critical gaze over what employers can and cannot be expected to bring to education. At a time of frenetic policymaking on school-to-work routes, and on national and global economic directions and the role of education and training within this, this book makes an important contribution." Becky Francis, Director, UCL Institute of Education.