Introducing graduate employability skills to year 1 chemistry students : reflecting upon impact

Gibson van Mil, Lorraine and De Pascale, Egizia and Thomson, Patrick I. T. and Walker, Sarah and Scott, Fraser J. (2024) Introducing graduate employability skills to year 1 chemistry students : reflecting upon impact. Journal of Chemical Education. ISSN 0021-9584 (In Press) (https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c01287)

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Abstract

Employability skills training is an important aspect of undergraduate chemistry degrees to ensure good graduate outcomes for students. In response to changes in the employability skills literature and to maintain good graduate outcomes, we redeveloped our Year 1 curriculum to include a dedicated graduate employability skills training (GEST) set of activities. They were designed and created to invoke transformative approaches to learning, peer group working and self-reflection on developing graduate attributes and employability skills. Our assessment of the effectiveness of the GEST focused on year 1 students’ perceptions of engagement and relevance of the bespoke training compared to the rest of their curriculum in developing the target skills. In general, it was shown that the dedicated GEST was well received for students self-identifying as a woman (including transgender woman), mature students, students from a low socio-economic background, and students without a graduate parent or guardian; in all cases students recognised opportunities for a range of skills development. This contrasted with student cohorts who self-identified as a man (including transgender man), students with reasonable or significant work experience and students with a graduate parent or guardian who perceived no-little skills development as a result of engagement with GEST compared to the rest of the curriculum. Recommendations include better communication to articulate skill development opportunities in dedicated employability focused activities and across theory and practical modules in the curriculum, and to perhaps create dedicated employability activities for students who have less employability experiences, less science capital or those who come from a low socio-economic background.

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