Graduates favour job-based learning

Citation

(2006), "Graduates favour job-based learning", Education + Training, Vol. 48 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2006.00448gab.003

Graduates favour job-based learning

A strong emphasis on job-based learning, or training, over and above the often-stated desire to do further study “for its own sake”, is revealed in research exploring young graduates’ attitudes to, and experiences of, further education and learning post-graduation. Initial findings of the work by Dr Glyn Everett, research fellow at the University of Surrey, are that:

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  Most graduates felt that their employer is supportive of learning. For many, the training and further learning that they have done since graduation has been key to enabling them to undertake the work they carry out. Their degree was quite often seen as being a ticket of entry to the job market and a provider of certain generic skills, rather than vocationally oriented.

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  Many of the graduates interviewed stated that their work/leisure balance was skewed, but accepted this as a given for someone at their stage of career development. However, a significant number of the graduates also marked up a desire for further learning which was not yet possible because of the demands of work and work-based training, or else which would have to wait until they were better positioned financially. The most typical desired learning was a second language, for both career and leisure purposes.

“This raises questions around the role and function of wider lifelong-learning practices for graduates, the status of the work-education-leisure balance among young professionals, and what we understand by a learning society”, said Dr Everett. “It is difficult to see how active self-development can be encouraged as a social norm while the space for learning within people’s lives is subsumed by the demands of work.”