Critical educators should embrace the employability agenda.

Abstract

Graduate employability, as a desirable outcome of higher education, is a concept that is widely opposed by educators who practice critical pedagogy. Employability, it is argued, reinforces capitalist expectations, exemplifying the anti-democratic hollowing out of education over the last four decades. The central argument of this essay is that employability is not a concept that educators can ignore. Indeed, inherent in the development of desirable graduate attributes and employability skills, there are opportunities for critical educators to support students in the development of their social awareness and sense of civic autonomy. This essay will further argue that educators who seek to opt out of the employability agenda are failing to live up to their own values of seeking a truly equal partnership of learning with their students.