Realising the Threshold of Employability in Higher Education

Abstract

A substantial body of work has tested and developed ‘Threshold Concepts’. A Threshold Concept may be considered “akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something … it represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing … without which the learner cannot progress” (Meyer and Land in Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge 1—Linkages to ways of thinking and practising in improving student learning—Ten years on. OCSLD, Oxford, 2003). Little research however exists on the relevance of the concept to employability. Employability is fundamental to Higher Education, yet its role in the curriculum is unclear and contested. Our practice suggests that developing knowledge about employability is a threshold which, when reached, empowers and gives confidence to the student. To achieve this means embedding this knowledge in the curriculum. The paper discusses the delivery of a large module with this aim, explaining how the design of assessment was fundamental in guiding students to a transformed way of understanding employability.