A presentation from the STEM Annual Conference 2014.
Employability has a growing impact on psychology teaching and learning in the UK and entry to graduate careers is a key outcome of higher education. This presentation reports on a qualitative study (IPA - interpretative phenomenological analysis) of recent UK Psychology Bachelors graduates interviewed individually shortly after graduation and again 12 months later. Key themes emerging include status and disciplinary and professional identification as drivers of career aim; the attraction of professional and especially clinical psychology; identity growth and development; the power of work experience and reflection on the value of university education. Being the focus of phenomenology is the experience and meaning making of individuals and the value of the study lies in its potential to offer illumination rather than its generalizability. However the themes emerging can perhaps illustrate being and becoming as individuals grapple with employment career identity and the meaning of university in the graduate transition. Discussion will refer to Barnett’s (2009) suggestion that the curriculum needs to take into account a third pillar of ‘being’ as well as ‘skills’ and ‘knowledge’ to support the development of intellectual (epistemic) virtue.
