This online and interactive resource is based around the concept of competencies and has two principal aims:
Aim 1 - to familiarise students with the idea of competency development in the workplace
Aim 2 - to communicate to employers the competencies they might expect from students entering their workplace
The foundation of the resource is the Interactive Competency framework. This has come out of an earlier piece of work "Towards a competency framework for student work-based learning"to assist communications between university staff and employers in terms of outlining the competencies that a student will develop during their degree.
The Interactive Competency Framework is customisable so that you can create Frameworks tailored for your students' subject level of study.
Once you hace created your Framework you can use it to introduce your students to the concept of competencies. There are three sets of training materials here for you to pick and choose from including session plans and slides:
- The mysterious language of competencies
- Talking about your competencies at interview
- Developing your competencies in the workplace
There are also a set of video resources including employers academic staff and students talking about the competencies in the Framework and how they are used and developed. They can be incorporated into training sessions or webpages.
Focussing your students’ attention on internships the Internship Planner is a handy tool to take students through the process from considering their intentions through setting learning objectives and professional networking.
Finally the Employers’ Brochure section can be used to create a paper or electronic brochure outlining the range of internship and placement opportunities that your institution offers. Use the list of prompt questions and look at examples to generate your own brochures. Combine it with your Competency Framework to show employers the competencies they can expect from your students.
This resource was created by Hilary Jones (Careers Service at University of Sheffield) and Lorna Warnock (Student Employability manager within the Department of Biology at the University of York).
Acknowledgments
Dr Hilary Jones – University of Sheffield
Dr Lorna Warnock – University of York
Phil Roberts – University of York
Sophie Quick – University of York
Dr Amanda Barnes – University of York
Higher Education Academy
