Careers Education - Are we preaching to the converted? Are students who choose to take optional credit-bearing careers education more motivated ...
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Careers Education – Are we preaching to the converted?
Are students who choose to take optional credit-bearing careers education
more motivated and would have done well regardless?
Ruth O’Riordan
University of Dundee
Summary
Two consecutive years of research at The University of Dundee into the value of, and
motivation for, credit bearing careers education allow us to clearly conclude that affording
students the opportunity to take part in such learning has a positive and measurable impact
on their career prospects. This second part of the research sets out to investigate if
students who choose to partake in such learning are more motivated and thus would have
experienced this positive outcome regardless. This research has found that students who
choose to take part in credit bearing careers education are involved in a similar level of
activities as those who choose not to and are therefore deemed to be no more or less
motivated. We conclude that the University sector should consider the importance of
ensuring that careers education is compulsorily afforded a clear space in academic
timetables and is recognised with academic credit.
Introduction
Previous research carried out by The University of Dundee Careers Service in 2016
(O’Riordan, 2016), reported that partaking in credit bearing careers education increases the
likelihood of graduate success. Using three years of Destination of Leavers From Higher
Education Survey (DLHE) results comparing students who had and had not taken an optional
credit bearing careers education module found that if a student had taken a careers
module, the odds of them reaching a positive destination were 21.9% higher than if they
had not taken a careers module.
This research also considered final year students (4th year) who has taken a careers module
in 2nd year. We found that students who completed a level 2 careers module reported
feeling more prepared to graduate. 63.6% of career module attendees rank themselves as
“More Prepared” (rank 5 & 4 from 5 choices) compared with 31.4% of non-careers module
attendees. A difference of 32.2%. The research also showed that final year students who
have taken a careers module are over 21% more likely to have a clear plan after graduation.
While the results of this research points clearly and emphatically towards the positive value
of careers education the question remained whether this effect is due to some innate
difference between the students who choose to partake in a Careers Education module and
those who do not.
1In particular, we are interested to find out if students who choose to take a full module in
careers education are more motivated and engaged with regards to their future careers. If
this is the case, the students’ innate motivation could be the main reason for choosing the
module, and thus this difference in engagement could have led to greater graduate success
without gaining anything from taking the modules. The question we are therefore keen to
answer responds to the comment we received after presenting the first research results to
academic colleagues:
“But surely students who take careers modules are more motivated
and would have done well regardless”.
Setting the scene.
The “measurement of motivation” is challenging and the difficulty in attributing levels of
success to this measure should not be underestimated. Recent work looking at
“engagement” has indication however the importance this can have on career readiness.
Trowler (2010) in their “Student Engagement Literature Review“ writing for the HEA usefully
asserts that “Student engagement is concerned with the interaction between the time,
effort and other relevant resources invested by both students and their institutions
intended to optimise the student experience and enhance the learning outcomes and
development of students and the performance, and reputation of the institution.”
(Trowler, 2010, p.5). Kuh et al., define student engagement as “participation in education
effective practices, both inside and outside the classroom, which leads to a range of
measurable outcomes”. (Kuh et al., 2007). In clearly measuring the impact that
participation in credit bearing careers education has we have illustrated the positive
outcome this type of curricular learning can have. Adding in the participation in “effective
practices…..outside the classroom” will give us a fuller picture – does overall student
motivation and engagement make the difference or has the career module a part to play?
Research carried out by Tymon, (2013) regarding undergraduate engagement with the
concept of graduate employability found that “Graduates are increasingly aware that they
need additional skills and attributes for career success”. However younger years seem to be
less aware and Tymon commented that “Skills can be developed and are embedded in the
curriculum, but many first and second year students appear to lack engagement with these
activities. This must reduce their motivation to learn and inevitably impact on successful
development.” (Tymon, 2013, p. 853). This raises an interesting point and adds fuel to our
conviction within the University of Dundee that full credit bearing Careers Education
modules that focus on Career Planning are best placed in the earlier years of academic
study. Students have had a chance to settle in during their first year and still have time to
action their discovered career goals following interaction with the intensive career planning
activities offered. This documented “lack of engagement” in these earlier years is
concerning but perhaps the chance to gain academic credit for career learning through a
module bypasses this lack of engagement and motivation and gifts the student with the
tools they need to develop their career planning through the enticement of academic credit.
2At this point it is worth mentioning that the modules referred to above all carry 20 academic
credits that count towards a student’s degree. These modules are chosen as a module
option by students in their second year of an undergraduate degree (4 years for honours
and 3 years for an ordinary degree). Each academic year requires students to attain 120
credits (60 in each semester) towards achieving 360 credits to attain an Ordinary Degree
before students’ progress into their honours year. (http://www.scqf.org.uk/framework-
diagram/Framework.htm). Students are only permitted to complete one careers module
during their degree.
Kuh (2003) demonstrates that what students bring to higher education, or where they
study, matters less to their success and development than what they do during their time as
a student (cited in Trowler, 2010). Artess et al., (2017) highlight that Universities have a
duty to emphasise the importance of “providing a range of co-curricular and extra-curricular
opportunities for students to enhance their employability”. The importance of a breadth of
experience is agreed by graduate recruiters. The HEA publication (edited by Child et al.,
2008) “What Can Extra-Curricular Activities Do for You?” used research carried out by Stuart
et al in 2008 and is littered with quotes from graduate recruiters emphasising the value that
they place on a breadth of experience alongside academic study:
“All graduates may well be just the same when it comes to it:
they’ve all got the qualification, so what makes them different?
It’s not always about the grade or the qualification actually;
it’s about the person and what they’ve done with their life that’s interesting.”
“The ones who’ve gone through the motions, just gone through school and university,
often aren’t as mature and don’t have the emotional intelligence we’re looking for; they
aren’t as ready for the world of work as the ones with a bit more experience of the world.”
“From personal experience I’d say that people who have a rich life
outside work tend to contribute more in work.”
“Students in committees or having positions of leadership within a
club or society are normally accustomed to task management as they are
juggling their uni work and other commitments. People on the committees tend to do
a lot of things outside their university work, so it shows a lot of time
management and keeping on top of a lot of competing deadlines”
(Child et al, 2008)
The 2017 Association of Graduate Recruiters (now known as Institute of Student
Employment) 2017 Development Survey reveals that “49% of employers think that
graduates don’t have the soft skills expected of them when hired” with “42% of respondents
stating that universities should be doing more” to close this gap. (ISE, 2017, p.6). Such soft
skills can be integrated into degree programmes but the value of those skills gained from co
and extra-curricular activities cannot be underestimated. The motivation and personal
3engagement required to select, instigate and organise such activities alongside higher
education study is admirable. These additional activities undoubtedly give students a range
of softer skills from team working to time management and confidence to commercial
awareness. As Yorke neatly summarises “Although a student’s experience of higher
education cannot guarantee a ‘graduate level job’, the nature of that experience influences
the chances of success” (Yorke, 2003, p.1).
This piece of research is therefore hypothesising that students who spend more of their free
time choosing to be engaged in constructive activities not directly linked to their
undergraduate degree are more motivated in general.
Research Methodology
It is firstly important to point out that this piece of research is a direct follow up from earlier
research carried out by The University of Dundee Careers Service Team (O’Riordan, 2016)
into the impact of credit bearing careers education and that the two reports should be
viewed together to ensure the full picture is understood.
The same modules as the first study were used to allow for equity and comparisons. The
Career Planning Module, The Internship Module and The Career Planning Module Online.
Brief content of each module
Career Planning Module
Level 2 module with 40 hours of contact time split into 20 2hr sessions – 2 per week for a 10
week semester. Subject areas include Self-Awareness, Personality and Aptitude Profiling,
Opportunity Awareness/Career Choice, Presentation Skills, Future Options,
Applications/CVs, Interview and Selection Training (personalised one to one interview
training with an employer), and Action Planning. Students complete summatively assessed
work relating to skills profiling and using evidence; a job study report where students
interview someone in a role to which they aspire; tailored CV and Application Form
completion; presentation skills and interview performance.
Career Planning Module Online
The content of this module is largely the same as the Career Planning Module except that all
work is completed entirely online using the University’s VLE. Students choose their method
of learning from resources including voiced over lectures, interactive quizzes, online text,
online discussion boards, webinars and worksheets whilst being closely supported by a group
of career module tutors. The assessments are similar to those completed for the Career
Planning Module.
The Internship Module
4The Internship Module consists of a 30 hour placement over the course of the semester and
group tuition in the form of interactive weekly two-hour seminars. The module allows
students to gain valuable work experience and to reflect on their future career plans. The
Careers Service source a variety of internship placements for student to choose from.
Detailed Research Methodology
The main focus of the study is to look at the difference in the general motivation of Level
Two students who are eligible to choose one of the 3 modules. Two groups of students
were utilised: the students who are taking one of the Careers modules (CPM, CPMO or
Internship) and the control group (students who are on a similar degree programme to the
module attendee group, but have chosen not taken any of the modules). 131 students had
completed one of the aforementioned careers modules in academic session 2016/17 and
thus made up the module attendee group. The control group (consisting of students from
similar subject areas who had selected not to complete a careers module) contained 81
students.
The students attending career education at the University of Dundee belonged to three
groups. The first group attended the Career Planning Module (CPM), the second group
participated in the Career Planning Module Online (CPMO), and the third group attended
the Internship Module. CPM included 22 students, CPMO included 69 students, and the
Internship Module had 40 students. These students were all in their 2 nd or 3rd year at the
University, about to start one of the careers modules.
The main degree subjects of the module-attend and control group students are: American
Studies, Applied Computing, Business Economics, Economics, English, Environmental
Science, European Studies, Financial Economics, Geography, History, International Business,
Mathematics, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology and Town and Regional Planning.
The study utilised an anonymous survey. In this case, we measured motivation by
surveying the students about the different activities they were involved in outwith their
academic studies, remembering that we are hypothesising that students who spend more of
their free time choosing to be engaged in constructive activities not directly linked to their
undergraduate degree are more motivated in general.
The Survey
The anonymous survey was completed either online, in case of the CPMO students, or on
paper by the Internship and CPM students within the first week of the module – the content
of, or learning from, the modules was therefore not a factor in the students reponses. The
main question of the survey asked the students to indicate if they have participated in any
of the following extracurricular activities within the last 12 months (24 months for any level
3 students picking up required Level 2 credits)
Part-time paid employment during studies
Summer internship/summer job (in summer prior to this academic year)
5 Registered for DundeePlus Skills Award
Volunteering
Member of club or society
Office holder/position of responsibility within club or society
Attended Careers Service event (e.g. careers fair) or presentation
Evening or part time course not linked to academic credit for undergraduate degree
Class Representative
Caring responsibilities
Other (free text)
Participants could choose any number of activities, including none.
The above list was devised, rationalised and agreed on using the research carried out by the
HEA in 2008. This research defined extra-curricular activities as, “ECAs were broadly defined
in this research, including a wide range of activities, such as part-time work, involvement in
university students’ union clubs and societies (and different types of clubs and societies, e.g.
cultural, sporting and other), other university-related activities such as volunteering and
class representation, involvement in other personal activities such as social networking
sites, and other activities outside of university life, such as family commitments, religious
involvement and community activities. In other words, ECAs were defined as activities
outside of tutor-led learning time.” (Stuart et al, 2008, p8).
Results:
We firstly considered the totalled number of student activities undertaken by both the
control and module attend groups. When looking at the average number of activities
undertaken by students, there is no significant difference between the module attendees
and the control group, the slight difference is actually in favour of the control group.
6Fig. 1 The mean number of activities of the Module Attendees and the Control Group
When looking at the three groups of module attendees separately, the only significant
difference in average number of activities was between CPM and Internship, and CPM and
Control. CPM has significantly a lower mean number of activities than the Internship group
(p=.34) and the Control group (p=.44). However, we have to note that the number of CPM
students was considerably lower (used the Tukey test to compensate for this).
Fig.2 The average number of activities in Control, CPM, CPMO and Internship
7Each of the listed activities were also investigated separately, however, no significant effect
between the groups have been found across any of the individual activities.
Early indications in this research study therefore show no evidence of any significant
difference between module attendees and the control students in terms of number of
activities partaken by the students. We can therefore surmise that students who have
chosen to take credit bearing careers education are not involved in any more activities than
their peers and that we are drawing students from a year group with similar levels of
engagement. We are consequently not “preaching to the converted” or working specifically
with more or less motivated or engaged students. This mix of students is welcomed and
provides a rich tapestry and breadth of student experiences (or lack of experiences) that
makes this experiential and practical learning more valuable for the student cohorts.
Preparedness to graduate
We next considered if there was any difference between students perceived level of career
readiness. Remembering that this survey was distributed at the very beginning of the
semester, students were asked how they would describe themselves:
I do not know what I want to do when I graduate
I have a few ideas of what I might do after graduation but do not know how to
choose
I know what I want to do after I graduate but do not know how to get there
I know what I want to do when I graduate and know the steps I need to take to get
there
8Fig.3 The percentage of module attendee and control students giving answer to the
question “How would you describe yourself?”
There are no significant differences between module attendees and control students on this
measure in any of the choices given, indicating again that the students that are choosing to
take a full module in careers education are similar in career readiness to the rest of their
cohort who have chosen not to partake in one of these modules. This also links to and
supports the previous finding, as more preparedness to graduate could be seen as a
consequence of being motivated. To see if there is indeed a relationship between our
measure of motivation and preparedness to graduate, we looked at whether participation in
more extracurricular activities is associated with better preparedness. The average number
of activities in the 4 answer groups to the question “How would you describe yourself?” can
be seen in Figure 4.
9Fig.4 Average number of activities in the 4 answer groups to the question “How would you
describe yourself?”
It is evident that there is a trend of better self-reported preparedness to graduate being
associated with more extracurricular activities. On average, the most prepared group took
part in 16.3% more of the mentioned extracurricular activities than the least prepared
group. There is a significant difference between the groups. In particular, students rating
themselves as having the lowest preparedness have significantly lower numbers of
extracurricular activities than students who know what they want to do but do not know the
steps (p=.015), and students who know how to get to their graduate destination (p=.001).
The most prepared group also had significantly more activities than the students who rated
themselves as having a “few ideas” (p=.016).
10Reasons for choosing the modules
According to our findings, it seems that the students who picked any of the careers modules
are not any more motivated in general than our control group.
We then turned our attention to consider why students choose a career module. As part of
the survey, the students were asked why they had decided to take a Careers Module.
Students were given the following reasons to choose from, with the instruction to pick only
three and rank their choices according to importance:
Best option for my timetable
To help me decide what I want to do after my degree
No exam
To develop confidence/ability in applying for future opportunities
I needed the credits
To develop new or existing skills
Better module choice than others available to me
Fellow student recommendation
University member of staff recommendation
Other
In addition to these options, the Internship module students also had ‘Work experience’ as a
possible reason to choose the module.
Looking at the three module groups together, the summed scores for picking each reason
can be inspected in Figure 5.
11Fig.5: The summed scores of reasons for picking a Careers Module
Work experience as a reason was excluded from this chart, as CPM and CPMO students did
not have this option. Only three students picked the ‘other’ option and their answers were:
“XXX from XXX Law Firm recommended the module,” “needs specific advice,” and “bolster
my CV to help me to be a more attractive asset to potential employers.”
It is evident from the chart that students allocated the most importance to the reasons
expressing a motivation to gain a meaningful outcome in relation to career planning and
skills (To help me decide what I want to do after my degree, to develop confidence/ability in
applying for future opportunities, to develop new or existing skills). We called these reasons
‘motivated reasons.’ Overall, 91.6% of the students chose at least one motivated reason,
and 52.4% of all scores were given to these three reasons.
CPM and CPMO differed in terms of the distribution of scores between the reasons.
Summed scores of the reasons for choosing CPM and CPMO can be inspected in Figure 6
and 7.
12Fig.6 Summed scores of reasons for choosing CPM
13Fig. 7 Summed scores of reasons for choosing CPMO
It can be seen that CPMO students were somewhat more likely to choose “non-motivated”
reasons (Best option for my timetable, I needed the credits, University member of staff
recommendation). However, either summing the scores for these non-motivated reasons or
looking at them separately, these differences did not reach a statistical significance.
However, it is true to say from anecdotal feedback that the rapid growth in students
choosing the fully Online Career Planning Module is hugely due to its flexibility tallies with
these reasons.
We inspected the answers of the Internship Module students, as they had the added option
of choosing ‘Work experience’ as a reason for choosing the module, and this was obviously
the most relevant option in their case. The summed scores of the reasons for choosing the
Internship Module can inspected in Figure 8.
14Fig.8 Summed scores of reasons for choosing the Internship Module
It is evident and unsurprising that the most important factor for choosing the module was
the fact that it involved work experience. Overall, 95% of the students gave at least 1 point
to this reason, and 35.8% of all scores were given to this reason.
Desired gains from taking a Module
We then asked the module attend students what they hoped to gain from taking a credit
bearing careers module. Students were asked to choose two options and to rank them 1 or
2 according to their importance to them. They had the following potential gains to choose
from:
20 credits towards my degree
A clearer idea of what I want to do after my degree
More confidence/ability in applying for future opportunities
To develop new or existing skills
At this stage I am not sure
15 Other
Additionally, Internship Module students had “Work experience” as a potential gain.
As students ranked the options from 1 to 2, with 1 being the highest rank (most important
potential gain), we recoded these scores into a reversed order (now 2 meaning the highest
rank), in order to be able to sum these scores. Looking at the three module groups together,
the summed scores for each potential gain can be inspected in Figure 9.
Fig.9 Summed scores of potential gains
It can be seen that the vast majority of the students have a clear idea of what they hope to
gain as a result of completing a Careers Module. The majority of students hope for more
confidence, a clearer idea of what they want to do and better skills. Two students chose the
‘Other’ options and their answers were: “A chance to do something I feel is relevant to my
course, instead of wasting time in a module to only gain credits,” and “To understand how
UK CV's work and so on.”
16The distribution of scores across the potential gains do not show any differences between
CPM and CPMO. Looking at the Internship Module students separately shows that the
majority of students find ‘Work experience’ as the most important potential gain. Summed
scores for the potential gains of the Internship Module can be inspected in Figure 10.
Fig.10 Summed scores of potential gains of the Internship Module
On a similar vein we asked students from the control group why they did not choose to take
a Careers Module.
The following question was posed: ‘You had the opportunity to take a Level 2 Careers
Module (Career Planning Module, Career Planning Module Online or Internship Module).
Why did you not select one of these modules?’ Out of the 81 students 76 gave an answer to
the question. 55 responses (72%) indicated that their decision was due to the modules being
unavailable to them as a result of timetable clashes or all credits being taken up by degree
modules, or due to them considering other modules more beneficial to their education and
future. 19 (25%) students were uninterested in the modules altogether or they were
17unaware of their existence or content. Two students indicated that they were advised
against taking the module.
Therefore, it appears that the majority of our control students did not lack motivation with
regards to their careers, but were prevented by circumstances from taking a Careers
Module or felt that other options would benefit them more in the future. The question did
not ask them if they wanted to take a Careers Module so it would be incorrect to infer that
circumstances prevented them but it does add fuel to the growing argument for embedded
careers education within an academic programme that all students can benefit from.
Following completion of a full credit bearing careers module: Improvement in
preparedness to graduate
Finally, in a second survey completed after finishing the 11 week module, we asked our
students about their preparedness to graduate again, in order to see if completing a Careers
Module improved their self-assessment. We were able to match their responses to their
completed first survey, as the students were asked to use the same identifying code unique
to them both times. Out of the 131 Module attending students that we surveyed in the
beginning, 67 students returned the end of module survey.
In the CPMO group, we compared 34 responses:
I know what I want to do when I graduate and
know the steps I need to take to get there
I know what I want to do after I graduate but do
not know how to get there
I have a few ideas of what I might do after
graduation but do not know how to choose
I do not know what I want to do when I graduate
0 5 10 15 20 25
After Before
Fig.11 The number of CPMO students in each answer category before and after the Module
In the CPM group, we received 16 surveys back. The number of students in each answer
category before and after the survey can be inspected in Figure 12.
18I know what I want to do when I graduate and
know the steps I need to take to get there
I know what I want to do after I graduate but do
not know how to get there
I have a few ideas of what I might do after
graduation but do not know how to choose
I do not know what I want to do when I graduate
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
After Before
Fig.12 The number of CPM students in each answer category before and after the Module
In both cases, it is evident that the students who answered the second survey experienced a
significant boost to their subjective preparedness to graduate, which is in accordance with
our previous research.
In the Internship Module groups, we received 17 returned surveys. The number of students
in each answer category before and after the survey can be inspected in Figure 13.
I know what I want to do when I graduate and
know the steps I need to take to get there
I know what I want to do after I graduate but do
not know how to get there
I have a few ideas of what I might do after
graduation but do not know how to choose
I do not know what I want to do when I graduate
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
After Before
Fig.13 The number of Internship Module students in each answer category before and after
the Module
19It is worth noting that in the Internship Module group, no effect of the module on
preparedness to graduate can be observed. However, this module is not a career planning
module. As this question was concerned with the students’ idea of what career path they
plan to take after graduation, it can be hypothesised that the students who chose the
Internship Module in particular did not do so in order to find more out about their own
preferences or to formulate future plans, but specifically to gain some work experience (and
possibly references) in the field that they were already considering or in any field at all. This
is in accordance with our finding about the Internship Module students’ main reasons to
choose the module and their main desired gain: in both cases, work experience dominated
their responses. The other two groups, however, hoped to gain a clearer idea of what they
want to do after graduation. Therefore, it is possible that these students did not improve on
our measure of preparedness because their motivation was different.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The first part of the research (2016) clearly indicated the value of careers education and we
were confident to conclude that partaking in credit bearing careers education has an
encouraging effect on the likelihood of a positive graduate destination. In presenting this
information we were gifted with the interesting question regarding student motivation and
engagement that led to this follow up piece of research.
When commencing this study we were always confident that students within our modules
enhanced their career learning with typical distance travelled graphs looking as follows:
Career Planning Module
I know what I want to do when I graduate and know
the steps to take to get there
I know what I want to do but do not know how to get
there AFTER MODULE
I have a few ideas of what I might do after gradutation BEFORE MODULE
but do not know how to choose
I do not know what I want to do when I graduate
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
20Career Planning Module Online
I know what I want to do when I graduate and know
the steps to take to get there
I know what I want to do but do not know how to AFTER MODULE
get there
BEFORE MODULE
I have a few ideas of what I might do after
gradutation but do not know how to choose
I do not know what I want to do when I graduate
0 5 10 15 20 25
This research has shown that the students who are choosing to partake in credit bearing
careers education as one of their module choices are no more or less engaged or motivated
than students who choose not to. The richness of this group is highly valued in our modules
– the learning is individualised, interactive, experiential and reflective. Students are actively
encouraged to participant and develop action plans and goals to increase their engagement
(if necessary) and to reflect on the value of these experiences in order to be able to
positively articulate them to future employers and post graduate study providers. The
challenge for the Careers Service is to increase engagement with the modules. Whilst
heavily subscribed it is clear from this research that obstacles to partaking in this valued
learning need to be addressed. Within the control group there will be highly motivated
students alongside less engaged students – we welcome the opportunity to work with both
of these groups to encourage them to develop their career planning skills and ultimately
graduate readiness.
It is encouraging to now be able to attach a clear statistic to the value of extra and co-
curricular activities. For a long time we have anecdotally been saying that getting involved
is important, but now being able to say that engagement in extracurricular activities is
linked to feelings of graduate readiness with a clear statistic is reassuring and highly
welcomed.
In summary the main findings of our 2 research studies are:
Taking an optional full credit careers module has a positive impact on the odds of
graduate success
Taking a Careers Module makes students feel more confident about life after
graduation
Students who choose to take part in credit bearing careers education are involved
in a similar level of activities as those who choose not to
21 The students who are engaged with the highest numbers of extra-curricular
activities also report the highest levels of career readiness.
The distinct conclusion we can observe and recommendation we now make clearly
emphasises the value of structured careers education. Furthermore this research
unequivocally endorses the importance of ensuring that careers education is compulsorily
afforded a clear space in academic timetables and is recognised with academic credit.
Further Research?
Our research has always looked at the module attend and non-module attend groups as
whole groups. In future it would be interesting to consider if other factors impact on
choosing careers education and partaking in extra-curricular activities. Current reading
illustrates that different groups of students have different experiences and levels of
engagement with employability. Consideration of mature students, widening participation
students, female students and non UK native students with regards to careers education
may reveal interesting anomalies.
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