Essays on Employer Engagement in Education

Anthony Mann is Senior Policy Advisor (Vocational Education and Training) at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.Prue Huddleston is Emeritus Professor in the Centre for Education Studies, University of Warwick, UKElnaz Kashefpakdel is Head of Research at the Education and Employers, a UK education charity.

"This useful book examines how employers do, and could, engage with education providers to help all young people transition successfully to full-time work. Some chapters examine problems; others evaluate particular programs. As well as contributing to knowledge, the book provides food for thought for practitioners in schools, careers services and within companies, and for policy makers. Its particular strength is in the empirical research reported, especially the frequent use of young people’s voices, increasing our understanding of how young people imagine their employment futures and how they can get there."Erica Smith, Professor of Vocational Education and Training, Federation University Australia."This new collection presents new and timely evidence on how workplace involvement can influence the economic and academic outcomes of young people. The editors are leading experts in their field who have curated a collection that advances thinking on employer engagement in education, what it can mean to young people and how schools can deploy it to greatest strategic advantage. In a subject long under-theorized, authors draw on concepts of social and cultural capital to make sense of changes observed in outcomes, and the patterns of disadvantage identified in participation. Foregrounding student voices, authors cast a critical gaze over what employers can and cannot be expected to bring to education. At a time of frenetic policymaking on school-to-work routes, and on national and global economic directions and the role of education and training within this, this book makes an important contribution."Becky Francis, Director, UCL Institute of Education.

• PrefaceAndreas SchleicherIntroductionAnthony Mann1. ‘Employers at the heart of the system?’ The role of employers in qualification developmentPrue Huddleston and Andrea Laczik2. Investigating how benefits of an industry-school partnership vary between industry sectors.Kerry Lee, Fatima Abdulghani and John Hope3. Who is getting prepared? Year 11 students’ views on careers education and work experience in English secondary schoolsJulie Moote and Louise Archer4. Competences, Capabilities and Capitals: conceptual paradigms in the educational-employment relationshipMichael Tomlinson 5. Socialised social capital? The capacity of schools to use careers provision to compensate for social capital deficiencies among teenagersAnthony Mann, Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel and Christian Percy6. Tell it like it is: Education and employer engagement, freelance and self-employmentPrue Huddleston and Heidi Ashton 7. ‘Selling the dream’: stakeholder perceptions of the translation of employability policy into university strategy.Roy Priest8. "My brother’s football team mate's dad was a pathologist": serendipity and employer engagement in medical careersSteven Jones, Anthony Mann, Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel and Rachael McKeown9. Someone in your life who really believes in you – Evidence and practice in employer mentoringTristram Hooley and Jonathan Boys10. Aligning school to work: Assessing the impact of employer engagement in young people’s transitions from education to workTerence Hogarth and Lynn Gambin11. Ethnographies of Work and Possible Futures: New ways for young people to learn about work, and choose a meaningful first careerNancy Hoffman and Mary Gatta12. What impact can employer engagement have on student attitudes towards school and their academic achievement? An analysis of OECD PISA DataElnaz T. Kashefpakdel, Jordan Rehill and Matteo Schleicher13. Young people in the labour market: how teenage employer engagement makes a difference to adult outcomesElnaz T. Kashefpakdel, Anthony Mann, Rachael McKeown, Jordan Rehill, and Prue Huddleston14. Insiders or outsiders, who do you trust? Engaging employers in school-based career activitiesChristian Percy and Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel15. Between two worlds: linking education and employmentSimon FieldConclusion Prue Huddleston