Employability and higher education: the follies of the ‘Productivity Challenge’ in the Teaching Excellence Framework

Journal of Education Policy

Volumn 32, Issue 5, 2017, Pages 628-641

  Frankham, Jo ^a  

^a LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Employability; National Student Survey; New Public Management; performativity; policy rhetorics

Indexed keywords

EID: 85007170313     PISSN: 02680939     EISSN: 14645106     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2016.1268271     Document Type: Article

References (74)

1. Amsler, S., 2014. “‘By ones and twos and tens’:Pedagogies of Possibility for Democratising Higher Education.” Pedagogy, Culture and Society 22 (2):275–294.10.1080/14681366.2013.852614
2. Anderson, P., 2014. “Diary.” London Review of Books 36 (2):38–39.
3. Ansgar, A., 2014. “Life without the ‘x’ Factor:Meritocracy past and Present.” Power and Education 4 (1):4–19.
4. Archer, W., and J., Davison. 2008. Graduate Employability:What Do Employers Think and Want?. London:The Council for Industry and Higher Education.
5. Arrow, K., 1997. “The Benefits of Education and the Formation of Preferences.” In The Social Benefits of Education, edited by J. R., Behrman and N., Stacy, 11–16. Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press.
6. Bachan, R. 2015. “Grade Inflation in UK Higher Education.” Studies in Higher Education, published on-line March 17, 2015.
7. Badley, G., 2016. “The Pragmatic University:A Feasible Utopia?” Studies in Higher Education 41 (4):631–641.10.1080/03075079.2014.942269
8. BIS. 2015. Fulfilling Our Potential:Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice. London:BIS.
9. BIS. 2016. Success as a Knowledge Economy:Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice. London:BIS.
10. Brooks, R., K., Byford, and K., Sela. 2015. “The Changing Role of Students’ Unions within Contemporary Higher Education.” Journal of Education Policy 30 (2):165–181.10.1080/02680939.2014.924562
11. Budd, R., 2016. “Undergraduate Orientations towards Higher Education in Germany and England:Problematising the Notion of the ‘student as customer.’” Higher Education. doi:10.1007/s10734-015-9977-4
12. Bunce, L., A., Baird, and S. E., Jones. 2016. “The Student-as-consumer Approach in Higher Education and Its Effects on Academic Performance.” Studies in Higher Education. doi:10.1080/03075079.2015.11279078.
13. Burrows, R., 2012. “Living with the h-Index? Metric Assemblages in the Contemporary Academy” Sociological Review 60 (2):355–372.
14. Clapham, M. (2006) ‘The Sarcophagus of Practice’, unpublished paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Philadelphia Association. Tavistock Clinic, 16 September.
15. Coffield, F., 1999. “Breaking the Consensus:Lifelong Learning as Social Control.” British Educational Research Journal 25 (4):479–499.10.1080/0141192990250405
16. Collini, S., 2013. “Sold Out.” London Review of Books 35 (2):3–12.
17. Collini, S., 2016. “Who Are the Spongers Now?” London Review of Books 38 (2):33–37.
18. Cranmer, S., 2006. “Enhancing Graduate Employability:Bent Intentions and Mixed Outcomes.” Studies in Higher Education 31 (2):169–184.10.1080/03075070600572041
19. Crossman, J. E., and M., Clarke. 2010. “International Experience and Graduate Employability:Stakeholder Perceptions on the Connection.” Higher Education 59:599–613.10.1007/s10734-009-9268-z
20. Cumming, J., 2010. “Contextualised Performance:Reframing the Skills Debate in Research Education.” Studies in Higher Education. 35 (4):405–419.
21. Davies, P., T., Qui, and N. M., Davies. 2014. “Cultural and Human Capital, Information and Higher Education Choices.” Journal of Education Policy 29 (6):804–825.10.1080/02680939.2014.891762
22. Fairclough, N., 2005. “Critical Discourse Analysis.” Marges Linguistiques 9:76–94.
23. Finney, T. G., and R. Z., Finney. 2010. “Are students their universities' customers?” An exploratory study. Education and Training 52 (4):276–291.
24. Fitzsimons, P., 1999. “Managerialism and Education.” Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Education. July 1, 1999.
25. Frankham, J. (2015) Much Ado About Something. The effects of the National Student Survey on Higher Education:An exploratory study. Report to the British Academy/Leverhulme. Liverpool:John Moores University (researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/2554/).
26. Guardian. 2016. “University Courses Fail to Develop Basic Skills like Maths, Says OECD.” Guardian, January 29.
27. Harrison, N., 2011. “Have the Changes Introduced by the 2004 Higher Education Act Made Higher Education Admissions in England Wider and Fairer?” Journal of Education Policy 26 (3):449–468.10.1080/02680939.2010.513742
28. Hey, V., 2011. “Affective Asymmetries:Academics, Austerity and the Mis/recognition of Emotion.” Contemporary Social Science:Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences 6 (2):207–222.
29. Ipsos MORI. 2016. The National Student Survey. ipsos-mori.com.
30. Kafka, F., 1925. The Trial. Tr:2003 David Wyllie. New York:Dover.
31. Kalfa, S., and L., Taksa. 2015. “Cultural Capital in Business Higher Education:Reconsidering the Graduate Attributes Movement and the Focus on Employability.” Studies in Higher Education 40 (4):580–595.10.1080/03075079.2013.842210
32. Kavanagh, D., 2009. “Institutional Heterogeneity and Change:The University as Fool.” Organisation 16 (4):575–595.
33. Keep, W., and K., Mayhew. 2014. “Inequality–‘wicked problems’, Labour Market Outcomes and the Search for Silver Bullets.” Oxford Review of Education 40 (6):764–781.10.1080/03054985.2014.979580
34. Komljenovic, J., and S. L., Robertson. 2016. “The Dynamics of Market-making in Higher Education.” Journal of Education Policy 31 (5):622–636.10.1080/02680939.2016.1157732
35. Le Maistre, C., and A., Pare. 2004. “Learning in Two Communities:The Challenge for Universities and Workplaces.” Journal of Workplace Learning 16 (1/2):44–52.10.1108/13665620410521503
36. Lorenz, C., 2012. “If You’re so Smart Why are You Under Surveillance? Universities, Neoliberalism and New Public Management” Critical Inquiry 38 (3):599–629.
37. MacAllister, J., G., Macleod, and A., Pirrie. 2013. “Searching for Excellence in Education:Knowledge, Virtue and Presence?” Ethics and Education 8 (2):153–165.10.1080/17449642.2013.843964
38. MacIntyre, A., 2007. After Virtue:A Study in Moral Theory. 3rd ed. Notre Dame, IN:University of Notre Dame Press.
39. Marginson, S., 2013. “The Impossibility of Capitalist Markets in Higher Education.” Journal of Education Policy 28 (3):353–370.10.1080/02680939.2012.747109
40. Mason, G., G., Williams, S., Cranmer, and D., Guile. 2003. How Much Does Higher Education Enhance the Employability of Graduates? HEFCE. http://heer.qaa.ac.uk/SearchForSummaries/Summaries/Pages/GLM171.aspx.
41. McMahon, W., 1998. “Conceptual Frameworks for the Analysis of the Social Benefits of Lifelong Learning.” Education Economics 6:309–346.10.1080/09645299800000022
42. Metahaven. 2013. Can Jokes Bring down Governments? Memes, Design and Politics. Moscow:Strelka Press (Unpaginated Kindle Book).
43. Moore, T., and J., Morton. 2015. “The Myth of Job Readiness? Written Communication, Employability and the ‘Skills Gap’ in Higher Education.” Studies in Higher Education. doi:10.1080/03075079.2015.1067602.
44. Morley, L., 2007. “The X Factor:Employability, Elitism and Equity in Graduate Recruitment.” Twenty-First Century Society 2 (2):191–207.10.1080/17450140701325782
45. Nietzsche, F. 1872. Anti-education:On the Future of Our Educational Institutions. Tr:2016 Damien Searls. New York:New York Review Books.
46. Otto, B. K., 2004. Fools are Everywhere:The Court Jester around the World. Chicago, IL:University of Chicago Press.
47. Palfreyman, D., and T., Tapper. 2014. Reshaping the University:The Rise of the Regulated Market in Higher Education. Oxford:Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199659821.001.0001
48. Peck, J., and A., Tickell. 2002. “Neoliberalizing Space.” Antipode 34 (3):380–404.10.1111/anti.2002.34.issue-3
49. Polanyi, M., 1969. Knowing and Being. Chicago, IL:University of Chicago Press.
50. Rae, D., 2007. “Connecting Enterprise and Graduate Employability:Challenges to the Higher Education Culture and Curriculum.” Education and Training 49 (8/9):605–619.10.1108/00400910710834049
51. Readings, B., 1996. The University in Ruins. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press.
52. Sabri, D., 2010. “Absence of the Academic from Higher Education Policy.” Journal of Education Policy 25 (2):191–205.10.1080/02680930903428648
53. Sabri, D. 2013. “Student Evaluations of Teaching as ‘Fact-Totems’:The Case of the UK National Student Survey.” Sociological Research Online 18 (4).
54. Shore, C., 2008. “Audit Culture and Illiberal Governance:Universities and the Politics of Accountability.” Anthropological Theory 8 (3):278–298.10.1177/1463499608093815
55. Shuker, L., 2014. “It’ll Look Good on Your Personal Statement:Self-marketing amongst University Applicants in the UK.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 35 (2):224–243.10.1080/01425692.2012.740804
56. Sin, C., and G., Neave. 2014. “Employability Deconstructed:Perceptions of Bologna Stakeholders.” Studies in Higher Education 41 (8):1447–1462.
57. Smith, G., and T., Smith. 2014. “Targeting Educational Disadvantage by Area:Continuity and Change in Urban Areas in England, 1968–2014.” Oxford Review of Education 40 (6):715–738.10.1080/03054985.2014.981436
58. Strathern, M., 2000. Audit Cultures:Anthropological Studies in Accountability, Ethics and the Academy. London:Taylor and Francis.10.4324/9780203449721
59. Stronach, I., J., Clarke, and J., Frankham. 2014. “Economic ‘revelations’ and the Metaphors of the Meltdown:An Educational Deconstruction.” British Educational Research Journal 40 (2):319–336.10.1002/berj.3081
60. Sullivan, A., S., Parsons, R., Wiggins, A., Heath, and F., Green. 2014. “Social Origins, School Type and Higher Education Destinations.” Oxford Review of Education 40 (6):739–763.10.1080/03054985.2014.979015
61. Suspitsyna, T., 2010. “Accountability in American Education as a Rhetoric and a Technology of Governmentality.” Journal of Education Policy 25 (5):567–586.10.1080/02680930903548411
62. Taylor, C., 2004. Modern Social Imaginaries. Durham, NC:Duke University Press.
63. THE. 2015. “Is Employability Data Being Manipulated?” Times Higher Education, March 12.
64. Tholen, G., S. J., Relly, C., Warhurst, and J., Commander. 2016. “Higher Education, Graduate Skills and the Skills of Graduates:The Case of Graduates as Residential Sales Estate Agents.” British Educational Research Journal 42 (3):508–523.10.1002/berj.3222
65. Tight, M., 2013. “Students:Customers, Clients or Pawns?” Higher Education Policy 26:291–307.10.1057/hep.2013.2
66. Tomlinson, M., 2015. “The Impact of Market-Driven Higher Education on Student–University Relations:Investing, Consuming and Competing.” Higher Education Policy 29 (2):149–166.
67. Tomlinson, M., 2016. “Students’ Perceptions of Themselves as ‘consumers’ of Higher Education.” British Journal of Sociology of Education. doi:10.1080/01425692.2015.1113856.
68. Tymon, A., 2013. “The Student Perspective on Employability.” Studies in Higher Education 38 (6):841–856.10.1080/03075079.2011.604408
69. Wallace, D. F., 1998. “Laughing with Kafka.” Harper’s Magazine, July.
70. White, N. R., 2007. “The Customer is Always Right? Student Discourse about Higher Education in Australia.” Higher Education 54:593–604.10.1007/s10734-006-9012-x
71. Williams, J., 2010. “Constructing Consumption:What Media Representations Reveal about Today’s Students.” In The Marketisation of Higher Education, edited by M., Molesworth, R., Scullion, and E., Nixon, 170–182. Oxon:Routledge.
72. Williams, J., 2013. Consuming Higher Education:Why Learning Can’t Be Bought. London:Bloomsbury.
73. Williams, J., 2016. Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity. Basingstoke:Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9781137514790
74. Woodall, T., A., Hiller, and S., Resnick. 2014. “Making Sense of Higher Education:Students as Consumers and the Value of the University Experience.” Studies in Higher Education 39 (1):48–67.10.1080/03075079.2011.648373