Career development learning in the curriculum: What is an academic’s role?

Abstract

Career development learning (CDL) is an approach to developing student employability that enables students to reflect on and plan their future careers through engaging in activities outside or within their degree. Building on literature arguing for the benefits of integrating CDL within curriculum, this study examines academics’ perceived roles facilitating CDL. Informed by the principles and processes of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), 55 academics were interviewed from one institution, enabling responses to be examined through a common lens of teaching, policy and governance structures. Findings demonstrate that while some participants broadly understood the value of CDL, the term CDL is not well known. Further, while CDL strategies within teaching contexts occur, they are mostly unplanned or dialogic. This paper presents a taxonomy of current practice, featuring 11 diverse roles for facilitating CDL within curriculum grouped as absent, implicit and explicit approaches. The paper offers recommendations for a university-wide agenda for employability that features CDL strategies embedded across core curricula.