adopted, any issues or difficulties that arose, and any recommendations they might have. We also interviewed History staff members to gain their views on employability and investigate if they had any links with Heritage sites that we could utilise for this project. We also conducted semi-structured small focus group interviews with History undergraduate students to gain an understanding of students’ level of work experience, the desirability of work experience (what value do students attach to work experience), and common barriers to obtaining work experience. We conducted four focus groups with a total of 17 second and third year undergraduate History students prior to starting the project. Apart from the general set topics we wanted to discuss, we did not follow a script as the interviews were exploratory, and we were keen to investigate the students’ attitudes to employability, especially issues arisen out of group interaction. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, then coded for analysis. The research allowed us to observe and reflect on a) the existing situation with regards to subject-specific work experience, b) the new work facing module and c) other help we can offer students to increase their employability through career-orientated work opportunities. Much of the project time was spend on contacting local Heritage and Public History sites to discuss with them their potential involvement in the module, as well as what other work experience they could offer our students. Based on these negotiations, a list of sites was drawn up that students on the module could visit for their module fieldwork project. In order to evaluate the new Heritage module, we conducted two focus group interviews with 11 students taking the new Heritage module during week 4 of this module to explore their expectations of the new module, and their initial reactions. A final interview was conducted with 6 students on the Heritage module during the final week of this module to evaluate their overall experience with the module, and with the field work. By this stage, we added the proposed ‘work experience database’ (a result from the earlier interviews) as a topic to the interviews to explore students’ view and recommendations for this part of the project. Finally, in order to evaluate the module, we also interviewed the two members of staff who led this module, both at the start and on completion of the module. In addition, we contacted the heritage sites which students had visited for their field work project to gain their feedback. We also contacted all other sites again for the proposed ‘work opportunities database’.
adopted, any issues or difficulties that arose, and any recommendations they might have. We also interviewed History staff members to gain their views on employability and investigate if they had any links with Heritage sites that we could utilise for this project. We also conducted semi-structured small focus group interviews with History undergraduate students to gain an understanding of students’ level of work experience, the desirability of work experience (what value do students attach to work experience), and common barriers to obtaining work experience. We conducted four focus groups with a total of 17 second and third year undergraduate History students prior to starting the project. Apart from the general set topics we wanted to discuss, we did not follow a script as the interviews were exploratory, and we were keen to investigate the students’ attitudes to employability, especially issues arisen out of group interaction. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, then coded for analysis. The research allowed us to observe and reflect on a) the existing situation with regards to subject-specific work experience, b) the new work facing module and c) other help we can offer students to increase their employability through career-orientated work opportunities. Much of the project time was spend on contacting local Heritage and Public History sites to discuss with them their potential involvement in the module, as well as what other work experience they could offer our students. Based on these negotiations, a list of sites was drawn up that students on the module could visit for their module fieldwork project. In order to evaluate the new Heritage module, we conducted two focus group interviews with 11 students taking the new Heritage module during week 4 of this module to explore their expectations of the new module, and their initial reactions. A final interview was conducted with 6 students on the Heritage module during the final week of this module to evaluate their overall experience with the module, and with the field work. By this stage, we added the proposed ‘work experience database’ (a result from the earlier interviews) as a topic to the interviews to explore students’ view and recommendations for this part of the project. Finally, in order to evaluate the module, we also interviewed the two members of staff who led this module, both at the start and on completion of the module. In addition, we contacted the heritage sites which students had visited for their field work project to gain their feedback. We also contacted all other sites again for the proposed ‘work opportunities database’.
Employability___transferable_skills-_H_PA.docx