Lifelong Learning Institute Seminar: Thursday 19 January 2006
Young Adults' Agency in the Transition from Education to Work: National and International Perspectives
Helen Bowman, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Karen Evans, IoE, University of London.
Paul Jackson, EDSC, University of Leicester.
Room: ECS 7.73
Time: 1.30 - 4.00 pm
Additional Information
Booking required. Use our pdf booking form or contact Jaswant Bhavra
Summary
Helen Bowman will report some of the findings from a recently completed study of ‘Employability and career progression for full time, UK resident, Masters students’. This qualitative study was funded by the Higher Education Careers Service Unit (HECSU) and followed 24 students who were studying on 6 different Masters courses at 2 universities. The students’ moves from fulltime education into work will be discussed using Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field and capital as tools to interrogate the students’ experiences of transition and transitioning.
Drawing on findings from the ESRC Youth, Citizenship and Social Change Programme and related international and comparative studies, Karen Evans will explain how transitions are shaped by socio-economic contexts. The paper will discuss the concept of 'bounded agency' as a way of understanding individual struggle in young adult transitions.
As a practitioner having to deal with a full range of students 1:1 who face transition to employment, and from teaching ‘employability’ to groups in Earth Sciences, German, Medieval Studies, Business School, Environment School and Bioinformatics - level 1 to Masters - Paul Jackson will make the connection between the theory to suggest practical ways in which it can be used to enhance the guidance young people need to be proactive in moving from HE into employment.
Since 1997 Helen Bowman has been a contract researcher on a variety of projects focussing on students’ experiences of Post-16 education, in a number of different settings. She is currently employed by Manchester Metropolitan University as a student support officer in the Faculty of Art & Design.
Karen Evans is Professor of Education (Lifelong Learning) at the Institute of Education, University of London. She has led a series of studies of youth and adult transitions in Britain and Europe. Recent publications include Taking Control? (National Youth Agency 2003) Reconnection: Countering Social Exclusion through Situated Learning (Springer, 2004). Karen Evans is also joint Editor of the international journal COMPARE.
Paul Jackson is Director of the Student Support and Development Service at the University of Leicester. This involves oversight of a wide range of student services such as Careers, Counselling, Welfare, Student Learning, Accessability, Mental Wellbeing and the Sick Bay. Paul is Trustee of the Centre for Recording Achievement, consultant to National Council for Work Experience, and a member of ESECT “AGCAS Network Think Tank for Employability”. Until recently he headed up the Faculty Services team of the Careers Centre at Leeds University, responsible for oversight of a range of “employability” initiatives delivered through the academic curriculum including personal development planning, work placements and career planning/development modules.