Announcements

We welcome your registration as an Author or Reviewer and warmly encourage submissions. Please email Journal Manager, Dr Katherine Howard  to request registration details.

  • 2023/24 Special Issue: The graduate employability practitioner: What works to develop career, teaching capability and organisational capacity?

    2023-09-10

    The Editorial Board of the Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability are pleased to announce the Special Issue for 2023/24 - 

    The graduate employability practitioner: What works to develop career, teaching capability and organisational capacity?

    Governments, employers and students increasingly see higher education as a pivotal pathway towards a highly skilled workforce. However, including graduate employability as a purpose of higher education is disputed, and driven mainly by the conflation of graduate employability with graduate employment outcomes (Sin et al., 2019). Teaching and learning staff significantly engage with curricular and co-curricular activities that support graduate employability development. Healy et al. (2021) note that despite its strategic priority, graduate employability is an emerging professional field with diverse practices, including teaching and learning.

    However, it is sometimes unclear who within the university is responsible for designing, embedding and supporting students' graduate employability. The graduate employability workforce includes academic and professional staff within work-integrated learning units, career development, experienced practitioners new to academia, sometimes known as 'pracademics', and academic staff who support students in applying their disciplinary knowledge to the world of work. Graduate employability is a unique corner of teaching and learning where student success is reliant on the work of academic and professional staff being necessarily entangled (Roberts, 2018).

    While new roles, such as pracademics, have emerged within contemporary higher education, the traditional expectations of academia have not entirely disappeared (Ylijoki & Henriksson, 2017). For those teaching in the administratively demanding graduate employability area, meeting the traditional university success metrics required for career progression, such as research publications and grants, strong student evaluation scores, and leadership roles, can be challenging. Pracademics must span two worlds – their discipline, profession, and academia, demonstrating legitimacy in both (Hollweck et al., 2022). Similarly, professional staff working collaboratively with academics in this 'third space' must continuously reconcile their professional identities and gain new skills, particularly within research, to effectively demonstrate their vital contribution (Veles & Carter, 2016).

    While staff grapple with their professional identities within graduate employability, so do institutions. How do universities stay true to the transformational goals of higher education while producing a highly skilled workforce? This special issue invites submissions that explore the experiences of graduate employability practitioners as they seek to develop their practice and careers within contemporary higher education.

    The Special Issue Editors are:

    • Dr Lauren Hansen, SFHEA, Senior Lecturer – Learning Futures, Deakin University
    • Assoc Prof Barbie Panther, SFHEA, Director – Teaching Capability, Deakin University
    • Prof Jamie Mustard, Pro Vice-Chancellor – Graduate Employment, Deakin University
    • Dr Bonnie Amelia Dean, SFHEA, Head of Academic Development & Recognition, University of Wollongong
    • Assoc Prof Deanne Gannaway, SFHEA, Academic Lead – Professional Learning, Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation, University of Queensland
    • Dr Michael Healy, National Manager, Career Education for myfuture.edu.au  
    Read more about 2023/24 Special Issue: The graduate employability practitioner: What works to develop career, teaching capability and organisational capacity?
  • 2022/23 Special Issue: Recognising and Reconceptualising Ability: Reflections on Disability and Employ-Ability

    2022-07-01

    The Special Issue: Recognising and Reconceptualising Ability: Reflections on Disability and Employ-Ability has now been published. You can access it here.

    ---------------------

    The Editorial Board of the Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability announce the Special Issue for 2022/23 - 

    Recognising and Reconceptualising Ability: Reflections on Disability and Employability

    With almost 20% of all Australians identifying as having a disability and/or medical or mental health condition (ABS, 2019), the rate of students with a disability in Australian higher education has increased, representing an estimated 7.7% of all students in 2019 (NCSEHE, 2020). Yet despite increasing participation, research findings continue to evidence lower rates of retention, success, and completion for students with a disability (Kilpatrick et al., 2017; Pitman, 2022). Particularly troublesome are also findings that highlight the significant barriers students with a disability face in the employment market, often relating to a lack of work experience or employability (Eckstein, 2022; QILT, 2020).

    The Special Issue Editors are Dr Mollie Dollinger1  Dr Olivia Groves2  and Prof Sarah O’Shea2.  Please feel free to contact them if you have any queries about this Special Issue.

    1. Deakin University  2. Curtin University

    Read more about 2022/23 Special Issue: Recognising and Reconceptualising Ability: Reflections on Disability and Employ-Ability
  • 2020/21 Special Edition: Micro-credentials and qualifications for future work and learning in a disrupted world

    2020-01-31

    The Editorial Board announces that the Special Issue related to graduate employability and the future of work and learning in a disrupted world, will continue to accept submissions until the end of November 2021.

    Many experts are predicting fundamental changes to higher education's 'business as usual' - and credentials, qualifications and employability are absolutely core business. How will providers ensure VALUE for learners, their families and their employers in this disrupted economy?

    The Special Issue Editors Emeritus Professor Beverley Oliver, Dr Trina Jorre de St Jorre and Dr Beatrice Tucker welcome guest editors:

    • Professor Elisa Martinez-Marroquin
    • Professor Andrea Bialocerkowski
      Read more about 2020/21 Special Edition: Micro-credentials and qualifications for future work and learning in a disrupted world