Framework for developing career readiness in Australian science degree undergraduates
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21153/jtlge2026vol17no1art2138Abstract
As students transition from university education to employment, they require a range of skills and competencies to ensure future career readiness. Although work integrated learning (WIL) is recognised as an important opportunity to build graduate employability, its use has been limited within Australian undergraduate science degrees. Recent research has indicated that employers perceive science graduates lack some employability skills while academics can lack confidence to teach them. Science graduates also lack career awareness and may struggle to identify the transferability of those skills. We present the findings from our study which aimed to explore current practice, understand the nature of the challenges facing academics to implement WIL in the curriculum and identify possible solutions. Key roadblocks to the effective implementation of employability skill development included lack of opportunity/time to integrate skills into existing curricula, non-engagement of students, and uncertainty around assessment of employability skills. Potential methodologies to overcome these roadblocks were co-created with industry and recent graduates. These form the basis of our framework for the best practice introduction of career awareness and employability skills into undergraduate science degrees as well as the associated recommendations to: 1) Build scaffolded, integrated curriculum in which enabling skills are repeatedly developed; 2) Design WIL activities and assessment purposefully aligned to the packaged development of employability skills and career awareness; 3) Be explicit: explain when, how, why and what career readiness skills are being developed to students; and 4) Build capacity and capability to develop and deliver career readiness learning outcomes.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Ruby Hume, Trent Weir, Jamie Priest, Sara Krivickas, Andrew MacKinnon, Michelle Coulson, Olivier Fahy, Beth Loveys, Botten James, Adrian Hunter, Amanda J. Able
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