Graduateness, transdisciplinarity and work-based learning
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The last decade has seen a development of interest in the nature of
‘graduateness’. Starting with the (former) Higher Education Quality
Council’s Graduate Skills project in the mid-1990s and culminating
in the current preoccupation with transferable skills, the question
has been asked what the common skills or attributes are that
distinguish graduates from non-graduates. In contrast with business
or government’s interest in generic graduate skills, the view of
graduateness within universities is very much associated with specific
disciplines and undergraduate education with enculturation into a
particular academic discipline. This focus on disciplinary content has
posed some challenges for the design of Foundation degrees, which
are intended to be a blend of academic and workplace learning, and it
also reinforces the academic/vocational divide. Recently, a number of
honours degrees entitled ‘Professional Studies’ have been developed;
these awards are designed to offer successful Foundation degree
students a route through to honours which uses work-based learning.
These awards vary in content and structure but tend to be designed on
the basis that generic graduate attributes, which Barrie defines
‘… as being the skills, knowledge and abilities of university graduates,
beyond disciplinary content knowledge …’ (2004, p.262), can be
developed outside a conventional academic discipline.
This paper examines the pedagogic principles underlying the design
of one work-based learning ‘top up’ programme which leads to a BSc
in Professional Studies. It explores the issues involved in drawing
directly on experience in the workplace as the material for higher
level learning. The programme challenges conventional pedagogic
approaches which are dominant in the university, and emphasises the
importance of direct action and experience to learning. The authors
outline the challenges which need to be addressed in programme
design when moving away from a focus on disciplinary content,
and explain the importance of a focus on process in reconciling
graduateness and work-based learning.