Abstract:

The primary purpose of this work is to investigate practical implications of transition design in managing graduate liminality. Sutherland et al., (2015), Holmes (2015), Rutherford and Pickup (2015) postulated that concerted effort should be taken to eliminate graduate liminality via transition design to ‘’allow student space to develop their work identity’’. Without this support, many risk outcomes of being unemployed, economically inactive, or perennially seeking for work. Thus, this study focused on an innovative graduate employability programme at Birmingham City University’s Business School. Participants were drawn from a self-selection sample from a questionnaire distributed by the Careers and Employment Teams that targeted level 6 students at risk of being unemployed, economically inactive or perennially seeking work.

The study is positioned on three parts of the student lifecycle i.e., outcomes in transitions ‘up’, ‘out’ and ‘back to’ business school experiences. The paper aims to unearth evidence of unappreciated linkages between employability and transition design research and contemporary practice. Focusing on ‘’betweenness’’ of graduate education and employment or enterprise, this evaluation borrows from emerging themes from reflections on the programme on pre-liminal, liminal and post liminal aspects of interaction with knowledge informed by the transition skills and strategies as well as established institutional frameworks.

Action research also called practitioner action research was also used as the primary methodology. The students were engaged as co-creators / researchers and the subject of the study. The feedback on reflective accounts and dynamic adaptation of pedagogy presented the opportunity for multiple cycles of action research. Emerging perspectives were collected and manually transcribed, coded and the codes used to search for themes that were reviewed prior to drawing out compelling extracts.

The findings suggest that the programme correlates with notable emerging contributions towards greater self-awareness and self-efficacy in transitioning ‘through’, ‘up’, ‘back’ and ‘out’ and corresponds to core theories towards reducing liminality, critical learning perspectives and meeting Strategic Institutional targets through the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) graduate outcome results. Additionally, the paper evidences impact on student learning and engagement with positive feedback and disproportionately high distinctions including 100% pass-rate for their Prince 2 foundation certification. Assumptions and gaps for further research and interventions in employability trends are identified under themes of Widening participation and inclusive employability, Empowering students to take ownership of their own development, creating a culture of employability early, managing expectations, and Employer participation and accountability.

Keywords:

Transition Skills, Self-Efficacy, reflective practice, employability, Liminality, Inclusion.