How best to foster thinking about employability in Creative Writing programmes and modules was the subject of this well-attended English Subject Centre event, organised in collaboration with the National Association of Writers in Education higher education Committee and Artswork at Bath Spa University.
Steve May, of Bath Spa, opened the day with the thought-provoking findings of his recent English Subject Centre funded mini-project, Student expectations and experience of the Creative Writing BA. A group of Bath Spa Creative Writing students then provided their own, refreshingly frank perspective on employability, and this was followed by lively small-group discussions around integrating employability into Creative Writing courses. In the afternoon, short presentations by Andrea Duncan (The University of Northampton), Martin Goodman (University of Plymouth), Georgina Lock (Nottingham Trent University), Samantha Smith (Transition Tradition) and Mimi Thebo (Bath Spa University) kick-started discussions around the role of professional development planning in enhancing employability and how to encourage students to boost their employability by making the most of opportunities while at university to gain relevant experience. While it was clear from the day that there is no single, ‘one size fits all’ approach to integrating employability into the Creative Writing curriculum, a number of key factors that can help were identified. These included the use of language – both how we talk about employability itself (‘survival skills’ or ‘paying the rent’ were offered as alternatives) and how we can help students to translate what they do during their university years into a language that employers can understand – and the importance of helping students to recognise, and value, the transferable skills they develop in a Creative Writing course. Philippa Johnston, Literaturetraining
More details and information about presentations can be viewed on our website in the Events Archive.
