Learning to Work, Working to Learn

Abstract

The Great Recession of 2008 focused minds on many issues of the economy and of society generally. It also focused considerable attention on the workings and results of higher education. Students were faced with spiraling tuition costs, while graduates were looking at burgeoning debt and the diminishing life-long financial returns on their degree investment. These prompted a reconsideration of the economic value of the college degree and of graduate employability. This chapter examines graduate employability from a perspective of what has been called new vocationalism. The challenges and potential of new vocationalism are explored against the framework of students who wish to enter employment and who believe that it is their best interests, and in the best interests of future employers and of society at large, if they are better prepared for transition to the workplace. The chapter argues for a reconsideration of vocationalism and suggests ways in which a closer and more authentic connection can be made between what is learned and what is needed to empower new graduates in the work-world.