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Successful Employer Responsive Provision: an Academic Perspective

Tracey White

t.white@mdx.ac.uk

Middlesex Business School

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Contents

• Employer Responsive Provision (ERP)

• Organizational Needs meets Academic Tradition

• Supporting ERP

• Case studies

• Tensions and difficulties

• Effective ERP

• Support for ERP

• Thoughts

• ERP Community of Practice

• Shifts away from the learner centred approach

• Employer drives curriculum mapped to the organizations needs

• Learner at the heart of the process• High levels of risk QAA (2010)

• Equal Partnership

• Diverse, complex, unique

• Fundamental to ERP

– Relationship

– Sustained interaction

Employer Responsive Provision (ERP)

• Move away from training

• Functioning Knowledge

• Balancing academic knowledge and skills with professional competency / capability

• Pedagogical shift to andragogy (Walsh 2008)

• Or something new?

• Education is transformative and challenges learners to be critical and seek change

• Balancing an organizations needs with the ethos of HE

Organizational needs meets Academic Tradition

• “Working with non-educational partners, in particular, involves a major investment of time to ensure that such organisations fully understand the importance of maintaining a high quality and consistent HE learner experience.” Ambrose and Ni Luanaigh (2009)

• Three key areas;– Employer Engagement– Programme design and development– Programme Implementation and Facilitation

• Greatest challenges;– The lack of understanding of the partners and their

organizations– Just in time solutions– Flexibility

Supporting Employer Responsive Provision

• Large corporate organization seeking a management development programme in a short timeframe

• HE a new concept

– Regulations, systems, processes, curriculum design

• Profile of employees and the organizational ‘way’

• Organization had specific needs and requirements

• Staff / employees used to training

• Was viewed as being a pilot

• Not communicated effectively

Case Study 1

• Identified need supported by organizational strategy

• Full support from senior management

• Internally managed to a high level of detail

• Employee understanding, support, involvement

• Strong partnership between commercial manager / academic which gave rise to;

– Common understanding

– Rules of engagement

• Programme Leader / Academic Team

– Importance of involvement

Case Study 2

• Need for a common understanding of what HE has to offer / organizational needs

• Are employers prepared for Change?

• Academic staff with correct skills

• Engaging learners

– Programmes need to be developed at the correct level and be fit for purpose

– The application and selection process and criteria are developed in partnership

– Strong communications strategy supported with informative events

Tensions and difficulties associated with developing ERP

Effective ERP

HEIsOrganizations

Structural Capital

Structural Capital

Nature of the support needed for successful ERP

• Institutional Mechanisms– Strategic support and direction

• Staff Skills Knowledge– Related strategies / funding /frameworks /

resources/systems and processes• Staff Skills Communication

– Relationship building / Effective listening / questioning/ Use of language

• Staff Skills Other– Drive and motivation / Problem solving / decision making /

responsiveness /business and academia / work based learning practitioner

– Adapted from Eyres, Hooker and Pringle (2008)

Key Components to support HEIs WFD Strategies

• Understanding ERP from an organization and employee/learner perspective

• Consideration of the key components to support organizations WFD

• Understanding the challenges and benefits of continued growth in ERP

• Take responsibility for informing, shaping and developing employer partnerships

• Marketing ERP and its benefits to grow common understanding and rules of engagement

• Staff engaging in ERP – who are they?• Recognize the unique nature of ERP and its changing

nature• Not lose sight of the learner and their experience

Some Thoughts

Employer Responsive Provision Community of Practice

• Middlesex University with the Higher Education Academy

• Meets 3- 4 times a year

• Wide range of universities and interests

• LinkedIn site

• Next Meeting

– 14th May 2012 10 am – 4 pm

– ‘Professional Doctorates: Making a Difference in Practice’

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