Employer Engagement in FE: A research project from Runshaw College

Above: Students in Studio 22, where they work on real-life design projects for local businesses and charities

Over the last decade, the concept of employer engagement in further education has become one of the top global priorities in education. This evolution reflects a broader recognition of its potential to address educational, social, economic, and technological challenges.

A Shift Towards Collaboration

Governments worldwide have been advocating for a closer relationship between employers and the educational sector, a stance reinforced in this country by the recent FE White Paper. This document advocates for employers to play a pivotal role in shaping Post-16 skills education in colleges, emphasising the creation of Local Skills Improvement Plans to direct curriculum choices. Such initiatives aim not just to close skills gaps but to fuel economic growth by enhancing productivity.

Yet, as we navigate this partnership terrain, the balance becomes crucial. The goal? To forge a mutually beneficial alliance rather than a one-sided dynamic, which requires meticulous planning and effort behind the scenes.

A Personal Journey at Runshaw College

During the 2022/23 academic year, I embarked on Action Research within Runshaw College's Graphic Design curriculum. My personal interest in pursuing this stemmed from previous research that revealed that employers faced large skills shortages and skills gaps in today’s workforce. Driven by a passion to address this, this project was a mission to enhance our curriculum and directly impact our learners and, by extension, the wider economy.

Addressing the Skill Gap Challenge

In the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, a recurring theme has emerged from the literature: the UK faces a significant skills gap that threatens to restrain economic recovery post-Covid-19 and in the aftermath of Brexit. By aligning our educational curricula with the market's skills demands, we can prevent these challenges from casting a long shadow over our future.

According to the Open University’s Business Barometer, 60% of employers find it difficult to recruit workers with the necessary skills, leading to increased spending on recruitment, higher salaries, and more in-house training to attract and develop the talent they need.

The literature sends a clear signal: cultivating a talent pipeline is essential, and demands a partnership of equals between the realms of employment and education.

Action Research

I carried out action research at Runshaw College between December and June with a key focus of answering several research questions while also improving the quality of the Graphic Design curriculum through various forms of employer engagement. Runshaw College has an action research initiative that is open to all staff. (Action research is commonly conducted by, or in cooperation with, teachers to gain a better understanding of their educational environment and improve the effectiveness of their teaching.)

Research Questions That Guided Our Journey

• How can employee volunteers best support colleges?
• What impact do existing practices have on learner motivation and progression?
• What defines successful employer engagement in colleges?
• Which factors enhance partnerships between employers and teachers?
• How can we build and maintain effective relationships?
• Where should future research focus?

Our journey led to several impactful initiatives:

• Developing a framework of questions to guide stakeholders when designing, delivering and evaluating employer engagement in the curriculum.
• Identifying 11 principles of effective engagement.
• Conducting comprehensive data collection and interviews of employers, practitioners and stakeholders.
• Establishing a student-led design agency tackling real-life projects for employers and the local community.
• Amendments to curriculum design based on employer insights, leading to the creation of a new project: “Think Outside The Box”. The project was inspired by conversations with employers highlighting creative and analytical thinking abilities as a particular skills gap. Therefore, I introduced a short 6-week design project where students could exercise their ability to ‘think sideways’, such as exploring innovative and exciting ways to advertise a product. This led to the creation of unique portfolio work that could help students to stand out during the recruitment process.
• Creating new opportunities for engagement, including guest speakers and trips and visits.
• Integrating employer feedback into formative assessments.
• Utilising an immersive hub to gamify and enhance pitching – a key employability skill.
• Formulating a successful employer engagement model and a guide for employer engagement.
• Launching an awareness campaign for the employer engagement initiative.

These efforts emphasised the value of practice-driven curriculums and active employer participation in curriculum development. It yielded results of increased learner motivation and confidence, improved understanding of future careers, and improved employability skills. 

Forward-Looking Recommendations

My recommendations to the sector are grounded on what is achievable. I believe it is key that colleges focus on building on what they already have and make some progress in a small number of areas:

• The employer relationships system and processes must be strong, stable and consistent. For example, databases of contacts accessible to Course Leaders allow for easy creation of partnerships and organisation of employer-related events.
• Vocational pathways must be diverse and of high quality through practice-driven curriculums enriched by employer engagement. It is important that we still exercise academic judgement, as there is still some mismatch between what employers want and what we can deliver (pedological constraints).  
• Build capacity at employer-level and college-level. Can we stimulate local employers to offer more work experience and opportunities for learners? At the same time, can we as staff increase capacity and do more?  
• Review how teachers utilise the staff at your college working on employer engagement – such as the Employer Relationships Team if you have one -- increase promotion of this resource. 
• Promote lifelong learning. We can bridge skills gaps and retrain the existing workforce, as well as prepare our future workforce.
• Continue to provide quality information, advice and guidance to help shape learner demand and align them with the current and future requirements of the labour market. 

The journey at Runshaw College serves as a blueprint for the transformative power of employer engagement in education. As we continue to refine and expand these initiatives, the potential for lasting impact on our learners and the broader economy is immense.

To learn more about our journey and the detailed findings, I invite you to explore the full report here.

Jen is course leader and advanced practitioner for graphic design at Runshaw.