Versatile Musicians: Making Your Music Students Employable
| Date: | 5 Mar 04 |
| Venue: | Birmingham Conservatoire |
| Host institution: | Birmingham Conservatoire |
Introduction
(George Caird Principal, Birmingham Conservatoire)
George Caird introduced the event, beginning by describing the involvement of Birmingham Conservatoire with the Federation of British Conservatoires (now Conservatoires UK) and PALATINE. George argued that more still needed to be done to bring the conservatoires and universities together, to promote initiatives on issues like employability across the whole music education sector.
Ten years ago employability had been a 'sleeping issue'; the notion of approaching employability at an institutional level, with embedded career provision, was a long way off - now there was a corporate feeling that something exciting is happening with students in this area.
Alastair Pearce, formerly Vice Principal at Birmingham Conservatoire, had been involved in developing a number of key ideas in employability for conservatoires, including the concept of an 'overt' and 'hidden' curriculum (skills that students were developing during the course of their studies, but which were not recognized/assessed - see the PIP project website for more details). Subsequently David Saint, Head of Academic Studies, has been working on embedding skills development, in conjunction with the University of Central England Careers service. The workshop aimed to share expertise and insights gained from this work on ways to influence and promote employability in an environment of changing technology and changing audiences for the arts.
Employability Skills Exercise
(Ruth Lawton Head of Careers, University of Central England)
Ruth discussed the development, at the University of Central England, of a framework for embedding employability skills in the curriculum, for use across all faculties of the university. This had been adapted for musicians, in conjunction with Birmingham Conservatoire, and the resource pack produced, Delivering Employability for Musicians, was provided for delegates as the basis of the day's activities and discussions. Delegates would use this pack to consider:
- integrating employability skills into the curriculum;
- tools for mapping and auditing courses/modules;
- examples of work undertaken at Birmingham Conservatoire;
- assessing employability;
- sharing good practice
Delegates initially discussed the 'Skills Self-Audit' from this pack, currently being used as part of a trial of Personal Development Planning (PDP) with first year BMus students at Birmingham Conservatoire, that requires students to perform a self-appraisal and give evidence of their own skills. This was then contrasted with a 'Standard Application Form' used by graduate employers - students are given individual action plans following the audit to help them to consider filling gaps in their portfolio of skills and providing evidence of their skills in a format that employers are looking for (on paper in a brochure or CV, how they conduct themselves in an audition, etc.). The 'soft skills', in particular, can be taken for granted by students, who can underestimate how highly they are valued by employers - that's where PDP can be particularly important in the 'business end of employability' - how students think about themselves and present the skills they have acquired. Delegates also discussed the potential problem of dealing with the negatives raised by skills audits with music students - because musicians are looking for the 'perfect' performance, they feel they can't afford to 'be bad' as they won't be called back to an audition for a second chance - they need resilience and to know what to do if they don't 'make it'.
Auditing courses for employability
Ruth Lawton (Head of Careers, University of Central England), David Saint (Head of Academic Studies, Birmingham Conservatoire) and Chris Marshall (Head of Professional Development, Birmingham Conservatoire)
Working in group sessions, delegates then considered material taken from Delivering Employability for Musicians for mapping and auditing courses and modules for employability. Mapping involves 'ticking boxes' on lists of skills developed in particular courses - it requires a detailed approach and needs to be made explicit to students. Auditing is the process of rating the effectiveness of students' use of these skills, with students being able to justify and articulate the progress they have made. The experiences of staff at Birmingham in mapping and auditing skills on the BMus and Postgraduate Diploma were used as illustrative examples.
Designing programmes to meet skills needs
Ruth Lawton (Head of Careers, University of Central England), David Saint (Head of Academic Studies, Birmingham Conservatoire) and Chris Marshall (Head of Professional Development, Birmingham Conservatoire)
The second group sessions considered how to embed skills in courses and how to assess them. An important element in the discussion was the issue of students' perceptions of the music industry. Often they can be too focused on the idea of 'making it' in the industry, in the process underestimating the broader value of what they're studying.
An important question to ask students could be - 'What's compelling ?' about performing to them, then relating their perceptions to the world of work. Knowledge of the workings of the music industry, networking and contact with professional musicians in orchestras as part of coursework was also discussed.
Plenary
George Caird (Principal, Birmingham Conservatoire), Ruth Lawton (Head of Careers, University of Central England), David Saint (Head of Academic Studies, Birmingham Conservatoire) and Chris Marshall (Head of Professional Development, Birmingham Conservatoire)
The participants from Birmingham Conservatoire were asked about student reaction to employability initiatives. Mature students and students who had transferred from elsewhere were most enthusiastic, others were less so - prior experience seems to be a factor in valuing employability provision.
Other questions focused on assessment - 'How do you assess a CV, a brochure', 'Can you 'fail' careers ?', 'If it's not assessed, how can you tell how well it's being done and would students participate ?' Assessment could be tied in with Work Based Learning, using reflective essays, portfolios, etc. about what students have done and how well they have taken on board reflection and self-awareness as well as the academic and technical skills. There may also be ways of rating 'confidence' in particular skills - examples of this approach are illustrated in Delivering Employability for Musicians.