Understanding pedagogical essentials of employability embedded curricula for business school undergraduates: a multi-generational cohort perspective

• Published in: Higher education pedagogies 2020-01, Vol.5 (1), p.360-380
• Main Authors: Yawson, David Eshun, Yamoah, Fred Amofa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Business Administration Education; Career Planning; College Curriculum; Core curriculum; Curriculum Enrichment; Decision Making; Employability; employability embedded curricula; Employment Potential; Foreign Countries; Generational Differences; generational effects; Job Skills; Learning; learning experience; multi-generational student perceptions; Professional Development; Student Satisfaction; Undergraduate Students
• ISSN: 2375-2696; 2375-2696
• DOI: 10.1080/23752696.2020.1846134

The concepts of employability and generational effects are emerging disciplines within the context of business education management research, but their complementary role in curriculum development and enrichment is yet to be explored. The study employs a work-related employability course for a business school undergraduate cohort (N = 267) consisting of various generations to examine the generational effects from the student stakeholder perspective of work-related learning outcomes in employability embedded curricula. This research shows the differences in students' perceptions based on age generations as shown to be marked by the Generations X, Y and Z, which also produces a different inter-generational learning opportunity with distinct characteristics. We established that undergraduate multi-generational cohorts expect contextualised employability-related teaching to accompany designing and embedding work-related employability curricula. We show that an employability embedded curriculum is likely to improve students' employability decisions when different inter-generational learning environments are factored into programme development, delivery, and assessment.