Oliver, B. & Tucker, B. (2013). Editorial. Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, 4(1), 1.                          1 

 

Editorial 

Welcome to Volume 4 of the Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. 

The Journal provides a scholarly forum for the dissemination of research and exemplary 
evidence-based practice in higher education teaching and learning for graduate 
employability.  

Identifying the skills which facilitate graduate transition to professional life continues to be a 
priority in the higher education sector, nationally and internationally. It is now well recognised 
in the discourse surrounding ‘work readiness’ that this goes beyond the specific discipline 
knowledge and skills to encompass the more generic non technical abilities and 
understandings which enable graduates to participate effectively in the workforce. However, 
determining a common understanding of these generic capabilities and how to embed them 
in the curriculum is still the subject of considerable debate. A search of the literature reveals 
the development of a range of frameworks to capture and organise the relevant capabilities.  

In Australia, the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) articulates a taxonomy of the 
knowledge, skills and the application of knowledge and skills expected of graduates for each 
of the qualifications across all educational sectors. Incorporated into the AQF are four broad 
categories of generic learning outcomes which include fundamental skills such as literacy 
and numeracy, people and communication skills, thinking skills and personal skills. The 
Office for Learning and Teaching (previously Australian Learning and Teaching Council) has 
supported a number of projects which have focussed on graduate capabilities across a 
range of discipline contexts.  Many of these have also developed frameworks to provide a 
basis to the thinking, conversations and innovations in curriculum design which are 
necessary to enhance graduate employability.  

More recently, in December 2012, the Department of Education, Employment and 
Workplace Relations commissioned the development of a cross-sectoral employability skills 
framework. The resulting Employability Skills Framework Stage 1 presents three clusters of 

skills as it attempts to provide a common language for describing generic skills, making them 
visible and facilitating the transfer of skills into the workplace.  

Such frameworks can provide not only a basis for the development of assessment strategies 
relevant to generic skills, but can also provide a valuable curriculum development tool using 
a backward design model. Given the current climate of ‘efficiency dividends’ to higher 
education funding coupled with the expectation that institutions will continue to meet the 
AQF standards and other benchmarks, frameworks for generic capabilities may provide a 
valuable reference point as universities respond to the ongoing scrutiny of the quality of their 
graduates. It is therefore timely that our first issue for 2013 invites us to engage with a 
systematic approach for evaluating skills outcomes for graduates.  

On behalf of our Editorial Committee, we encourage you to participate in the scholarship of 
teaching and learning for effective graduate employability. 

 

Professor Beverley Oliver and Ms Beatrice Tucker 

Editor and Deputy Editor