Section1
Introduction
Introduction
For a brief description of my context and job role see footnote (a)
'Graduateness', 'value added' and their meanings in my context
I will briefly define graduateness in general and examine the concept of 'value added' in an education context. A consideration of their meanings to me in my context will also be interwoven through this section.
'Graduateness' seems to have been coined to attempt to define a set level of general attributes and skills to be expected of all graduates regardless of their field of study.
".. the generic qualities that might be expected of any graduate." (Ross 1996)(1)
A multiplicity of lists of skills attributed to 'graduateness' have developed over the last few years. However the attempt to define what it was that marked out those who had studied to a higher level is not a recent phenomena.
Newman (1854)(2) thought the graduate was a paragon, a man who could analyse and see the way clearly to the heart of any subject.
Newman and those that followed, including the originators of the term graduateness, presuppose the inferiority of the thinking skills of those external to academe. I am unconvinced of the truth of this proposition. If graduateness does exist as a level of thought there must be a point in the process when this change in the level of analysis occurs. A moment of transition which surely cannot happen at the graduation ceremony but must take place at some point during the process. Therefore some people may attain the level but for some reason fail to attain the qualification.(b) It seems just as likely that others may attain this level of analytical thought without ever having passed through the academic system. It seems even more likely to me that graduateness, if it has any existence at all, is a language, a way of talking about thought rather than a superior level of thinking.(c)
We live in a time of paper qualifications and life-long learning. The analytical skills I may have once learned cannot be assumed to be static. I had proved that I could once operate at graduate level but not that I still did or even could.
I reflected on the meanings that the concepts of undergraduate and graduate held for me and decided that :
graduateness for most is the transition from
to
'Graduateness' seems to have been coined to attempt to define a set level of general attributes and skills to be expected of all graduates regardless of their field of study.
".. the generic qualities that might be expected of any graduate." (Ross 1996)(1)
A multiplicity of lists of skills attributed to 'graduateness' have developed over the last few years. However the attempt to define what it was that marked out those who had studied to a higher level is not a recent phenomena.
Newman (1854)(2) thought the graduate was a paragon, a man who could analyse and see the way clearly to the heart of any subject.
Newman and those that followed, including the originators of the term graduateness, presuppose the inferiority of the thinking skills of those external to academe. I am unconvinced of the truth of this proposition. If graduateness does exist as a level of thought there must be a point in the process when this change in the level of analysis occurs. A moment of transition which surely cannot happen at the graduation ceremony but must take place at some point during the process. Therefore some people may attain the level but for some reason fail to attain the qualification.(b) It seems just as likely that others may attain this level of analytical thought without ever having passed through the academic system. It seems even more likely to me that graduateness, if it has any existence at all, is a language, a way of talking about thought rather than a superior level of thinking.(c)
We live in a time of paper qualifications and life-long learning. The analytical skills I may have once learned cannot be assumed to be static. I had proved that I could once operate at graduate level but not that I still did or even could.
I reflected on the meanings that the concepts of undergraduate and graduate held for me and decided that :
graduateness for most is the transition from
to
?
The wonderful world of work of course! Becoming a graduate is all about finally being gainfully employed and being able to repay your debt to society or at the very least your parents and the bank!
(from my on-line learning journal)
The wonderful world of work of course! Becoming a graduate is all about finally being gainfully employed and being able to repay your debt to society or at the very least your parents and the bank!
(from my on-line learning journal)
In my context this was not what I had expected from becoming a graduate. I was already employed and at the start of the degree quite settled in a job I largely enjoyed. As the degree progressed both my job and my expectations changed. I began to define what I hoped for in terms of my personal development. In order to achieve these changes and reach my goals I would need to change the way I was perceived by current and potential employers and, perhaps as importantly, by myself.
Central to this is my mission statement, identified at the end of year 1 which remains the basis of my future plans:
Central to this is my mission statement, identified at the end of year 1 which remains the basis of my future plans:
I want to be able to be financially independent doing a job which allows me to use my creativity and have some control over my time. I want to be able to provide a service which encourages and enables people to express their own creativity. I want to move towards spending more of my time on creative activities. I want to use my display skills. I want to have the opportunity to work on the skills that I am improving at - in particular digital tools and computing. These skills are all transferable and may mean that I can move into environments other than schools.
(Personal Mission Statement - Hartley 2004)
(Personal Mission Statement - Hartley 2004)
This leads me to a consideration of the concept 'value-added' in my context.
Spours and Hodgson (1996) define value added in an educational context in this way:
"Using the same input/output notion as in economics, value-added has been used to describe the difference between the state of knowledge or qualifications of a student on course entry and her/his state on exit. By taking the starting point of the learner into account, it is possible to consider the extent to which both a course and an institution have been responsible for any progress made. " (4)
I considered myself against these criteria in a posting to my Learning Set (appendix LS1) and concluded that although I had started from a high level finally attaining certificated proof of my skills should impact on my earning power and value to both current and potential employers, including myself.
"In the language of 'value added' I will have made a leap to being a graduate. It is not unreasonable to assume this should provide me with improved employment prospects ........." (from a posting to the learning set)
Forward to Section2
(a)
I am in my late 40's and work full time as a TA in year 3 in a Primary School. My duties also include being a research assistant to a Local Network Learning Community working on action enquiry projects. My current focus is facilitating staff well being. My main areas of research during the degree have been classroom displays, behaviour management and the use of blogs, wikis and social software.
(b)
I have a slightly strange perspective on all of this. 20 odd years ago I walked away 6 weeks from the end of a B.Ed. I'd taken my academic finals and had only final teaching practice to do
(c)
This idea is not original, emerged in reflective conversation and needs to be credited to my peer-review partner Andy Roberts.
(1) Ross,G.M. (1996) Graduateness Report to the University of York Teaching Committee, March 1996.
Available. URL http://www.philosophy.leeds.ac.uk/GMR/articles/grad2.html last accessed on 20/5/ 2006
(2)Newman JH, Essays, English and American, with introductions notes and illustrations. New York, P. F. Collier & son [c1910] Harvard classics ; no.XXVIII.
Source:Halsall P, Internet History Source Book Available URL http://www.higher-ed.org/resources/newman-university.htm Last accesses 21/5/06
(3) Spours and Hodgson (1996, p. 5) cited in Saunders, L. (1999) A Brief History of Educational ‘Value Added’: How Did We Get To Where We Are? School Effectiveness and School Improvement 1999, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 233–256
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