Embedding employability narratives: collaborating with Liverpool’s cultural community to enhance Level 4 study

Abstract

Employability and thinking about future careers can be daunting for some students, particularly when they join us at Level 4. In our module, Introduction to Media and Cultural Industries, we aim to embed narratives of employment from the beginning of our degree programme through creative collaboration with a range of organisations operating across the cultural sectors of Liverpool. Through this module we explicitly embed a diverse range of cultural forms, practices, and groups through the guest organisations we work with. For example, we have implemented marketing workshops with the fine-dining restaurant Panoramic 34, presentations from Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, Homotopia Festival and Culture Liverpool, and engaged with the Comedy Trust to contribute to their upcoming ‘Doddy Day’. In this paper, we will outline the development of this module and how responding to the student voice has offered valuable space to adapt our approach and offer. We will discuss some of the partnerships developing between us, our students, and the wider creative community and consider how embedding employability narratives at Level 4 benefits our students as they move through their LJMU journey.