Matthew Wyman and Sarah Longwell, Keele University

 Find ways to help students to understand what working in politics is like  Assist students in developing the practical skills and personal capabilities that can assist them in political activism or public life more generally  Explore issues that arise out of trying to integrate personal development education into mainstream academic curricula, e.g. effective teaching and assessment of skills

 Level two module on The Practice of Politics, taught to students  In part, traditional career development education  Also ‘the nature of work’ – looks at evidence about issues around personal fulfilment  Political practice element: effective communication, plus people skills – in detail

 Skills analysis and the identification of personal values and priorities  Career decision making  Political leadership  Skills for Public Speaking: dealing with nerves, planning formal speaking, effective delivery techniques, use of technology, non-verbal communication, rhetorical skills  The graduate labour market, politics related opportunities and what working in various kinds of public service work is actually like

 People Skills: developing rapport and trust and skilful listening, building successful teams and organisations, negotiation and persuasiveness  Writing effective CVs and application forms and succeeding in interviews  Assessment centres and psychometric testing  Enhancing employability incorporating skills development, internships, voluntary work and the nature of work, including work culture and ethical employment.

 Career decision making  Ways of enhancing opportunities  Developing key skills  Identifying opportunities  The nature of work (+ case studies etc)  Self-assessment  Action planning  Transition skills Soon to be available at

 Workshop format + visiting speakers /alumni  Approx 1/3 about political communication – group based, training on effective speaking plus opportunity to experience a variety of formats: the speech, formal debate, ‘question time’ etc and get peer feedback in a ‘safe’ context  Approx 1/3 career development education  Approx 1/3 trying to find ways to help develop people skills

 Analysis of individual political leader  Analysis of political speech or campaign video  Personal values statement*  Summary of personal priorities*  Self-reflection on public speaking  Self-audit of skills and action plan  Prospects Planner printout and comments*  Analysis of potential career  CV * Indicates component is required but not mark bearing

 Mean marks 2006/7 (2007/8): ◦ Leadership analysis 63% (63%) ◦ Reflective / career development-related work 56% (49%)  Main strengths: quality of research, level of analysis and organisation of ideas for leadership study  Main weaknesses: undeveloped abilities to reflect, to plan, to be personal, or to write for non-academic audiences  Reflects imbalance in our whole approach

◦ ‘The practical knowledge offered by this course is invaluable’ ◦ ‘The topics discussed and covered are relevant for the stage we are at in our lives...’ ◦ ‘...by far the most practical and useful course I take. The real life aspect is something generally ignored by other modules’ o ‘It has given the skills that a degree should give... I feel better equipped and engaged than any other course’ o ‘Because I was forced to evaluate myself and my potential career I now know what I would like to pursue as a career’

 ‘Enabled me to get a full understanding of what it would mean to work in the political field and how to get involved.’  ‘It was a fantastic opportunity to participate on this module... It has certainly helped me to plan for the future and combining the politics with careers was invaluable. I hope many more students are given the chance to experience such a well taught module, the most productive in my two years’

 We’ve demonstrated a need  We’ve made modest progress towards filling this gap  Students love it  But to really work such an approach would need to be fully integrated in a whole curriculum, and assessment strategy, not just a module