Oxford Brookes University

Keywords: School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, Oxford Brookes University, hospitality management, IT development, assessment, teaching program, higher education, industry, employment, transferable skills, vocational qualifications, vocational training, VET.

Article style and Source: Peer Reviewed. Original ultiBASE publication.

Contents

• Abstract
• Introduction
• A Theoretical Perspective
• The Higher Education Context
• Method
• Results: How the Skills Were Delivered
  • Number of Skills Delivered
  • Methods of Skill Delivery
  • The Number of Skills Delivered per Module
• Discussion
• References

Abstract

Statistical indicators were used to determine whether the skills facilitated by a study programme were broad enough to meet the industry’s needs for labour, skilled in the processes hospitality management. The paper exemplifies the methodology and provides information on the breadth of provision of the skills across the curriculum in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford. The value of the methodology lies in the issues which it highlighted for further analysis. For example, although skills were being taught and practised, insufficient attention was being paid to their assessment. Though the analysis emphasised that the measures were merely indicating a possible problem, for, although, in one instance, the number of skills facilitated for IT development appeared to be low, further probing revealed that, as they were focused on industry applications, they were, in fact, meeting industry’s needs.

Introduction

Universities are increasingly being required to describe learning outcomes of degree programmes in terms of the skills which the students acquire. A pedagogical question we sought to answer is whether the range of skills being facilitated in our teaching programmes is broad enough to meet the needs of industry. This gives rise to the methodological problem of how to determine their breath of coverage across the curriculum. In our study, we set out to determine whether or not statistical indicators could be used to measure, albeit at a surface level, what transferable skills were being delivered to the students. This case study carried out in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford. Before describing the study itself, however, we will provide an insight into the theories on which the skills movement is based and the context in which the research was carried out. top

A Theoretical Perspective

Skill refers to actions (intellectual or physical) which develop with experience and practice, performed in a competent way to achieve a goal. The term transferable skills which has currency across employment and education settings is also referred to as core skills, key skills, personal transferable skills, common learning outcomes, general skills, common skills and generic skills (Blagg et al, undated). The skills-movement bases its practice on identifying generic skills for particular jobs (tasks) and teaching them to learners to enhance their flexibility, adaptability and autonomy on the job. It has been postulated that skilled actions may have four component activities - perceptions, planning, recall of prerequisite knowledge and finally the execution, or performance, of the action - which could have an influence on how they are taught (Romiszowski, 1988).

Longworth and Davies (1995), in their book on lifelong learning, write about the change in work regimes, with individuals not only having ‘several jobs in a lifetime, but also having several careers’. The implication is that individuals need to be continuously updating and upgrading their skills throughout their working life. The scenario they sketch is that of large enterprises employing ‘highly educated, highly paid productive core staff to run the business and (out-sourcing) all their other requirements to specialist providers. The staff of the large companies and those supplying specialist services will employ people who are "adaptable, flexible and versatile"’. The skills which Longworth and Davies identify for a lifelong age are as follows: learning to learn, putting new knowledge into practice, questioning and reasoning, managing oneself and others, managing information, communication skills, teamwork, problem-solving skills, adaptability and flexibility, understanding the responsibility of updating and upgrading one’s own competence.

Woollard’s (1995) thesis is in essence a development of these ideas in a university context. He views the concentration of transferable skills by universities as a response to employers’ perceptions that ‘autonomous higher education institutions were not delivering what they wanted’ by way of trained skilled manpower. He mentions how the concept came into prominence in the mid 1980s with encouragement for higher education institutions (HEIs) to incorporate skills into their curricula, and has been given added impetus by the skills movement of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) and the General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs), the Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) and the Confederation of British Industries (CBI).

In HE, there have been attempts to conceptualise transferable skills of which the Sheffield University Model (Allen, 1993) has been the most pervasive. The model offers a developmental approach to skill acquisition. Skills are placed along a gradient from the simple to complex activities from the centre towards the periphery of the model which is represented diagrammatically below. The model emphasises the importance of the context, thereby inviting the selection of skills appropriate to the particular academic discipline, vocational or professional course programme. The functions and applications of each skill need to be specified according to the context in which they are to be used. The model comprises skills which are definable and demonstrable, each skill being identified according to the context in which it is to be used.

Various organisations and individuals have also engaged the issue of transferable skills at higher education level. The following is a selection of some of their ideas on the use of the concept in HE:

• The Association of Graduate Recruiters (1995) in their ‘Skills for Graduates in the 21st Century’ propose the fostering of self reliance skills, career-management skills and effective learning skills (self-awareness, self-promotion, exploring and creating opportunities.
• Ball and Butcher (1993) in their career planning competencies and skills, emphasised the skills of assessing oneself, researching ideas and opportunities, making decisions, taking action.
• The Calman Report (1996) lists core competencies of senior house medical house officers under the headings Clinical (10 competencies), management (7 competencies), supervisory (4 competencies), and personal and professional development (7 competencies). The purpose of senior house officers is seen to be to ‘learn to be a safe, medical practitioner developing clinical acumen, problem solving and independent decision making necessary for sound professional judgement and timely action. The report recommends that the effective management of the training experience - which it considers as essential - should be achieved by introducing programmes which enable training to be better structured and the progress of doctors to be supervised and monitored’. top

The Higher Education Context

The School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Oxford Brookes University offers a B Sc. (hons) degree programme in hotel and restaurant management. The learning outcomes of the course are encompassed in the profile statement which indicates the skills, knowledge and understanding which students should have acquired on completion of the course; these are: marketing the business, planning and managing service operations, using information systems for decision making, financial management for decision making, managing people, undertaking independent research in a specific area, and graduates. They will also have developed skills in: self management, diversity management, learning and scholarship, communication, teamwork, problem solving, and information technology.

As well as the transferable skills, the course has been designed to provide a challenging experience which will prepare students for a management career in the hospitality industry. Industry representatives, external academics and internal staff and students’ views were taken into account in the design of the course. The ‘profile statement’ offers students different avenues of study to pursue; they can choose to develop their personal profile statement by choosing modules which provide them with more skills in for example, human resource management, marketing, or finance.

Oxford Brookes University realised that ‘it is not sufficient to append transferable skills onto conventional academic curricula; it was necessary to bring elements of the world of work into the classroom, to confront students with situations and problems which resemble those they (would) eventually have to tackle’ (Gibbs, et al, 1994: p.2). These skills are not taught separately; they are integrated into the modules. The University has compiled a list of transferable skills whose acquisition academic members of staff are required to facilitate in learning programmes. The general skills which are required to be delivered are the following: self-management, learning skills, communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and information technology. These are further subdivided into specific skills, which are listed in (Table 3, which is discussed later. Skills maps are produced which specify which particular skills are taught, practised and assessed in each module of learning. The philosophy is that students do not become proficient in the use of skills simply by being told about them, discussing or thinking about them, they have to be taught them and given opportunities to practise them, and moreover, to make students take their acquisition seriously, the skills have to be assessed (Gibbs et al, 1994). As part of the University’s ‘package’, graduating students are provided with a graduate profile specifying the skills developed through the discipline. Although the University does not validate or certify that students have developed these skills, it stresses that academics on all courses should provide support to students to enable them to talk about and give evidence to employers of the skills they possess. top

Method

The first step taken was to list all the modules in the Module Descriptions (1997) and all the transferable skills that the teaching staff stated that they were delivering to students. Three further dimensions were explored. First, a comparison was made between the nature of the skills presented at both levels of study. (The modules in the course were at two levels - basic level principally for students in their first year of study, and advanced level for students in their subsequent years of study. The modules at both levels dealt with management issues in the catering industry). Second, a comparison was made between the different ways in which the skills could be facilitated through teaching, practise or assessment, and ideally, where possible over the course, in all three ways. The indicators were developed by counting the number of times each method of delivery was mentioned and computing a ratio of the number in relation to the total number of skills presented. Third, and most significantly, we had to find a set of norms against which the School’s skills could be evaluated. We decided to plot the skills against an ideal - the University’s list of skills by its three methods of facilitation - to determine to what extent the School’s skills profile measured up. This meant tallying the number of skill interventions and then disaggregating the data to determine strengths and weaknesses in the coverage of the skills across all the modules offered. By comparing the totals for the different methods of delivery against the 1997 baseline, norms were developed to enable the School to examine its performance over time and against other schools, both within the University and with schools offering similar courses in other universities.

The purpose of the mapping exercise was to determine whether the coverage of the skills offered by the School was broad enough to meet the needs of the industry by developing indicators of

• the skills being delivered in each module and in the course of study overall,
• the skills being delivered in the basic and in the advanced level courses, and
• the skills being delivered by module
• the means of delivery used to facilitate the acquisition of the skills
• the number of methods used to deliver the skills

Results: How the Skills were Delivered

The tables which inform the discussion - showing how the data were analysed - have been placed at the end of the report (have been inserted as links to a new window) and the calculations of the indicators have been placed in boxes to highlight the method and to facilitate the reading of the report. The methodological components are provided in some detail to illustrate how the data could be analysed and presented by those wanting to undertake a similar exercise.

The exercise entailed plotting the School’s skills profile (506 skill interventions) against the University norm.

The results of the study are presented under the following headings: number of skills delivered; method of skill delivery; number of skills delivered per module. top

a.) Number of Skills Delivered

The analysis revealed that 312 skills were delivered across the 22 modules, 51 were delivered in the four basic level modules and 261 across the 18 advanced level modules (Table 1). To gain a purchase on the significance of this indicator of the success of skill delivery, we looked at the total possible number of skills which could have been delivered and computed the ratio of actual number delivered in relation to the total possible.

That 62 percent of the total possible number of skills were delivered testifies to a relatively high level of delivery of skills, though proportionately there were more skills delivered in the advanced level than in basic level modules (Table 2).

A further dimension used to assess the success of skill delivery was to determine which skills received the highest and lowest staff input. The following skills were delivered most and least respectively across all modules (Table 3): for all modules (out of a total of 312 skills delivered), there were 68 instances of delivery (22 percent) of communication skills, and 66 instances of learning skills delivery (21 percent), whereas by comparison, there were only 23 instances of delivery of information technology skills (7 percent). This ratio was disaggregated by basic and advanced level modules. Out of a total of 51 skills delivered on basic level modules, there were15 instances of delivery (29 percent) of communication skills, and12 instances of delivery (24 percent) of learning skills, whereas by comparison, there was only one instance of delivery (2 percent) of information technology skills. For advanced level modules - out of a total of 261 skills delivered – there were 53 instances of delivery (20 percent) of communication skills, and 54 instances of delivery (21 percent) of learning skills, whereas by comparison, there were only 22 instances of delivery (8 percent) of information technology skills.

These figures seem to be showing that the academic staff were placing a great deal of emphasis on skills which had major relevance to students’ learning (the issue of low IT skills deliver will be discussed later). This trend was especially strong in the basic level courses where students were having their first encounters with university study. Significant though, is that the staff’s concentration on learning skills was maintained for advanced level modules when one would expect a stronger emphasis on the delivery of more work-related skills. The figures also appear to show a relatively low level of IT skill delivery, especially in the first year; this could mean that students may not have been provided with the skills needed for management responsibilities in the industry, considering that IT has become a feature of many jobs across all industries. (Table 3) shows that most of the delivery of IT skills was concentrated on the use of personal computers for word processing and relatively little on other IT skills; however, the validity of this indicator will be discussed later: top

b.) Methods of Skill Delivery

Staff used three methods to deliver the skills: teaching, practising and assessing. It was found that there were 607 skill interventions (40 percent - (Table 4) by staff to assist the students to acquire the 23 skills.

The method used most for delivering the skills was by allowing the students to practise them (62 percent - (Table 4). This method was used more for advanced level students (63 percent) than for basic level students (55 percent); whereas assessment as a method was less frequently used (38 percent) - 39 percent for advanced level students and 36 for basic level students - and teaching was the least used (20 percent) - 17 percent for advanced level students and 34 percent for basic level students.

However, the picture for the delivery of skills is more complex than that depicted above as in some cases more than one method was used to deliver them. The following were the methods by which the learning of transferable skills were facilitated: taught, practised and assessed, taught and practised, taught and assessed, practised and assessed, taught, practised, assessed. Staff used three methods of delivery 29 percent of the time, two methods of delivery 37 percent of the time, even one method of delivery 34 percent of the time (Table 5).

The delivery pattern was different for basic and advanced level modules: the analysis for basic level modules in (Table 5) shows that all three methods of delivery were used 23 times; two levels of delivery were used 19 times; and one level of delivery used 9 times. The skills that received the greatest staff input were concerned with communication, learning skills and self management, and the lowest was information technology. Whereas for advanced level modules three methods of delivery were used 95 times; two methods of delivery 95 times and one method of delivery 68 times (Table 5). The skills that received the greatest staff input were learning skills and communication and the least was information technology This view of the importance of multi-methods of assessing is supported by research undertaken in The Netherlands quoted by Wolf and Silver (1995) whose research also confirm this.

The relatively high use of multiple methods of skill delivery indicates how staff were trying to get the students to acquire the skills. Staff were using the wide range of methods to deliver skills in basic level modules, as they probably considered that a concerted approach was needed for students new to university study and to the course. However, it does illustrate too that in the advanced level modules staff were using mainly one teaching method to deliver skill, getting students to practise the skill as shown in (Table 3) and discussed above. top

c.) The number of skills delivered per module

It was found that 16 of the modules had between 10 and 17 skills interventions (one standard deviation from the mean (14.18; standard deviation = 3.37) whereas the other 6 modules had between 7 and 21 skill interventions (within two standard deviations from the mean). It was noted, however, that there was no delivery of the following skills in the modules mentioned though this does not necessarily signify a problem as the teaching of the module may not have leant itself to those interventions:

• information technology in three basic level modules and in three advanced level modules;
• team work in three advanced level modules;
• problem solving in two advanced level modules;
• and self management in one advanced level module.

The lowest delivery of skills per module was for module concerned with computing-based yield management skills which students need to practice and develop to enhance their personal IT skills. Although the statistical indicators show that the facilitation of these skills appears to be relatively low, staff considered the their coverage to be more than adequate to meet students’ needs for work in the industry. There were 15 staff interactions altogether to deliver the skills, three were concerned with teaching, seven with practising, and five with assessing the skills. (The full table for all 22 modules has not been reproduced in this article to save on space; however; to illustrate the method used (Table 6) which gives the analysis for the four basic level modules is provided.)

On the other hand, three modules provided for a great number of transferable skills. The first module deals with marketing principles and practice in which students investigate application of marketing in a live case study which involves them active and participative work. There were 36 staff interactions to deliver the skills, five were concerned with teaching, 19 with practising, and 12 with assessing the skills. The next module is concerned with the dissertation and as such incorporates research methodology and individual work with tutors. There were 41 staff interactions with students, 12 were concerned with teaching, 15 with practising and 14 with assessing the skills. In the last module, there is a heavy emphasis on marketing with an emphasis on groupwork to enable students to compile a strategic marketing plan. There were 42 staff interactions with students, 10 were concerned with teaching, 19 with practising and 13 with assessing the skills. These cameo sketches serve to illustrate that most of the staff facilitation was to get students to practise the skills, less was concerned with teaching the skills and less still with assessing whether or not the students had acquired the skills. top

Discussion

The statistical analysis of the skills delivered in the course of study has been shown to be most useful in unearthing discrepancies in provision, though the School has pointed out that the indicators do not necessarily tell the complete story. For example, although the figures revealed that a low level of IT skills was being facilitated, further delving into the issue revealed that the students do learn Fidelio and Yield Management spreadsheets for accounting purposes. These programmes have major application in the industry and are deemed to be sufficient to meet the students’ IT needs. This discrepancy between indicator and the actual practice does not invalidate the use of statistical indicators as a means of auditing the provision, provided that one acknowledges that these measures are merely indicating a possible problem which merits further investigation, and that they should not be taken as the final arbiter on the success or failure of the delivery of skills.

Statistical indicators are most useful when the figures are disaggregated by a number of variables to allow trends to be detected as in this way they pinpoint the locus of the issue which requires further consideration. Four examples will be provided to illustrate this point. First, the analysis revealed that the School was delivering a relatively broad spectrum of skills across the modules. Second, not all the transferable skills were being assessed by the staff; consequently, there was no means of knowing whether or not the students had acquired them. Moreover, many of the students are unlikely to have spent much time in acquiring the skills, based on the truism that students invariably study only those aspects of the curriculum that are actually assessed. Third, the staff on some modules delivered more skills than on others. The reasons for the discrepancies in numbers is not readily apparent, though some modules leant themselves more to skill delivery than others. It is noteworthy though that no teacher delivered fewer than seven skills per module. Fourth, a great emphasis was given to skills which have high academic applicability which is probably a realistic assessment by the staff of the needs of the students.

The results of the analysis point to conscientiousness on the part of the teaching staff in delivering transferable skills with great numbers of interactions with students across all modules. They also provide scope for much discussion on how best to deliver transferable skills across a course of study so that they are addressed evenly and all receive equal attention to enable the students to derive maximum benefit from their delivery. The exercise showed in particular the advantages of analysing curriculum interventions across a course of study rather than by individual modules as the audience gains an insight into how the School is fulfilling its responsibility with regard to delivery. The analysis showed that overall the teaching programme provided for breath of skills provision. However, more attention needs to be given to teaching and assessing the skills across the board to ensure that they are acquired by the students.

The School has now used this research to evaluate the current provision of skills to students on its hotel and restaurant management programme. The research will also form the basis for discussion through a further wider evaluation of skills provision within the different modules of the curriculum. top

References

Allen, G. M., (1993) A Conceptual Model of transferable Skills, (Sheffield The University of Sheffield and Employment Department).

The Association of Graduate Recruiters, (1995) Skills for Graduates in the 1st Century (Publication details not specified)

Ball, C. and Butcher, V., (1993) ‘EHE: Developing Students’ Career Planning Skills: The impact of the Enterprise in Higher Education Initiative, (Leeds, department for Education and Employment).

The Calman Report on Core Competencies for Senior House Officers in the Medical Profession, (Publication details not specified).

Gibbs, G., Rust, C., Jenkins, A. and Jaques, D., (1994) Developing Students’ Transferable Skills, (Headington, Oxford, The Oxford Centre for Staff Development,).

Blagg, N,, Ballinger, M. and Lewis, R., (undated) Development of Transferable Skills in Learners, (Nigel Blagg Associates and Employment Department).

Jenkins, A., (Ed) Course-Based Profiling, (Case Studies from Oxford Brookes University, No publication details).

Jenkins, A. and Ward, A., (1995) Developing Skill-based Curricula through the Disciplines: Case Studies of Good Practice in Geography, Paper 89, (Birmingham Staff Education and Development Association).

Longworth, N. and Davies W.K., (1995) Lifelong Learning, (London, Kogan Page).

Romiszowski, A. J., (1988) Designing Instructional Systems, (London, Kogan Page).

Undergraduate Programme Directors, School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, (1997) Module Descriptors, (Headington, Oxford, Oxford Brookes University,

Walker, L., (1994) ‘Guidance for Writing Learning Outcomes’, Internal Report, (Headington, Oxford, Oxford Brookes University).

Wolf A and Silver R (1995) ‘Measuring "broad skills": the prediction of skill retention and transfer over time, Department of Education and Employment, research Series No. 61, Sheffield.

Woolf H and Gilbert J (1996) ‘Personal transferable skills and an undergraduate modular curriculum’, (London HEQC Modular Higher Education in the UK in Focus).

Woollard A 1995) ‘Core skills and the idea of the graduate’ in Higher Education Quarterly Vol. 49 (4) pp. 316-32.

About the Authors:

Dr. Peter deVries and Nina Downie
Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development
and the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management
Oxford Brookes University, Headington
Oxford, OX3 OBP

Biographical Details

Dr Peter deVries is a researcher at the Oxford Centre for Staff Learning and Development at Oxford Brookes University after having previously worked at the Economic and Social Research Council in Swindon and the Open University. He has published in the field of higher education management and collaborative provision, the latest publication being 41 Collaborative Audits and a Code published by the Council of Validating Universities.

Nina Downie is Undergraduate Programme Director in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Oxford Brookes University. A major part of her work is concerned with maintaining academic standards and quality on the Programme.