Indexes of employability assets: a comprehensive tool for analyzing students' attitudes in Indigenous contexts
Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning
ISSN: 2042-3896
Article publication date: 27 November 2020
Issue publication date: 10 August 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze the indexes of employability assets that affect students' employability in Indigenous contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The study restructures the indicators developed from the survey the authors did for the Vital Outcome Indicators for Community Engagement (VOICE) research project into six employability indexes. The six indexes are reading and comprehension, numeracy, technological mastery, contribution to organizational performance, job searching skills and cultural awareness. The study has applied mixed research method, which is the combination of survey and secondary data analyses.
Findings
All six indexes have impacts on students' employability in various degrees with a high level of internal consistency among the indicators. The regression analysis reveals that the technological mastery, reading and comprehension and numeracy indexes significantly influence students' contribution to the organizational performance. The results also show that cultural awareness has impacts on employability but students do not connect it to the required employability skills. Such disconnection of cultural awareness with employability skills justifies the necessity to integrate Indigenous cultural contents into programs and curriculums in today's post-secondary education, particularly in the University College of the North (UCN), improving students' cultural knowledge, which, in return, enhances their employability in Indigenous contexts. The result is also applicable globally to countries which have large populations of Indigenous people such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Mexico and other regions where workplaces are set in Indigenous contexts.
Research limitations/implications
The research survey was only conducted within students of UCN Thompson campus.
Practical implications
The results of this paper can be used as a guideline to adjust teaching/learning strategies with a focus on integrating Indigenous cultural components into UCN courses and programs, including other institutions with similar attributes to enhance Indigenous students' employability. UCN tri-council, faculty, community leaders, researchers, government and NGOs can also use the outcome of this paper to articulate polices that enhance students' employability. The outcome and strategic implication of the study can also be applicable to any institutions in a global Indigenous context.
Originality/value
The authors of the paper provide empirical evidence from the indexes of the employability assets including their indicators affecting students' employability. It is attested that cultural awareness index have impacts on students' employability in Indigenous context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
First of all, the authors would like to give our thanks to Dr. Karen Rempel, Director of CARES, Faculty of Education, Brandon University, who was the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant holder for Vital Outcome Indicators for Community Engagement (VOICE) research project, to offer us the opportunity to collect data for Student Workforce in Thompson. With this opportunity, the authors could conduct a survey on Workforce in Thompson from UCN students. The authors also appreciate Dr. Kim Lemky, Research Associate from the Centre for Aboriginal and Rural Education Studies, who helped with the questionnaire and guidance for the data collection. The authors remain ever grateful for the support from Office of Research & Innovation and Faculty of Arts, Business and Science with their administrative help and grant management for this research program. The authors also owe a lot to our research assistant Peter Harris, who helped to recruit volunteer participants of the survey and collect all the surveys. Without his contributions, the authors would not have so many volunteer participants for this survey. Thanks for all your help. Our research remains incomplete without your help.
Citation
Hossain, A., Briggs, H. and Kong, Y. (2021), "Indexes of employability assets: a comprehensive tool for analyzing students' attitudes in Indigenous contexts", Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 773-797. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-05-2020-0091
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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