Getting more from getting out:

maximising the employability-enhancing

effect of fieldwork
Julie Furnell, Lesley Morrell & Graham Scott
Acknowledgements: This research study is part of the HEA Doctoral Programme

Bio-Science Education Research Group(http://tinyurl.com/scottgroup); j.furnell@hull.ac.uk
This study will explore:
The barriers experienced by students in undertaking the fieldwork of their choice.
The factors that influence students choice of field trip.
What skills students learn on field trips.
How staff design field trips.
To what extent can staff achieve equitability in learning for different students.
In the current economic climate it is critically important that students graduate with transferrable skills.
Fieldwork is an excellent vehicle for the delivery of discipline specific and employability enhancing skills
and is a key part of the undergraduate curriculum in the biological and environmental sciences across the
HE sector.
However, fieldwork is currently declining in many universities due to cost, increase in student numbers
etc. Also factors such as prior experience of fieldwork, gender, age and disability may affect how students
perceive fieldwork. Negative experiences of fieldwork can deter students from participating in fieldwork.
Despite HE institutions claim that fieldwork trips - regardless of locationare equitable, very little
research has been undertaken to investigate this claim. Not all students gain the same educational value
from fieldwork trips. Students often do not recognise the skills they gain from fieldwork and how these
can be transferred to a job application form.
Fig. 2: Students undertaking fieldwork
Themes from the Literature
Fig. 1: Fieldwork enhances the development of certain skills
Methodology
A mixed method approach will be used (see Fig. 2).
Pre-trip questionnaires and interviews will be
completed to ascertain a baseline what students expect
from the field experience, their expectations, did they have a
free choice in selecting that trip and what factors were
contributory in their decision of choosing that trip.
Post-trip questionnaires and interviews will be
conducted asking questions regarding feedback on the trip,
how did the trip meet or fail to meet their expectations and
the possible barriers encountered.
Interviews with staff will focus on the issues of the
design of field trip, how staff minimise barriers to inclusion,
learning objectives, how staff envisage changes to trips and
how fieldwork components have evolved from previous trips.
Fig. 3: Mixed method approach literature lays the foundation of the concepts, thematic analysis of
interviews and focus groups together with data analysis of questionnaires with results being compared,
integrated and interpreted.