Browsing by Author "Rothwell, Andrew"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Item
    Employability of University Students: Introduction of the Concept and the Psychometric Properties of the Polish Self-Perceived Employability Scale
    (2021) Domagała-Zyśk, Ewa; Mamcarz, Piotr; Martynowska, Klaudia; Fudali-Czyż, Agnieszka; Rothwell, Andrew
    Higher education has been undergoing a number of changes in recent years, and its effect is to be not only the diploma but the competencies needed for professional work. The employment model has also changed – currently, employees change jobs more often, contracts are rather short-term, and work requires the acquisition of new competencies in line with the idea of lifelong learning. The Covid-19 reality complicated the job market, even more, making people to lose and change their jobs much more often and be prepared to work constantly in unstable hybrid reality. Consequently, studies should not so much prepare to undertake a specific job but provide competences that build “employability”. The aim of the research presented in the article is to adapt and prepare the Polish version of The Self-Perceived Employability Scale of Rothwell & Arnold (2007). 600 first-year students took part in the study. The research results indicated a significant two-factor model, and therefore a Polish version of the scale based on two subscales was developed, which has good psychometric properties. The scale differs from the original British version, which may be related to social and cultural differences. The changes have been discussed and approved by the team and consulted with the author of the original version. The scale can be used to assess the perceived level of own employability for students of different years of study. Its results may form the basis for making decisions regarding the design of study programs and their evaluation in longitudinal studies.
  • Item
    Sex differences in self-perceived employability and self-motivated strategies for learning in Polish first-year students
    (Public Library of Science, 2022) Domagała-Zyśk, Ewa; Fudali-Czyż, Agnieszka; Mamcarz, Piotr; Martynowska, Klaudia; Rothwell, Andrew
    Self-perceived employability (SPE) is defined as the ability to attain sustainable employment appropriate to one’s qualification level (Rothwell 2008) and perceived as a crucial factor in university graduates’ career development. Meanwhile, University students are mainly assessed through the lens of academic achievement, which depend, inter alia, on the self-motivated strategies for learning (MSL). Firstly, we tested hypothesised sex differences in SPE’s and MSL’s factors in a group of the first-year university students (n = 600) in a Central European context. Our analyses revealed that female students, despite their higher results in MSL’s factors (self-regulation, learning strategies, intrinsic values, self-efficacy) presented lower internal SPE than male students. Secondly, we explored how much general SPE can be predicted from general MSL, taking into account sex as a moderator, finding that sex factor was not significant as a moderator. We can consider general MSL as a good predictor of general SPE in both sex groups. The results will provide evidence to support HEI curricular development and strategies for workplace attitude change to address existing sex inequalities. In addition, our findings relating to MSL will provide evidence to support the development of approaches to enhancing student employability with additional long term benefits in mental health and well-being.