Mapping generic skills curricula: outcomes and discussion

Generic skills development is increasingly being embedded into UK higher education curricula to improve the employability and lifelong learning skills of graduates. At the same time universities are being required to benchmark their curricular outcomes against national and employer standards. This paper presents and discusses the results of a study mapping the outcomes, delivery, learning and assessment of an embedded generic skills curriculum and benchmarking these against externally agreed standards. By collecting data from students, supervisors and curriculum documentation across the whole five year course in a UK medical school it evaluates the success of the generic skills programme in achieving its objectives. It goes on to discuss how data from the maps might also be used to encourage student learning. It recommends the adoption of this methodology to map embedded skills curricula with the aim of highlighting skills delivery for curriculum designers and skills development for students.