Graduate gap years: Narratives of postponement in graduate employment transitions in England.

Book chapter


Vigurs, Katy, Jones, Steven, Harris, Diane and Everitt, Julia 2018. Graduate gap years: Narratives of postponement in graduate employment transitions in England. in: Routledge.
AuthorsVigurs, Katy, Jones, Steven, Harris, Diane and Everitt, Julia
Abstract

For UK higher education students, the ‘gap year’ or ‘year out’ is historically conceptualised as an amassing of wider life experience, often overseas, during a twelve-month period between the completion of A-level studies and the first year of a university degree. However, in a recent comparative study, which saw interviews conducted in both 2014 and 2015 with final year undergraduate students (n74) from different social backgrounds, across two English universities (one Russell Group university and one Post-1992 university), the term ‘gap year’ was being re-appropriated to capture something different. The term was being used to describe a period following graduation in which graduands planned to take low-paid work or ‘ordinary’ jobs, take stock of their financial situation, and attempt to save money and/or repay urgent debt. A high proportion of students in the 2015 stage of the study (16/37) spoke of taking a graduate gap year, compared with 9/37 in 2014. It may be that the increasing costs of debt-based forms of higher education payment coinciding with growing precarious employment has contributed to this situation. By borrowing the term gap year to describe a new and different phenomenon, some of the student interviewees may be legitimising the predicament in which they find themselves. This chapter explores the experiences of students who spoke of taking a graduate gap year. It examines the different roles of a graduate gap year and discusses wider implications for unequal graduate outcomes.

KeywordsHigher education; Graduate employability; Graduate transitions; Graduates
Year2018
PublisherRoutledge
ISBN9781138301764
Web address (URL)http://hdl.handle.net/10545/622871
hdl:10545/622871
File
File
File Access Level
Open
Publication dates26 Jul 2018
Publication process dates
Deposited31 Jul 2018, 08:55
ContributorsUniversity of Derby
Permalink -

https://repository.derby.ac.uk/item/92y18/graduate-gap-years-narratives-of-postponement-in-graduate-employment-transitions-in-england

Download files

  • 474
    total views
  • 120
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Hours spent building skills and employability
Foster, Rowan, Svanaes, Siv, Howell, Sarah, Neary, S., Everitt, Julia and Dodd, Vanessa 2020. Hours spent building skills and employability. Department for Education.
Gatsby careers benchmark north east implementation pilot: interim evaluation (2015-2017)
Hanson, Jill, Vigurs, Katy, Moore, Nicki, Everitt, Julia and Clark, Lewis 2019. Gatsby careers benchmark north east implementation pilot: interim evaluation (2015-2017).
Exorcising an ethnography in limbo.
Vigurs, Katy 2019. Exorcising an ethnography in limbo. in: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Supporting service children in school: An organisational improvement framework
Burke, Ciaran, Neary, S., Hanson, Jill, Parker, Gordon, Everitt, Julia and Clark, Lewis 2019. Supporting service children in school: An organisational improvement framework. University of Derby.
Evaluation of outreach interventions for under 16 year olds: Tools and guidance for higher education providers.
Harrison, Neil, Vigurs, Katy, Crockford, Julian, McCaig Colin, Squire, Ruth and Clark, Lewis 2018. Evaluation of outreach interventions for under 16 year olds: Tools and guidance for higher education providers. Office for Students (OfS).
Understanding the evaluation of access and participation outreach interventions for under 16 year olds.
Harrison, Neil, Vigurs, Katy, Crockford, Julian, McCaig Colin, Squire, Ruth and Clark, Lewis 2018. Understanding the evaluation of access and participation outreach interventions for under 16 year olds. Office for Students.
Mindful networks? Navigating and negotiating life and work in academia.
Vigurs, Katy 2018. Mindful networks? Navigating and negotiating life and work in academia. in: Springer.
External agents, providers and specialists: an exploration of the other individuals invited to be involved in schools and classrooms.
Everitt, Julia 2018. External agents, providers and specialists: an exploration of the other individuals invited to be involved in schools and classrooms. British Education Studies Association.
Using Twitter to tackle peripherality? Facilitating networked scholarship for part-time doctoral students within and beyond the university
Vigurs, Katy 2016. Using Twitter to tackle peripherality? Facilitating networked scholarship for part-time doctoral students within and beyond the university. Fusion Journal.
Higher fees, higher debts: Greater expectations of graduate futures? A research-informed comic.
Vigurs, Katy, Jones, Steven and Harris, Diane 2016. Higher fees, higher debts: Greater expectations of graduate futures? A research-informed comic. Society for Research into Higher Education.
Greater expectations of graduate futures? A comparative analysis of the views of the last generation of lower-fees undergraduates and the first generation of higher-fees undergraduates at two English universities.
Vigurs, Katy, Jones, Steven and Harris, Diane 2016. Greater expectations of graduate futures? A comparative analysis of the views of the last generation of lower-fees undergraduates and the first generation of higher-fees undergraduates at two English universities. Society for Research into Higher Education.
Participants' productive disruption of a community photo-elicitation project: improvised methodologies in practice
Vigurs, Katy and Kara, Helen 2016. Participants' productive disruption of a community photo-elicitation project: improvised methodologies in practice. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2016.1221259
Higher fees, higher debts: Unequal graduate transitions in England?
Vigurs, Katy, Jones, Steven, Everitt, Julia and Harris, Diane 2018. Higher fees, higher debts: Unequal graduate transitions in England? in: Emerald.
Twittering away - Is Twitter an appropriate adjunctive tool to enhance learning and engagement in higher education?
Vigurs, Katy, Boath, Elizabeth and Frangos, Juliet 2018. Twittering away - Is Twitter an appropriate adjunctive tool to enhance learning and engagement in higher education? Innovative Practice in Higher Education.
Personal guidance: What works?
Everitt, Julia, Neary, S., Delgado-Fuentes, Marco Antonio and Clark, Lewis 2018. Personal guidance: What works? The Careers & Enterprise Company.
The evidence base for careers websites. What works?
Vigurs, Katy, Everitt, Julia and Staunton, Tom 2017. The evidence base for careers websites. What works? Careers and Enterprise Company.
Developing a methodology for public engagement with critical research.
Boyask, Ruth and Vigurs, Katy 2017. Developing a methodology for public engagement with critical research. Policy Futures in Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210317739521
Progression for success: Evaluating North Yorkshire’s innovative careers guidance project
Moore, Nicki, Vigurs, Katy, Everitt, Julia and Clark, Lewis 2017. Progression for success: Evaluating North Yorkshire’s innovative careers guidance project. North Yorkshire County Council.