Do we know what students are getting from their education?

By Jill N. Reich, PhD
Executive Director for Education

It?s June, classes are finished, grades in, graduation held, often-delayed research and writing projects are under way; it?s summertime! But what was accomplished in the past academic year? What did we set out to do as educators? Did we do it? If so, how do we know whether we were successful? Over the years, sitting through numerous graduations, watching students walking, ambling, sometimes running across the stage has always made me wonder about these questions. This year, not having been to a graduation, I pose them to you.

Do we know what our students get from their education? More and more, I find myself thinking about this question; and, as you know if you read this column, being asked it by students, parents and legislators. The most likely?and most immediate?answer focuses on jobs and careers. APA?s Research Office tracks the employment of our members and the first jobs of our new doctorates. We also gather data on jobs held by those with bachelor?s and master?s degrees in psychology. Increasingly, department curricula include a course related to career planning for undergraduates and provide professional development/career-oriented workshops, programs or courses for graduate students. And, here in the Monitor?s Education section we are running a series highlighting careers developed by psychologists to give readers new ideas about how to use their education in the marketplace.

The issue of jobs and their relation to an education in psychology at each level of the academic ladder is a very important one, I agree. The question I pose to you is what is?or should be?the relationship of jobs to what we seek to accomplish as educators? Put more simply, are jobs (i.e., employment measured at one point in time) or careers (i.e., employment measured across time) the outcome measure best suited to the goals and objectives of our educational endeavors? I think not, at least not as currently measured and not as the single outcome measure of the success of our educational programs.

Measurement

Most often in measuring employment, one point in time is recorded?the point just after the degree is awarded?describing the setting or job title attained. Our Research Office also seeks to identify major categories of activities. For psychologists, these are grouped into teaching, research and practice. This activity-based approach is a start, but it is not enough. Certainly, if we delineate the knowledge and skills employers seek, as Marky Lloyd has done so well through Div. 2 (Teaching) Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology (see http://www.psych-web.com/careers/index.htm), the parameters of a job and how they related to psychology education are much more multidimensional. Moreover, as the whole concept of jobs is expected to evolve over the next decade, it will become ever more important to be able to articulate the knowledge achieved and its implementation in a variety of tasks and contexts than any setting, title or simple taxonomy of activities now measures.

Jobs as the outcome measure of success

This view of jobs is more disturbing to me than the measurement issues just raised. Those, I think, we are tackling in ways that will continue to yield improvement. But, as higher education continues to be challenged, rightfully I believe, to document its outcomes, I fear most that we educators are unwittingly falling into using jobs as the outcome measure of our success. If so, we are setting ourselves up for failure. Why? Because our education is not about jobs. It is about ways of thinking, synthesizing knowledge, creating new knowledge, communicating this knowledge and applying it. In fact, the primary focus of our educational programs is knowledge?general competence-based learning that will prepare students for the changing world, both personal and professional. But, what does it take to get that job, that first job? Technical skills?specific competence-based training that meets identified, short-term needs of the marketplace.

That brings us to some decisions?something else to contemplate these summer months. Namely, to what extent should our educational programs prepare our graduates for jobs? Should we attend to the skills training needed to get jobs? If so, when in the sequence/levels of our educational system? How? And who should do this training? As well, believing as I do that the general learning we now focus on is a vital and valued part of higher education, how do we articulate it and measure its outcome?

I know that we in the Education Directorate will continue to ponder these questions, and as we do, we welcome your thoughts.