Home “We are here to help you”: understanding the role of careers and employability services in UK universities
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

“We are here to help you”: understanding the role of careers and employability services in UK universities

  • Maria Fotiadou

    Maria Fotiadou received her PhD in corpus-based critical discourse analysis from the University of Sunderland. Her thesis explored the discourse of careers services in UK university websites. Her research interests are in critical discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, the discourse of employability, language and power, ideology, and resistance.

    ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: February 1, 2021

Abstract

This paper examines the language used by careers services in UK universities. Using a combination of critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics methods and tools, the analysis of 2.6 million words collected from 58 UK university websites shows that the services highlight the quantity and variety of resources and assistance offered to Higher Education (HE) students. In addition, the close analysis of linguistic data brings to light a commonly used semantic pattern where the services act as the enablers of the students’ self-beneficiary actions. The main idea communicated in these webpages is that if HE students want to succeed in the graduate job market they need to prepare for the world of work, follow instructions and develop their employability. This course of action is presented by UK universities as natural or common sense. The interpretation and evaluation of linguistic patterns that emerge from the corpus-based analysis challenges the notion of employability and its association with the idea of ‘empowering’ young people to successfully compete in the graduate job market.


Corresponding author: Maria Fotiadou, Faculty of Education and Society, University of Sunderland, Reg Vardy Building, SR6 0DD, Sunderland, UK, E-mail:

Funding source: University of Sunderland

About the author

Maria Fotiadou

Maria Fotiadou received her PhD in corpus-based critical discourse analysis from the University of Sunderland. Her thesis explored the discourse of careers services in UK university websites. Her research interests are in critical discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, the discourse of employability, language and power, ideology, and resistance.

Appendix
Table A:

The Corpus.

CodeWordsCodeWords
1CS164,30530CS3028,321
2CS230,04831CS3129,798
3CS328,19132CS3232,222
4CS425,68633CS3335,533
5CS573,19034CS3416,767
6CS6151,51735CS355,564
7CS7127,78936CS3639,985
8CS855,07537CS3713,400
9CS942,28338CS3811,422
10CS1015,13339CS398,844
11CS1158,77140CS4018,049
12CS1223,19041CS4142,600
13CS13254,69542CS4221,516
14CS14103,41943CS4318,283
15CS1576,20944CS446,337
16CS1659,01345CS4542,641
17CS17200,90846CS4631,427
18CS1820,93947CS4729,281
19CS1940,40548CS4825,606
20CS2080,43449CS4910,138
21CS2154,68450CS5057,606
22CS2245,73951CS5150,158
23CS2336,54752CS5214,896
24CS2454,79853CS5320,180
25CS2521,24254CS5420,997
26CS2613,25255CS5524,949
27CS2714,26156CS5629,507
28CS2879,62757CS5719,819
29CS2926,73558CS5846,030
Sum2,629,961

References

Alvesson, Matts & Deetz Stanley. 2006. Critical theory and postmodernism approaches to organizational studies. In Steward Clegg, Cynthia Hardy, Lawrence Thomas & Nord Walter (eds.), The Sage handbook of organization studies, 2nd edn, 255–283. London: Sage.10.4135/9781848608030.n8Search in Google Scholar

Anthony, Laurence. 2014. Laurence Anthony’s AntConc. Available at: http://www.laurenceanthony.net/software/antconc/ (accessed 2 April 2019).Search in Google Scholar

Askehave, Inger. 2007. The impact of marketization on higher education genres – The international student prospectus as a case in point. Discourse Studies 9(6). 723–742. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445607082576.Search in Google Scholar

Baker, Paul & Tony McEnery (eds.). 2015. Corpora and discourse studies: Integrating discourse and corpora. London: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9781137431738Search in Google Scholar

Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad & Edward Finegan. 1999. Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.Search in Google Scholar

BIS. 2011. Higher education: Students at the heart of the system. London: The Stationery Office.Search in Google Scholar

Brown, Roger & Helen Carasso. 2013. Everything for sale?: The marketisation of UK higher education. Abingdon: Routledge.10.4324/9780203071168Search in Google Scholar

Browne, John. 2010. Securing a sustainable future for higher education: An independent review of higher education funding and student finance. London: The Stationery Office.Search in Google Scholar

Chertkovskaya, Ekaterina, Peter Watt, Stefan Tramer & Sverre Spoelstra. 2013. Giving notice to employability. Ephemera 13(4). 701–716.Search in Google Scholar

CPTF. 2010. Towards a strong careers profession: An independent report to the department for education. Cheshire: Department of Education.Search in Google Scholar

DfES. 2003. The future of higher education. London: The Stationery Office.Search in Google Scholar

Fairclough, Norman. 1993. Critical discourse analysis and the marketization of public discourse: The universities. Discourse & Society 4(2). 133–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926593004002002.Search in Google Scholar

Fairclough, Norman. 2003. Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203697078Search in Google Scholar

Fairclough, Norman. 2013. Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language, 2nd edn. Oxon: Routledge.10.4324/9781315834368Search in Google Scholar

Fairclough, Norman. 2015. Language and power, 3rd edn. Oxon: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Fotiadou, Maria. 2017. The discourse of careers services: A corpus-based critical discourse analysis of UK university websites. Available at: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/10127/ (accessed 2 April 2019).Search in Google Scholar

Fotiadou, Maria. 2020. Denaturalising the discourse of competition in the graduate job market and the notion of employability: A corpus-based study of UK university websites. Critical Discourse Studies 17(3). 260–291. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2018.1546606.Search in Google Scholar

Halliday, Michael. 1994. An introduction to functional grammar, 2nd edn. New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Mautner, Gerlinde. 2005. Time to get wired: Using web-based corpora in critical discourse analysis. Discourse & Society 16(6). 809–828. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926505056661.Search in Google Scholar

Mautner, Gerlinde. 2010. Language and the market society: Critical reflections on discourse and dominance. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9780203855997Search in Google Scholar

Mautner, Gerlinde. 2016. Discourse and management: Critical perspectives through the language lens. London: Palgrave.10.1007/978-1-137-30038-6Search in Google Scholar

McEnery, Tony & Andrew Hardie. 2012. Corpus linguistics: Method, theory and practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199276349.013.0024Search in Google Scholar

Molesworth, Mike, Richard Scullion & Elizabeth Nixon (eds.). 2011. The marketisation of higher education: The student as consumer. Abingdon: Routledge.10.4324/9780203842829Search in Google Scholar

Moreau, Marie-Pierre & Carole Leathwood. 2006. Graduates’ employment and the discourse of employability: A critical analysis. Journal of Education and Work 19(4). 305–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080600867083.Search in Google Scholar

Mulderrig, Jane. 2011. The grammar of governance. Critical Discourse Studies 8(1). 45–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2011.533570.Search in Google Scholar

Scott, John. 2001. Power. Cambridge: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Tight, Malcolm. 2009. The development of higher education in the United Kingdom since 1945. Maidenhead: Open University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Van Leeuwen, Theo. 1999. Discourses of unemployment in new Labour Britain. In Ruth Wodak & Christoph Ludwig (eds.), Challenges in a changing world: Issues in critical discourse analysis, 87–100. Vienna: Passagen-Verl.Search in Google Scholar

Van Leeuwen, Theo. 2008. Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323306.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Watts, AG. 1996. Careers work in higher education. In AG Watts, Bill Law, John Killeen, Jennifer Kidd & Ruth, Hawthorn (eds.), Rethinking careers education and guidance: Theory, policy and practice, 127–141. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Yorke, Mantz. 2006. Employability in higher education: What it is – what it is not. York: Higher Education Academy.Search in Google Scholar

Zhang, Yiqiong & Kay L. O’Halloran. 2013. ‘Toward a global knowledge enterprise’: University websites as portals to the ongoing marketization of higher education. Critical Discourse Studies 10(4). 468–485. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2013.813777.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2019-04-04
Accepted: 2021-01-13
Published Online: 2021-02-01
Published in Print: 2021-05-26

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 26.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/text-2019-0162/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button