CREATIVE GRADUATES CREATIVE FUTURES

The Creative Graduates Creative Futures report provides a comprehensive exploration of the experiences, activities and contribution of creative graduates and their plans for the future. It sets the findings in context, providing expert commentaries from writers and researchers within the sector, and compares the position of creative graduates today with that of ten years ago, as evidenced by the Destinations and Reflections report of 1999.

Creative Graduates Creative Futures Higher Education Partnership and the Institute for Employment Studies, 2009-10 (pdf)
A major longitudinal study undertaken between 2008 and 2010 of the career patterns of graduates in art, design, crafts and media subjects qualifying in 2002, 2003 and 2004 from 26 UK higher education institutions

Below are some key points from the report, please feel free to comment. 

One of the most interesting points is to understand what staff and industry value. 
Fodder for future working!

CREATIVE INDUSTRY
Cottage industry: growth of micro business employing small numbers of people
Self employment: working alone
Y Generation: working in a different way to traditional methods, working from home, working flexibly

Sustaining a living through multiple income streams
Combination of paid and unpaid work
Maintaining creative practice
Continuation of formal learning and combining education with work experience

WORKING PATTERNS OF CREATIVE GRADUATES
Portfolio work
Project based work
Self employment
Fixed term and/or temporary work and/or part time
Freelance
Own business

PROJECT BASED WORK STRUCTURE CHARACTERISTICS
Creative, skilled, adaptable, resourceful
Flexible working and self employed
New learning developed to respond to specific niche
Life long continued profession development

CURRICULUM
Active learning through project based work
Holistic approach of inking ppd with practice
Synthesising and linking learning with reflection and course work
Experience and participation in:

• PPD *
• Teamwork *
• Being taught by practitioners *
• Shows / exhibitions
• Peer / self evaluation
• Contextual studies
• Live projects

* Ranked most important by students

THE PURPOSE / OUTCOMES OF PPD WITHIN THE CURRICULUM
Career trajectory
Reflective, planning, evaluative
Critical reflection and critical learning
Articulate and understand the language of discipline
Development of confidence
Find and develop own voice
Self awareness

TYPES OF PPD
Reflective journals and statements
Sketchbooks
Portfolios
Communities of practice and networks including VLE/Wiki, online, digital
Consultancy projects with students and industry
Mentoring schemes
Promotion and branding
Collaborative projects
Generating ideas, creative thinking and individual leaning
Personal strategies for building career
Workshops on critical reflection, creative writing
Future planning and exploring identity past/present/future

ENGAGEMENT
Understand what staff value and what industry value
Engaging with employers and catering for needs of future workforce
Join up with other wider strategies (Digital, Sustainability, WP etc)
Engage with stakeholders to develop models and support engagement

CREATIVE THINKING
Think about curriculum in new and different ways

COLLABORATION
Across UAL, Industry, disciplines to develop collaborative practice
Develop and embed a shared concept of PPD, that is flexible, supported and integrated (blended learning)

FACILITATING NETWORKS
Getting people together who are charged with innovation and getting them talking and working together
Developing literacies, what conversation do we need to have to design curriculum and develop student leaning

BLENDED LEARNING
Working within institution and across disciplines
Learn from each other
Connect and make links with learning assignment and work being done outside of the curriculum
Holistic aspects of student learning and combine experience of learning and working

CHANGE
Build on existing to develop models and systems
Drive change from within
Support and nurture transformational change