ABSTRACT

Teaching students aspiring to media work presents the educator with a fundamental dilemma. On the one hand, students require the knowledge and skills necessary to find and sustain employment within existing industry practices, systems and structures. On the other hand, students need to be prepared for the uncertain and shifting nature of media work, and highly problematic aspects of some of those selfsame practices, systems and structures. How do you ensure the former without condoning or under-playing the latter? An overly theoretical and critical education risks producing graduates unprepared for the practicalities of media employment. An overly instrumental education risks graduates lacking the necessary responsiveness and resilience required to drive a media career over time, or the ability to recognise, navigate or challenge systemic problems within these industries. This article approaches the dilemma from the UK perspective, through a consideration of the notion of employability, interpreted as career readiness. It advocates five interrelated forms of graduate capital: human capital; social capital; cultural capital; psychological capital and identity capital. The article argues that their application to aspiring media workers, in particular, provides a valuable conceptual framework for educators concerned with finding an approach to employability that is both instrumental and critical.

摘要

教有志于从事媒体工作的学生给教育工作者带来了一个基本的困境。一方面，学生需要具备在现有行业实践、系统和结构中寻找和维持就业所需的知识和技能。另一方面，学生需要为媒体工作的不确定性和不断变化的性质以及一些相同的实践、系统和结构的高度问题方面做好准备。你如何确保前者而不宽恕或低估后者？过于理论化和批判性的教育有可能导致毕业生对媒体就业的实际情况毫无准备。过度工具化的教育可能会使毕业生缺乏推动媒体职业发展所需的必要反应能力和适应力，或者缺乏认识、导航或挑战这些行业中的系统性问题。本文通过考虑就业能力的概念，从英国的角度来解决这个困境，解释为职业准备。它提倡五种相互关联的毕业生资本形式：人力资本；社会资本; 文化资本；心理资本和身份资本。文章认为，它们尤其适用于有抱负的媒体工作者，为关注寻找既实用又重要的就业能力方法的教育工作者提供了一个有价值的概念框架。