This paper shares an experiment in curriculum design that challenges established models of work experience and placement by taking a fresh group approach to a practice that has largely by been an individual activity.
Employability has always been an important measure of success for practice-based subjects like Design. How employability is achieved through curriculum design or graduate internship has been a subject of discussion and debate in academic and public press for many decades. More recently, as design programmes’ employability has come under mounting scrutiny due to their direct measurement in various league tables, finding better ways to support student make the transition from education to the work place has increased in importance.
The new curriculum design featured in this paper, broke with the convention by asking employers to take whole teams of students to work under their guidance. A variety of different workplace scenarios also challenged students to question preconceived notions of design practice. And finally, it also asked the lecturers to work ‘off the grid’ of their regular timetabled teaching patterns to deliver something new and valuable for all stakeholders.