Session Outline

Join this interactive, collaborative workshop to work with ‘Bartholomew’s Taxonomy: Futureproofing Students!’ designed for use in tutorials. This tool offers participants a range of attributes, behaviours and competencies that students need to work toward during their studies. This workshop invites participants to collaborate, explore and discuss the impact the taxonomy can have on students as they begin to prepare for the world of work. The tool offers a novel approach in facilitating student self-awareness for use in personal tutorials, resulting in student-driven conversation leading to development planning with a focus on both personal growth (Dweck, 2017). This ‘futureproofing’ taxonomy is a follow-on from the initial taxonomy; ‘Bartholomew’s Taxonomy of Self: the motivated undergraduate student’ (presented at UKAT and AdvanceHE conferences in 2025) that provided students with opportunities during tutorials to develop their self-awareness and motivation.

This workshop brings to life the immediacy of ensuring today’s students consider ways to obtain skills, behaviours and competencies that their future graduating selves will need to acquire to be ready for the future jobs market. Technological advancements and the pace of artificial intelligence are already shaping the types of job roles and the personable behaviours that are sought after. In working with employers and recent graduates, questions arose ask whether the tertiary education sector is doing enough to equip students to be able to think creatively, work dynamically and collaborate effectively to solve problems (OECD, 2030)? The sector remains committed to providing students with the necessary transformational experience to ensure they are future-ready, however, there is often a lack of institutional steer to fully embed this within the provision. According to Peters and Matthias in ‘Pedagogy of Partnership’ (2018:63-64), “an ongoing transformative and collaborative process of being and becoming” to nurture self-awareness and inner confidence, is an essential component of a successful higher education experience. Developing attentive, supportive relationships between staff and students also contributes to an increased sense of belonging. The Office for Students (2025) report that students expect to “develop skills that help them secure good jobs” and want tailored learning experiences that “meet their personal as well as their academic needs”.

The Taxonomy and the research-informed content underpinning this workshop are derived from the findings of my Doctorate in Education (Bartholomew, 2022). This sought to uncover how managers, lecturers and students understood ‘student engagement’ and factors impacting student motivation and autonomy. The findings led to the development of the taxonomy, demonstrating my ongoing commitment to facilitate discussion and share findings that contribute to the enhancement of students’ personal and professional development in tutorials. Using the taxonomy in tutorials, students have time and space to reflect on the taxonomy’s content and consider it alongside their future plans. With advisory support from the personal tutor, conversations ensue that support the creation of a development plan to acquire the relevant behaviours and competencies that match individual aspirations. This workshop therefore explores the “transformation of being” (Barnett, 2007:38) by placing the act of self-analysis and self-reflection at its core, in order to respond effectively to ever-changing situations (Johns, 2009). Shining the spotlight on students’ preparedness for their futures brings sharply into focus the need for tertiary education to embed initiatives that enable students to obtain a wide range of skills and behaviours to be future-ready. Participants will be given a copy of the taxonomy to take back to their institutions for trials and to spark further conversations about futureproofing their students.

Learning Outcomes

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