Optionality and employability in political studies assessment

In this article, I discuss the potential for using assessment optionality - a practice of allowing students some degree of choice in their mode of assessment - as a key site for the development of employability skills for political studies students. Higher education, and political studies in particular, has struggled with the embedding of employability into a range of different curricula, with staff and students alike often resisting such changes. However, there is a need for students to graduate with a stronger awareness of the skills that they have developed during their studies. This article builds on research into assessment optionality in political studies to make a strong and novel argument - assessment optionality provides a fruitful opportunity to allow students to engage with employability in a way that does not interrupt the norms of their education, whilst also providing a host of other benefits.