From trainee graduates to graduate trainees: towards an illumination of the teaching of professional practice on design degrees

The central aim of this paper is to explore the mechanisms that teachers of professional practice use with their students to ease them into employment. In particular, it will concentrate on how teachers help students to prepare their CVs and portfolios in the subject of design. The methodological approach will be qualitative rather than quantitative. In addition to an analysis of appropriate literature on the CV and the current practice of portfolio preparation, this paper will employ evidence gathered from interviews with a number of individuals who teach professional practice to design students, but who also have a role in independently running their own design companies. Using a semi-structured format, interviews will be conducted with the design companies El Ultimo Grito and Design Direction, both of whose directors are also involved in the teaching of professional practice to students. The evidence from these interviews will be collected and used to suggest and consider developments in the teaching materials currently used to guide students on the production and design of their CVs and portfolios. The aim is to guarantee that students are then better able to project their skills to employers, and hence to ensure that the teaching of professional practice in design may help ease a greater number of design students into employment.