Beyond policy and employability: How lecturers’ pedagogical practices shape graduate attribute learning in a University of Technology

Abstract

The discourse on graduate attributes underscores their significance in higher education, yet the pedagogical processes through which they are translated into student learning remain underexplored, particularly in vocational contexts. This study investigates how lecturers at a University of Technology (UoT) in South Africa interpret, negotiate and integrate graduate attributes within their teaching and assessment practices, and how these pedagogical decisions shape students’ opportunities for capability development. The study is framed by cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and guided by an interpretivist qualitative approach, with data generated through interviews with lecturers (n = 11) across three faculties and analysed thematically using Atlas.ti. The findings reveal three interrelated insights: persistent contradictions between employability-driven institutional mandates and lecturers’ epistemic and disciplinary commitments; the mediating role of curriculum artefacts, collegial communities and institutional rules in shaping teaching practices; and the emergence of expansive learning as lecturers reframe graduate attributes as integral to disciplinary teaching and student capability development rather than as externally imposed requirements. The study offers practical implications for academic development, curriculum review and institutional policy by highlighting the conditions that enable lecturers to move from compliance to expansive, pedagogy-driven integration of graduate attributes.