Work placements in VET courses: Evidence from the cross-sectoral literature - Review of research

This report is a review of the literature, available research and current Australian practice relating to work placements. Its purpose is to draw together findings on work placements from three educational sectors in order to inform policy and practice in the vocational education and training (VET) sector.

Many educational institutions provide work placements as part of the curriculum whereby students attend workplaces for a period of supervised participation in work activities. These placements generally have different names in the different sectors. In schools, they may be known as work experience or work placements and in universities as practicums, fieldwork or industry placements. In the VET sector there is a variety of such names which appear to depend on course level and placement purpose. There appears to be little dialogue between sectors, with the development of literature and theory occurring in a parallel rather than in an integrated manner in the three educational sectors.

This study has found that much of the literature and practice on work placements is predicated on a number of assumptions, and yet there is not always agreement on these matters. There are two key areas of contestation. One is the nature of the workplace, the second is the nature of the learning. Emerging from these two contestable areas is the critical issue of roles - particularly of the learner, but also of the provider and workplace 'mentors'. While pockets of the literature address one or other of these aspects, there is little agreement and many gaps are left untouched. This state of affairs furnishes both the urgent need and the window of opportunity for a great deal of empirical and, particularly, ethnographic research in the area. Moreover, the issue of the purpose of placements has not yet been resolved - is the purpose to learn about the workplace or in the workplace?

The lack of a coherent cross-sectoral literature means that the wheel is reinvented many times which may account for the number of 'how-to' manuals within each of the sectors. While this to some extent represents wasted effort, there is nevertheless a need to pay attention to this diversity between and within sectors.

Lessons cannot simply be transplanted unaltered to VET from schools and universities, as there are considerable variations in history, nature of students and so on. Also, within the VET sector there are considerable differences among industries and among VET students.

The greatest volume of literature relates to the university sector, while there is some in the school sector and relatively little in the VET sector. The authors conclude that, while the literature is relatively extensive, it tends to be sector-specific, discipline-related, mostly uncritical, focussed on administrative practicalities to the relative neglect of the more significant issues such as learning, cultural tensions, and roles and identities. The literature is also somewhat confused by the juxtapositioning of work placements - structured skill-based experiences related to particular subjects or modules - with more generic work experience and a tendency (particularly in VET sector literature) to confusion between work placements and general workplace training, and by different nomenclatures across the sectors. Moreover, the literature tends to be predominantly based on perceptual rather than empirical evidence and framed primarily from the perspective of the education provider.

The review has uncovered many gaps which indicate the need for further research in the VET sector. The first and perhaps major gap is the lack of any scoping study such as has been carried out in the school sector. We do not know how many VET courses include placements, in what fields of study or for what types of students. There is also a need for research into the experiences as well as roles and identities of those involved in placements, the effects of workplace power relationships, and the attitudes of other workers and unions. From a learning perspective we know little about the nature and extent of learning undertaken while on placements, the relative strengths of alternative models and approaches to placements as part of the curriculum, access and equity issues, and management of and assessment during placements.

The review has also highlighted many critical challenges in work placements, such as resourcing, professional development, tensions between workplace and provider cultures, variations in quality of workplace learning environments and equity in access. The issue of quality in particular has been underlined; work placements are very dependent on the calibre and orientation of the workplace mentor(s) and on the breadth and depth of experience possible in any particular workplace.

The following needs for the VET sector have been identified by this study.

For practitioners, a need for:

• careful consideration in recruiting and keeping host employers
• close monitoring of workplaces for quality in the learning environments which they provide for placement students
• a need for clarification of mutual expectations and responsibilities
• attention to the preparation of students before, support during, and debriefing after undertaking work placements
• recognition of the student as the 'meat in the sandwich'
• maintaining a constant dialogue with host employers
• access to information and literature about good practice in work placement policies, arrangements and practices
• access to professional development about the work placement process

In policy terms, a need for:

• gathering and dissemination of information about work placement policies, arrangements and practices
• a recognition of the problems inherent in work placements to enable their being adequately addressed
• official encouragement (and perhaps including incentives) for employers to participate, given that benefits for them beyond their philanthropic contribution to the 'social good' are often not evident
• greater, and critical, attention to what happens to students on placements and what they learn
• partnership and dialogue with providers of VET teacher training to ensure inclusion of placement issues in the curriculum for VET teachers
• provision of professional development for work placement co-ordinators
• adequate resourcing of work placements, particularly time to carefully prepare and debrief students, and for providers to visit and support students during placement, activities not always funded within current formulae
• funding of further research in the 'gap areas' identified in this review

For providers, a need for:

• professional development for (both provider and workplace) coordinators involved in work placement arrangements
• a more co-ordinated approach to placements as an important and cross-discipline part of the curriculum
• clarification for all parties of the purpose of each placement and an evaluation of placements against those purposes
• adequate resourcing of placements rather than viewing them as a cheap alternative to on-campus delivery

The study has highlighted a wide range of possibilities for future research into work placements in the VET sector. These include:

• a mapping exercise of VET sector work placements
• experiences of students and workplace mentors during placements - what is it like to be a student on placement, and what is it like being a workplace mentor for placement students?
• power relationships in the workplace and their effects on student learning during work placements
• roles and identities in what is labelled in the literature as the 'tripod' arrangement (Le-Clercq 1992) - the student, the provider mentor and the workplace mentor
• examination of union attitudes and attitudes of other workers towards work placements and 'placed' students
• in-depth analysis of the actual learning undertaken by students
• the skills employed by VET practitioners who arrange and monitor placements
• relative strengths of alternative models and approaches, such that empirical research can begin to inform the development of robust theoretical models that can be used cross-sectorally
• access and equity issues, such as the availability of placements in particular locations and industries, and for particular types of students
• the processes involved in managing placements and maintaining host employers
• assessment during placements, and the issue of recognition of prior learning (RPL)
• the impact of training packages upon the number and nature of placements in VET courses
• a follow-up study of students who have completed placements

The curious paradox in the VET sector is that, while work placements may be under serious threat because of shrinking resources and constricting quality placement possibilities, the pressure for them is likely to increase as a result of the demand for 'real-world' learning and 'authentic' assessment, and such recent VET policy initiatives as training packages and the growth of VET in schools.

The literature and available research reveal that, while there are many challenges and possible points of failure, work placements hold tremendous potential. However, this potential can only be realised where the aims of placements are made clear, environments are conducive to learning, all participants are adequately equipped and resourced, and policies and information are clear and encouraging.