This paper examines the work-based learning about employability reported by 26 undergraduate Geography and Environmental Management students on part-time, unpaid work placements. The students' "reflective essays" emphasized their learning more in terms of emotional challenges than in terms of skills, as being pushed out of their…

Reviews reasons for incorporating work-based learning (WBL) into higher education degrees and the barriers to achieving this. Notes five key dimensions of WBL. Describes and evaluates environmental audits undertaken in a graduate geography course at Lancaster University (England). Makes recommendations for maximizing the benefits of WBL in…

Describes the context and objective of a Work-Place Cooperative Project (WPCP) established in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds in 1995. The project presents students with business, commerce, industry, and environmental research issues that have geographical dimensions. Includes a number of examples from the WPCP. (MJP)

Describes the development and implementation of the "short and thin" model of work experience at the Middlesex University geography program. The work experience program operates during the student's final year and is both "short" (10 weeks) and "thin" (one day a week). Outline the advantages and drawbacks of this…

Describes an undergraduate course that aims at increasing student awareness of the workplace, developing understanding of how environmental policies interact with working practices, and equipping students with skills for investigating and reporting employment-related environmental issues. Students conduct an environmental assessment of a…

Evaluates the merits of a program that requires both a dissertation and work experience for a graduate degree in geography. Maintains that changes in both the educational environment and the job market require greater flexibility and experience. (MJP)

Questions some of the assumptions and practices defining most work experience programs in geography. Maintains that most workplaces operate within such a specific function that they limit the acquisition of generic skills. Notes that the very notion of transferable skills has never really been tested. (MJP)