Throughout the College academic world there has always been a need for marrying the didactic classroom material with the applied learning and experiential approach. At George Brown College we stated boldly a commitment to ensure that every student would experience a quality field experience in our strategic path for vision 2020. In order to…

Teaching skills through workplace learning is easy, but developing professional agency is more challenging. In this paper we turn Dewey's claim that "you cannot learn from experiences alone, but you can learn from reflecting on experiences" on its head. We suggest more, or at least equal, focus be placed on learning from…

Research shows that employers are less likely to hire workers with little to no experience for the "first jobs" that many younger workers rely on to build their skills and credentials. Without those first jobs, many will face fewer paths to enter the workforce. To help the non-college-bound, the nation's education system needs to create…

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is widely recognised as significantly contributing to enhancing graduate employability. Empirical evaluation of its impact and value is often confined to work-based WIL (internships/placements/practicums), known to pose challenges with scalability and equitable access. Through the lens of experiential learning, this…

This paper describes a case study of how situated learning and community of practice theory were applied to the design and delivery of activities and learning assessments in a remote WIL course in a master-level Kinesiology program, supporting students' learning in professional placements. The rationale and theoretical grounding for the course…

Postsecondary cooperative (PSE co-op) education is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience, for which Ontario is termed a "hot bed." Adopting a mixed-methods design, this study explores the status and characteristics of Ontario's PSE co-op in the national and the global contexts through…

A new qualification benchmark, the Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) Diploma Level 6 in Career Guidance and Development was established in the UK in 2011. This study was conducted to ascertain whether a theoretical nexus is necessary for practice and how this could contribute to the professionalisation of the adult careers sector in…

Globally, employability is increasingly becoming an issue of concern in higher education due to demands from the labour market requiring work-ready graduates. In the Global South, particularly South Africa, universities are on a quest to develop competence and improve student employability. This paper is set to investigate the impact of…

The main focus of the paper is on youth unemployment and wider transitions into work, but it also has some thoughts on adult unemployment and re-training. This paper is founded upon a basic assumption -- namely that if the public money available across the United Kingdom to support measures around skills and unemployment is finite, then targeting…

Science education has maintained a longstanding goal of enhancing societal interest, values, and understandings of science. Despite a series of public education reforms and efforts by scientific researchers, scientific literacy and passion remain sparse across the American public. In fact, many students demonstrate a lack of interest in the…

The purpose of this case study was to describe the processes used by a high school vocational program to provide vocational training and preparation for postsecondary employment to students with disabilities. This research addresses the deficient circulation of qualitative research regarding vocational training practices used by functioning…

Students of color, first-generation, and residents of communities experiencing disinvestment--who aspire to obtain meaningful postsecondary degrees, career success, financial security, and social mobility--face tremendous challenges in navigating science, technology, engineering, math, and health science (STEM-H) education and career sectors. The…

Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) is an important pedagogical strategy for developing employability skills by immersing students in real-world understandings, applications and practices. Increasingly, universities are focusing on how WIL can be scaffolded across a degree, to involve students in a variety of WIL activities in order to apply…

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations offering work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities were no longer able to support student placements, resulting in many institutions searching for a range of innovative solutions. Many have redesigned their conventional placement-based WIL activities or programs to enable students to meet…

Purpose: This paper explores the implications for higher education of the rapid development in technology used by the manufacturing sector. Higher education programmes change or new courses are introduced in attempts to match labour market demands. However, the pace of change in the manufacturing industry challenges the authors to reconceive how…