Purpose: Students experience a range of benefits by participating in work-based learning (WBL) including increased employability skills, career development learning and enhanced industry networks. However, some approaches to WBL are not easily accessed by all students, with placement-based models placing demands on students to attend a physical…

Definitions of disability are changing, shifting from a narrow medical diagnosis to a biopsychosocial model of disability, where disability is conceptualised as a series of relational conditions that can potentially disadvantage individuals within environments. Implications of this new understanding of disability will have significant effects in…

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) increases the 'work readiness' of university graduates but it is a complex undertaking and involves numerous risks for the stakeholders involved. A systematic review of the literature published between 2012 and 2017 reveals that the discourses related to risk and WIL are quite limited with the perspectives of key…

"Research Messages 2021" highlights the diverse range of research activities undertaken over the past year by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). In 2021, research was shaped both by the VET (vocational education and training) reform agenda, and issues emerging from the pandemic. The 2021 national VET research…

Work integrated learning (WIL) educators using reflective practice to facilitate student learning require a set of standards that works within the traditional assessment frame of Higher Education, to ascertain the level at which reflective practice has been demonstrated. However, there is a paucity of tested assessment instruments that provide…

This paper explores the views that students and employers have on innovative work-based learning (WBL) programmes in English higher education. The experiences of both students and employers were analysed methodologically, using the organizational story-telling framework (Gabriel, 1999). The themes that have emerged are learning support,…

Work-based learning is used and assessed in higher education a variety of ways. In this paper we look particularly at the differences between the assessment of WBL when it is constructed as a field of study, i.e., using generic and transdisciplinary criteria and when it is constructed as a mode of study, i.e., when it is assessed using subject…

The paper will explore Biggs' concept of constructive alignment in the context of work-based learning (WBL). In his book "Teaching for Quality Learning at University" Biggs quotes Tyler making the claim that "Learning takes place through the active behaviour of the student: it is what "he" does that he learns, not what the teacher does". Biggs'…

The conventional response to the financial crisis facing higher education is to increase tuition or request larger legislative appropriations. Another response, however, is possible--the wider use of cooperative education or work-study plans. There are three distinct advantages to work-study plans: (1) learning takes place in less costly settings…

This paper examines the philosophy behind the Pulse Program of Boston College and its attempt at integrating theory and practice and transforming student's paradigms of justice and love. The basic idea of the program, begun in the fall of 1969, is that students receive academic credit for participation in off-campus field projects which have a…

Presents an overview of a 16-step internship model. The steps range from the initial contact between the company and university to final evaluation of the internship, in which the company and university representatives, project coordinator, and student intern examine to what extent their objectives and expectations have been met. (EAO)

Describes the Cuban work-study program, the circumstances which gave rise to it, and the overall objectives it hopes to achieve. Then the United States model is discussed. Some thought is given to the future of work-study efforts in U.S. colleges, especially in light of the continuing economic recession. (Author/RK)

This paper presents a framework for a health specialization curriculum in schools of social work. This framework is based on the roles (facilitator, educator, and counselor/therapist) associated with three domains of practice in hospitals (direct service to a client/family; organizational and community services on behalf of client; and encouraging…

A social welfare agency owned and operated by the Graduate School of Social Work serves as an innovative field experience setting, offering an alternative to traditional agency-based field practice. The model is examined relative to one view of the stages of development of the social work profession. (Author/MSE)

Periodic assessment of cooperative education programs is shown to provide a sound information basis for future program directions. A comorehensive evaluation model is described that focuses on what is done, how it is done, and why it is important. Specific goals are outlined. (Author/LBH)