Field Work Essay

Work Integrated Learning in Higher Education

S277875 - MOHD Salman Wahid

Charles Darwin University

HCS365

Miss Miranda Booth

Introduction

Work Integrated Learning (WIL), essentially entails the practice of exposing the students to work elated environment which will make them embrace them since they are parts and parcel of their future work prospects. The Australian Curriculum specifically contains work-related learning geared towards contributing toward the economic growth and innovation amongst the leaners. Crossman (2010), states that such a practice is also aimed at promoting the growth of individual careers. This is quite an invaluable opportunity for academicians to integrate the theory they have learned in class into practice and develop their individual careers. This provides the student with a unique opportunity to apply their learned knowledge to real-world experience so that they can heighten their experiential learning. The benefits of WIL are immense but the significant challenges such as lack of resources and its perception are significant obstacles to its full implementation.

Discussion

Most academicians tend to shy away from the aspects of WIL due to the perception of the fact that it increases the individual workload. Clark, et al., (2016), found out that such behavior often denies them the opportunity to benefit from the inherent aspects of WIL that are important in shaping them towards the direction their careers should be taking. Lau, et al., (2017), proposes an interdisciplinary approach to the WIL which will allow the design of a program that is holistic to an ultimate degree. In such a sense, there is a need for research into the specific benefits of WIL and how it should be done. This allows the stakeholders to participate in the design of a program that will promote individual experience, allow them to gain additional skills and knowledge and get them exposed to the necessary career opportunities.

The implementation of WIL in most higher learning institutions of Australia is guided by the belief that the current time’s employer needs employees that have a strong knowledge base and enough experience enabling them to cope with the current dynamic work environment. There is a growing number of reports that put across the idea that there is a need for a disciplinary knowledge base that exposes the students to the critical aspects of work-readiness. As per Jackson, (2015), this is the ability to transfer the in-class theoretical knowledge into the workplace practical implementation. The implementation of this program is also with the belief that the classroom instructions do not lead to the production of all-rounded graduates. Oloruntoba, (2009), argues that the current work environment needs employees who have a vast knowledge and expertise not only on their jobs but also the industry in general. Such an approach to learning instills in the student the much-needed skills of innovation and problem-solving. This and other programs are quite necessary for the development of the most appropriate profile of the graduate which encourages them to learn for job performance. Crossman, (2010), posits that this competency profile also includes the discipline knowledge, attitudes and cognitive abilities that allow for the presentation of the behavioral and technical skills and attributes enabling them to better collaborate with their fellow employees.

WIL learning and Work-based learning are currently gaining traction among the tertiary institutions in Australia. Clark, et al., (2016) state that this entails specific attributes such as partnerships with business, academic, and personal, work and career goals. Such an approach according to Engstrom, (2007), enables institutions of higher learning to foster and strategic partnerships with businesses, the government and the industry at large. All these are geared towards achieving common goals of economic growth and promoting innovation. A large proportion of the world’s population is under the age of 40 and this means that higher education plays a significant role in ensuring that the graduates are fit for the job market. With the rising rates of unemployment worldwide and in Australia, more employment opportunities are needed in order to keep the unemployment rates below the thresholds that are detrimental to the economies. WIL, according to Payne, (2014) was created with the aim of reaching out to this and other goals not only now but also in the future.

WIL is important in creating a meaningful education for the students. Jackson, (2015) argues that such an approach to learning and career-building comes in handy with specific benefits such as personalizing learning, encouraging personal aspiration, and building work relationships that are important in enabling the students to excel. From the works of Clark, et al., (2016), WIL forces the students to become more producing and do work that will culminate in both social and economic values both now and in the future. There are specific measurable benefits that allow the students to, the community at large, the educator, the employer, and the government to get much more from the investment in the program. Crossman, (2010), states that when the student gets to learn from the real-life experiences, and they get assesses authentically by their supervisors and educators, there are inherent benefits that come from the aspect of adding value to education and building their individual character. In order to develop such all-round students, it is important to include aspects of communication, technology, interpersonal relationship, leadership and teamwork to the working experiences of the students so that they can reach out to their individual and career goals. All these can be availed by WIL by allowing the students to not only apply the learn knowledge but also try and make the most out of the knowledge they gain in class and at the workplace. Placement practice at Foodbank NT also provides students both technical and non- technical skills. For instance: student must use open computer and do check in and check out of each client while working on Food for life program of Foodbank NT. Not only that, students will be taught how to manage the waste of Foodbank NT that is very important for humanitarian field which is not taught in school.

Engstrom, (2007), argues that WIL is important in developing the student’s career through enabling them to develop specific attributes of punctuality, leadership, meeting the stakeholder expectations and coping with the rapidly changing work environments. Such attributes all mesh up to avail a student that can develop intricate attributes that allow them to build the network contacts. On this note, one of the criteria that is used in the development of an effective WIL program is student competencies. WIL should ensure that the students are able to develop their individual competencies so that they can also reach out towards personal development. From the works of Choy, (2011) WIL has been projected to improve the job knowledge as well as the skills and the behaviors towards the work environment amongst the participants, the benefits of WIL, are quite immense and often unmeasurable. The student, according to Jackson, & Wilton, (2016), are bound to develop a career in the process due to the fact that they are able to identify the theoretical concepts taught to them in class and then head over to put them into practices.

Lau, et al., (2017), state that students who have gone through the WIL program are able to gain the right attributes for career success and the development of the communication skills. This is made possible by the fact that this program enables the stakeholders of education to come up with a structured experience that is outside the classroom apart from the affect that it encourages team spirit not mentioning the fact that fit develops cooperation. Such an approach to learning goes a long way in improving the decision-making abilities of the student as well as their interpersonal skills. All these strive towards developing in the student the ability to communicate effectively and to deal with the problems they often face as they strive to achieve work-specific goals. For instance: while doing placement practice at Foodbank NT, participants must handle the given projects themselves on behalf of coordinator which develops decision making skills and leaderships skills as well. While doing placement practice at Foodbank NT, there might be more expectation than code of conduct so practitioner can use behavioral theory at that time. Similarly, social learning theory is a process of learning new skills and knowledge by observing other’s work. Students have opportunity to observe supervisor’s work and provide different chance to become effective community worker. Supervisor will supervise every student while doing placement practice in any organisation. Students can observe and learn about service delivery method and computer software of Foodbank NT and evaluating supervisor’s way to handle the complex issue during service delivery. Students can have idea for using their theoretical knowledge into practice when they use these two theories during placement practice to become community development worker. However, Engstrom, (2007), suggests that the students can better take advantage of the experience if they can get paid for their efforts. This approach also needs the student so generate an income as a result of using WIL as part of their learning experiences.

WIL works on specific attributes of Portfolio of Evidence which is much needed in the area of work experiences and individual benefits to the students. Jackson, & Collings, (2018) states that the student’s that go through the WIL system possess the skills for authentic account and reflection in the experience. Zeegwaard, (2014), states that the potential created by WIL includes the ability to negotiate individual career, building networks and the development of individual career strategies. Other findings in the area indicate the fact that such a program comes with benefits which include marketing skills and the ability to collaborate with the stakeholders. The ability to relate well with the stakeholder also come with specific skills such as problem-solving and effective communication.

The WIL placement is undoubtedly the most significant influence on the student’s careers. This means that securing the placement is a factor of the choice of the student regarding the desire to perform specific jobs and work in a specific industry. Binder, et al., (2015), states that developing countries, WIL enables the students as well as the new recruits to be eligible for tax rebates and other opportunities such as skills levy paybacks. Apart from such individual responsibilities, it would be critical to consider the fact that most of the companies do not consider hiring graduates that do not have experience in their field let alone any field. There is a need to consider the undergraduate students in the placement exercise so that the WIL exposes them to the real-world workplace which is in line with their careers.

Most often, WIL placement comes with strengths and opportunities that enable students to leverage their internal abilities so that they can take advantage of the opportunities presented by the external environment. Jackson, & Wilton, (2016), state that the WIL placement needs to be centered on the industry and business environments. This means that the placing needs to focus on making the WIL program for the students both accessible and available. Such an approach implies that both the educators and the students need to collaborate so that they get the best offers of work placement opportunities that provide experiential learning. The workplace learning units are currently important for accepting the responsibility for placing the students in appropriate departments of the organization. The HRM managers have the responsibility of ensuring that the newly placed in environments that have the right standards. These are the specific work-related contexts that enable both the students and organizations to achieve specific work-related goals.

In most of the WIL projects, the educator plays a significant role in ensuring that both the student and the organization benefit from the experience. Zeegwaard, (2014), states that the student placement includes activities such as monitoring the ongoing student work progress, the leading and work performance of the placed student. This means that activities such as experiential learning needs and effective and efficient implementation of the WIL program. The emphasis on student involvement in the process is when making the placement. The students then get the skills and abilities to plan and make a confident approach to the whole process which include but to limited to planning, making a request for the placement opportunity and then heading over to make a confident approach to the confirmation and completing their placement process. The emphasis is on self-placement as it benefits the student in that s/he must think about, plan, and confidently approach an organization to request, secure, confirm and complete their WIL placement. Apart from instilling the student skills and experiences, the placement enables the students to gain specific knowledge and skills such as communication and interpersonal skills.

WIL comes in handy with specific career prospects that are quite important for specific entry-level workplace practices. These skills according to Jackson, & Collings, (2018), can not only b learned in classrooms, but they also need to be learned through cognitive processes. This means that there is a need to explore a combination of several aspects of cultural competence critical thinking and even intellectual reflection. WIL allows the students to experience all these and so much more in the integrated globalized work environment. Binder, et al., (2015) take a different approach from this by stating that if the program is too focused on the vocational aspects of experiential learning, it might come in handy with some disadvantages such as loss of the academic aspect of education. Thusly, there is a need to ensure that the students get equipped with the skills and knowledge that will enable them to find meaningful employment and become innovative problem solvers. The specific programs of WIL need to enable the students to be critical thinkers and get accustomed to the transformative learning that is inherent in their learning experiences. Generally, there is a tension that comes between the academic goals as well as the industry productivity and this means that WIL must foster an overriding opportunity for academic development.

The general assumption is that WIL comes with the specific knowledge base that supports the undergraduate career paths and then heads over to highlight the need for a relevant transfer of knowledge into the long-term relationship that deals with the employment environment. Ferns, Campbell, Zegward, (2014), state that there is a need to ensure that is a seamless relationship between the institutions of higher learning, the workplace managers and the students themselves. The relationship allows them to prepare the undergraduates for experiential learning, innovation, problem-solving and entrepreneurship. Essentially, there is a positive relationship between WIL and the individual social ties as well as the perceived fit of the organization. Choy, (2011), states that the individual career prospects of students who have the individual experiences in career placement are more intuitive in their work and this increases their chances of being employed or even retained by their individual organizations.

Even with the multitude of experiences and benefits of WIL, there abound some challenges which are inherent in the development, design, and implementation of such programs. They discussed areas are quite important in an array of disciplines which include resource intensiveness. WIL is faced with the challenge of resource intensiveness which is often caused by the lack of resources that can be used to implement the program especially when it comes to availing the opportunities. In addition, Bates, (2005) states that there is a need to secure the placement, and as WIL is becoming more prevalent amongst the current institutions, it makes it difficult to adequately accommodate all the students. The works of Zeegwaard, (2014) identify resourcing as the most significant challenge when it comes to mainstreaming WIL in Australian universities. The decrease in the funding from the government has curtailed the ability of both the students and institutions of higher learning from achieving their set goals. The challenges come from rigid government policies as well as the little student revenue which is often relied on in order to provide to them the placement opportunities they need. Even in already established careers such as medicine and nursing, WIL is quite important in exposing the students to real-life problem-solving skills. Nevertheless, government funding of such programs is quite limited which is a significant detriment to the ability to achieve the set goals for the program.

Some of the academicians as per the works of Binder, et al., (2015) claim that specific constraints such as time and workload are quite significant obstacles to attaining the desired WIL goals and objectives. The works of Choy, (2011), clearly state that obstacles such as the cost employers have to deal with as well as the need for students to maintain their part-time work while also seeking to ensures their full participation in WIL placements are quite significant obstacles in reaching out to the program’s goals and objectives. The students must deal with a higher load of work which may then lead to a general lack of recognition in the work and skills that are needed in order to run the WIL programs effectively and efficiently. Specific challenges, such as resource intensiveness are currently the most significant obstacles, and this means that both universities and organizations within Australia must make quite significant dents into the cists in the bid to adjust to this new requirement in the Australian curriculum.

The findings of Ferns, Campbell, Zegward, (2014) are quite clear on the obstacles on WIL and amongst them, lack of the institutional support from both the government and other agencies have a much significant impact on the availability of resources which can be used to develop and deliver the initiatives of WIL. The lack of support often comes from the lack of a clear institutional framework that is instrumental in delivering WIL in Australian institutions. The industry currently suffers from the lack of policies and frameworks through which WIL can be delivered. Bates, (2005) states that the current policies and frameworks are not only time consuming, but they also are quite cumbersome and are significantly hinge on the partnerships with external players such as the government. The possible lack of enough policies also comes from the fact that WIL is often viewed as a low priority activity and therefore it lacks the much-needed academic rigor. The resources are not often provided by the government and institutions of higher learning to fund WIL despite its importance in preparing the students for their careers.

Conclusion

Embedding WIL into the mainstream academic programs in Australia has become quite a task and a matter of fact, quality of the program, itself might threaten its implementation. In essence, there is need to ensure that the universities embed the practices of WIL into its curriculum and this essentially requires a rigorous approach into how the theoretical and experiential learning can be meshed up in a way that fortifies the careers of the students in terms of experiences, innovativeness, and teamwork (Bates, 2005). Unfortunately, implementing WIL into the academic and career programs of the students’ needs a significant amount of resources as well as a bigger commitment in changing not only the perspective of the students but the education fraternity in its entirety. WIL needs to be viewed not only as a support program but also as a significant part and parcel of the personal and career development process of the students. As for the academic part of learning, there is a need to adopt a different teaching and learning style that allows the students to perceive the importance and relevance of WIL in their careers. This is future-looking strategies that take a holistic approach to increase both funding and creating a favorable perception of WIL in institutions of higher learning not only in Australia but also globally.

References

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