THE PLACEMENT: BEST PRACTICE IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, OR SLAVERY?’

Judith Watson (University of Brighton) and Linda Clarke (University of Westminster)

Contradictions

In this presentation we explore contradictions in the concept of the work placement and suggest some ways forward for policy.

Placements in vocational education

It is well established in the literature on vocational education and training, and on professional education, that a placement is best practice.

Apprenticeship pre-dates full-time vocational education and was the norm in the professions until the 20th century.

In the professions

Doctors, nurses and all other health professionals have integral placements

Solicitors, teachers, engineers, all have to have placements as an integral part of their initial education and training and their continuous professional development

The “sandwich course” model has been well established in engineering

Placements in the news

Yet placements have made the headlines in a completely different way recently, by being identified as exploitative, whether as workfare, or as post-graduation “internships”. Young jobseekers

told to work without pay or lose unemployment benefitsPeople taking up work experience places – providing up to 30 hours a week of unpaid labour – face losing benefits if they quitThe Guardian, Wednesday 16 November 2011

Placements cost money

Whether placements are “real” work for which the student/trainee/worker should receive at least the national minimum wage, is posed more starkly than ever, and it can no longer be assumed that full-time students have their financial needs met through the grants/loans system.

From apprenticeship.org.uk

Popular Apprentices Q&A's What is an Apprenticeship? Do I have to pay anything to become an

apprentice? Do I get paid? Do I get holidays?

(Paying to become an apprentice, the “apprenticeship premium”, was abolished in the Wages Council Act 1959. Is it coming back?)

International context

In Germany applied theoretical knowledge is key to apprenticeships and vocational learning

Learning moves between classroom, workshop and workplace

Question of whether nurses are apprentices or students is different in France and Germany.

The relationship of placements to institutional learning is theorised in Germany. In Britain there are not support structures for it.

CLAW research network

Connecting Learning and Work (CLAW) Universities so far: Brighton, Warwick,

Westminster, Kings, South Bank Seeking partnership with world-of-work

bodies Scope: work experience in schools,

colleges and universities, for unemployed and labour-market inactive people (“workfare”), apprenticeship. Continuities between these phases, general principles

General principles

Sequence: how are different placements absorbed into a career?

Learner voice Curriculum Educating the mentors Legal frameworks Learner subsistence and pay Qualifications and accreditation

Issues identified

Governance/regulation issues including quality assurance, employer/institution links, trade union involvement, placement search, learning reps, learner voice, equity

Education issues including applied theoretical knowledge, curriculum integration, continuity of learning across phases, qualifications, frameworks

Labour market/work issues including pay, boundary with volunteering, working conditions, health and safety, local labour markets, travel to learn

Problems in all the phases

14-16: no longer compulsory (Wolf Report)

16-19 leaving learning age kicks in

Tension between apprentice as learner and as worker. (Ryan)

No connection between placements in different phases. The learning logic in doing a placement pre 16 and another 16-18 is not communicated (Muir and Fettes)

Formal work experience placements are never tied into a student’s part-time job (unless the student makes the connections) 

Professional education: Teach First and new social work equivalent “Frontline”, Nurse education, all controversial

Taking the learner’s needs into account

The placement’s capacity to enhance learning is very powerful, but only if the learner’s needs are explicitly taken into account, and guaranteed through negotiated structures

These structures will differ according to the phase and type of education/training, but must at least be robust enough to ensure that a valid learning experience is offered and that rights in the workplace are not infringed

Communities of learning

Placement trainees and apprentices are engaged in legitimate peripheral practice

When do communities of practice become communities of learning?

How can we ensure that all placements are organised as learning programmes rather than as cheap/free labour?