Work Related Learning-Report on HEA funded

Scoping Study

Jane Weir, Director, Careers Service

Background

• Commitment to enhancing student employability

• SFC’s ‘Learning to Work’ report• Work of the QAA Enhancement Theme on

Employability• WRL emerging as a huge challenge• Application to SFC for Strategic Change

Grant funding • Contact with HEA for support

Three phases with associated activities:

•Feasibility: to provide evidence base for phases 2 & 3, ongoing research in WRL throughout project•Implementation and best practice:Development of placements/internships and related opportunities, pilot projects in 6 non-vocational subject disciplines•Establishing models for sustainability:Embedding of WRL activity within curricula and production of staff development materials

Outline of three-year project

Relevance of Scoping Study

• To provide a baseline of knowledge for a more focused feasibility study in Phase 1 of project

• Scoping study will identify the primary sources for investigating the best sector-wide strategic and operational approaches to embracing WRL

• Will help clarify what we mean by WRL

• To identify and categorise the range of UK-wide strategic institutional and operational WRL activity

• To examine methods that have been effective in promoting, disseminating and sustaining strategic and operational WRL activities

• To disseminate outputs to stakeholders across the UK and feed into other work by HEA

• To conduct study between March and July 2006

Project Objectives

Preliminary findings

• Term ‘work related learning’ used in HE as a generic term to mean broadly development of work-relevant skills and awareness of work-different terms used interchangeably by practitioners

• Depending on definition used, scope of activities which come under heading will vary

• Moreland’s definition considered to be clearest: ‘Involving students learning about themselves and the world of work and their wider lives’

Preliminary findings

• Considerable amount of WRL activity underway within HEIs

• However, wide range of activities in non-vocational subjects, involving diversity of approaches

• Much of this activity not been identified under WRL but more as ‘enhancing employability of undergraduate students’

Different categories

• Enhancing employability:new employability modules, mentoring programmes, enterprise workshops, voluntary work, clubs & societies-often add-ons

• Development of work related skills:FDs, HNDs, WBL (in the form of whole degree programmes)

• Support for WRL:reporting of WRL in PDP, Staff Development

Identified Gaps

• Very little evaluative evidence in existence-area populated by descriptive case studies-little or no research undertaken on the effectiveness of different approaches

• Research that does exist tends to focus on specific activities (e.g. work placements) is usually descriptive more than evaluative

Issues

• No consensus on what should be included in WRL• Key problems -about assessments in the

workplace and giving support to workplace learning

• Evidence that some student groups less likely to take up work placement opportunities

• Challenges of sustaining employability projects beyond the development phase

• Need better evaluative evidence (I.e. indicators of successful WRL outcomes)

Issues (continued)

• Lack of inter-connectedness of various WRL activities within HEIs

• Despite the level of progress that has been made to enhance employability, it is still a challenge to give WRL opportunities for all students in HE-especially in research-led HEIs