Taking Care of Partnerships: A Challenge for Academics and Universities

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Taking Care of PartnershipsA Challenge for
Academics and Universities

• Janice Orrell
• Education Consultant

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Practicum Project 1999-2001

• Attempts to increase the prevalence of work
  placements as either a requirement or as
  electives in more generalist programmes.
• This trend is potentially problematic because,
  implemented well, work placements can be a heavy
  drain on scarce resources.
• Effective programmes require access to quality
  learning environments, preparation and support
  for supervisory staff and establishment of
  appropriate risk management and minimisation
  processes. (Orrell, Cooper Jones, 1999).

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Issues Arising

• Universities are increasingly engaged in
  developing programs to develop graduates
  capacities that meet specific vocational
  professional community needs.
• Placements often result from extended
  collaboration between the university units
  relevant community professional organisations.
• Dependence on the goodwill of professional groups
  for delivery of academic programs must be faced
  and challenged.
• Work involved in establishment and maintenance of
  these links needs to be recognised in workload
  calculations.

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Learning in Workplace Contexts differs from all
other learning contexts

• The different roles and relationships are not
  necessarily clear.
• The student is not necessarily the central
  concern
• There are competing interests.
• The learning experiences are often unique,
  unpredictable and immediate and transient in
  nature.
• There are often high-risk situations involved.

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Comparison of Classroom and Practical Learning

• Classroom Learning
• Predictable
• Replicable
• Low risk
• Prolonged
• Reflective
• Intentional
• Student Learning Centred

• Workplace Learning
• Unpredictable
• Unique
• High risk
• Transient
• Action/performance
• Immediate
• Competing interests

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Knowing Practice
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• Merely placing students in work settings (hoping
  they will learn) does not guarantee that learning
  will take place (Hamilton and Hamilton (1997a, p.
  676 1997b, p. 682).
• Students are not passive recipients, but
  co-participants (Greene, 1998, p. 411).
• Going on work experience is mistaken for a
  complete learning activity (Petherbridge 1996, p.
  249)

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Students Require Preparation

• Five modules in a Learning to Work (an on-line
  program)
• Investigating the host organisation
• Personal Preparation for Placement
• Learning from Experience
• Cultural awareness and literacy
• Safety Surviving the placement

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6 Domains of WIL

• Learning, teaching and supervision
• Student access, needs and support
• Assessment evaluation
• Legal and ethical issues
• Leadership management
• Partnerships with industry and professions

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• Partnerships with Industry Professional
  Organisations

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Traditional Relationships

• Demarcated, value-added partnerships
• Dualistic naturalistic
• Theory vers practice
• Observers of each other
• Competing interests
• Students responsible for transfer of knowledge
  between sites

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• 3 Propositions

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PROPOSITION 1

• Successful university work integrated learning
  programmes stem from robust relationships between
  host organisations and institutions.
• Includes a shared conception between the two that
  the prime purpose is working to learn which will
  enhance a graduate's capability in learning to
  work.

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Proposition 2

• Currently, at the discipline level, management
  efforts are largely short term dealing with the
  practicalities and logistics of placing students
• There are high attrition of organisations willing
  to take students.
• Institutional leadership is often unengaged
  leaving academics to manage these as individual
  problems that they alone must solve
• There is a lack of institutional infrastructure
  to lead and manage the quality enhancement of WIL

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Proposition 3

• Improvement requires cultural change by
  Universities, industry professional
  associations.
• Achieve of cultural change requires
• Engagement of leadership from governments,
  institutions professional associations
• Systematic continuing professional development
  for academics and for host organisation staff is
  critical.

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• Change Management in Partnership

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The Managed Approach

• This new culture can best be described as a
  balance of a managed approach negotiated and
  advised by an informed and valued community of
  practice.

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Cultural Shift

• Old Culture
• Cottage Industry
• voluntary
• atomistic
• learnt on the job
• Value-added approach
• students as workers
• individualistic
• students as observers

• New Culture
• Partnerships
• intentional
• comprehensive
• responsibility induction
• Stakeholder Approach
• students as learners
• shared goals
• students as participants

(Harvey, Moon Geall, 1997)
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If achieved, the cultural change will be
observable in

• Students who are better prepared for their
  placement,
• Placement work place supervisors who support and
  focus on learning rather than tasks,
• Authentic, respectful and mutually beneficial
  relationships between universities and their
  industry partners
• Institutional recognition for the work of
  academics who achieve these successful
  partnerships.
• Reduced attrition of placements

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Approaching WIL differently will challenge
established orthodoxies

• The supremacy of either theory or practice
• The interaction of researchers and practitioners
• The myth that expertise resides in experience
• Accreditation processes
• Curriculum development domains established
  territories

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Conservative Responses to Challenges

• Defensive
• Coercive
• Longing for past glories
• Trying to invent better mouse traps

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Adaptive Responses to Challenges

• Innovative
• Opportunistic
• Exploratory
• Creative
• Collaborative

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Effective Placement Programs

• Involve partnerships among diverse groups
  employers, students, academic teachers, higher
  education managers, professional bodies and
  broker agencies (careers offices, external
  placement groups).
• There is recognition of all parties involved,
  with clear agreements between them.
• Mutual benefit is essential. (Harvey, Moon and
  Geall, 1997).
• The host organisation is involved in the planning
  from the beginning and is committed to student
  learning. (Moody 1997)
• Policy and processes governing duty of care,
• Resources infrastructure to support those who
  manage work placement program,
• An informed community of practice across the
  university
• Stable relationships with industries
  communities
• Due recognition of the significant contribution
  of industry partners.

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Effective WIL Management

• Leadership engagement
• Visibility of practice learning in the
  institution the host organisation through
  policy, infrastructure and systems
• A clear base-line appreciation evaluation of
  current practice (QA)
• Clear, shared vision of good effective CTLA
  practice
• Deep and sustained interaction with host
  organisations
• Induction capacity building for academic staff,
  students host organisations
• Adequate modifiable resources
• Well prepared students
• Scholarly community of practice (QE)

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South African Higher Education Qualifications
Framework (HEQF) Requirements

• Effective management and coordination, with
  responsibilities and lines of accountability
  clearly allocated.
• Adequate infrastructure provided.
• Learning contracts or agreements, clarifying the
  objectives and outcomes of the learning process,
  as well as the roles and responsibilities of the
  institution, students, mentors and employers
  involved.
• Regular and effective communication between the
  various parties
• Regular and systematic recording and monitoring
  of progress of the students learning experience.
  
• Mentoring to help student to recognise strengths
  and weaknesses develop existing new abilities
  gain knowledge of work practices.
• Academic as well as workplace based assessment.

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• Partnerships with External Stakeholders

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Communication Alignment
Formal Agreement
Informal relationships
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External Stakeholders

• Establish contracts between the institution the
  host organisations
• Provide stakeholders with opportunities to
  influence the curriculum (meetings with faculty
  and administrators, membership of committees)
• Supporting the valuable industry and university
  links for research, consultancies and
  professional development
• Active acknowledgement and rewards for
  contributing to student learning.

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Host Organisation Ethos

• stakeholder ethos.
• emphasizes learning,
• adopts a long-term view,
• Seeks mutual benefit
• Students experience a range of involvements
• Teamwork, communication and interpersonal skills
  are intentionally developed
• Training is holistic, rather than task focused,
• Students encouraged to develop new ideas through
  the exploration of subject matter and the actual
  workplace.

• value added ethos
• focuses upon tangible, short-term returns for the
  organisation
• students expected to be adaptive and are assigned
  specific tasks to complete.
• Students receive instrumental training
• Employability skills are caught on the job.
• Students gain insight into the pressures of the
  work environment within various organisations
• Harvey Moon Geall (1997).

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Stakeholder Ethos Epitomises Learning
Organisations

• Encourage the culture of learning though
  explicitly valuing lifelong, independent
  education, providing support for learners.
• Carefully monitor learning outcomes and
  conditions for OHS and EO.
• Permits organisations to act on opportunities and
  challenges and supports the articulated strategy
  of higher education institutions and the
  achievement their shared goals (Harvey Knight,
  1996).
• Leads to authentic, ongoing, transformative
  partnerships integrating work, curriculum and
  research (Harvey et al., 1997).

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• Partnerships with
• Workplace Supervisors

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Reasons for supervising

• Desire to teach Influence anothers
  professional development
• Professional duty/ Agency wanted me to supervise
• Needing extra help in the agency
• New challenge sense of achievement
• Keep up with the latest knowledge
• University connection
• Field instruction is an additional learning
  experience
• Furthering of the profession
• Relieving the boredom of the job
• Variety of tasks in the job
• Seeing students reach their goals
• Making a contribution to student development

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Rewards valued by supervisors

• Free workshops and pay honorarium/mileage/free
  university parking to training events
• Invite them to University orientation
• Award adjunct academic status
• Provide opportunities for networking with other
  supervisors
• Certification program
• Recruit first amongst supervisors when hiring for
  part time employment to teach electives

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• Quality Assurance

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Quality Assurance Issues

• Employer satisfaction re-preparation of graduates
  for work and work based learning
• Explicitness of purposes so that the adequacy of
  enabling procedures can be evaluated against the
  purpose
• Acceptability of the purposes, procedures and
  expected outcomes to students and professional
  accreditation standards
• Equity and inclusiveness of access and outcome

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Collaborations with Professions

• Goal getting the BALANCE right!
• Theory Practice
• Rewards Responsibility
• Learning Working
• Leading Managing
• Leading Collaborating

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Natural Partnerships

• Progress is difficult to achieve when the balance
  isnt right!

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New Partnerships

• Stakeholder approach
• (Harvey, Moon Geall)
• Authentic transformative
• Theory practice,
• parts of a whole
• Fluid synergy,
• each re-shapes the other
• Commitment to mutual benefit

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References

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• Burnard, P. 1996. Acquiring interpersonal skills
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• Cooper, L. Orrell, J, (1999) 'The Practicum
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