Enhancing and Extending Placement Learning

1
Enhancing and Extending Placement Learning

• Karen Powell-Williams
• Emeritus Fellow

2

• Introduction and background

• Placements what they are
• The value of placements employability skills,
  work readiness
• Enhanced academic performance

3

• Place of work experience and placements in UK
  degree

• Dearing Report
• HESA statistics decline in placements
• Timely to conduct this research

4

• Methodology

• Scope of the research
• 18 months. Part-time research
• Interdisciplinary research team
• Business, Psychology and Law students.
• Level 5s (2nd year)
• Placement students and non placement students
• Level 6s (final year- 3rd or 4th year)
• Tutors
• Employers
• Data gathering and analysis
• Quantitative and Qualitative analysis

5
The questions

• How far do placements make a difference?
• In what ways and why?
• What causes this difference?
• Why dont more students take placements?
• What support do placement tutors need?
• What are the views of employers about placements?

6

• Stage One Quantitative data

• Class of Degree
• Entry qualifications
• Year Grade Averages

7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
(No Transcript)
10
Stage Two Qualitative data

• Log-books part of the assessment
• 21 psychology FT year placement in
  psychological setting
• 22 Business FT year placement in Business
  setting
• 11 Law 60 hours (FT or PT) in legal setting
• Instructions Keep a regular account of the
  experience. Reflect on learning, in particular
  development of skills communication, team
  working, organisation IT.

11
Rationale

• Views of placement expressed in students own
  words
• Quantity
• Process of change captured as it happens, rather
  than retrospectively
• Useful learning tools. Provides students with the
  opportunity to reflect and consolidate
  experiences (Busby, 2003), and reflection
  facilitates gains in learning (Boud, Keogh
  Walker, 1985)
• Part of the assessment in all three Schools

12


Analysis

• Theoretical thematic analysis (Braun Clarke,
  2006), underlying ideas related to transformation
  and change.
• Initial coding and second stage coding to form
  themes
• Findings 2 themes
• Communication and Confidence
• Identity and Professionalism

13
Theme 1 Communication Confidence
14


1 Communication and Confidence

• Feeling out of depth /Accountable for mistakes
• I was very nervous making this first phone call
  and it appears I misheard the message as I
  believed the offer had not yet been accepted by
  the clients. I was corrected later...I had either
  therefore misheard or genuinely been given the
  wrong information. From this I learned it was
  important to double check...and also take a note
  of the person you have been speaking to. ..On
  reflection I think I should be more confident on
  making the next communication by phone. (L.45)

15

Overcoming shyness lack of confidence

• When I first started working in the company, I
  had a fear of not being able to work and
  communicate with employees, as I thought they
  would consider me inexperienced and would not
  value my opinionI soon realised that tasks that
  were being asked of me NEEDED me to communicate
  with everyoneat the end of my placement I was
  feeling much more confident and after having
  communicated with everyonemy fear of
  communicating with elders/strangers has
  vanished. (B.15)

16

Tackling unfamiliar situations, increasing range
of tasks

• At the commencement of my work placement
  attending the ward rounds and having to present
  information among all the professionals was a
  very apprehensive task for me, however as the
  year went on and I attended and more of these
  ward rounds, my confidence levels increased and
  by the end of the year I could not wait to
  present and share my work and ideas with my
  colleagues. (P.43)
• Walmsley, Thomas Jameson (2006) found that
  sudden immersion in tasks, though anxiety
  provoking lead to significant learning
  experiences for students

17

• Developing autonomy

• As my confidence increased, it allowed my
  ability to deal effectively with stressful
  situations to improve. (P.29)
• Understanding professional conventions
• I also learned all the different terminology
  that are used by ...companies and this was
  enormous help later on whilst discussing with
  various people around the company. (B. 15)
• From listening to the explanation of the
  language used within Wills I was also able to
  deepen my knowledge of the area. (L. 45)
• The link between increase in confidence and
  communicating with range of people consistent
  with findings of Little and Lee (2007).

18
Theme 2IdentityProfessionalism
19

2 Identity Professionalism

• 1. Proving capability
• I feel like I have contributed a lot to my class
  and I have felt like I am part of the team and
  not just a student (P. 25)
• 2. Acceptance validation from co-workers
• ...I was talking to one of the teaching
  assistants in that class and I told her I was a
  student and she said she did not know that, which
  really pleased me. (P. 29)

20

3. Adopting professional behaviour

• During this year I have realised that in really
  crucial situations it is important to always be
  professional, calm and not lose self-confidence.
  (B. 4)
• The placement enabled me to broaden my
  perspective, refine my expectations and career
  aspirations, deepen my understanding of
  therapeutic work, and to develop personal
  qualities that are essential to the role of a
  counsellor. (P. 23)

21

4. Understanding role the organisation

• Though the preparation for the meeting was quite
  mundane and trivial... I realise...that these
  tasks, though trivial, are important to the work
  of the solicitor. Overshadowing this meeting gave
  me an insight into what life as a typical
  solicitor would be like if I did decide that I
  wanted to practice as a solicitor after I
  completed my degree. It allowed me to see the end
  result of all the hard work that takes place in
  order to build up a case on behalf of a client.
  (L. 53)

22
Blending themes
23
Change in one student (Psychology clinical
placement)

• I feel that I am contributing to this
  organisation and that my opinion does matter
• The best thing was that some of my ideas were
  actually used in tackling problems with clients
  and that made me feel good about myself.
• However to come here and see clinical
  psychologists, occupational therapists asking for
  each others opinions and ways to tackle certain
  problems made me realise that its not always
  about you
• I felt that my opinion didnt matter in their
  project as I was the least qualified...

24
Employers- placement supervisors

• Questions
• Why offer placements?
• What changes in students?
• How improve the placement year?
• Methodology

25

• Employers- placement supervisors

• Benefits for the organisation
• New talent (pre-recruitment)
• Enthusiasm and creativity
• Cheaper
• Can help with more basic tasks
• Benefits for student
• Range of experiences

26

• Employers- placement supervisors

• Changes in students
• Better communication with clients
• Increase in confidence
• Increase in workplace skills

27

• Employers- placement supervisors

• Improvements
• Monitoring students whilst on placement
• Provide more information about individual
  students
• Provide more contact with tutors prior to
  placement

28
Conclusions so far

• Doing a placement is good for the students
  academic performance
• Students change positively as a result of their
  experiences on placement
• Barriers to placement are experienced by both
  students and tutors, although both see placements
  as largely positive

29
Questions for discussion

• What causes the transformation?
• Role of employer in student development on
  placement?
• Role of the tutor in placement success?
• What support do employers want from the
  university?