Work placements allow students to apply theory to practice and gain valuable personal and professional skills. They can offer both students and employers the opportunity to share knowledge and expertise, and bridge the gap between students’ expectations and employers’ requirements. They also help reduce social inequalities by ensuring students are exposed to a wide range of workplace experiences.
Careful planning, clear expectations and opportunities to reflect are key to successful placement experiences. A recent study exploring students’ and employers’ perspectives on the value of placements by colleagues on the BA (Hons) Childhood Studies with Applied Psychology (CSAP) course at the University of Chester’s School of Education demonstrates this. We use our findings to offer guidance on how to help students make the most of their experiences, in any subject.
Incorporate pre- and post-placement planning and evaluation sessions
Use these sessions to highlight what students should expect from their placements and what placements will expect from them. For our course, we held discussions around definitions of professionalism within different sectors of the workforce, safeguarding and children’s well-being, partnership with parents and other stakeholders.
A pre-placement evaluation enables students to identify their expectations, fears, skills and knowledge. In addition to practical questions about travel, arrival time and finish time, we were aware our students may have had concerns about their role on placement and how they would be assessed, particularly if they are in a non-school-based setting.
The post-placement reflection may identify challenges, misconceptions and successes that can be linked to relevant academic literature and theory. For example, students may be asked to identify effective strategies for engaging children in classroom activities or responding to pupil welfare concerns. For non-school-based settings, students may be asked to reflect on how professional partnerships within multi-agency teams are managed and maintained.
Each student on the CSAP course has a personal academic tutor who supports their academic and personal progress throughout their studies. Harnessing this system to conduct one-to-one pre-placement conversations can ensure a clearer understanding of students’ interests, career ambitions, previous experiences, skills and competencies. Where possible, placements can then be mapped accordingly, offering a broader range of placement opportunities over the three-year course.
Ensure clear alignment between taught sessions and the placement experiences
This could mean adding specific tasks into the placement requirements that draw upon themes arising from lectures. For our CSAP course, this could include the review of safeguarding policies, observation of professional conversations or attendance at team training sessions.
- Spotlight guide: Get your students workplace-ready
- Tried and tested ways to teach your students soft skills
- Sharpen your students’ interview skills:
Maintain communication with providers
Ensure placement providers are well informed about the aims of the placement and how these align with the objectives of your course more generally. You can achieve this through dissemination of course materials, including placement expectations or through pre-placement meetings. This will ensure that expectations are clear from the outset and that providers can accommodate students more effectively. Students must also be realistic about the limitations of the placement. For example, there may be safeguarding concerns that prevent them from attending meetings, staff may not have time at the start or end of the day to communicate in-depth with students. Having an allocated placement mentor is key to successful dialogue. This is often a member of the leadership team in the placement setting, or an allocated professional whom the student shadows, depending on the placement context.
Create information-sharing systems
Information sharing is particularly important for students with special educational needs or disabilities to ensure their placement provider has ample time to adopt reasonable adjustments where required. It could involve providing an inclusion plan that details how the placement might adapt practice to meet students’ needs. For example, some students may need tasks to be broken down into smaller steps or they may have physical accessibility needs that require forward planning through a pre-placement visit. Such measures improve equity by ensuring that the placement offers the student the same opportunities as their peers.
Encourage student autonomy
We recommend putting the onus on the student to make introductory contact with the placement provider before the placement begins. This is an effective way to ensure each student takes ownership of their placement. Encourage students by requiring them to request specific documentation from their provider beforehand. For example, we encourage students on the CSAP course to email their placement setting once it has been confirmed, to introduce themselves, share their interests and expectations and request the settings’ safeguarding policy.
Use transparent and accessible monitoring systems
An appropriate system needs to be in place to ensure students engage positively with their placements. While for professional programmes, this may include a formal monitoring process, for non-accredited placements, the process may be less structured and focus on student professionalism through online meetings with placement mentors and self-evaluation.
Students must also be made to feel confident about contacting academic staff should the placement be unsatisfactory, for example, if they are not able to engage with or complete required activities. Utilising the personal academic tutor system can ensure students have a named member of the academic staff with whom they have already had the opportunity to form a relationship.
Recognise the potential burden on placement providers
Although the study we conducted indicated several benefits perceived by placement providers (an extra pair of hands, opportunity to review their own professional practice, fresh insights, and so on), it is also evident that placements create additional workload regardless of the professional context. Ensure students respect and acknowledge the challenges that placements might present for employers to promote a positive experience.
The findings from this small-scale study are specific to our particular programme, however, we hope they will support the development of effective placement practice across and beyond the institution.
Rebecca Crutchley and Michelle Palser are senior lecturers at the University of Chester.
If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.
comment