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This research explores the impact of work placements on students' communication, confidence, and professionalism through qualitative and quantitative analysis. The findings highlight the development of skills and identity in a work environment.
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Enhancing and Extending Placement Learning Karen Powell-Williams Emeritus Fellow
Introduction and background • Placements – what they are • The value of placements – employability skills, work readiness • Enhanced academic performance
Place of work experience and placements in UK degree • Dearing Report • HESA statistics – decline in placements • Timely to conduct this research
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
The questions • How far do placements make a difference? • In what ways and why? • What causes this difference? • Why don’t more students take placements? • What support do placement tutors need? • What are the views of employers about placements?
Stage One: Quantitative data • Class of Degree • Entry qualifications • Year Grade Averages
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.
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
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
Theme 1: Communication & Confidence
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)
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 opinion…I soon realised that tasks that were being asked of me NEEDED me to communicate with everyone…at the end of my placement I was feeling much more confident and after having communicated with everyone…my fear of communicating with elders/strangers has vanished.”(B.15)
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
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).
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)
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)
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)
“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 other’s opinions and ways to tackle certain problems made me realise that it’s not always about you…” “I felt that my opinion didn’t matter in their project as I was the least qualified...” Change in one student(Psychology clinical placement)
Employers- placement supervisors Questions • Why offer placements? • What changes in students? • How improve the placement year? Methodology
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
Employers- placement supervisors Changes in students: • Better communication with clients • Increase in confidence • Increase in workplace skills
Employers- placement supervisors Improvements: • Monitoring students whilst on placement • Provide more information about individual students • Provide more contact with tutors prior to placement
Conclusions so far • Doing a placement is good for the student’s 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
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?
