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North England Educational Conference. Student Placements and the ‘Third Sector’ Thursday 17 January 2013 3:15 to 4:15pm Ben Duke 1 st Year PhD Student Keele University, Human Geography. Introduction Section 1 What are Universities for? ( Burawoy , 2011)
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North England Educational Conference Student Placements and the ‘Third Sector’Thursday 17 January 2013 3:15 to 4:15pmBen Duke1st Year PhD StudentKeele University, Human Geography
Introduction Section 1 What are Universities for? (Burawoy, 2011) The Functions of the Public University Section 2 Issues to Consider Regarding Student Experiential Learning Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984) Other Forms of Experiential Learning • Holdsworth and Quinn, Student Volunteering, 2012 • McCarthy and McCarthy, Experiential Learning, 2006 • Student Experiential Learning and Employability Brown et al, Employability, 2003 • Question and answers
What are Universities for? Part 1 Their role in society - knowledge production and knowledge transfer A pedagogy of knowledge produced and then transferred Analysis of other valid pedagogies that might exist
What are Universities for? Part 2The functions of the public university(Burawoy, 2011, p32)The functions of a UniversityProfessional knowledgeCritical knowledgePublic knowledgePolicy knowledge
Kolb’s Learning Cycle Applied to Student Experiential Learning
Issues to Consider Regarding Student Experiential Learning Part 1 • Universities are a tool for knowledge production and transfer • A key component of student experiential learning has been the student placement • Participation of a University student placement in the workplace is mandatory e.g. nursing, social work or teaching
Issues to Consider Regarding Student Experiential Learning Part 2 • Experiential Learning, Student Placements, Internships McCarthy and McCarthy, 2006 • Student Volunteering, Reproductive and Deconstructive Holdsworth and Quinn, 2012, Antipode
Student Placements Video Third Year Student Placements 2011 Video This video extract details numerous students who have been on placement with different ‘Third Sector’ organisations. The link is at http://vimeo.com/29459541
The Educational Importance of Student Placements with ‘Third Sector’ Organisations - Part 1 • Student placements with ‘Third Sector’ organisations are beneficial ‘Third Sector’ organisations do not have a statutory remit to deliver key societal functions such as homelessness, healthcare or education • Shelter, Greenpeace and Rethink are national ‘Third Sector’ organisations • As are much smaller local enterprises such as LEAF, TRANQS and ZEST • ‘Third Sector’ organisations work in close partnership with the statutory agencies • The ‘Third Sector’ is a good place for students to receive experiential learning
The Educational Importance of Student Placements with ‘Third Sector’ Organisations - Part 2 It would be educationally beneficial for society to know: Do students with experiential learning from a statutory agency e.g. local authority’s Social Services Department, an NHS hospital or in a school via the LEA; Have a lower or higher propensity to support mainstream key societal values than students who did their work placement with a ‘Third Sector’ organisation?
The Educational Importance of Student Placements with ‘Third Sector’ Organisations - Part 3 There are some educational and societal benefits in establishing: Do students whose experiential learning is with a statutory agency, compared to a ‘Third Sector’ organisation, have a greater or lesser degree of social and political awareness of the issues faced by marginalised groups e.g. asylum-seekers; ex-offenders; disabled people?
Student Experiential Learning and Employability Part 1 “Employability is a notion which captures the economic and political times in which we live”. (Brown et al, 2003, p107). Are there any other definitions of employability to the above?
Student Experiential Learning and Employability Part 2 The Higher Education Academy (HEA) define employability differently to Brown et al (2003): “A set of achievements, - skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupation, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy” (HEA, 2012).
Student Experiential Learning and Employability Part 3 What are the politics of employability? How is employability measured? Employability exist in at least two dimensions – ‘absolute and relative’ What are the dominant voices in this debate? Whose vested interests do they serve? To what extent have the dominant voices realised that generally, policies on employability fail to grasp the duality of employment - ‘absolute and relative.’
Student Experiential Learning and Employability Part 4 Do issues of human capital influence employer’s perception of the suitability of candidates? Do such issues have an influence on employability policies? Is there a discernible difference in the way graduates understand and manage their employability in terms of social background, gender and educational biography?
Student Experiential Learningand Employability Part 5 Do differences in human, social and cultural capital, influence graduates to pursuit employment in different ways; or influence their social and political awareness of various marginalised groups? Has the student placement experience influenced the amount type and nature of the graduate’s human, social and cultural capital? To what extent and according to which observers?
Traditional Statutory Agencies and ‘Third Sector’ Organisations Compared Do people feel there would be any difference between a statutory agency placement and a ‘Third Sector’ organisation placement, in how the placement affects the student’s own views on human, social and cultural capital? What about employers, do they perceive a difference between these two types of student learning? Are there any socio-economic, socio-political or socio-cultural factors influencing employer’s views?
Conclusion What are Universities for? (Burawoy, 2011) There is broad consensus from the main stakeholders, regarding this question. There are numerous valid pedagogies of knowledge (Burawoy, 2011) These are influenced by the dichotomy: Knowledge for whom and Knowledge for what? Student Experiential Learning (McCarthy and McCarthy, 2006) Student Volunteering , Internships and Placements Reproductive or Deconstructive (Holdsworth and Quinn, 2012) Employability (Brown et al, 2003) There are competing definitions. Most are value laden being couched in economic terms, paying little attention to the duality of Employability - ‘Absolute and Relative’ Statutory Agencies and ‘Third Sector’ organisations - Student Placements Compared What differences in student attributes if any, are there between the two?
Bibliography Part 1 Althusser, L. (1971)Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: (Notes Towards an Investigation)”, Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, transcription Ben Brewster, London and New York, Monthly Review Press. Bourdieu, P. (1990) The Logic of Practice, Transcription by R. Nice, Cambridge, Polity Press. Bourdieu, P. (1991) Language and Symbolic Power, Edited John B. Thompson, Transcription by G. Raymond and M. Adamson, Cambridge, Polity Press. Bourdieu, P. (1993) The Field of Cultural Production, Cambridge, Polity Press. Bourdieu, P. (1996) The Rules of Art, London, Routledge. Bourdieu, P. (1997) Pascalian Meditations, Transcription by R. Nice, Stanford, Standford University Press.
Bibliography Part 2 Brown, P., Hesketh, A. and Williams, S. (2003) ‘Employability in a Knowledge-driven economy’, Journal of Education and Work, 16(2), pp107-126. Burawoy, M. (2011) ‘Redefining the Public University: Global and National Contexts’, in Holmwood, J. (Ed) (2011) A Manifesto for the Public University, London, Bloomsbury Academic. Holdsworth, C. and Quinn, J. (2012), ‘The Epistemological Challenge of Higher Education Student Volunteering: “Reproductive” or “Deconstructive” Volunteering?’, Antipode. Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. London, Prentice-Hall. Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1967) The German Ideology: a Critique of the Most Recent German Philosophy, as represented by Feuerbach, B. Bauer, and Stirner, Writings of the Young Marx on Philosophy and Society, Transcription and Edited by Lloyd, D. Easton, and Kurt, H. Guddat, New York, Anchor Books, (or New York Garden City, Doubleday), pp403-473. McCarthy, P. R. and McCarthy, H. M. (2006) ‘When Case Studies are Not Enough: Integrating Experiential Learning into Business Curricula’, Journal of Education for Business, 81(4), pp201-204.