Peter D’Sena

UNIVERSITY STUDENT PLACEMENT PROGRAMMES WITH HERITAGE GROUPS AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS.

1. Brief introduction: student placements

11 minute overview

1. Placements and employability: understanding university perspectives and priorities

2. Universities and the practice and management of placements

3. Exploring the two-way benefits of placements – benefits to the host

In general, what do most universities want from placements for their students?Typically, they relate to university-wide graduate attributes (these are from UH).

Professionalism,employability and

enterprise

Learning and research skills

&Global Awareness

Intellectual depth, breadth and adaptability

(multiple perspectives)

Respect for others (inclusivity,

cultural awareness)

Social responsibility

(ethical, participatory, etc.)

How has the university sector decided what skills are worth developing? Employability has a multitude of external drivers - QAA, NSS, HEFCE, DLHE, etc.

Hard skills:

A very long list including data analysis, use of technology, research, etc., etc.(See QAA Benchmark Statements, 2014.)

Note: both hard and soft skills are better developed and revisited in a progressive, spiral curriculum, rather than as one-offs (Bruner, 1960, 1966).

Soft skills:

NSS question 19: ‘The course has helped me to present myself with confidence’

HEFCE ‘the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility’ (p. 19)

2. Universities and the practice and management of student placements

Types of heritage and cultural placement WHERE. They cast the net wide, from

domestic to European and other international. This requires financial, language and mentor support (Al Monger’s Southampton Solent report for the HEA; UCL’s history department’s language support). Incidentally, this can work towards the 2020 Vision of learning abroad: http://www.britishcouncil.org/education/ihe/knowledge-centre/transnational-education/vision-2020

DOING WHAT. What’s done in a placement varies. For example: civic engagement – doesn’t need to look like a work placement – it can be part of a project/module (Cardiff University; Alison Twells, Community Engagement Project in Year 2 History, Sheffield Hallam University).

2. Universities and the practice and management of student placements

Long-thin: e.g. one day a week. Short-fat: e.g. 4-8 weeks; integrated block; employment based; linking study to workplace; volunteering; enterprise related (Bielefeld, Germany).

Non-accredited internship – to assess or not assess

Given accreditation by a module or suite of modules (Staffordshire/UH)

One-off or part of a progressive system Through a broker, e.g. placementuk:

placement-uk.com Across disciplines/different types of

students together (cf CollabHub, Huddersfield)

.Practice and management: Developing and maintaining placements

1. An integrated strategy – we look to work across departments and groups within the university.

2. Depending on the number of placements, a good database, with a partnership management system similar to those used in Departments of Education, but not necessarily just for schools – LSBU’s Alternative Educational Settings.

3. Assessment: constructive alignment. Have a system which can accommodate the fact that no two placements offer the same opportunities or environment for learning and practice. Hence, strategic or constructive alignment of tasks. (See Biggs. J.)

4. A connected curriculum (cf UCL). Be mindful that preparing and supporting students for placements in professional and other contexts of necessity involves: reflective practice being built into

preparation and learning outcomes; structuring in-house modules in

imaginative ways: from single/stand-alone, to blended, hybrid or within a spiral curriculum; or with syncretic assessments. One that works well across professions is the use of critical incident theory/analysis to structure reflective practice.

5. Using the scholarship of teaching and learning to inform the learning experience. Peer and individual learning communities, face-to-face, online or blended, to create learning groups/communities of practice. (e.g. PGCE students in different placements collaborate over part of their assessment).

6. Mentor training/online support and quality assurance (Wolverhampton) – from ‘what’s in it for me’ (the reciprocal benefits of working with, as well as to support students), to ways to support any work in monitoring, counselling, ‘teaching’ and reporting on students in meeting academic and professional objectives. Note, recognition optional for: (a) mentoring and training students; (b) for reflecting on their practice in supporting

students (York St John);

7. Training UH staff/team, including support staff, to support processes, curriculum design and students; bureaucracy: Disclosure and barring service matters, if necessary.

8. The recording of work; institutional caching; availability for future use. Some HEIs use software such as Mahara to allow students to build an e-portfolio of work. There is also portability into systems valued by the sector, such as HEAR and/or into professional life after graduation is important. (Southampton Solent).

9. Finally, collective responsibility and proactivity for procurement. Raising awareness among staff and stakeholders; notice to students. Communications and visits to develop partnerships. Partnership events. (All have parallels to schools recruitment and Alternative Educational Experiences - LSBU).

3. Benefits to host institution - tangibleProduction of, for example:

specific resources related to a project/task – e.g. newsletters; informational materials; reports; research reports – contributing to an institution’s work/publications.

exhibitions and exhibition materials. information for social and other

media cataloguing and digitising public facing work – inc. interviewing taught or untaught technical tasks

3. Benefits to host institution – less tangible (picture, below – who is learning?)

Human and intellectual by-products Maintaining direct contacts with

academia through both students and lecturers; giving time to the next generation of workers – it’s ‘worth doing’

Keeping abreast of recent academic developments from students; through explaining processes to students; this can be refreshing and energising to your staff (as well as challenging to those who need a challenge)

The benefits of any university training – either one-offs or from the experience contributing to your staff’s CPD

Reciprocity from the University – talks (e.g. JM)/consultancy/networking

Select bibliography Balshaw, J. & Twells, A. [2011] Work-related learning in history. HEA. Biggs, J.B. [2003] Teaching for quality learning at university. Buckingham: Open University Press/SRHE. Biggs. J. [2003] Model of constructive alignment in curriculum development. Available on UH site:

http://www.studynet2.herts.ac.uk/intranet/lti.nsf/0/80C2EDD5AEC1D40980257C2200355AE6/$FILE/constructive%20alignment.pdf Booth, A. [2014] History Teaching at its Best. Engelska: Publishing. Boyer, E. L. [1990] Scholarship Reconsidered: priorities of the professoriate. Princeton, N. J.: Carnegie Foundation for

the Advancement of Learning. Bruner, J. S. [1960]. The Process of education. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Erasmus, available at: http://erasmusintern.org/content/scholarships and http://

www.britishcouncil.org/study-work-create/opportunity/work-volunteer/erasmus-traineeship Jones, E. & Brown, S. (Eds.) [2007] Internationalising Higher Education. Oxford: Routledge. Pollard, A. [3rd edn. ,2008] Reflective Teaching: effective and evidence-informed professional practice. London:

Continuum. QAA (2014) Subject benchmark statement History Draft for consultation, available at:

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/SBS-consultation-history.pdf QAA [2014] UK Quality Code for Higher Education: a brief guide. Available: www.qaa.ac.uk/qualitycode Race, P. & Pickford, R. [2007] Making Teaching Work. London: Sage Publications. Shulman, L. [1999] “Course Anatomy: The Dissection and Analysis of Knowledge Through Teaching” in Hutchings, P. (Ed.),

The Course Portfolio: How Faculty Can Examine their Teaching to Advance Practice and Improve student Learning. Washington: Stylus Publishers.

Wiliam, D. [2011] Embedded Formative Assessment. Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.