Sheffield Hallam University: Placement Conference – Making the Most of Placement Ruth Lawton Senior Learning & Teaching Fellow for Employability

My plan My experience Your experience Why placement makes a difference: research and anecdote What do we want placement to achieve? What are the issues and challenges? Using the challenge cards to get things moving for you

My Experience Placement Preparation module (one term) – BA Business Studies yr 2 (pretty passive) – Assessment by mock assessment centre Placement de-briefing workshop (one day) – BA Business Studies (yr 4) (noisy, confident, punctual, collaborative….) External Engagements Programme – Birmingham Conservatoire Career Management module – HND Business & Finance (yr 1) – Assessment included interviewing an employer, researching and justifying a career choice and targeted CV Interviewing employers – tell me a story of a ‘good’ graduate, tell me a story of a ‘bad’ graduate – such tales! OpportUNIty Programme – BCU employing its own students – feedback from / for all Destination Stats Research – failure to get money to prove placement makes a significant difference

My experience makes me an ‘Expert’ Niels Bohr (cited in Race, 2014 p.29) described an ‘expert’ as ‘Someone who has made all of the mistakes which it is possible to make – in a very narrow field!’

SHU expertise In this room excellent good practice! Good practice can be copied, adapted, a bouncing off point, built on!

Where is your expertise? Activity: – turn to person next to you – introduce yourself by name / discipline / experience with placement Two mins either way

Placement makes a difference: Research The Dearing Report 1997 – recommends that every university student should undertake a placement Lots of research: – Mandilaras (2004) – Duignan (2003) – Jackson (2014) – Wilton N (2011)

Placement makes a difference: Experience Employers – Experience – Skills evidence – Contacts / references – Word of mouth / reputation My own anecdotal – placement is highly correlated with a graduate level job, good honours degree result, higher salary – all better than the cohort who did NOT do a placement…BUT

Placement makes a difference: your experience Activity: – turn to person next to you – What difference can placement make to your students – brainstorm some attributes, skills, behaviours, qualities? Four mins Be prepared for me to pick on you!

What are we expecting placement to achieve? Make our students employable? ‘Employability is having a set of skills, knowledge, understanding and personal attributes that make a person more likely to choose, secure and retain occupations in which they can be satisfied and successful.’ (Dacre Pool & Sewell, revision in italics from discussion) Or enhance their career adaptability? ‘the capability of an individual to make a series of successful transitions where the labour market, organisation of work and underlying occupational and organisational knowledge bases may all be subject to considerable change’ (Bimrose et al, 2011)

Ruth’s definition (Monday this week) Placement is all about generating / practising this habit – in a relatively safe environment where they can afford to make mistakes and undo / learn from them : Students being able to recognise, record, evidence, articulate, demonstrate and make best use of their [unique] skills, abilities and experiences, that make them confident and competent to deal with change in their lives and the world around them, as those changes affect their working life. All about being able to handle work, life and the slings and arrows

To achieve Ruth's ideal… 1 st year – preparation for finding their own placement – Opportunity awareness, self presentation, decision-making skills; get a summer job! 2 nd year – find their own placement – Career management skills Placement – with audit / reflective / action planning accredited learning – Strengths based reflection: what went well! Learning from disasters (memorable stories to tell); self efficacy 3 rd / 4 th year – de brief and application of learning to career choice and career management

What is your ideal? Activity – what do you want your students to know / learn / experience that you can’t teach them in the HE classroom? – Do you already do that? Can you make it more explicit? – Do you know anyone that is doing that? Can you network? Challenge cards – Reflect individually and make a note on your challenge card – Share as much as you wish to with person next to you

Rumour has it Not enough placements… – Placement offices have vacancies! It’s our students who are not engaging – Placements can be hidden – and unlocked / created via speculative approaches, word-of-mouth, contacts. All skills for the graduate labour market!

Rumour has it Activity – What are your issues / difficulties with placement that you want to explore today? Challenge cards – Reflect individually and make a note on your challenge card for plenary – Share as much as you wish to with person next to you

Non placement cohort What about the students left behind? How can you enhance their employability / preparedness for the graduate labour market? What work related learning / skills development are you already doing? Is it explicit to your students – they have to be able to articulate and ‘sell’ this (!!) Talk to alumni - what did they wish they had known? Talk to employers – what are they looking for?

After today It is not over! – Continue to network – Ask the placement people for help / support / advice – Make some changes – small, realistic, achievable and on going… don’t stop Challenge cards Action plan for the changes you will make after the conference

References Bimrose, J., Brown, A., Barnes, S-A. and Hughes, D. (2011). The role of career adaptability in skills supply. Evidence report 35. Main report. London: UK Commission for Employment and Skills. ISBN Dacre Pool, L & Sewell, P (2007). The Key to Employability. Developing a practical model of graduate employability. Education + Training, Vol 49, No 4, pp Duignan J (2003) Placement and adding value to the academic performance of undergraduates: reconfiguring the architecture - an empirical investigation Journal of Vocational Education & Training Volume 55, Issue 3, 2003 Jackson D (2014) Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and best practice Mandilaras A (2004) ‘Industrial Placement and degree performance: evidence from a British higher education institution’ International Review of Economics Education, Vol 3 Issue 1(2004) Race, P. (2014) Making Learning Happen: A Guide for Post-Compulsory Education. 3rd Edition. London. Sage Publications Ltd Wilton N (2011) The impact of work placements on skills development and career outcomes for business and management graduates Studies in Higher Education Volume 37, Issue 5, 2011