An exploration of the pedagogies employed to integrate knowledge in work-integrated learning

TLDR

This article reports on a national three‑sector study of how work‑integrated learning (WIL) integrates academic and workplace learning in New Zealand. The study aimed to examine the pedagogical approaches used by WIL practitioners to promote learning and integration of knowledge. The authors conducted collective case studies across business and management, sport, and science‑engineering institutions, using interviews with employers, students, and co‑op practitioners and analysis of course documents to investigate WIL practices. The study found no consistent pedagogical mechanism for integrating on‑ and off‑campus learning; learning occurs through legitimate peripheral participation and apprenticeship, while integration is only implicitly fostered—e.g., via reflective journals—and stakeholders believe explicit integration should occur.

Abstract

This article describes a three-sector, national research project that investigated the integration aspect of work-integrated learning (WIL). The context for this study is three sectors of New Zealand higher education: business and management, sport, and science and engineering, and a cohort of higher educational institutions that offer WIL/cooperative education in variety of ways. The aims of this study were to investigate the pedagogical approaches in WIL programs that are currently used by WIL practitioners in terms of learning, and the integration of academic-workplace learning. The research constituted a series of collective case studies, and there were two main data sources � interviews with three stakeholder groups (namely employers, students, and co-op practitioners), and analyses of relevant documentation (e.g., course/paper outlines, assignments on reflective practice, portfolio of learning, etc.). The research findings suggest that there is no consistent mechanism by which placement coordinators, off-campus supervisors, or mentors seek to employ or develop pedagogies to foster learning and the integration of knowledge. Learning, it seems, occurs by means of legitimate peripheral participation with off-campus learning occurring as a result of students working alongside professionals in their area via an apprenticeship model of learning. There is no evidence of explicit attempts to integrate on- and off-campus learning, although all parties felt this would and should occur. However, integration is implicitly or indirectly fostered by a variety of means such as the use of reflective journals.