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Community Knowledge Exchange publications focus on current and pertinent topics in the field of work based and placement learning (in the broadest sense) and are written by ASET members. A snapshot overview of some of our Community Knowledge Exchanges is provided below and the full range of resources and full articles can be viewed by members by logging into the ASET Community.
Supporting Employers to Promote Equity of Access to Work-integrated Learning for Students with Disabilities
written by Clodagh Kerr and Shay Nolan, University College Cork, Ireland
Over the past twenty years, the Higher Education (HE) sector has seen evolving practices around recruitment and selection of disabled students, initially through work placements and onwards to graduate participation. Introduced in 2009, the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) is a HE admissions scheme that aims to achieve equality of access by offering reduced points university places to students with a disability. In 2022 DARE accounted for over 11% of all HE applications in Ireland and Irish Universities have subsequently seen increasing numbers of students registering with Disability Services…While the increased number of students with a disability in HE is positive, a significant and growing issue is in these students successfully transitioning to graduate employment. Practitioners note persistent fear amongst key stakeholders around supporting disability in the workplace and understanding reasonable accommodations/adjustments.
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Social Inclusion Bursaries for Work Based and Placement Learning: Innovative Practice or Perpetuating the Cycle of Unpaid Placements?
written by Jamie Bradbury, Bath Spa University
The sector wide emphasis on improving social inclusion has seen most universities moving away from an elitist stance to refocus on accessibility for previously excluded social groups. ‘Inclusivity’ is embedded into most service goals and individual targets- for us as Work Based and Placement Learning (WBPL) practitioners, it’s pertinent to what we do and offer. If work experience is so key for successful graduate outcomes, how can we ensure that as many of our students as possible can take part?
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The Importance of Teaching and Assessing of Soft Skills
written by Alex Vann, Leeds Trinity University
In an increasingly digitised world, graduates stepping into the workforce need to be equipped with an arsenal of soft skills to complement their academic knowledge. AI use to replace many hard skills is becoming commonplace, emphasising the importance of human-centred attributes like flexibility, curiosity, and emotional intelligence. However, research has consistently pointed to a significant gap between the soft skills needs of industry and the skills graduates are actually equipped with. This skills gap, which has been exacerbated by the decline in internships and placement opportunities and the impact of COVID-19 on interpersonal skills development, urgently requires innovative interventions.
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Enhancing support for International Students to engage in Work Based and Placement Learning (WBPL)
written by Dr Gitit Kadar-Satat and Diya Mehta, University of Warwick
The UK Higher Education system is the second most popular study destination for international students worldwide. In 21/22, approximately 1 in 4 students in the UK came from overseas or the European Union. At the University of Warwick, nonEU/UK-domiciled students make up 31% of the total student population. The Government’s International Education Strategy recognises the crucial financial, social and cultural value this student population brings to the sector. The strategy emphasises the importance of supporting international students’ employability and transition into the labour market. This is considered integral to enhancing the international student experience and essential for maintaining the sector’s global competitiveness. However, the employability needs of international students have been largely overlooked by HE providers who maintain a ‘UK-centric’ focus.
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Micro-internships: An inclusive way to increase student participation in work based and placement learning
written by Dr Victoria Jackson, Vicki O’Brien and Simon Montague, Liverpool John Moores University
Student participation rates in yearlong work placements vary, but an overall declining trend in the number of university students opting for yearlong placements is acknowledged. While longer placements offer substantial benefits, they also extend the course duration which poses challenges for students balancing family commitments or caregiving responsibilities. Additionally, their rigorous and competitive recruitment processes, particularly unfamiliar to international students, further hinder participation rates. Previous studies have highlighted such disparities as barriers to accessing yearlong work placements. Addressing these challenges and fostering inclusivity in employability initiatives remains a complex task for placement professionals and academics. The adoption of shorter, one-day micro-internships could potentially provide a viable solution.
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Acknowledging and Mitigating Alternate Employment Value Structures in Industry
written by Alex Vann, Leeds Trinity University
Higher Education Providers (HEPs) are focused more on graduate outcomes than ever before, highlighting an urgent need to understand the diversity of hiring and work practices within and across industries. Disconnects can exist between the ideals of HE and the realities of industry when it comes to the value structures underpinning the norms and conventions of recruitment and hiring. HEPs that do not research, investigate and understand these alternate value structures place graduates from under-represented demographics at a disadvantage compared to graduates who benefit from a-priori knowledge or who fit the traditional employee mould in certain fields. Here I offer a model for mitigating the impact of alternate value structures and maximising graduate outcomes.
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Writing Gender Fair Adverts
written by Dr Helen Hooper, Northumbria University
Attracting more women into placements in traditionally male dominated sectors is a challenge many placement practitioners and employers seeking to diversify their workforce continue to grapple with. Under-recruitment results in the continued under-representation of women in a range of fields such as engineering, the natural sciences and business, all of which offer both great placement and graduate career prospects. Despite excellent prospects, with many of the best paid graduate jobs being in engineering, in 2021 women made up just 16.5% of the engineering sector workforce (compared with 47.7% of the workforce overall).
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Positive Action Internships – a case study
written by Lisa Foote, UWE Bristol
UWE Bristol celebrates having a diverse student demographic, with over 60% of students from under-represented groups and within the Widening Participation (WP)* student category.
UWE encourages the use of positive action to meet its strategic goals in the pursuit of a more inclusive organisation. A few of these initiatives delivered through the Careers and Enterprise service are shared here to promote good practice within the ASET community.
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Menopause and Placements
written by Tanya Barrass and Dr Helen Hooper, Northumbria University
Do you know what the common link is between people and narwhals, killer whales, beluga whales and short-finned pilot whales?
These are the only mammals currently known to science that undergo menopause! This is a light-hearted attempt at illustrating the more worrisome void in the public and cultural discourse surrounding menopause. Despite menopause affecting half the world’s population, it is rarely featured in TV, films, novels or other popular media, which can make women who are experiencing menopause feel excluded and invisible and it may also mean that some women do not recognise their symptoms as menopause related. This general lack of knowledge combined with the persistent stigma and shame surrounding menopause, and around ageing more broadly, can be a barrier to both accessing and providing support for women experiencing the negative impacts of menopause in the workplace.
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Integrating Freelance Working Practices within Higher Education to Future-proof Graduate Employability
written by Alex Vann, Leeds Trinity University
The prevalence of freelance, self-employed, and casual contractor work continues to increase, particularly in specific sectors of industry. The Office for Students (OfS) does not recognise self-employment in its statistics relating to graduate outcomes in HE, meaning HE providers (HEPs) tend to focus on securing traditional employment prospects for students. Entrepreneurial initiatives remain discretionary due to a lack of sector-wide metrics or incentives from Government policymakers, a short-sightedness that fails to reflect the increasingly dynamic landscape of work.
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Digital career resources or a filled lecture theatre are efficient methods to deliver career guidance but are they effective?
written by Dr Andrew Mizumori Hirst, Beth Medley and Elizabeth Lansell, University of York
What makes career guidance effective is exactly the type of question the White Rose Industrial Physics Academy (WRIPA) are exploring (www.wripa.ac.uk). WRIPA is a collaboration between five Northern university physics departments and a business network of over 500 technical employers. WRIPA was created to provide physics students with the opportunity to gain skills and work experience that better prepares them for graduate-level technical employment. A key element of achieving this rests on effective career guidance.
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Breastfeeding and Placements
written by Abi Holmes, Kingston University
Despite breastfeeding being a subject that affects all parents, supporting students who are breastfeeding whilst seeking a placement or when on placement is an underexplored area, and one that placement practitioners may need to consider.
A student support need may arise if the age of a breastfed baby exceeds a student’s maternity leave period or if a student gives birth mid-course or returns to studies shortly after birth.
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