Finding a Work-integrated Learning Strategy that Enhances the Employability of Graduates of South African Universities of Technology: A Research Agenda

This research case study investigates the efficacy of a Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) pedagogy that simulates a professional design studio in a graphic design programme at a South African tertiary institution. The overall aim is to develop a model for future pedagogical development of the WIL approach under study. The researcher is one of a team of third-year level WIL teachers, so the study is positioned as educational practitioner research. The review of literature establishes three learning theory links with the WIL pedagogical approach under study. These are: a) learning integration, b) learning transformation, and c) learning transfer. Integrative and transformative learning in WIL study needs to be transferred to graphic design graduates’ design agency working roles as integrative and transformative capability, if WIL pedagogy is to be considered effective. The effective transfer of student learning to the workplace is also considered to be affected the fact that some aspects of pedagogical practice are implicit rather than explicit. Fourteen graphic design graduates currently employed in graphic design agencies were each interviewed twice regarding their working experience. The first round of initial unstructured interviews found that integrative and transformative capability in design agencies was connected with problematic issues of design agency professional capability: collaboration with colleagues, client relations and time management. The second round of semi-structured interviews established these themes as both confirming and disconfirming WIL learning transfer. Upon reflection on the account of WIL pedagogy given in the literature review, design agency collaboration, client relations and time management are implicitly connected to the integrative and transformative intentions of WIL pedagogy. This may compromise learning transfer. An analytical model of these pedagogical concerns was then constructed, to allow for development of the WIL pedagogical approach. Recommendations for such development are offered, and indications made for future research.

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Conceptualising work-integrated learning to support pre-service teachers' pedagogic reasoning

Journal of Education ◽

10.17159/2520-9868/i83a02 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-20

Author(s):

Lee RusznyakI ◽

Carol Bertram

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Teaching Profession ◽

South African Context ◽

Integrated Learning ◽

Ethical Orientations ◽

African Context ◽

Conceptual Paper ◽

Classroom Routines ◽

Work Integrated Learning

Much South African research suggests that work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences of pre-service teachers are uneven. Their learning depends heavily on the functionality of the school and on the presence and commitment of the mentor teacher. Even then, mentor feedback tends to focus on generic comments on classroom routines rather than providing an account of their teaching practices. In this conceptual paper, we draw on a range of literature and studies to argue that the value of WIL would be greatly enhanced if pre-service teachers and their mentors discuss both the visible classroom routines and the less visible reasoning that inform the pedagogic choices that teachers make. This focus on pedagogic reasoning could foreground both the principled knowledge base that teachers need, as well as the contextual responsiveness and ethical orientations needed to become a specialised knower within the teaching profession. WIL therefore needs to provide pre-service teachers with explicit, structured opportunities to consider how the teachers they observe enact their teaching and why. They also need to articulate the pedagogic choices they make in the design and delivery of their own lessons. We argue that structuring WIL as a space in which to recognise and engage in forms of pedagogic reasoning addresses some of the challenges of the uneven quality of student learning identified in research on WIL in the South African context.

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Australia's National Work-Integrated Learning Strategy in University Education

Global Perspectives on Work-Based Learning Initiatives - Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-6977-0.ch005 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 114-141 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Berwyn Clayton ◽

Hugh B. Guthrie

Keyword(s):

Learning Strategy ◽

University Education ◽

Institutional Constraints ◽

Quality Information ◽

Integrated Learning ◽

Curriculum And Pedagogy ◽

Wide Range ◽

Australian Education ◽

Alternative Approaches ◽

Work Integrated Learning

This chapter describes how the development of work-integrated learning (WIL) has become an increasingly important component of both curriculum and pedagogy across a wide range of disciplines in Australia's universities. This has been driven by institutions reacting to government and industry demands for work-relevant degrees and work-ready graduates. The chapter analyzes five of the eight action areas in the National WIL Strategy. A number of barriers to further implementation are identified and discussed, including funding, institutional constraints, assessment challenges, and employer capacity, particularly in smaller companies. Ways forward include developing quality information and the resources to support implementation, growing champions of the process in institutions and employers, and developing alternative approaches to delivery given the pressure placed on industry for work placements by all sectors of Australian education.

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MANAGING INFORMATION FOR WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Mousaion ◽

10.25159/0027-2639/1666 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 32 (3) ◽

pp. 13-28

Author(s):

Roelien Brink ◽

Martie Mearns ◽

Tanya Du Plessis

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

South Africa ◽

Conceptual Framework ◽

Information Management ◽

South African ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Higher Education Institutions ◽

Integrated Learning ◽

Phenomenological Research Design ◽

Work Integrated Learning

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa require teaching and learning to include work-integrated learning (WIL) within specific learning offerings. The different learning options provided by various faculties have unique and diverse procedures which justify different WIL approaches at HEIs. A lack of structure regarding the information management (IM) for WIL across departments results in different processes being followed, which can impact negatively on the optimal utilisation of WIL. Frameworks for IM for WIL, however, have been developed at international HEIs. Using a qualitative approach and phenomenological research design and working with these frameworks as well as the Theory of Motivated Information Management, the researchers collected data using semi-structured individual interviews and group discussions from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and the Northwestern University (NWU) in Illinois, United States (US). This article presents the findings of an IM framework from these two US universities. After research was conducted at a South African university, a conceptual framework was developed for the IM for WIL based on the framework from the international universities that may be implemented at HEIs in South Africa. With time this framework could betested in a number of settings that could lead to the development of a model for IM for WIL in the South African context. The article, however, reports on the findings of the two international universities only and the conceptual framework requires further testing and validation before it can be published.

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