Practicum

Making the Practicum Visible

Janice Orrell, Staff Development and Training Unit, Flinders University Lesley Cooper, Social Administration and Social Work, Flinders University

& Rebecca Jones, Staff Development and Training Unit, Flinders University

Work experience placements are increasingly included in degree programs. One motivation for this increase is the desire to ensure students are ‘work ready’ upon graduation. It can be difficult for Universities to have a detailed appreciation of the scope of such initiatives in their institutions because these work placements take many forms and are integrated into courses in different ways. Practicum coordinators occupy a critical role in the success of these programs, but they report that the practicum has low status in their departments and their particular role is marginal and isolated within the faculties. As a result, they feel under valued and have little opportunity to benefit from the experience of others with similar responsibilities or to share their own ‘wisdom of experience’. An audit of practicum programs at Flinders University provided a rich description of the scope of practicums across the university, elucidated their diversity and innovation and provided the basis for developing models of best practice and for improvement of practice. This data also generated defensible reasons for improving the status of practicum programs and affirmed the contribution that practicum makes to student learning and the university’s broader research and community service endeavours. Importantly, the audit has made the practicum visible.

Introduction

A major part of student learning is now conducted in a range of agencies outside the university. This off campus learning includes professional practicums, observational placements and project work. Martin (1998) estimated that 60% of all Australian degrees now involve some work based learning with this learning accounting for between one eighth and one quarter of the marks. Although there is extensive student involvement in practicum education and students regard the practicum as the best part of their placements, teaching, learning, assessment and practicum management are largely invisible within the teaching and research staff in the campus community. There are many reasons for the lack of visibility within the university community. The practicum takes place off-campus and in many instances students are placed in the country, interstate and overseas. Staff responsible for coordinating practicum teaching do not have traditional academic positions, but straddle the academic and work based world. Their work is often regarded as low in status and involves shared responsibility with agency staff and supervisors. In summary, the practicum and staff working within these programs are marginal to the mainstream teaching and research of the university. In 1997 Flinders University funded a study of academics’ views of teaching (Cooper, Lawson and Orrell, 1997.) This study identified some of the specific concerns of staff

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working in the practicum. In particular, staff expressed concern that, the university and lecturing colleagues undervalued their work. They believed that the expertise required to manage the practicum is neither appreciated nor recognised. (Cooper, Lawson and Orrell, 1997: 76). Following this study, a Flinders University-based Practicum Project was funded by the Committee for University Teaching and Staff Development (CUTSD). The intention of this CUTSD project was to recognise and address the educational needs of staff who work in the practicum; to develop a better understanding of what was occurring across the University; and to establish resources that would support and encourage best practice in the management, teaching and supervision of practicums. As the first stage of making the practicum more visible within the university community, a practicum forum was established to bring together academic staff associated with work experience placement programs. The forum’s aim was to identify and explore common experiences and problems, and to exchange ideas and solutions. It soon became apparent after just several meetings that the magnitude and scope of practicum programs were largely invisible, even to those most closely associated with practicum activities. It was decided that an important strategy was the conduct of an audit of all Practicum programs at Flinders University in order to document, in depth, the distinctive and diverse features of the various programs. This paper focuses on the scope of Flinders University work experience placement programs identified in the audit, identifies common problems confronted by the informants and key issues for educational planning and administration. Audit The audit’s purpose was to describe the scope and magnitude of practicum programs. This took into account: • number and distribution of programs, • number of students and their distribution over the courses, • number and level of staff involved, • purpose of these programs and links to the community, • assessment of student learning, • management of programs and • risk management. The audit of practicum programs was conducted in November and December 1998. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants of each practicum program to also elicit distinctive and innovative features, common issues and problems, best practice and potential risks (Audit Guide: Appendix A). Findings Scope of Practicum Programs at Flinders A notable outcome of this audit was the identification of over 30 practicum programs at Flinders University (over 80 when differentiated by year levels) and the fact that in any one year, more than 3,000 students go off-campus to complete their courses.

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With the addition of new programs for 1999 & 2000 this will expand to 4,000. Clearly this is a very significant, feature of the institution’s educational profile.

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Table 1 Distribution of Practicum Programs by Course Level

Level UG1 UG2 UG3 UG4 Post Graduate

Honours Masters Total

Students 705 710 652 408 337 81 143 3036 Programs 7 10 19 9 16 12 9 82

These programs occur at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Some are core components of courses and are required for graduates to gain professional registration. Others are elective and constitute either part or the whole of a topic. What is apparent is that there is an increase in Practicum programs and this increase seems to be commensurate with the increase in niche market, vocationally oriented degree programs. These programs, however, are largely found in professional or vocational orientated degrees, with very few in generalist Arts and Science degree majors.

University Staff Involvement in Practicum Programs

The audit identified that, as a conservative estimate, there are more than a hundred academic staff involved in the coordination, management, supervision and teaching of Practicum programs. There are also 21 general staff in diverse roles ranging from lower level general administrative support through to highly responsible program management activities. Table 2 University Employed Staff Involvement in Practicum Programs Function

Academic coordinators

Field supervisors

Administration staff

Total

Staff numbers 40 70 21 131 There is a demonstrable high level of staff involvement in Practicum programs on a part-time basis. There is little correlation between numbers of staff involved and the number of students enrolled in the various programs. Rather, the level of staffing required is determined more by the nature of the profession, registration requirements, the prevailing model of Practicum and history. For example, Nursing requires that all clinical supervisors have current registration as nurses, although some aspects of this are in transition as the model of clinical experience is undergoing considerable innovation and change at present. By contrast, the School of Education requires all staff, regardless of teacher registration status, to undertake supervision in schools. Some other Practicum programs rely entirely on external work-based supervisors. There are a number of critical staff issues to emerge from the practicum audit:

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For practicum coordinators: • Coordination of practicum placements is a role that attracts very few advantages

for the incumbent. It is very demanding in time and contributes little to individual career advancement and there is little recognition, staff claim, of the amount of work and skills needed to run successful programs. As a result of its low status, the organisation of practicums is carried out either by experienced staff who willingly ‘pay the price’ because of their commitment to its benefits to student learning, or it is a responsibility assigned to new, inexperienced, lower level staff.

• There is a lack of clerical and administrative assistance for dealing with issues that surround organising the placements, and inadequate resource provision. In some cases, senior academics conduct all the clerical work needed to manage their placement programs.

• Most coordinators have not been prepared for, or inducted into, their management

role. They report that they largely rely on their own knowledge of the students and the placement industry or profession, and pick up the relevant University policies as required frequently in the midst of a crisis.

For University Employed Practicum Teachers and Supervisors: • University-based teachers and supervisors in Practicum programs are also

compromised in terms of work load and career advancement. • Practicum teaching staff receive little or no preparation for teaching in

experiential conditions even though they are also often the least experienced University teachers or are recruited directly from practice in the field. Yet teaching in this context is high risk, embodying competing student, client and agency interests. This very demanding teaching role is often based on a tacit assumption that there is a natural ‘flow on’ of formal classroom teaching skills to those needed for teaching in clinical and work-based contexts or a flow on from practice to teaching how to practice. In reality, the context for practicum teaching and learning is vastly different from traditional classroom teaching and learning or from practice. It requires quite unique intentional teaching strategies and considerable sophistication in managing complex, and competing demands in high risk conditions.

Despite these constraints, the staff involved in practicum coordination, teaching and supervision are committed to their roles and believe that the placement programs are an important asset to students’ learning at university and to the University’s relationship with the community. A very important factor to note is that such staff are the public face of the University and are often well placed to establish collaborative research roles with industry and the community. Such importantly located University roles ought not to be left undervalued, under-prepared or lacking adequate resources and recognition. The Scope of Practicum-based Associations with the Community

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The audit identified that, in any one year, more than 850 agencies are involved in Flinders University Practicum programs. The placements are found in government departments, semi government institutions, private industry and non-government, community-based organisations. They are located mainly in metropolitan Adelaide and to a lesser extent in country areas. Some programs also extend to interstate and overseas placements, although these are few and relocation for these more remote placements largely occurs at the student’s expense. The expanded localities are often established to address specific social issues. For example, remote rural placements of medical students are used to familiarise students with the demands of rural general practice and to encourage more doctors to practice in rural South Australia after graduation. This particular program has utilised quite innovative opportunities in information technology strategies to maintain students’ learning support while on extended rural placements. It is not possible to quantify involvement of non-university, workplace supervisors in teaching, assessing and ensuring that Flinders University students meet the placements learning requirements. What is known, is that because of the one to one nature of the student-supervisor relationships, they number in the thousands. It was interesting to note that the supervisory roles of field staff vary widely, from simple administration to complex roles of teaching, assessment, guidance and role modeling. Yet, once again, those who undertake these roles also have had little or no preparation for them. Support and induction provided for these staff by the various programs ranged from written information (n=5) to face to face on-campus preparation (N=8), varying in length from a half day through to a five day program. For the majority (N=18) however there is no preparation. Providing adequate preparation for teaching and mentoring roles for placement supervisors contributes significantly to the quality of student learning on placement, but constitutes yet another demand on already overloaded academics. Another significant factor to emerge was the degree to which the external supervisors actively engaged in the learning purposes of the program. Some have devised feasible, challenging projects that provide very positive opportunities for students to apply and develop their classroom learning in new situations, and to develop new skills. The completion of the projects conducted by these students also contributes to the organisation, enabling it to accomplish deeds they normally might not have the resources or expertise to undertake. By contrast, other organisations provide mere ‘busy work’ that fails to provide students with opportunities to develop new skills or apply theoretical learning in authentic work situations. This failure to provide suitable and challenging learning experiences ought not to be construed as a lack of willingness on the part of the organisations. It may well be that they are unaware of what the possibilities might be. Arguably, exposure to examples of the more imaginative, formerly mentioned practices could encourage these latter organisations to engage more effectively in the learning process. Educational Purposes and Value of Practicum Programs

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The audit revealed that there are quite diverse purposes for the practicum components and these purposes affect the ways that Practicum programs are organised and conducted. Educationally, the range of purposes covers: • A mandatory prescribed length of experience for professional registration. • Opportunities to apply and develop classroom learning or theoretical concepts in

work settings. • Opportunities to clarify or determine career directions. • Opportunities to identify and utilise the generic skills they are developing as a

result of being a university student in a work setting. • Opportunities to become ‘work literate’ and to establish contacts and gain

experience in the workforce. An important educational gap was found in the design of the programs themselves. The analysis of the audit data revealed that while most programs provide avenues for students to debrief after their placement and to gain some feedback on their developing practice and knowledge skills, most students are not adequately prepared prior to the work placement. For example, many students start their placements with little knowledge of work protocols in their field of study. Many students are not workplace literate or know how to optimise learning from experience. Research indicates that experience alone, without adequate focus and critical reflection, is not sufficient for optimal learning and change (Washbourn, 1996). Experience that is not critiqued, risks entrenching ritualised, ineffectual work habits and can undermine the implementation of new and innovative work practices. Lack of focussed preparation can also cause an increase in students’ stress levels and affect their performance during the placement. This lack of preparation for successful practicum learning could be construed to stem from an assumption that effective learning in the practicum would merely require an extension of traditional classroom strategies. Another gap found was orientation to the cultural aspects of work places. Universities are increasingly seeking the enrollment of international students, particularly in degree programs leading to professional employment. These students, when placed in agencies require orientation to the culture of the Australian workplace. Australian students need orientation to the new work cultures they experience off-shore or when working with indigenous or ethnic communities. There was little evidence of this type of acculturation for either international or Australian students. Other common student related educational issues yet to be resolved emerged from the audit. These included the need for; • recognition of prior learning, particularly of mature entry, work literate students, • striking a balance between flexibility for students with conflicting work and

family commitments and maintenance of the educational integrity of the program and

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• models of assessment that account for the work place complexity, such as non- university staff conducting assessment and consistency and accountability when assessing non-standardised performances and conditions.

Assessment

The audit explored the diverse purposes and approaches to assessment in the practicum. Some programs require quite rigorous assessment of capability based on professional standards or competencies, whilst other programs require attendance only. The grading of assessment also varies through graded assessment, non graded passes to, in some instances, no formal assessment. These different approaches found at Flinders can be placed on a continuum.

No assessment Graded assessment Reflective, self assessed.

Based on established competencies. Non graded

Work required

Competency-based. Work assessed Non graded pass

University-based. Graded assessment

For example, related professional organisations require programs in Education, Nursing and Clinical Psychology to have an assessed field placement component, whereas students in Aquaculture, Forensic and Analytical Chemistry, and Cultural Tourism undertake field placements to gain work experience in the field prior to their graduation.

Management of the Practicum

Practicum management is a University responsibility shared by academic and general staff. In a few programs, this task has been contracted out to other professional organisations or individuals For example, the Law Society plays a major role in placing law students. Despite these organisational differences there are common management issues across all practicums irrespective of their professional or vocational orientation. The management of the practicum involves intensive and complex interpersonal and organisational activity. For most Flinders staff this management responsibility is in addition to other academic teaching and research work.

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Flinders staff involved in the practicum management have a wide range of organisational responsibilities that include finding and negotiating placements, responding to inquiries from students and agencies, managing students and agencies, finding and establishing learning experiences, carefully matching students and agency personnel, formalising contracts and troubleshooting. Finding placements in the current economic environment of restructuring and reorganisation of services is both a challenge and an opportunity for innovation and creativity. Management of the practicum also involves work with individual students. It involves preparation of students for workplace learning, responding to specific inquiries, finding learning activities for students, structuring learning tasks, and visiting and assessing students in the workplace and for some Flinders staff supervision of students’ work in the placement. One of the most time consuming activities for all staff involves managing tensions created as a result of on the job incidents, student problems and student and agency conflict. This activity is one of the most sensitive and difficult parts of the role. As part of practicum management, staff spent considerable time off-campus forging and maintaining good relationships with agencies, preparing and supporting these agencies and facilitating links between academic staff and the agencies. University staff who are practicum managers and teachers perceive themselves and their students as the public face of the University. They expend considerable effort to acknowledge their unit’s appreciation of the contribution and effort of agencies in providing authentic learning experiences, but would like to see the introduction of a formal University acknowledgment. The frustration of continually ‘reinventing the wheel’ was universal among practicum coordinators. Prior to the Practicum Project, management of placement programs was conducted in isolation within disciplines and without the benefit of the ‘wisdom of experience’ of coordinators of other Practicum programs. This project has worked to reduce practicum coordinators’ isolation as well as their sense of frustration that they were confronting problems for which others had possibly developed elegant solutions.

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Risk Management In learning professional and vocational skills, students are exposed to the same type of risks and injuries as paid employees. This commonly includes car accidents, back injuries as a result of lifting, needle stick injuries, harassment (sexual, racial, verbal), physical assaults and stress. Students, however, differ from workers as they go to the work placements as novices, unfamiliar with the workplace and safe workplace skills. Flinders staff were concerned that students were put at risk when they were not adequately prepared for workplace learning, when placed in an unfamiliar workplace, being anxious and stressed, and not provided with adequate workplace supervision. This situation has the potential to lead to injuries to clients, other workers and students themselves. It may, and sometimes does, result in damages claims against the University and workplace agency. The audit identified evidence that risk and injury is reduced with good human resources management in the workplace. Flinders staff identified a range of criteria for assessing the suitability of working environments for students. These criteria include: • Provision of orientation to the agency for students.

• Careful attention to occupational health and safety requirements.

• Regular supervision of students to minimise any errors.

• Identification of staff who are interested in student education and are willing to support students.

• Open and ongoing dialogue between the agency and the University.

Flinders staff are intentional in their use of risk management strategies. In the initial forums this issue was given top priority for the projects workshop program. Risk is reduced with careful preparation of students before the commencement of placement, as well as support monitoring and review during and after the placement. Student safety is also enhanced when University staff work closely with agencies in preparing them for student learning and providing training courses for agency staff. Recommendations for Future Directions The open forum meetings that guide the practicum project, the workshop program and this structured audit have enabled the bringing together of considerable ‘wisdom of experience’ of practicum coordinators, teachers and supervisors. The management, coordination and supervision of the practicum have become the site of cross faculty/department collaboration and shared concern between academics and administrators. Their experiences, the review of current research and the analysis of the audit have generated the following set of areas for future action and deliberation: • There is a need for induction of university staff into practicum coordination and

teaching roles. Formal induction to both management and teaching roles is needed to ensure that sensitive university policies and procedures are accurately

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understood, and that work experience placement teaching and assessment is appropriate and effectively conducted.

• There is a need for induction programs for external supervisors. Providing

adequate preparation for placement supervisors contributes significantly to the quality of student learning.

• Students need careful preparation for practicum learning. Students need to be

literate about work place expectations and cultures as well as learning own to learn from experience. Such a program helps to address the unevenness of the learning experiences between students. Properly prepared students would be mandatory for all students about to participate in any form of workplace learning and could be used to orientate students to cross-cultural workplaces.

• There is need to develop a managed approach to finding placements. A large

amount of academic time is absorbed in looking for agencies willing to take students for placement. Also there has been an increase in practicums across all universities and thus more competition for placements, so that the number of agencies per student across the state is becoming an issue. Some programs have experienced a loss of valuable placements due competition with other universities.

A university wide action strategy might include: (i) a centralised data management system of students, agencies & agency staff (ii) a centralised data base which rewards learning opportunities, research opportunities and consultation in the agency. At present this knowledge is held by individual academic staff and not shared across programs.

• Greater collaboration between courses using similar agencies so that all students get the opportunity to have appropriate placements. Examples were found where universities had collaborated to negotiate placements. General Practice in medicine was one such example. The cross sector, collaborative approach was welcomed by the profession when they received just one letter from two universities. It was reported that the GPs were more willing to cooperate felt supported as a result of the more collaborative approach.

• There is a need for the University senior administrators to give greater recognition

for the contribution made by agencies and individuals to student learning. • There are considerable possibilities that are not currently being explored in

relation to cross-disciplinary placements. Many agencies currently arrange placements for a range of different Flinders students. For example, Flinders Medical Centre takes students from medicine, nursing, social work, dietetics and nutrition, speech and language therapy and psychology. Combining students from a range of disciplines to work on particular projects would provide a “value added” professional experience and more innovative approaches to learning in the practicum. This strategy could be explored as part of a collaborative project between Flinders University and a major agency.

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• Managing Risk in the practicum needs to be anticipated and intentional. The audit provides an analysis of the potential hazards and injuries for students, agencies and the clients and customers of those agencies. Extension of the practicums suggest the need to develop and implement management and training strategies to minimize risk to students, staff agencies and clients.

• There is scope for developing practicums in general arts and science degree

programs. Awareness of developing generic transferable skills and understanding their salience in the work context would help to promote coherence and relevance in their generalist degree programs and provide a motivational element to skills development for students. The considerable benefits of becoming workplace literate is important for the young, inexperienced graduate.

• The University needs to formally recognise of the role of practicum coordinators

in promotions and the University award and reward systems. There is a resounding need for valuing the work of managing practicum programs as well as practicum teaching and supervision. There needs to be a careful accounting for the time spent in these roles at both Faculty and University level to ensure that effective and innovative practices are sufficiently recognised in promotion and in teaching awards.

• The issue of intellectual property ought to be clarifying prior to the

commencement of placements when students carry out specific projects and research for agencies. There is a need for coordinators to have established, prior to the placement, any issues related to ownership of intellectual property resulting from projects carried out by students while on placement.

Conclusion: The practicum audit enabled the identification of the scope of involvement of university staff, students and outside agencies. This impressive set of data provided the University with a defensible basis for strategically reviewing its future directions in terms of priority and resource allocation. Another positive outcome of the audit was the identification of hitherto, little known innovations and strengths that can now be shared and thus reduce the ‘reinventing the wheel' syndrome that prevailed among practicum coordinators and supervisors. Also advantageous was the capacity to recognise gaps in policies and undeveloped potentials and opportunities. A critical factor for its success was the support of university’s senior administration. This was particularly so for the Deputy Vice Chancellor who took seriously her responsibility for the project given she had signed off on it for CUTSD funding. This level of involvement motivated staff to address their problems rather than bemoan their lack of attention. The funding was another critical factor in making the audit possible. A crucial problem of practicum programs is that they are often an isolated unit in a degree program and those who work in them are isolated within the department and faculty structure without the proximity of peers who face similar concerns. As a result their significance in the overall program is not apparent. By collaborating in a cross disciplinary and cross faculty forum, practicum coordinators and teachers were able to develop an identity around their shared, everyday concerns. They were also

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able to articulate the value of their contribution to the enhancement of student learning and to the university’s achievement of its broad endeavors. A critical aspect for the success of this audit has been the willingness of staff to collaborate and enter into dialogue with the practicum project staff and with each other crossing traditional boundaries. By breaking their own isolation, the practicum was made visible and the value of their contribution to the university was recognised.

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References

Cooper, L., Lawson, M. & Orrell, J. (1997) Raising Issues about Teaching: Views of

Academic Staff at Flinders University, Flinders Institute for the Study of Teaching, Bedford Park.

Martin, E. (1998) Conceptions of Workplace University Education, Higher Education Research and Development. 17:207-227

Walker, D. & Boud, D. (1994) Learning from the Pastoral Placement in Ministry, Society and Theology, 8 (1) 7-21.

Washbourn, P. (1996) ‘Experiential Learning: Is Experience the Best Teacher?’ Liberal Education,82 (3) 10-1.

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Appendix A

Practicum Audit Interview Guide 1. General Demographic

• Names of programs incorporating work experience placements Course…………………………Level…………………………………………….

• Staff involvement (numbers/responsibilities): • General…………………………………………... • Academic………………………………………… • Academic Status………………………………….

• Numbers of Students involved: (by year level) • Agencies and Agency Staff:

• How many agencies……………………………... • What type of agencies (govt. private, comm.) …………………………… • Where are they located (city, country, state, overseas)……………………. • Numbers involved in the teaching……….supervision………both……… • Do they receive preparation or training in teaching, learning and

supervision? Example. • Do they receive any rewards?

• Is your course HECS liable?……………… If so,to what extent?…………………

2. Management • Impact on university staff • Time taken up by practicum…………………………….. • Responsibilities/nature of the work • Financial management issues • To what extent do university staff go out to agencies to:

• Establish placements • Supervise students • Trouble shoot • General management & Liaison

3. Purpose • Is the placement a core requirement or is it an elective?……………….. • Is it mandatory for professional registration …………………… • Is accreditation an issue?

4. Educational • Educational Intentions, Activities,Approaches • Transfer of learning issues clinical/work to classroom • Examples of the types of assessment of student learning

• Who does it • How does it get done • How is it supported?

5. Strengths and Achievements

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• Major strengths and achievements 6. Issues and potential Risks

• Major and minor problems • Management • Educational • Legal and ethical (see risk audit).

• What is currently missing from the university: • Induction and Training • Policies • Resources and support

7. What are the potential risks or dangers faced by your students in the practicum or work-based-learning?

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ACTIVITIES/TASKS

RISK INJURY

What are the activities or tasks undertaken by your students?

What are the risks to students in undertaking these activities or tasks?

What are the potential injuries arising from those risks?

8. How did you become aware of these risks? 9. What strategies does your program or topic/award have in place to minimize these

risks to students? RISK STRATEGIES Effectiveness Identify the risk

To minimise this risk for students

How effective are these strategies?

10. What do the Practicum or work-based-learning agencies provide to minimize the risk to students?

RISK STRATEGIES Effectiveness Identify the risk

To minimise this risk for students

How effective are these strategies?

11. What processes/procedures do you have in place to inform you of risks to

students, damages or negligence to clients and breakdown in relationships after the practicum has been completed?

12. What specific incidents of risk to students have occurred? 13. Do you keep any records of these? 14. Have you informed the university's insurance officer of these occurrences? 15. Were you aware of your responsibility to inform the insurance officer of

occurrences? 16. Do you have a set procedure for crisis management of these occurrences? Please

explain? 17. What student behaviours have you found that create potential risk for the

companies/ organisations and their clients/consumers?

STUDENT BEHAVIOURS

RISK TO ORGANISATIO

N AND/OR CLIENTS

RAMIFICATIONS OF STUDENT BEHAVIOUR

What are the ramifications of student behaviour on the university and organisation/clients?