North England Educational Conference
Student Placements and the ‘Third Sector’
Thursday 17 January 2013 3:15 to 4:15pm
Ben Duke
1st Year PhD Student
Keele University, Human Geography
1
Introduction
Section 1
What are Universities for? (Burawoy, 2011)
The Functions of the Public University
Section 2
Issues to Consider Regarding Student Experiential Learning
Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984)
Other Forms of Experiential Learning
– Holdsworth and Quinn, Student Volunteering, 2012
– McCarthy and McCarthy, Experiential Learning, 2006
•
Student Experiential Learning and Employability
Brown et al, Employability, 2003
•
Question and answers
2
What are Universities for? Part 1
Their role in society - knowledge production and knowledge transfer
A pedagogy of knowledge produced and then transferred
Analysis of other valid pedagogies that might exist
3
What are Universities for? Part 2
The functions of the public university
Autonomy
Academic Audience
Heteronomy
Extra-Academic Audience
Instrumental
Knowledge
PROFESSIONAL
POLICY
Reflexive
Knowledge
CRITICAL
PUBLIC
(Burawoy, 2011, p32)
The functions of a University
Professional knowledge
Critical knowledge
Public knowledge
Policy knowledge
4
Kolb’s Learning Cycle Applied to
Student Experiential Learning
5
Issues to Consider Regarding
Student Experiential Learning Part 1
• Universities are a tool for knowledge production and transfer
•
A key component of student experiential learning has been
the student placement
• Participation of a University student placement in the
workplace is mandatory e.g. nursing, social work or teaching
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Issues to Consider Regarding
Student Experiential Learning Part 2
• Experiential Learning,
Student Placements, Internships
McCarthy and McCarthy, 2006
• Student Volunteering,
Reproductive and Deconstructive
Holdsworth and Quinn, 2012, Antipode
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Student Placements Video
Third Year Student Placements 2011 Video
This video extract details numerous
students who have been on placement with
different ‘Third Sector’ organisations.
The link is at
http://vimeo.com/29459541
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The Educational Importance of Student Placements
with ‘Third Sector’ Organisations - Part 1
•
Student placements with ‘Third Sector’ organisations are beneficial
‘Third Sector’ organisations do not have a statutory remit to deliver
key societal functions such as homelessness, healthcare or education
•
Shelter, Greenpeace and Rethink are national ‘Third Sector’ organisations
•
As are much smaller local enterprises such as LEAF, TRANQS and ZEST
•
‘Third Sector’ organisations work in close partnership with the statutory
agencies
•
The ‘Third Sector’ is a good place for students to receive experiential
learning
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The Educational Importance of Student Placements
with ‘Third Sector’ Organisations - Part 2
It would be educationally beneficial for society to
know:
Do students with experiential learning from a
statutory agency e.g. local authority’s Social
Services Department, an NHS hospital or in a
school via the LEA;
Have a lower or higher propensity to support
mainstream key societal values than students who
did their work placement with a ‘Third Sector’
organisation?
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The Educational Importance of Student Placements
with ‘Third Sector’ Organisations - Part 3
There are some educational and societal benefits
in establishing:
Do students whose experiential learning is with a
statutory agency, compared to a ‘Third Sector’
organisation, have a greater or lesser degree of
social and political awareness of the issues faced
by marginalised groups e.g. asylum-seekers; exoffenders; disabled people?
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Student Experiential Learning
and Employability Part 1
“Employability is a notion which captures the
economic and political times in which we live”.
(Brown et al, 2003, p107).
Are there any other definitions of employability
to the above?
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Student Experiential Learning
and Employability Part 2
The Higher Education Academy (HEA) define
employability differently to Brown et al (2003):
“A set of achievements, - skills, understandings
and personal attributes – that makes graduates
more likely to gain employment and be
successful in their chosen occupation, which
benefits themselves, the workforce, the community
and the economy” (HEA, 2012).
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Student Experiential Learning
and Employability Part 3
What are the politics of employability?
How is employability measured?
Employability exist in at least two dimensions – ‘absolute and relative’
What are the dominant voices in this debate?
Whose vested interests do they serve?
To what extent have the dominant voices realised that generally,
policies on employability fail to grasp the duality of employment ‘absolute and relative.’
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Student Experiential Learning
and Employability Part 4
Do issues of human capital influence employer’s
perception of the suitability of candidates? Do
such issues have an influence on employability
policies?
Is there a discernible difference in the way
graduates understand and manage their
employability in terms of social background,
gender and educational biography?
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Student Experiential Learning
and Employability Part 5
Do differences in human, social and cultural capital,
influence graduates to pursuit employment in different
ways; or influence their social and political awareness of
various marginalised groups?
Has the student placement experience influenced the
amount type and nature of the graduate’s human, social
and cultural capital?
To what extent and according to which observers?
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Traditional Statutory Agencies and
‘Third Sector’ Organisations Compared
Do people feel there would be any difference
between a statutory agency placement and a ‘Third
Sector’ organisation placement, in how the
placement affects the student’s own views on
human, social and cultural capital?
What about employers, do they perceive a difference
between these two types of student learning?
Are there any socio-economic, socio-political or
socio-cultural factors influencing employer’s views?
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Conclusion
What are Universities for? (Burawoy, 2011)
There is broad consensus from the main stakeholders, regarding this question.
There are numerous valid pedagogies of knowledge (Burawoy, 2011)
These are influenced by the dichotomy: Knowledge for whom and Knowledge for what?
Student Experiential Learning (McCarthy and McCarthy, 2006)
Student Volunteering , Internships and Placements
Reproductive or Deconstructive (Holdsworth and Quinn, 2012)
Employability (Brown et al, 2003)
There are competing definitions. Most are value laden being couched in economic terms,
paying little attention to the duality of Employability - ‘Absolute and Relative’
Statutory Agencies and ‘Third Sector’ organisations - Student Placements Compared
What differences in student attributes if any, are there between the two?
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Bibliography Part 1
Althusser, L. (1971) Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: (Notes Towards an
Investigation)”, Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, transcription Ben Brewster,
London and New York, Monthly Review Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1990) The Logic of Practice, Transcription by R. Nice, Cambridge, Polity
Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1991) Language and Symbolic Power, Edited John B. Thompson,
Transcription by G. Raymond and M. Adamson, Cambridge, Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1993) The Field of Cultural Production, Cambridge, Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1996) The Rules of Art, London, Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (1997) Pascalian Meditations, Transcription by R. Nice, Stanford, Standford
University Press.
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Bibliography Part 2
Brown, P., Hesketh, A. and Williams, S. (2003) ‘Employability in a Knowledge-driven economy’,
Journal of Education and Work, 16(2), pp107-126.
Burawoy, M. (2011) ‘Redefining the Public University: Global and National Contexts’, in Holmwood, J.
(Ed) (2011) A Manifesto for the Public University, London, Bloomsbury Academic.
Holdsworth, C. and Quinn, J. (2012), ‘The Epistemological Challenge of Higher Education Student
Volunteering: “Reproductive” or “Deconstructive” Volunteering?’, Antipode.
Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development.
London, Prentice-Hall.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1967) The German Ideology: a Critique of the Most Recent German
Philosophy, as represented by Feuerbach, B. Bauer, and Stirner, Writings of the Young Marx on
Philosophy and Society, Transcription and Edited by Lloyd, D. Easton, and Kurt, H. Guddat, New York,
Anchor Books, (or New York Garden City, Doubleday), pp403-473.
McCarthy, P. R. and McCarthy, H. M. (2006) ‘When Case Studies are Not Enough: Integrating
Experiential Learning into Business Curricula’, Journal of Education for Business, 81(4), pp201-204.
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