Work-Based Learning and UWA Courses

Some courses offered by UWA include opportunities for students to experience learning in authentic situations by placing the students in work situations external to the University. Professional courses in particular place an emphasis on such learning and tend to make it a compulsory component of the courses, since professional bodies generally require prospective members to have acquired work experience in the field. For example, part of the requirement for being registered as an architect is at least two years’ practical experience. Unlike the work experience component of professional courses, the Arts Practicum unit offered by the Faculty of Arts, the Community and Worksite Health Promotion unit¹ (having a practicum component) offered by the Department of Human Movement, and the Industry Experience units offered by the Faculty of Agriculture are elective units.

A survey of work-based learning in courses at UWA (by no means an exhaustive one) indicates that a practicum/professional practice/work experience can be organised in a variety of ways, that it can carry different weights in the course, and that student involvement is diverse. For example, students taking the Bachelor of Social Work course are required to complete a 12-week practicum and a 15-week practicum, both arranged by the unit co-ordinator(s), and these units contribute 38 points towards the course. Students taking the Bachelor of Engineering course are required to complete two six-week segments of professional practice arranged by the students themselves during semester breaks, and the work experience does not contribute any points towards the course. While in some work placements students are actively involved in the work of agencies external to UWA, in others they may have a more passive role, e.g. observing professionals at work. In some courses student involvement in work experience increases as the course progresses. For instance, students taking Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) course observe the work of practitioners in the early years and are attached to various clinical teams with more time spent in supervised practice in the later years; there are no lectures in the final year. Likewise, there is increasing clinical exposure and practice in the Bachelor of Dental Science course.

Some of the other courses that require successful completion of practicum include Bachelor of Architecture, Graduate Diploma in Education and Master of Psychology. These are offered to students who have already completed a degree course, and their practica are organised in a variety of ways.

Practica are usually supervised by those at the work place itself. UWA staff may act as liaison person, particularly when students face problems at the work place. Assessment of most work-based learning components is through student and/or supervisor reports, and grading is competency based. Although the external supervisor may recommend whether a pass or fail is awarded for the practicum, the final decision rests with the UWA staff responsible for the practicum. Assessment of such learning in the MBBS differs from most courses in that student reports in the first three years are given marks rather than a pass/fail.

A point to ponder: can literature review exercises and laboratory classes be considered work-place learning experiences for those who intend to become academics or researchers?

¹ Students in the Bachelor of Physical and Health Education course are expected to take this unit.