Patricia Rowe, Professor Emerita, University of Waterloo, asked fellow practitioners “what research findings you think have been ignored, either by other researchers or by practitioners?” and “whether there is an issue that you think has been neglected or is worthy of more attention by researchers?” (Rowe, 2015: 102). She integrated and categorized the reflections by participants, her literature findings and her own experiences to produce a table (p. 103) of ‘Negative or neglected findings related to each stakeholder’.
- Under student issues are included jobs reported boring or ‘do not have enough to do’; research findings ‘that any employment differences between WIL and non-WIL graduates disappear after a few years’; most employment benefits experienced by those students ‘who accept post-graduation jobs with a previous WIL employer’; relative benefits unknown of paid versus unpaid WIL; differences such as personality, interests and other pre-placement ‘makes subsequent effects questionable’; the ‘amount, length, and type of work necessary to produce effects are unknown’; ‘causes and consequences of quitting WIL programs have not been studied’; participation in WIL might be monetary motivated whereas other ‘may have more altruistic motivations’; alternating work and study may cause disconnection from campus life; and differences on cross-cultural competencies from study or work abroad is unknown.
- With regard to institutional (faculty and staff) the following issues: non-engaged or non-committed to WIL; inconclusive or weak evidence of effects from participation in WIL on future academic performance; difficulty balancing WIL coordination and academic workloads; and students may derive similar from teaching or research assistantships as may from WIL;
- With regard to institutional administration the following issues: decline in enrolments for qualifications that include WIL; ‘WIL is too much driven by industry’; harder to place international students and requiring more resources; ‘WIL practices may not transfer to other cultures’; and ‘institutional control of work integration may not be necessary to enhance learning’.
- The following employer issues are listed: many ‘employers hire once and never return’; ‘often cancel jobs’ [placement opportunities]; main reason of many employers ‘for participating in WIL is recruitment, [and] attracting future employees’; some ‘employers are only looking to meet short-resourcing needs’; some ‘work term lengths that are not suited to the academic year or semester’; ‘report that considerable staff time is required to hire, train, and supervise WIL students’; some participating companies do not have jobs that relate to WIL goals; and the ‘ideal conditions on the job that will enhance student success are not well defined’.
- Some miscellaneous issues include: ‘relevancy and value of a work term’ varies ‘from the perspectives of faculty, students, coordinators, and employers’; ‘WIL is so broadly defined that it includes far too many kinds of experiences (work terms, internships, volunteer activities, part-time work, etc.)’; the ‘theoretical constructs used in most research are too limiting’; difficulty to isolate the effects caused by WIL, compared to other work experiences; and research should be replicated.
Rowe, P.M. 2015. Researchers' reflections on what is missing from work-integrated learning research. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 16(2), 101-107.
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