Learning in vivo

WIL at post-graduate level facilitate greater relevance of higher education in the workplace

“Within the South African higher education context, the most significant effort to align doctoral education with the world of work has been the introduction of Work Integrated Learning (WIL)” observe Treptow (2013: 83), who derived insights from employers through interviews. This blogpost builds on ‘work integrated research higher degree (WIRHD) studies’. Further to the integrative framework of the WIHRD context in which both Chen et al (2008: 133), as well as Stewart and Chen (2009: 162), illustrate the unique components; Bernhard and Olsson (2023: 517), in a manuscript aptly titled ‘one foot in academia and one in work-life’, illustrate with the bold arrow in the figure 1 below the required mutual relationships.

Bernhard and Olsson (2023: 517) assert that “the industrial PhD student should not alone be responsible of bridging academia and work–life”, but that “the interactions between these academia and industry need to be strengthened throughout the entire PhD education”. They remark that “both academia and industry must have detailed insights into industrial PhD education to recognize and fully exploit these learning benefits while building, sustaining and resilient collaboration over time promoting a future workforce of researchers with skills, practices and learning capabilities applicable in contemporary society”. In another manuscript the same two authors present (figure 2 below) a ‘WIL-based framework of industrial PhD education collaboration’ (Olsson & Bernhard, 2023: 532).

Olsson and Bernhard (2023: 526) report about “explorative qualitative research on industrial PhD student collaboration was conducted over a three year period (2019-2022)”. Their findings reflect the integrated perspectives “industrial PhD students (IPS), academia (A), and practice (P)” with WIL applied as theoretical lens to identify both benefits and challenges (p. 528). Table 2 (p. 529) illustrate the mutual benefits with selected quotes and categorised “in sub-themes: (i) access to practice – inclusion in networks, projects, and empirical data; (ii) understanding of practice – contextual understanding, inclusion, and tacit knowledge; and (iii) integration of theory and practice – multiple perspectives and knowledge creation” (p. 528).

Despite the benefits above, there are also challenges and tensions indicate Olsson and Bernhard (2023: 529-530). The identified challenges, illustrated by selected quotes in Table 3, “are categorized in the following sub-themes: (i) understanding and expectations of the collaboration; (ii) formal agreements for collaboration – administrative bureaucracy, financing, and conflicts of interest; (iii) inclusion and access; and (iv) integration of research in practice – societal impact”.

 

The significance of collaboration, mutual understanding, agreements, inclusion and integration are noteworthy. These are key success factors towards industry PhDs.

Bernhard, I. & Olsson, A.K. (2023). One foot in academia and one in work-life – the case of Swedish industrial PhD students. Journal of Workplace Learning, 35(6). 506-523. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-11-2022-0157

Olsson, A.K. & Bernhard, I. (2023). Transforming doctoral education: Exploring industrial PhD collaboration in Sweden. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 24(4), 523-536. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_24_4_523_536.pdf

Treptow, R. (2013). The South African PhD: Insights from employer interviews. Perspectives in Education, 31(2), 83-91,142.

 

Work integrated research higher degree (WIRHD) studies

“Doctoral education is transforming” say Ohlson and Bernhard (2023: 523). The “traditional doctoral training and research mode is facing some challenges in meeting the industry needs in this fasting changing economy” indicate Chen et al (2008: 129). They point out that “there is greater pressure for research to be linked to applied usage, be aligned with private-sector or government objectives and to have shared intellectual property arrangements”. Treptow (2013: 83) reiterates this saying “current international trends reveal that doctoral education is increasingly expected to satisfy workplace demands”. There is furthermore an “expanding job market for PhD holders entering entirely new fields” say Chen et al (2008: 129), and “pressure on doctoral training to be more flexible and aimed at a wider array of jobs than the traditional academic profession”. Project doctoral programmes furthermore evolved, having “greater emphasis on research conducted and directed within the workplace” and both professional and project doctoral candidates tend to “research topics that are closely associated with the context of their workplace” that “bring together the academy and the workplace with an emphasis on professional practice” (p. 130). Because of these reasons the Work Integrated Research Higher Degree (WIRHD) has emerged “and is intended to be a significant piece of original research which makes a new contribution to science and the discipline”. Chen et al (2008: 133), as well as Stewart and Chen (2009: 162), present a graphical illustration (Figure 1 below) of the integrative framework comprising the unique components of the WIHRD contexts.

The solid-line circle represents the powerful supervisor-student relationship which should enjoy prominence; however the research involves both the academic and industry contexts, therefore the second dotted-line circle, portraying the industry supervisor. WIRHD “is nested within three-tiers of department/discipline, University/Organisation and social/supra-societal contexts”. The establishment of a project-based partnership arrangement between the university and the industry is deemed necessary to enhance communication and co-operation. Furthermore, a structured approach to enable the student and the supervisors to specify the objectives; to outline the duties and roles of both students and supervisors; and to set “the principles and structures for performance monitoring, information exchange and dispute resolution”. Ohlson and Bernhard (2023: 523) studied “the perspectives of industrial PhD students, academia, and industry … with work-integrated learning as a theoretical lens to identify benefits, challenges, and prerequisites for how to structure and manage such a collaboration”.

In the South African context, section 34 of the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF, 2014: 17) states that “Some qualifications will be designed to integrate theory and practice through the incorporation of work-integrated learning (WIL) into the curriculum … and may be incorporated into programmes at all levels of the HEQSF” (emphasis added). The higher education qualification descriptor (p. 38) for a Master's Degree (Professional, NQF Exit Level 9) states that “in some cases, a professional Master's degree may be designed in consultation with a professional body or fulfil all or part of the requirements for professional registration or recognition, and may include appropriate forms of work-integrated learning” (emphasis added). The descriptor for a Doctoral Degree (p. 40) states that “the designator of Philosophy is typically used for general doctoral degrees by thesis. However, other designators may be used to denote the area of study or the name of the discipline” and for Professional Doctoral degrees (p. 41) the qualification type may be followed by a designator that indicates the area of study or name of the discipline, for example, Doctor of Business Administration (DBA); Doctor of Commerce (DCom); Doctor of Education (DEd); Doctor of Engineering (DEng); Doctor of Law (LLD); Doctor of Nursing (DNursing); Doctor of Pharmacy (DPharm); Doctor of Psychology (DPsych); and Doctor of Social Work (DSW). Furthermore, that the PhD title should not be used; however, the qualification may include appropriate forms of work-integrated learning; the research component should comprise at least 60%; demonstrate a high level of research capability; and the application of theoretical knowledge to highly complex problems.

“Traditional doctoral research training is structured around a master and apprentice transmission model, relying predominantly on primary supervisors for candidate research training” say O'Connor (2023: 567) and indicate that “in this model, professional development of candidates typically centers on discipline-specific knowledge and research techniques”. “A new landscape for various models for doctoral education is emerging” say Ohlson and Bernhard (2023: 523) and add that “university-industry collaboration is a widespread phenomenon for education and innovation in response to societal challenges”. “There is a world-wide increase of alternative forms of doctoral education based on collaboration between academia and work-life such as the professional doctorate” they reiterate (p. 524). The “alternative doctoral training models aim to broaden PhD candidate training”, say O'Connor (2023: 567). “The concept of [work-integrated learning] WIL has developed over time and is today an umbrella term covering education, collaboration, and research” (p. 525). An “approach for university-industry collaboration is work-integrated learning (WIL)”, with an industrial PhD focus, where “industrial PhD students embody the collaborative interplay between education and work influencing organizational learning” (p. 524). However, there is potential “tension between the tasks, time, and cognitive load required to develop qualified researchers as discipline stewards” indicate O'Connor (2023: 568). The design and delivery need to occur in a careful, considered and evidence-based manner he states, and advocates “four emergent design principles for alternative doctoral training models” (p. 569), namely:

• An increased range/breadth of content experts that are providing training to PhD candidates
• The scope of WIL activities and content delivery should be broader than commercialisation
• Adequately scaffold the WIL activities of PhD candidates, keeping in mind their specific needs and be observant of changing needs at different stages of their research candidature
• Purposefully co-designed WIL activities, because simply placing research students in an industry environment would not necessarily translate into powerful learning experiences

O'Connor (2023: 568) also state that PhD candidates should be attracted from any research discipline for whom the additional training is beneficial; but to avoid candidates where prior employment and experience do not match the research programme. He further cautions about potential disengagement due to ineffectual content or WIL activities; as well as “stress due to inadequate communication or management of candidate and supervisor needs”. He recommends minimisation of cognitive overload and workload associated with additional training, but without compromising effectiveness, because “doctoral candidates already experience a variety of stressors inherent to their PhD studies”. He indicates that “alternative doctoral training programs require resources, support systems, qualified personnel, peer networks, and content”.

The focus of knowledge creation by universities gradually shifted because industry recognised the value of creating knowledge indicate Bernhard and Olsson (2023). “University–industry interactions in doctoral education are of importance for mutual life-long learning by integrating workplace learning and research redeveloping work practices related to new concepts, technologies and organizational principles” (p. 507) they add. Industrial PhD students “are spanning boundaries between university and industry generating continuous opportunities for validation and testing of empirical results and models in industry” state Bernhard and Olsson (2020: 147). As key stakeholders industrial PhD students “embody the informing flows between practice and university and between practice and research”, enabling the “short-lag dissemination of research results”, “may enable increased research quality”, and strengthen legitimacy.

Stewart and Chen (2009: 167) remark that the work integrated research higher degree (WIRHD) emerged in an informal manner “for contemporary research students to develop both high-level professional capabilities in a real industry environment as well as strong research skills, which create knowledge through original research of academic rigour”. WIRHD further ensures relevance of engineering doctorates.

Ajjawi, R. & Kent, F. (2022). Understanding Realist Reviews for Medical Education. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, June. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-22-00334.1

Bernhard, I. & Olsson, A.K. (2020). University-industry collaboration in higher education: exploring the informing flows framework in industrial PhD education. Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 23, 147-163. https://doi.org/10.28945/4672

Bernhard, I. & Olsson, A.K. (2023). One foot in academia and one in work-life – the case of Swedish industrial PhD students. Journal of Workplace Learning, 35(6). 506-523. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-11-2022-0157

Chen, L., Stewart, R.A., Willis, R. & Britton, T. (2008). Work integrated research higher degree studies: experiences, benefits, barriers and coping strategies. In: Mann, Llewellyn (Editor); Thompson, Adam (Editor); Howard, Prue (Editor). 19th Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, Yeppoon: To Industry and Beyond; Proceedings of the. Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2008: [129]-[134].

O'Connor, M.D., Denejkina, A. & Arvanitakis, J. (2023). Preparing doctoral candidates for employment: Delivering research and employability skills training in the PhD via work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 24(1), 19-42. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_24_1_19_42.pdf

O'Connor, M.D. (2023). Design principles for work-integrated learning-based, alternative doctoral training programs informed by PhD candidate feedback. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 24(4), 567-582. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_24_4_567_582.pdf

Olsson, A.K. & Bernhard, I. (2023). Transforming doctoral education: Exploring industrial PhD collaboration in Sweden. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 24(4), 523-536. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_24_4_523_536.pdf

Taylor, N. & Maxwell, T.W. (2004). Enhancing the relevance of a professional doctorate: The case of the Doctor of Education Degree at the University of New England. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 5(1), 60-69. https://www.ijwil.org/files/APJCE_05_1_60_69.pdf

Treptow, R. (2013). The South African PhD: Insights from employer interviews. Perspectives in Education, 31(2), 83-91,142.

South African Government. (2014), Department of Higher Education and Training, Government Notice No 819. Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework. Government Gazette No. 38116, 17 October. https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201410/38116gon819.pdf

Stewart, R.A. & Chen, L. (2009). Developing a framework for work integrated research higher degree studies in an Australian engineering context, European Journal of Engineering Education, 34:2, 155-169. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043790902833325

Valencia-Forrester, F. (2019) Internships and the PhD: Is this the future direction of work-integrated learning in Australia? International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 20(4), 389-400. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_20_4_389_400.pdf

A three-prong approach: teaching and learning, student support or institutional advancement?

What determines the location of work-integrated learning functionaries? The age-old maxim ‘strategy determines structure’, or what is on the forefront of the minds of decision-makers, applies. What is ‘the position of most prominence’, which argument is the strongest, or who holds the most power? One of three possible locations within executive portfolios are found, say Nofemela (2023):

• Work-integrated learning is deemed as part of the curriculum and therefore located within teaching and learning.
• Securing placements for workplace-based learning (WPBL) is seen as institutional advancement, engagement, and partnerships, requiring marketing expertise.
• Supporting students in identifying job opportunities, producing CVs and cover letters, preparing for job interviews, networking professionally, developing career portfolios and online profiles, etc. requires specialist counselling and career expertise.

‘A guide to effective practice of WIL’ (2010), suggests the embracing of a new institutional paradigm, namely “work integrated learning as a higher education enterprise” (p. 23), in contrast to the cottage industry (old paradigm) of “located at the specific programme level within disciplines and academic departments” (p. 21), where it remains largely invisible and under-resourced. It is said that there is a “deep misunderstanding of what is required to establish and maintain effective work integrated learning programmes” (p. 22). There is a considerable amount of work involved in locating placement opportunities, “preparing and negotiating learning environments within workplaces” (which require relevant expertise), as well as “briefing and debriefing students before and after”, and in mentoring, “supervising, supporting, and assessing learning outcomes” (p. 22).

The new paradigm suggests a change in “locus of leadership” and “an important element in institutional and national agenda” (p. 23). It further suggests integration with and incorporation of “other goals such as gaining a competitive edge in the market of student enrolment and forging authentic, comprehensive industry and community partnerships”.

Coll & Eames (2000: 9-10) identify three models for the location of WIL placement coordinators, the role of the persons collaboration between the university and industry regarding WPBL—which entails much more than mere ‘placement jockey’. The models, or three-prong approach, includes:

• Decentralised, as part of an academic department and functions totally within it
• Centralised, functioning as single unit responsible for all the students across subject disciplines
• Combined centralised-decentralised (integrated), where coordinators are housed within their academic departments, but overseen centrally

“These models represent a continuum of degree of interaction between the coordinator and the student, the employer and the faculty”, say Coll and Eames (2000: 10), and the roles of placement coordinators varies significantly in accordance with the model. Roles may range from simply administrative, to substantially administrative in nature, to joint teaching and placement coordinating.

Coll and Eames (2000: 10) advocate for the third type model, where “coordinators hold joint appointments and are at least partly within faculty”. “In this model coordinators are subject specialists and have strong links with students, faculty, and deep knowledge of the business of the employer”. Continued support from industry is a significant success factor, and the securing quality placement opportunities often problematic. If employers (placement providers) “have a successful placement experience each time” the likelihood of repeat placements increases significantly. An optimum match of each student with her/his provider, is arguably a key factor. “Because coordinators also are subject specialists, they are able to relate effectively with industry professionals during site visits”; better equipped to assess the suitability of a site and accredit such for sound WPBL; “able to gain a good appreciation of an employer's needs”; and furthermore, able to act as conduits for collaborative research because they know the interests and abilities of faculty colleagues. Collaborative research potentially further strengthen links between the university and placement providers, resulting in additional tangible benefits from involvement. Nofemela (2023) indicates advantages versus disadvantages regarding considering which model to implement.

Five Australian universities explored a distributed leadership approach with regarding WIL (Patrick et al., 2014). “WIL leadership refers to the activities that surround the development, promotion, organisation, management and delivery of” WIL, the report qualifies (p. 4). The leadership of WIL takes place both within higher education institutions and at locations in industry and/or community where WPBL takes place, as well as by statutory, professional, or vocational bodies. WIL leaders are therefore practitioners who may teach, or host, support, employ or utilise, and engage with WIL students. Roles may either be formal or informal; and WIL leaders are drawn from various levels within institutions and organisations. To ensure quality student learning, the curriculum relies on shared oversight and guidance pertaining the learning experiences of students (p. 5). Five key domains of capabilities required by WIL leaders, illustrated in Figure 1 (p. 19), were identified across the spectrum.

WIL leadership is characterised in terms of ten dimensions: “discipline contexts, policy, resourcing, organisational culture, organisational structure and systems, external engagement, staff capability, pedagogy and curriculum, access and equity, and research and scholarship” (p. 6), with two aspects identified as being crucial (p. 18):

• Staff capability, particularly in the areas of learning design, embedding employability skills within the curriculum and creating meaningful opportunities for all, was identified as a key professional skill set of WIL leaders.
• Research and scholarship around WIL supported the need of WIL leaders to innovate and use innovation in an evidenced-based application of WIL concepts.

Harnessing a groundswell of interest, and nurturing of a ‘WIL community of practice’ to create momentum, is further advocated (p. 22)

Coll, R.K. & Eames, C. (2000). The role of the placement coordinator: An alternative model. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 1(1), 9-14. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/APJCE_01_1_9_14.pdf

Cooper, L., Orrell, J. & Bowden, M. (2010). Work integrated learning, A guide to effective practice. London: Routledge.

Nofemela, F.R. (2023). How to establish a Co-op/WIL office. Southern African Society for Cooperative Education (SASCE) live training webinar held 5 September 2023.

Patrick, C.; Fallon, W.; Campbell, M.; Devinish, I.; Kay, J.; Lawson, J.; Russell, L.; Tayebjee, F. & Cretchley, P. (2014). Leading WIL: a distributed leadership approach to enhance work integrated learning. Sydney, New South Wales: Office for Learning and Teaching. Electronically accessible from: https://ltr.edu.au/resources/LE11_2084_Patrick_Report_2014.pdf

Different forms, types or modalities of work-integrated learning (WIL)

The Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) (South African Government, 2014) differentiates five forms work-integrated learning (WIL), and the imbedded WIL template, under section D (p. 8) of the Council on Higher Education (CHE, 2021), Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) offline version of the online ‘Application for programme accreditation and qualification registration’, two more:

1. virtual or simulated learning,
2. work-directed theoretical learning (WDTL),
3. problem-based learning (PBL),
4. project-based learning (PjBL),
5. workplace-based learning (WPBL),
6. practicum placements,
7. service-learning, and so on.

The CHE’s Good Practice Guide (2011) advocates four distinct WIL curricular modalities, namely WDTL, PBL, PjBL and WPBL above. The eight definitions below were composed through consultation of several sources.

Practicum (plural practicums) placements	is a course/programme module, or part thereof, that involves involving activities emphasising the practical/clinical application of theory, knowledge and skills of the qualification curriculum; gaining on-the-job/vocation/professional experience; putting into practice; clinical/practical training; actual working in the area/field of study
Problem-based learning (PBL)	is a radical form of teaching which entail that ‘problems’, rather than academic subjects, as organising structure of the curriculum, with the main objective the acquisition of an extensive, integrated knowledge base. Problem-oriented learning is more commonly used and involves the inclusion of real-world scenarios for problem-based activities, assignments, and projects. Ill-structured problems stimulate the generation of multiple hypotheses or potential solutions. Ill-structured problems further allow students to observe, interview, and review records or documents to obtain needed information.
Project-based learning (PjBL)	involves learning through projects. Projects are either ‘real’ projects located in the world of work; or simulated with input from workplaces. Projects generally involve elements of research and supervision by both a university lecturer and workplace supervisor or mentor. PJBL enables the acquisition of an extensive, integrated knowledge base that students can draw on and apply to the analysis and solution of problems.
Service-learning	generally entails voluntary activities directed at specific community needs, applied learning and engaging in reflection to deepen understanding of what is being taught. It could be credit-bearing, if integrated into the curriculum of an academic programme and assessed as such., It may take place with an agency (usually a non-profit or social service group).
Simulated (or virtual) learning	means the learning and teaching technologies used to create artificial learning environments to enhance or replace a student’s actual experience with the world of work through simulations. For example, live projects, case studies, employer talks, role play, mentoring, and e-simulations.
Work-directed theoretical learning (WDTL)	enables the alignment of theoretical understanding with the practical or practice-based components and enabling students to apply such in the workplace. Presentations by workplace and/or professional practice may be used.
Work-integrated learning (WIL)	is used as an umbrella term to describe curricular, pedagogic and assessment practices, across a range of academic disciplines that integrate formal learning and workplace concerns. The International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning (IJWIL) defines WIL as "an educational approach that uses relevant work-based experiences to allow students to integrate theory with the meaningful practice of work as an intentional component of the curriculum. Defining elements of this educational approach require that students engage in authentic and meaningful work-related tasks, and must involve three stakeholders; the student, the university, and the workplace/community." (www.ijwil.org)
Workplace-based learning (WPBL)	happens when students are placed in work environments for the purposes of learning, which provides students with real life work experiences, in order internalise knowledge, skills and competencies, and gain insights through exposure to work by achieving specific outcomes. Both the HEQSF & CHE (2014) specify criteria for work(place)-based learning.

The Regulations (South African Government, 2018) for WPBL Agreements, lists nine forms of WPBL, requiring selection:

1. Apprenticeship
2. Learnership
3. Internship for the ‘N’ Diploma
4. Candidacy (postgrad for professional)
5. Student internship. Category A (for certificates & diplomas in HEQSF)
6. Student internship: Category B (requirement professional registration)
7. Student internship: Category C (for QCTO qualifications)
8. Student internship (SAQA qualification & vacation work)
9. Graduate internship (got qualification, to gain workplace experience)

Council on Higher Education (2011). Work-Integrated Learning: Good Practice Guide. HE Monitor No. 12, August 2011. Pretoria: IeCommunications. Electronically accessible from https://www.che.ac.za/sites/default/files/publications/Higher_Education_Monitor_12.pdf

Council on Higher Education (2014). Distance Higher Education Programmes in a Digital Era: Programme Accreditation Criteria, pp. 81 – 107. In Distance Higher Education Programmes in a Digital Era: Good Practice Guide. Electronically accessible from https://www.saide.org.za/documents/CHE_-_Distance_Higher_Education.pdf

Council on Higher Education (2021). Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) offline version of the online ‘Application for programme accreditation and qualification registration’. https://www.che.ac.za/publications/submissions/heqc-offline-application

South African Government. (2014), Department of Higher Education and Training, Government Notice No 819. Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework. Government Gazette No. 38116, 17 October 2014. Electronically accessible from https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201410/38116gon819.pdf

South African Government. (2018). Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) workplace based learning programme agreement regulations. Department of Higher Education and Training. Government Gazette No 42037, 16 November 2018. Skills Development Act (Act 97 of 1998). https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201811/42037gon1241.pdf

ePortfolio more than a digital ring-binder, lever-arch file, or handbag

“The eportfolio as a 'digital handbag' which uses digital tools to document, store and organise information provides an appropriate alternative to the paper portfolio” say McDermott and Gallagher (2011: 96). Several years ago, during a monitoring visit as industry-based coordinator of workplace-based learning (WPBL), I noticed that the trainee accessing a gym-bag, explaining that he gathers sample documentation from the workplace, and keeps these in order to complete his learning programme assignments and projects. Personally, as many others do, I’ve kept a lever-arch file for my notes and assignments for an online course, for which I had to submit a portfolio of evidence. However, it has been an ‘a-ha moment’ for me realising the role and value of eportfolios as alternative teaching tools.

It is generally recognised that “lengthy paper portfolio had become out-dated as it no longer reflected the needs” of learning environments, say McDermott and Gallagher (2011: 96) and cite the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) describing an eportfolio as “the new generation of the old 3-ring binder”. ePortfolios are “dynamic and flexible tool[s] for collecting and presenting information about students’ learning and development”, and vehicles “for achieving asynchronous and non-geographical opportunities for sharing and providing guidance in the process of reflection which is an essential element in developing learner autonomy”. ePortfolios also offer opportunities to showcase the ‘evidence of learning’ of “students and their work to a variety of audiences such as prospective employers”. Carter (2021: 463) states that “higher education graduates are expected to provide evidence demonstrating a complex skill set as they transition to employment, and ePortfolios are a potential tool with which to do this”.

“Work-integrated learning (WIL) is an umbrella term” says Carter (2021: 463), who describes WIL as “the intentional practice of integrating traditional academic learning with applied learning for and in the workplace, with the intention of the student making connections between and deriving greater meaning from both contexts” and is based on “the underlying principles of constructivist education”. However, there exists tension between practicing or gaining workplace experience and evidencing for assessment or proving employability. This tension (or gap) can be mitigated “by integrating electronic portfolios, or ePortfolios into the curriculum”. McDermott and Gallagher (2011: 96) explains how eportfolios are integrated into a workplace-based learning (WPBL) or a cooperative education (co-op) programme, as forms of WIL. Students are allocated an academic and a work-based supervisor. The first “assures academic rigour and advises on placement choice” and “also supports students with the development of the learning agreement which articulates the learning aims and outcomes the student hopes to achieve in the placement”, while the second “mentors each student in the development of their employability skills during a 150 hour placement”. The summative assessment of students entails a “reflective portfolio based on their co-op experience”. Majola (2023) says an eportfolio is “an electronic collection of evidence that shows the learning journey over time and documents student learning by providing evidence of their knowledge, competencies, and skills”. Carter (2021: 464) says that in addition to eportfolios “as tools for authentic summative assessment” they prove valuable for “formative learning experiences, and rehearsal of demonstration of life-long learning and professional identity”.

Modise (2023) says that “eportfolios are about people, [about their] learning journeys, rather than about technology”. McDermott & Gallagher (2011: 97) say that “in an eportfolio, learning is achieved through‚ continuous building and amending of previous structures as new experiences, actions and knowledge are assimilated and accommodated to involve a process of individual transformation”. They add that through the process (or journey) of engagement with their eportfolios, students learn more about themselves, and that this self-awareness is the gateway to their development of effective reflective skills. ePortfolios are perceived as a significant “instrument in the pedagogy of student-centred learning and student-directed development”. Fragmented pieces academic learning, experiences in the workplace and personal activities are channelled “into a trajectory of their educational and professional development”. Metacognitive skills are developed which “enable students to become active investigators and problem solvers”. Through eportfolios higher order thinking ability is developed, as well as learning at a deeper level and learning autonomy encouraged.

It is evident that “are becoming increasingly popular as a digital collection of artefacts collating the student experience” says Carter (2021: 465) and provides the following definition:

“Digital portfolios are dynamic collections of digital artefacts including work samples, learning resources, records of skills and accomplishments, which may be created by an individual, a group, a community or an organization. Digital portfolios can have multiple purposes, such as demonstrating learning achievements (assessment), recording a learning process (journaling) and demonstrating skills (profiling)…Digital portfolios can serve multiple purposes such as support, documentation and assessment of learning, counselling and career preparation, credential documentation and accreditation. (Buchem, 2016, p. 343-344)”

There are many types of evidence contained in eportfolios, such as documenting of observations, reflections, and research; samples, images and videos; feedback from supervisors, mentors and/or peers. “Artefacts can relate to student demonstration of skills and competencies, assessment, learning journey transformation and reflection, personal and professional identity, learning engagement and employability” says Carter (2021: 465). Additional benefits derived from the use of eportfolios include “acknowledgement is often made of the that can be seen, such as enhancing technological, communication and organizational skills; student awareness of their learning journey and how their understanding has changed over time; identification of strengths and gaps in student understanding; demonstration of theory in practice, and recognition and evidencing of soft skills, personal attributes and other career-readiness traits”, she says.

Carter, S. (2021). ePortfolios as a platform for evidencing employability and building professional identity: A literature review. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 22(4), 463-474. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_22_4_463_474.pdf.

McDermott, K. & Gallagher, S. (2011). Integration of eportfolios into cooperative education: Lessons learnt. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 12(2), 95-101. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/APJCE_12_2_95_101.pdf.

Modise, M. & Majola, X.M. (2023). Presentations in ‘All matters e-portfolios: The role and value of e-portfolios as an alternative teaching and assessment tools in distance education’, during the UNESCO Chair on ODL 2023 Research Webinar Series, 10 July 2023. Intranet recording set to expire https://mylifeunisaac-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/sibayn_unisa_ac_za/EW5kdegJVMlLuF_Amt-MUGoBigscXm-im8vwhTU4zGLGXg.

Learning contracts, agreements, or plans

‘Field education’ is significant to, among many others, social work education because theoretical learning becomes alive and real through supervised professional practice (or workplace experiences) say Leitmann and Palmer (2013: 26). However, it is essential to develop a ‘learning plan’ to structure a students’ learning on ‘placement’ or ‘practicum’, they indicate. A ‘structured framework’ keeps students focused on meeting the learning objectives and to make appropriate selections, say Ward et al (2001: 92), who indicate that “three-way contracts between workplace supervisor, the teaching institution and the student, have been the basis for work experience programmes in fields as diverse as history, engineering, nursing, physiotherapy, business management and information technology”. However, “because of the difficulties arising out of the legalistic context of the expression ‘learning contract’ many educators prefer to substitute ‘plan’ … [or alternatively] ‘study plans’ or ‘performance agreements’ and ‘self-development plans’ are [other] terms used”. The notions ‘learning contract’ or ‘learning agreement’ is defined as “a formal written agreement between a learner [student] and a member of the teaching staff which details what is to be learnt, the resources and strategies available to assist in learning which will be produced as evidence of learning having occurred and how the product will be assessed”. Such a “learning plan links professional activities to be undertaken with learning outcomes to be achieved along with how these are to be assessed within a specific time frame” say Leitmann and Palmer (2013: 26).

Lamiri et al (2022: 2) cite Knowles (1986), who defined a ‘learning contract’ as a tool (or instrument) that enables a student, lecturer (and workplace) “to establish a preestablished plan … it is a bilateral agreement that serves to indicate, in a precise manner, the objectives, the activities or the means adopted to achieve the commitments of each party”. Knowles qualified a ‘learning contract’ as most effective means to promote self-directed learning, “it improves the learners' [student’s] sense of responsibility and allows the establishment of learner-centred learning objectives”, say Lamiri et al (2022: 2). A ‘learning contract’ is a methodological aid “to help develop the project, a source of motivation, a tool for socialisation, and a tool that has psycho-pedagogical value” and is said to have “a positive impact on students' knowledge acquisition ability, learning satisfaction and academic productivity”. Research on ‘learning contracts’ found that “this pedagogical tool has proven to be effective, especially with regard to the factors that influence and enhance learner motivation, namely (a) confidence, (b) recognition of value, (c) responsibility and (d) satisfaction”. ‘Learning contracts’ furthermore improve “students' learning autonomy and motivation, as well as assisting learners in making a personal and relevant choice of assignments that are relevant to their needs”, especially if “a list of options from which learners can choose” is included. The ‘learning contract’, as instrument “in the process of integrating theory and practice” further has been found to help “students to organise their learning more effectively, and encourages them to develop creativity through knowing and using the most appropriate resources and strategies in the learning process”. However, ‘learning contracts’, if done well, requires individualised time and effort to complete and ‘contract’.

Eardley, Bussey and Brooks-Martin (2011: 198) report that although ‘learning agreements’ (LAs) were piloted early in 2005, LAs went live in 2007 and brought about “a change of learning culture for surgical trainees in” 2011. Learning became transparent with explicit formative feedback. Surgical trainees were required to “demonstrate that their learning has met defined standards of conduct and practice” at frequent appraisals, making use of a ‘learning agreements’ (LA), with their assigned educational supervisor (AES). The LA assists the surgical trainees to identify their educational needs, to plan and to manage, together with their AES, their surgical training. An annual review of competence progression (ARCP) is done by the programme director (PD) who is responsible for the training programme. The ARCP replaced the former record of in-training assessment (RITA) of the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP).

The ‘learning agreement’ (LA) is essentially an appraisal tool which specifies what surgical trainees should learn during their clinical placement, “how they should learn it and what evidence they need to show that they have learned it”. LAs summarise the learning objectives already achieved by surgical trainees and provide feedback about their performance. “The ARCP is a formal deanery process that scrutinises each surgical trainee’s suitability to progress to the next stage of training or programme completion.” The sign-off by the assigned educational supervisor (AES) of the ‘learning agreement’ (LA) and the assessment of the surgical trainee’s progress over the duration of the clinical placement is of significant important.

Anderson and Boud (1996), cited Ward et al (2001: 92), identified eight steps, summarised in Fig. 1 (p. 93), towards developing a learning contract. They observed that different styles of contracting portray differing degrees of learner independence.

• Highly independent students would identify their learning need/s, draft the contract, present it to the supervisor for negotiation and approval.
• With inexperienced students the supervisor may initiate and work through each section of the contract with the student.

Image source: https://twitter.com/jiahui1231234/status/1003258749568643072

Eardley, I.; Bussey, M. & Brooks-Martin, J. (2011). The ISCP Systems Group: Enhancements to the Learning Agreement and ARCP. The Royal College of Surgeons of England (Bulletin), 93:6, 198-199. Electronically accessible from https://publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/epdf/10.1308/147363511X575480

Lamiri, A., Lhbibani, A., Qaisar, R., Khoaja, D., Abidi, O.,  Khyati, A., & Bouzoubaa, H. (2022). The Learning Contract and its Impact on Scholarship among Moroccan Nursing Students. The Open Nursing Journal, Volume 16. Electronically accessible from https://doi.org/10.2174/18744346-v16-e2206270

Leitmann, S., & Palmer, M. (2013). (Re)presenting the creative potential of learning plans. The Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning, 12(2), 26-47. Electronically accessible form https://doi.org/10.1921/jpts.v12i2.287

Ward, A., O’Neill, R., Kostrzewski, A., & Dhillon, S. (2001). Using Learning Agreements in a Competency-based Training Programme: Introduction and Evaluation by Preregistration Pharmacists. Pharmacy Education, 1(2), 91-104. Electronically accessible from https://pharmacyeducation.fip.org/pharmacyeducation/article/view/6

Unease about the impact of imposing workplace-based learning contracts

Gaffney‐Rhys and Jones (2010: 711) explored the implementation of contracts to manage associated risks pertaining to universities and students. Their findings could possibly extend to workplace-based learning providers, as third party? They indicate that the legal nature of the relationship between student and university is a complex matter, in that it “is governed by the principles of public law and the private law of contract” (p. 712). Furthermore, as “a public body, the decisions of an HEI [higher education institution] are subject to judicial review. They also indicate that it has been “confirmed that the relationship between a student and his or her HEI is based on a … legally binding contract [that] is formed when an offer made by an HEI, [and] is accepted by the applicant”, or student by registering. They add that “it is not legally necessary to present the contractual terms in a written document”.

The Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) of the Department of Higher Education and Training (South African Government 2014: 17) states that the incorporation of work-integrated learning (WIL) into the curriculum is characteristic of vocational and professionally-oriented qualifications. Section 34 indicates that “WIL may take various forms including simulated learning, work-directed theoretical learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning and workplace-based learning” and that the selection of appropriate form depends on a number of factors. However, section 35 states: “Where the entire WIL component or any part of it takes the form of workplace-based learning, it is the responsibility of institutions that offer programmes requiring credits for such learning to place students into appropriate workplaces. Such workplace-based learning must be appropriately structured, properly supervised and assessed.” (emphasis added).

The South African Council on Higher Education, as independent statutory body and Quality Council for Higher Education (CHE: n.d.), recognises that “arrangements for work-based learning will likely be more complex in distance provision due to the more distributed nature of students and the geographic footprint of distance programmes which may even extend beyond national borders” (CHE: 2014, Criterion 15, emphases added), but states that “appropriate arrangements will be needed for placement, mentoring and supervision for a more distributed student body to ensure an equivalent learning experience across a wider range of contexts” and reiterates the “coordination of work-based learning must be done effectively, including adequate infrastructure, effective communication, recording of progress made, monitoring and mentoring”. Criterion 15 adds that “learning agreements or contracts implemented through which the student, the higher education institution, the employer (workplace-based learning provider) and mentor negotiate, approve, adhere to agreed roles and responsibilities, and assess the objectives and outcomes of the learning process”. It is however not explicitly stated that a formally legally binding contract is meant. Furthermore, is it reasonable to subject a workplace-based learning provider, which willingly make resources available to, additional contractual obligations?

In addition to the generic statutory requirements above, qualification-specific statutory bodies such as the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP), South African Nursing Council (SANC), and the South African Veterinary Council (SAVC), and vocational bodies may specify additional criteria.

Nevertheless, “the contract to educate requires the HEI to provide adequate teaching and adequate facilities” indicate Gaffney‐Rhys and Jones (2010: 712) and (p. 713) that “the primary obligations of the HEI are to provide adequate teaching and facilities” deducing that the “contract between an HEI and a student is thus a contract for services”, which in accordance to section 35 of the HEQSF includes “the responsibility of institutions that offer programmes requiring credits for such [workplace-based] learning to place students into appropriate workplaces”, bearing in mind that section 34 of the HEQSF does present universities with the option of alternative forms of WIL “including simulated learning, work-directed theoretical learning, problem-based learning, [and] project-based learning”.

As far as the legal status of contracts between the “student, the higher education institution, the employer (workplace-based learning provider) and mentor” (as per criterion 15) appear not, according to Gaffney‐Rhys and Jones (2010: 713) to “create a contractual relationship [between HEI and student] it simply formalises its terms”. If such a contract “contains university regulations and/or repeats information that was included in the prospectus … it is merely drawing the student’s attention to terms that are binding” say Gaffney‐Rhys and Jones (2010: 713). However, “if the HEI wants to impose further conditions on the student … and wants such requirements to be legally binding the document (the name of which can vary) should be sent to applicants [students] with the offer letter in order to expressly incorporate the terms into the student contract”, they caution and indicate that it “might constitute a variation of contract, which requires the student’s consent”. Gaffney‐Rhys and Jones (2010: 714) also indicate that it need to be understood “that the point at which the document is distributed, the contents of the document and the style of the document determine whether it is legally enforceable, rather than the title, as many would assume”. The notion of persuading companies to offer workplace-based learning opportunities and thereafter impose legal requirements might be questionable?

The impact of formal workplace-based learning contracts on the satisfaction of both providers and students possibly need to be investigated?

Council on Higher Education (n.d.) Legislative and policy mandate. Electronically accessible from https://www.che.ac.za/about-us/legislative-and-policy-mandate

Council on Higher Education (2014). Distance Higher Education Programmes in a Digital Era: Programme Accreditation Criteria, pp. 81 – 107. In Distance Higher Education Programmes in a Digital Era: Good Practice Guide. Electronically accessible from https://www.saide.org.za/documents/CHE_-_Distance_Higher_Education.pdf

Gaffney‐Rhys, R. & Jones, J. (2010). Issues surrounding the introduction of formal student contracts. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 35(6), 711-725. Electronically accessible form https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930902977749.

South African Government (2014), Department of Higher Education and Training, Government Notice No 819. Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework. Government Gazette No. 38116, 17 October 2014. Electronically accessible from https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201410/38116gon819.pdf

Micro-placements are short periods of individual or teamwork on highly focused projects

Despite the good results yielded by work-integrated learning (WIL), the implementation is often hampered by significant challenges, indicate Mayombe (2022: 310), who “refers to any learning activity or programme which integrates theory with practice to provide trainees with industry experience”. Challenges relate to both (i) design and (ii) resources, as well as (iii) maintaining relationships with relevant stakeholders, who may have expectations, needs and interests different from educational institutions. WIL “refers to an educational and training approach that integrates academic and workplace practices for the joint benefit of students and workplaces”, it “allows the insertion of relevant real-world learning into the design of the curriculum that produces students who are prepared to enter the labour market and meet demands of employers”. Mayombe (2022: 311) emphasises the importance of stakeholders to commitment to play their roles for effectiveness of WIL programmes, stating that “commitment of the stakeholders is a catalytic of allocating appropriate WIL placement which facilitates opportunities for trainees to work in organisations”. Mayombe (2022: 313) indicates that “it is the responsibility of the WIL custodian to maintain relationships with key stakeholders and obtain their commitment”.

“The work-experience component of work-integrated learning [programmes] can be achieved through” different models, “characterised by flexibility in terms of the length, timing and frequency of the practical component” say Mayombe (2022: 312), for example:

• The alternating model of WIL, which comprises students alternating between months of practical work experience at their sponsoring companies, and the theoretical components at their respective learning institutions
• A mixture of alternating and parallel study, consisting of allowing students to complete the academic component (theoretical element) while at the same time work part-time at the sponsoring company. Often model of WIL entail full-time in-service training at the end of the study programme.
• Often students are required to apply to an employer for placement for a specific period, to get the relevant practical experience, sometimes with different employers or industries.

Bracken, Patton & Lindsay (2022: 481) state that work-integrated learning (WIL) is “an umbrella term for a range of approaches and strategies that integrate theory with the practice of work within a purposefully designed curriculum”, but add that the range of underpinning pedagogical approaches caused multiple terms that are often used interchangeably causing confusion, such as “practice-based learning, professional practice, problem-based-learning, experiential learning, workplace learning, and practice-based education”. The diversity of WIL is further demonstrated by a diverse range of strategies and approaches such as fully immersed in-situ work placements, projects, fieldwork, and simulations. There are further emerging innovative WIL approaches such as micro-placements, hackathons, and incubators. Dean & Campbell (2020: 357) refer to these approaches as beyond workplace-based experiences, that “moved away from requiring extensive time in workplaces to engaging students through short, authentic activities”. Green, Seaman & Smith (2022: 528) align these kinds of short-term placements with the definition of micro-placements offered by Kay et al. (2019: 405), namely “short periods in the workplace ranging from two to 10 days where students work individually or in teams on highly focused projects”, indicating that micro-placements occur in a diverse range of sectors.

The Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce issued the following news release on 24 & 29 April 2021 respectively:

Could your Business Support Edinburgh Napier University with a Micro-Placement?

Edinburgh Napier Business School are exploring introducing a 'Micro-Placement' experience for our 3rd & 4th Year Undergraduate BA (Hons) Accounting and Law students and they are interested to hear from companies who might be interested in hosting a student, over the summer period.

This will be short-term optional, extra-curricular career exploration opportunity designed to provide mutual benefit to both student and employer, with students gaining an insight into an industry related to their field of study and employers a chance to meet with ambitious students. As this is a pilot, they are very open to any suggestions that you might have! If you are interested, or would like to find out more please contact Sharon Homan-James, Employer Engagement Partner, Business School on email [email protected]

Mayombe (2022) uses the term micro-placements 27 times, indicating among other (p. 317) that students sign fixed-term contracts with the host companies, for the duration of the micro-placement. For host companies, micro-placements often serve as strategy for human resources development and recruitment of new employees. The number of academic credits for micro-placements vary based on the type and the outcome. Mentoring during and quality of micro-placements are important considerations. Sometimes micro-placements of students in host companies are converted to formal employment upon graduation. Adequate mentorship and supervision enable students “to become ready for future careers and be attractive to the prospective employers” (p. 324).

Bibliography:

Bracken, L., Patton, N. & Lindsay, E. (2022). Compulsory work-integrated learning: A solution for equity propositioning and future proofing. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 23(4), 481-493. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_23_4_527_542.pdf

Dean, B.A. & Campbell, M. (2020). Reshaping work-integrated learning in a post-COVID-19 world of work. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 21(4), 356-364. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_21_4_355_364.pdf

Edinburgh Napier Business School. (2021). Could your Business Support Edinburgh Napier University with a Micro-Placement? Plus Company Updates. Gale General OneFile, https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&u=usa_itw&id=GALE|A659693622&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&asid=9270b281

Green, E., Seaman, C.E. & Smith, B. (2022). Exploring localized learning during a short-term health student placement. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 23(4), 527-542. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_23_4_527_542.pdf

Iipinge, S.M., Batholmeus, P.N. & Pop. C. (2020). Using simulations to improve skills needed for work-integrated learning before and during COVID-19 in Namibia. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 21(5), 531-543. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_21_5_531_543.pdf

Kay, J., Ferns, S., Russell, L., Smith, J. & Winchester-Seeto, T. (2019). The emerging future: Innovative models of work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 20(4), 401-413. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_20_4_401_413.pdf

Mayombe, C. (2022). Partnership with stakeholders as innovative model of work-integrated learning for unemployed youths. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 12 (2), 309-327. https://0-doi-org.oasis.unisa.ac.za/10.1108/HESWBL-03-2021-0065

Zegwaard, K.E., Pretti, T.J. & Rowe, A.D. (2020). Responding to an international crisis: The adaptability of the practice of work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 21(4), 317-330. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_21_4_317_330.pdf

Entrepreneurship, incubators, or start-ups as emerging WIL model

Conventional approaches to work-integrated learning (WIL), such as 3 – 12-month work placements, also called cooperative education, sandwich programmes or practicums, are not only resource intensive, but do place additional demands on industry partners, say Kay, Ferns, Russell, Smith and Winchester-Seeto (2019: 402). Small to medium enterprises (SMEs), namely those with fewer than 200 employees, comprise a significant proportion of the Australian economy, say Kay et al. (2019: 402). However, due to limited resources, staff constraints, and restrictions of funds, it is generally difficult for SMEs to engage in offering WIL opportunities. Kay et al. (2019: 403) observe that a recurring theme in the literature is the challenges universities experience in successfully engaging with SMEs. The “mismatch between the needs of universities and those of SMEs is a key reason for the lack of engagement from SMEs” they remark. Factors such as inflexible university schedules, as well as strict timing, duration of placements, type of student activities, supervision requirements and student support expectations, impact the capacity of SMEs to engage in WIL. There exists a need for willingness to working around these disparities, they indicate.

Universities found themselves competing for placement opportunities, which resulted in trends of “enhanced engagement with community organizations; greater flexibility in the structure of WIL experiences; an increase in on-campus opportunities; a focus on the use of technology to provide equitable WIL experiences in a virtual world; and a rise in third party providers who broker opportunities for students” (Kay et al. 2019: 405). Table 1 (p. 406) summarises the trends identified through a research project, funded by the Australian Technology Network (ATN), as well as innovative practices that emerged because of trends. The research involved three stages. The first stage entailed the review of literature from contemporary peer-reviewed academic literature, grey literature (such as government and industry reports) and conference proceedings with the aim of identifying emerging WIL models. During the second stage the emerging models were explored through ten international, national and local workshops with some 450 WIL practitioners, webinars and WIL communities of practice meetings. The third stage involved in-depth consideration and analysis through 55 semi-structured interviews with WIL practitioners, industry partners and students that directly experienced emerging WIL strategies. The three stages iterative process serve to validate the literature review. The emerging models were clustered into five innovative WIL models, namely (a) micro-placements, (b) online projects or placements, (c) hackathons, competitions and events, (d) WIL incubators and start-ups, and (e) consulting.

Kay et al. (2019: 407) define incubators or start-ups as “a workspace that provides support for startups including mentoring, information, networks, office space and resources for the early-stage development of new business ventures. WIL students can be placed in incubators to support ventures. A start-up is an entrepreneurial venture which is typically a young, small and recently emerged business that aims to create a new product, process or service to meet a need that is not currently being offered elsewhere in the market. The first stages of a start-up are commonly financed and can attract further support once it has proved its potential. Increasingly WIL students are undertaking placements or projects in or for start-up businesses”

The Canadian body ‘Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada’ (CEWIL Canada) webpage ‘Type of WIL: entrepreneurship’ qualifies ‘What is Entrepreneurship?’ that it “allows a student to leverage resources, space, mentorship and/or funding to engage in the early-stage development of business start-ups and/or to advance external ideas that address real-world needs for academic credit”. The webpage imbeds a YouTube video ‘What is entrepreneurial WIL?’ worth watching. The webpage further imbeds “a document that outlines in detail how Entrepreneurial WIL engages students and benefits employers”, which elaborates that “An entrepreneurship Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) experience provides students with an opportunity to start and build their own business. Often, these experiences are supported through school-supported incubators or accelerators. They allow students to leverage resources, space, mentorship, and funding to engage in business startups’ early-stage development and advance external ideas that address real-world problems for academic credit”.

Table 2 (Kay et al. 2019: 407) portrays 15 common features clustered across three key areas, namely stakeholder engagement, design elements, and co-designing with partners.

Table 3 (Kay et al. 2019: 409) represents the alignment of the features outlined in Table 2 with the five emerging models, showing the features that are characteristic of each model. Kay et al. (2019: 208) emphasise that stakeholder engagement is fundamental to all emerging WIL models, and that attention should be given to co-designing with industry, community, students, and alumni. They highlight the importance mutually beneficial and collaborative partnerships.

Table 4 (Kay et al. 2019: 410) gives an overview of the enablers identified through the workshops and interviews with students, host organizations and university staff.

Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada (CEWIL Canada). Type of WIL: Entrepreneurship. https://cewilcanada.ca/CEWIL/CEWIL/Resources/Employer-Community-Partners/Employer-Tool-Kit-Folder/Entrepreneurship.aspx

Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada (CEWIL Canada). (2021). What is entrepreneurial WIL? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQU-wrrt_8c

Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada (CEWIL Canada). (2021). Entrepreneurship for WIL partners. https://cewilcanada.ca/common/Uploaded%20files/Public%20Resources/WIL%20Resources/entrepreneurship__8.5x11.pdf

Kay, J., Ferns, S., Russell, L., Smith, J. & Winchester-Seeto, T. (2019). The emerging future: Innovative models of work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 20(4), 401-413. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_20_4_401_413.pdf

Significance of the I in WIL

The noun interrelation [in-ter-ri-ley-shuhn] is defined by Dictionary.com as “reciprocal relation”. It means the “state of things being closely connected to each other and maybe affecting each other”, and “the verb interrelate means to be connected in this way or to cause things to become connected in this way”. The adjective reciprocal originates from the Latin reciproc(us), meaning returning, “given or felt by each toward the other”, expressing a mutual relationship, explains Dictionary.com.

The ‘I’ in work-integrated learning (WIL) pertains to integration of workplace experiences into the learning curriculum. The International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning (IJWIL) defines ‘WIL’ as "an educational approach that uses relevant work-based experiences to allow students to integrate theory with the meaningful practice of work as an intentional component of the curriculum. Defining elements of this educational approach require that students engage in authentic and meaningful work-related tasks, and must involve three stakeholders; the student, the university, and the workplace/community." (emphasis added to highlight the interrelation). Examples of practice given by IJWIL “include off-campus, workplace immersion activities such as work placements, internships, practicum, service learning, and cooperative education (Co-op), and on-campus activities such as work-related projects/competitions, entrepreneurships, student-led enterprise, etc. WIL is related to, but not the same as, the fields of experiential learning, work-based learning, and vocational education and training.”

The Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) of the Department of Higher Education and Training (South African Government 2014: 17) states that the incorporation of work-integrated learning (WIL) into the curriculum is characteristic of vocational and professionally-oriented qualifications. The HEQSF includes the following higher education qualification descriptors:

• Advanced Certificate programmes (NQF Exit Level 6, p. 28), which typically include a work-integrated learning (WIL) component.
• Diploma programmes (NQF Exit Level 6, p. 29), which typically include an appropriate work-integrated learning (WIL) component; and further states (p. 30): “Candidates who complete the 240-credit Diploma may enter an Advanced Diploma upon successful completion of a work-integrated learning component or a combination of work-integrated learning and coursework equivalent to 120 credits that is approved and accredited by an education provider and/or a professional body and a QC.”
• Master's degree (Professional, NQF Exit Level 9, p. 38): “In some cases, a professional master's degree may be designed in consultation with a professional body or fulfil all or part of the requirements for professional registration or recognition, and may include appropriate forms of work-integrated learning.”

The incorporation of WIL as outlined above requires interrelation and reciprocity. The latter, reflected as the last letter (R) in a mnemonic about the essence of cooperative education, as former Technikon education philosophy: INC-CEL-FAR, standing for IN (industry needs) + CC (continuous consultation) + EL (experiential learning) + FA (faculty abreast) + R (reciprocity) = Cooperative Education.

The HEQSF further, in §34 (p. 17, emphasis added), differentiates various forms of work-integrated learning (WIL), namely:

• simulated learning [also known as simulated work experiences (SWEs)]
• work-directed theoretical learning [WDTL]
• problem-based learning [PBL]
• project-based learning [PjBL]
• workplace-based learning [WPBL] — Three Council on Higher Education publications (CHE: 2004 & 2014) provide criteria with regard to work-based learning (WBL). These criteria do not necessary apply to the other forms of WIL than work-based learning.

In §35 (p. 17, emphasis added) of the HEQSF, it is stated that where the WIL component “takes the form of workplace-based learning, it is the responsibility of institutions that offer programmes requiring credits for such learning to place students into appropriate workplaces” and adds that “such workplace-based learning must be appropriately structured, properly supervised and assessed”. Note that the institution’s role is not limited to ‘placement’ but extends to structured learning, proper supervision (mentoring), and assessment (both formative and summative), which suggest good interrelation (or reciprocity).

The South African Council on Higher Education, as independent statutory body and Quality Council for Higher Education (CHE: n.d.), published (CHE: 2011) a ‘Good Practice Guide’ towards work-integrated learning which deliberated the various modes mentioned above. The CHE recognises that “arrangements for work-based learning will likely be more complex in distance provision due to the more distributed nature of students and the geographic footprint of distance programmes which may even extend beyond national borders” (CHE: 2014, Criterion 15, emphases added), but states that “appropriate arrangements will be needed for placement, mentoring and supervision for a more distributed student body to ensure an equivalent learning experience across a wider range of contexts” and reiterates the “coordination of work-based learning must be done effectively, including adequate infrastructure, effective communication, recording of progress made, monitoring and mentoring”, including the following:

• Learning agreements or contracts implemented through which the student, the higher education institution, the employer (workplace-based learning provider) and mentor negotiate, approve, adhere to agreed roles and responsibilities, and assess the objectives and outcomes of the learning process
• Regular and effective communication taking place and good working relations are maintained between the institution, students, mentors and employers involved
• System (both at the institution and at the place of workplace-based learning) in operation to regularly and systematically monitor and record the progress of each student’s learning experience
• Mentoring system that enables each student to recognise his/her strengths and weaknesses, to develop existing and new abilities, and to gain knowledge of work practices

In addition to these generic statutory requirements, qualification-specific statutory bodies such as the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP), South African Nursing Council (SANC), and the South African Veterinary Council (SAVC), and vocational bodies do specify additional criteria.

CHE (Council on Higher Education)

Council on Higher Education (n.d.) Legislative and policy mandate. Electronically accessible from https://www.che.ac.za/about-us/legislative-and-policy-mandate

Council on Higher Education (2004). Higher Education Quality Committee. Criteria for Programme Accreditation. Electronically accessible from https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/che2020-c5efd.appspot.com/o/website%2Fyxqlkgy7gwo1.pdf?alt=media&token=c1ea5d6e-2e05-463d-9f2b-bbf92d4b402b

Council on Higher Education (2004). Higher Education Quality Committee. Criteria for Institutional Audits. Electronically accessible from https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/che2020-c5efd.appspot.com/o/website%2Fjh3xgy9ub11.pdf?alt=media&token=aa1b8117-5414-4e70-a363-50dc924a7d42

Council on Higher Education (2004). Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC). Criteria for Institutional Audits. https://www.che.ac.za/publications/criteria/criteria-institutional-audits

Council on Higher Education (2014). Distance Higher Education Programmes in a Digital Era: Programme Accreditation Criteria, pp. 81 – 107. In Distance Higher Education Programmes in a Digital Era: Good Practice Guide. Electronically accessible from https://www.saide.org.za/documents/CHE_-_Distance_Higher_Education.pdf

International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning (IJWIL). Home page. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/

Enhancing graduate employability through work-integrated learning could be a risky business

Extensive research has been done about how work-integrated learning (WIL) could enhance graduate employability, indicate de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 497). However, despite the apparent benefits it can be “… a risky business for universities’ due to the strategic, financial, legal and reputational risks it presents, particularly in being able to guarantee a sufficient supply of high quality work placements” say de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 502). Including prerequisite WIL may “result in a significant increase in administrative responsibilities for higher education institutions” they caution. Furthermore, “because students on work placement are not employees and therefore are not subject to many of the statutory protections employers are obliged to provide to employees”.

“Successful work placements depend on a strong tripartite relationship between the student, the WIL workplace, and the university”, which “needs to be based on a common understanding of the learning goals of the placement” and requires “careful management of both student and employer expectations of placements”, remark de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 502). Furthermore, “close communication between the university and host organization, including an honest appraisal of the placement student’s needs, abilities, and weaknesses, so that the placement program can be built around addressing or managing the impact of these” is needed. “Host employers [further] need to understand universities’ resource limitations … and must be prepared to provide appropriate on-the-job training and supervision if a student is to benefit from the work placement”. For WIL to succeed, “universities must be prepared to take a proactive role in negotiating with employers on their responsibilities as WIL workplaces”, as well as “to review partnerships with employers who have had repeated complaints raised against them”. The aforementioned “can only be achieved via a high level of institutional oversight, particularly in screening the suitability of potential WIL workplaces”. It is also necessary, say de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 502) to educate “students about their workplace rights and responsibilities prior to placement”, as well as “providing appropriate complaints mechanisms for students to voice concerns regarding their placements without fear of reprisal”.

Different forms of WIL are distinguished. “A useful typology for distinguishing between types of work experience conceptualized along two key dimensions: the degree of participatory discretion and the purpose of the experience” is, for example, reflected in Table 2 (from de Zwaan & Grant-Smith, 2022: 498). Completion of a work placement (also labelled an internship) as part of a degree programme normally counts as credits towards the qualification. Supervised work placements involve application of learned theories at a host workplace, and the development of skills. The duration varies depending on the discipline, and the registration or accreditation requirements of the profession, ranging from a few notional hours up to extended periods. There is furthermore significant diversity regarding how work placements are organized and monitored. In fields such as education, nursing, or health sciences with long traditions of clinical training (or ‘WIL’) and relatively large numbers of students; high levels of institutional oversight (including identification, accreditation of suitability of sites, and entering into agreements) and the matching of students with suitable opportunities, take place. However, many do require that students actively engage (like recruitment practices) in the process of securing a placement where the institution would advertise available placement opportunities and students apply, involving somewhat of a competitive application process. Some institutions, however, require that students take direct responsibility for securing and negotiating their own placements.

Although “unpaid work placements are increasingly being positioned as an employability panacea … recent research has shown that students participating in work placements can experience significant levels of psychological stress, social isolation, study/life imbalance and be exposed to exploitative or unlawful work practices”, state de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 500). ‘Panacea’, the ancient Greek goddess of healing, originates from panákeia equivalent to panake-, stem of panakḗs ‘all-healing’ (pan- ‘all’ + akḗs ‘a cure’). Unpaid internships, however, do not necessary take into consideration the “potential negative impacts on participants’ social, psychological, and economic wellbeing” say de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 500). “Financial stress and hardship can also impact students’ emotional and physical health and general wellbeing as students who are struggling financially experience more stress, anxiety, and depression”, they add. Work placements furthermore require significant time commitments from students, as well as significant risks of conflict with regard to the various roles of students.

Diversity in student populations may present several challenges regarding equity in high-quality work placements, “particularly for women, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and [also] international students” say de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 501). Often women are “disadvantaged due to their caring responsibilities”, and “placements during normal working hours can increase childcare costs or require alternative care arrangements to be made”. “When placements are located far from home the transport burden can be greater for women based on their mobilities of care”, as well as possibly safety concerns. “Students who are financially independent of their parents” or relatives; or “relying on paid employment to survive” or taking care of siblings; may incur considerable financial stress. These inequalities “means that students who possess significant financial capital or parental support may be more likely to be able to afford to undertake extended placements or engage in placements away from their local area”, which in turn may further impact post-graduation employment opportunities”. “Cultural differences, language skills and racism” may adversely impact international placements.

Service learning is proposed by de Zwaan and Grant-Smith (2022: 503-4) as a practical alternative to work placements. By providing services to disadvantaged individuals and non-profit organisations while supervised offer important learning opportunities and client interaction. “Service learning is distinguishable from volunteering or pro bono work in that its primary focus is on reciprocity and learning while meeting the needs of a community”.

de Zwaan, L. and Grant-Smith, D. (2022) More than mandatory work placements: The role of work-integrated learning in preparing financial planning graduates for the professional year. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 23(4), 495-508. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_23_4_495_508.pdf.

Dictionary.com https://www.dictionary.com/browse/panacea

A taxonomy of undergraduate work-integrated learning practices

The constructed taxonomy (Figure 1 below) is derived from examples and suggestions obtained from four stakeholder groups, say Neall, Cooney and Oppert (2022: 518). The taxonomy maps a range of practices in accordance two axes (or principles for effectiveness); namely vertically ‘task authenticity’ (how closely a task resembles professional level challenges) and horizontally ‘proximity to industry’ (how closely the context resembles a professional environment). The mapped practices may “be conducted virtually, practically and on an individual or group level depending on the resources available”. The four main stakeholder groups include (a) psychology graduates, (b) industry leaders, (c) higher education work-integrated learning staff, and (d) psychology accreditation council staff. The aim of the research had been to better support undergraduate psychology students to successfully enter into meaningful employment.

A cohort of Australian psychology graduates were struggling to make successful transitions to field-specific employment. Although there exists a growing demand for mental health/psychological support, there is also a deficit of appropriately trained professionals. These psychology graduates are a unique allied health cohort in that the undergraduate programme includes understanding of human physical and emotional behaviour and cognition. Graduates may enter a wide range of industry sectors, such as promotion of health, marketing, human resources, coaching, policy making, and community services. However, graduates often struggle to gain meaningful employment. Neall, Cooney and Oppert (2022: 509) believe that a “systematic integration of authentic WIL [work-integrated learning] into undergraduate psychology degrees may offset this lack of industry exposure”. They indicate that WIL has proven to develop of a range of professional and personal outcomes, including increased employability and work readiness through theory-to-practice application and professional skill development, among others.

Work-integrated learning (WIL) encapsulates a wide range of practice-based and experiential learning models and modes, such as work-based learning, project-based work, service learning, volunteering, internships, clinical placements, simulations, fieldwork, and practicums. The quality of WIL is dependent on robust industry partnerships, adequate preparation, active and authentic engagement, sound supervision, feedback, debriefing of students in order to improve work readiness in students.

Neall, A.M., Cooney, O. & Oppert, M.L. (2022). Enhancing employment outcomes for psychology graduates: Developing a taxonomy of work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 23(4), 509-525. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_23_4_509_525.pdf

The long-arm approach to supervision of workplace-based learning

A long-arm (plural long-arms) is a pole-like tool used for handling things too far away to reach. Also a long pole fitted with any of various devices, such as a hook or clamp, for performing tasks otherwise out of reach. Idiomatically it means to influence from a distance; to have far-reaching power; or ‘you can't escape the long arm of the law’, meaning the police will catch you if you have done something illegal. Also referring to a gun with a long barrel, such as rifle or shotgun. Furthermore, in the practice of law long-arm litigation is enabled through long-arm provisions, through long-arm statutes.

The Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, at Canterbury Christ Church University, is one example of many institutions experiencing challenges with regard to practice (or workplace-based learning) placements of students. Demands are continuously increasing, and students are requiring access a widening range and variety of practice areas, whereas opportunities diminish, and workplaces may not necessarily employ registered practitioners. As result, students might not receive appropriate supervision in relation to workplace-based learning (WPBL), which is in conflict to professional statutory body requirements. Similarly, the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of Chester found that “private, independent and voluntary organisations (PIVOs) are a valuable source of these types of practice placements”, but do not necessarily meet the regulatory requirements say Knight, et al. (2022). The solution both institutions introduced is an innovative long-arm practice supervision (LAPS) model. LAPS refers to the process where a suitably qualified supervisor is located at a distance to the practice learning area of the student. The LAPS takes responsibility for supervising and supporting the student, as well as assessing and confirming/verifying the student’s achievement of outcomes. The “model expands and broadens in scope the University’s placement capacity and structures engagement with its PIVOs” say Knight, et al. (2022). The Canterbury Christ Church University ‘Guidelines for Long Arm Practice Supervision’ specify a minimum of at least three (3) face-to-face meetings with the student, of which the specifics are outlined below:

Canterbury Christ Church University. (2018). FPLC 7: Guidelines for Long Arm Practice Supervision. Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Practice Learning Unit, Information for Students, Resources. Electronically accessible from https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/medicine-health-and-social-care/practice-learning-unit/docs/FPLC-7-Guidelines-for-Long-Arm-Practice-Supervision.pdf

Cambridge Dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/long-arm-of-the-law

Dictionary.com https://www.dictionary.com/browse/long-arm

Knight, K.H.; Whaley, V.; Bailey-McHale, B.; Simpson, A. & Hay, J. (2022). The long-arm approach to placement supervision and assessment. British Journal of Nursing, 31(4), 247. Electronically accessible from https://www.britishjournalofnursing.com/content/comment/the-long-arm-approach-to-placement-supervision-and-assessment

Wiktionary.org https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/long_arm#:~:text=long%20arm%20(plural%20long%20arms,as%20a%20rifle%20or%20shotgun

Graduate internships distinguished from work placements or other curricular activities

Graduate internships are “employment experiences of finite duration, normally assumed to have a learning component to them, undertaken in the early stages following graduation” say Hunt & Scott (2020: 465), who emphasise delimitation, “because there is no agreed definition of an internship”. Conflating graduate internships with work placements is not helpful, because the latter are normally undertaken whilst studying. Although ‘internship’ opportunities are widely advertised, no such employment status, for example, exists in UK law.

Academic literature recognises the importance of a ‘clinical placements’ (medical terminology for work-integrated learning) in graduate nursing programs. During clinical placement students may, for example, choose the nature of placement based on clinical interest. The objective of clinical placement is the acquisition of advanced practice nursing (APN) skills, increased understanding of the APN role, and development APN competencies, which “include direct comprehensive care, optimizing health system, education, research, leadership, consultation, and collaboration” indicate Cretu and Stilos. (2021: 494). During placement post-graduate students could further “build networks, advance their personal and professional development, and validate their motivation and desire to pursue a particular professional area of” APN. Preceptorship, a nursing education term for supervision and mentoring, plays a significant role with a learner-centred teaching approach and philosophy, incorporating “scientific knowledge, evidence-based practice, reflection and knowledge transformation, communication engagement, and possession of a respectful and responsible attitude” say Cretu and Stilos. (2021: 495). Such preceptoring provides ongoing encouragement and support. Students learn “by doing, questioning, reflecting, and engaging in discussions with patients and healthcare professionals, capturing the APN competencies whereby a fusion of knowledge and clinical skills happened in real-time”.

“Internships and field placements are a critical component of public health education in that they help ensure that future public health workers are able to apply theory and concepts to practice” say Dreyzehner; Williams and Harkness (2017: 10S), who indicate that collaboration between academic institutions and public health agencies is required to identify successfully develop competencies required in the field of practice. They caution that considerable time and resources from public health departments are needed to make these practice-based field experiences successful.

Hunt & Scott (2020: 465) remark that “graduates are increasingly called upon to exhibit additional markers of employability over and above educational qualifications” and that work placements, internships and other extra-curricular activities (ECAs) are various means to setting oneself apart and enhanced employability. However, they cite Perlin’s (2012) publication ‘How to earn nothing and learn little in the brave new economy’ and remark that evidence exists “that some internships amount to little more than exploitation with unpaid interns carrying out routine tasks that would otherwise have fallen to paid members of staff”. They mention that research “point to significant differences between paid and unpaid internships in terms of perceived development, with unpaid internships viewed as less developmental”. Furthermore, that “unpaid internships generally do not appear to confer long-term career advantages in the same way that HE work placements do” and caution against “those resorting to unpaid internships becoming ghettoised in relatively precarious employment paths”.

Cretu, E. & Stilos, K. (2021). The value of a post-graduate clinical placement for nursing students. Reflections in education, in Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal, 31(4), 494 – 499. Electronically accessible from http://canadianoncologynursingjournal.com/index.php/conj/article/view/1233

Dreyzehner,  J.; Williams, C. & Harkness, E. (2017). More than just an intern: utilizing the post-graduate medical education model to increase the value of field placement experiences for public health program graduates. Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 3(1_suppl), 10S-12S. Electronically accessible from doi:10.1177/2373379917698698

Hunt, W. & Scott, P. (2020). Paid and unpaid graduate internships: prevalence, quality and motivations at six months after graduation. Studies in Higher Education, 45(2), 464-476, Electronically accessible from https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1541450

Perlin, R. 2012. Intern Nation: How to earn nothing and learn little in the brave new economy. New York: Verso.

Concerns about, and standards for, internships

“Internships have assumed an increasingly important role in the pathways that promise to lead from education … [among others] into paid jobs in a wide range of professions and other occupations” say Stewart, Owens, O'Higgins and Hewitt (2021: 335). Internships are generally “undertaken as part of, concurrently with, or after a formal programme of education and training”, and might be called “a traineeship, placement or practicum”, or something different in a particular context or location.

An internship might be part of the curriculum of a qualification of an education or training institution; a certification requirement of a professional body; “created and advertised by an organization for its own purposes” (Stewart et al., 2021: 335); or even the result of an intern’s own initiative. Interns might be sourced, or placements facilitated, by a broker or intermediary; directly by the education or training institution concerned; or by the intern her or himself. An internship might take place in the intern’s home country, or internationally.

An internship “may seek to impart, enhance or offer the opportunity to utilize particular skills or knowledge. It may offer a chance to gain experience of working in a particular organization or sector, or to make contacts that will be valuable to career progression. Alternatively, it may serve simply as a rite of passage that everyone is expected to go through in a particular industry, regardless of how much the work involved actually resembles what the intern may ultimately be hoping or expecting to do if they find paid employment.” (Stewart et al., 2021: 335).

Internships vary in their effectiveness, observe Stewart et al. (2021: 336), but “structured, formal and, by extension, regulated internships are likely to be more successful in providing an effective bridge to long-term employment”. Furthermore “when properly conceived and monitored, educational internships, as well as internships undertaken as part of governmental active labour market programmes (ALMPs), are capable of producing better outcomes than unregulated open-market internships”. Stewart et al. (2021: 336) emphasise that “structure and formality are needed to ensure that interns acquire useful skills”.

Stewart et al. (2021: 335-6) identified “four general and to some extent overlapping concerns”:

• internships do not always deliver on the promise of useful training and skill development
• contrary to perception, internships do not necessarily create a bridge from education to paid work, especially when no remuneration is provided
• the cost of undertaking unpaid or low-paid internships is likely to be harder to bear for those from less advantaged backgrounds, especially if it is necessary to travel to an expensive location to complete them
• the availability of interns as a source of cheap labour creates an incentive for the displacement of paid entry-level jobs and the evasion of minimum wage laws

Stewart et al. (2021: 336) recommend more research to understand the scope of internships, “how they are structured, what role they play, whom they benefit, the extent to which there is any quality assurance in relation to their content, delivery or oversight, and how (if at all) compliance is ensured with any relevant regulation”.

Stewart, A.; Owens, R.; O’Higgins, N. & Hewitt, A. (2021). Developing new standards for internships. In Stewart, A., Owens, R., O'Higgins, N. & Hewitt, A. (2021). Internships, Employability and the Search for Decent Work Experience, Ch. 20, 335-348. Electronically accessible from https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781800885035/9781800885035.00032.xml

SETA discretionary grants for PIVOTAL programmes

Pivotal means of ‘vital or critical importance’; but is also used as an acronym meaning professional, vocational, technical, and academic learning programmes resulting in occupational qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), more especially for scarce and critical skills.

Seta (plural -tae) in biology are a bristle-like appendages, stalks, hair or bristles, used as sensory organs (e.g. spiders), for locomotion (e.g. earthworms), or adhesion to vertical surfaces (e.g. feet of geckos); but also used as an acronym meaning Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA). List of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).

Discretionary grants are exactly what is states, funds allocated at sole discretion, not a given, and there are several ‘hoops to jump through to try and implement them’ say SDF Corp. Group (n.d.). The aim of discretionary grants is to encourage stakeholders to contribute towards Skills Development, focussing on scarce and critical skills producing projects within a sector or industry, such as:

• Learnerships
• Work integrated learning (WIL)
• Internships
• Bursaries
• Skills programmes

The discretion rests with the SETA accounting authority concerned, and dependent on the funds available. The relevant SETA’s discretionary grants policy, guidelines, and specific criteria apply. Extensive skills planning and skills audits are undertaken; and participating organisations or businesses are required to ensure that all skills programmes are linked to the industry’s scarce and critical skills. All Skills Development Levy payments must be up-to-date; annual workplace skills plan (WSP) including PIVOTAL and non-PIVOTAL, and previous annual training report (ATR) must be submitted on time; and application must be made by means of the prescribed SETA Discretionary Grant application form during the window of opportunity. After SETA approval, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) will be entered, stipulating the amount of the grant given as well as the terms and conditions of such a grant.

The maxim on the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) webpage reads: ‘Together, Turning Every Workplace into a Training Space”. The Skills Development branch of DHET is concerned with the implementation of both the Skills Development Act and the Skills Development Levy Act. The Skills Levy income—collected in terms of sections 7 (1) and 8 (2) (a) read with 8 (3) (b) of the Skills Development Levies Act—is distributed in accordance to the National Skills Development Strategy to respective Sectoral Education and Training Authorities (SETAs).

The Government Notice, published 3 December 2012 by the Minister of Higher Education and Training—G35940, RG9867, GoN990—contains the new regulations pertaining to mandatory grants payable to levy paying employers, versus the allocation of discretionary PIVOTAL grants. SETAs form an integral part of the framework to develop and improve the skills of the South African workforce. Each SETA produces a sector skills plan. These contribute to the national skills plan, which among others include identified scarce skills.

Each employer with an annual payroll exceeding R500 000 is obliged to contribute 1% of payroll to the skills development fund. Employers are also required to register with the relevant SETA. Each employer is required to annually submit, by a specified date, a workplace skills plan (WSP) with regard to developing the skills of its employees. Each employer is furthermore required to annually submit, by a specified date, an annual training report (ATR). If these are approved by the relevant SETA, then it must allocate the mandatory grant to such a levy paying employer.

SDF Corp. Group is Skills Development Facilitation Corporation Group

Skills Development Facilitation Corporation. (n.d.). Discretionary grants – what are they, and how do I apply? Electronically accessible from; https://sdfcorp.co.za/discretionary-grants-what-are-they-and-how-do-i-apply/

 

About iReflect, a mobile app for reflection in work-integrated learning

Reflective practice is of significance regarding learning and assessment of tertiary programmes that includes work-integrated learning (WIL) in the curriculum. Making sense of, learning from experiences, transformative, and deep learning of students are supported by reflective practice. However, the distribution of students in remote areas that lack internet access, present challenges to support and scaffold reflective practice. This prompted the identification of the combination of the need for a mobile app, integrated with an e-portfolio platform, and an institutional learning management system. “A key aim was to develop an app that could be used by students to practice and document reflection for learning, both on and off-line …” say Harvey, Walkerden, Semple, McLachlan, and Lloyd (2019: 57).

An ‘App’ is an abbreviated form of the word ‘application’, clarifies Techtarget (2011). It is a software program that is designed to perform a specific or narrow function directly for the user or, in some cases, for another application programme. Simply put, an app is software that enables specific tasks. Apps play significant part of the technology-driven world we live in, say Indeed (2021). An ‘App’ is a type of software that, in most cases, is installed to run on a smartphone, tablet, computer, or other electronic devices. It is most frequently referred to a mobile application.

Harvey et al. (2019: 56) indicate that “learning through WIL is a complex concept and experience” and that “a myriad of diverse influencing factors need” to be considered about reflection. Whatever reflection tool was to be devised, it needed to align and fit with varied contexts. They conceptualise reflection as the “deliberate and conscientious process that employs a person’s cognitive, emotional and somatic capacities to mindfully contemplate on past, present or future (intended or planned) actions in order to learn, better understand and potentially improve future actions” (p. 57).

Smartphone ownership is prevalent amongst young adults in developed economies, which offer opportunities for, and makes demands on WIL educators. Given that mobile devices are used extensively for messaging, blogging, note taking, and casual photography, it seems an obvious means to support and scaffold reflective practice say Harvey et al. (2019: 58). The primary design choice with regard mobile learning is the use of a web browser or apps. Vodovatova (n.d.) differentiates between a mobile app and a mobile website, saying that “the mobile website is accessed by the user via the Internet (therefore requires being online) and the downloadable application is a separate app installed on the phone and can be accessed both online as well as offline”. She defines:

• A mobile website is a website for the design of which has been scaled and optimized for mobile devices. Typically, it features smaller fonts, fewer page elements, and less white space (compared to traditional desktop versions.)
• The mobile app is a separate program stored locally on your phone that uses the device’s hardware and software features and usually creates a better, more intuitive, and faster user experience.

Harvey et al. (2019: 58) indicate that because apps appear “to be most successful for processes or tasks which are completed regularly”, and because apps could cater for remote offline usage, apps appear to be a good choice to support and scaffold reflection.

Table 4 (Harvey et al., 2019: 65-66) below, portrays user stories derived from research, to serve as a platform to design software that matches learning needs. Each row represents a use of a reflective practitioner to maximise learning, which informed the development of the prototype iReflect app.

Harvey, M., Walkerden, G., Semple, A., McLachlan, K. & Lloyd, K. (2019). What we can learn from the iReflect project: Developing a mobile app for reflection in work-integrated learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 20(1), 55-69. Accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_20_1_55_69.pdf

Indeed Editorial Team. (2021). What Is an App? Types of Apps and Examples. Published 4 February 2020, and Updated 23 July 2021. Accessible from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/what-is-an-app

Techtarget Contributor. (2011). Definition of ‘app’. Techtarget Network. Accessible from https://www.techtarget.com/searchmobilecomputing/definition/app

Vodovatova, E. (n.d.) Mobile app vs mobile website: What to choose? Editor, The App Solutions. Accessible from https://theappsolutions.com/blog/development/app-vs-website/

Internships, valuable CV-polishing learning or exploitation?

“No universally accepted definition of an internship” exists, indicates Stewart (2021: 17-18), and citing The Economist (2014), saying it is “a spell of CV-burnishing work experience”. The terminology (internship), in use for more than a century, originated in medical education, where it denotes a postgraduate period of clinical training of doctors under supervision, but also spread across many other professions and occupational fields to provide knowledge and skills in the workplace. Internships may serve “to satisfy the requirements of education or training courses”; or offered by employment service providers to job seekers as part a labour-market programme; or by established business to offer a taste of the nature of work in a particular profession, or to test out applicants. However, job seekers may further initiate internships in order to supplement résumés, or to gain contacts. Both known as ‘open-market’ internships. Maake-Malatji (2021: 137) indicate that in “South Africa ‘low- or no-pay “creative internships” are proliferating at an astonishing rate”.

Maake-Malatji (2021: 132) indicates that the terms ‘intern’ and ‘internship’ are defined in various ways, frequently depending on the field. A person “employed at an entry-level position in an organisation in a structured programme to gain practical experience in a particular occupation or profession” is usually deemed an ‘intern’ he says, and cites Stellenbosch University’s guidelines “which describe an internship as a planned, structured and managed programme that provides work experience for an agreed period of time”. An alternative description of an internship, he says, is a “career specific work experience that one undertakes during/after one’s studies in order to gain the practical experience required to operate and make a positive contribution with respect to the career path one eventually pursues”.

Stewart, Owens, O'Higgins and Hewitt (2021: 2) cites Ross Perlin (2012), who published ‘Intern nation: how to earn nothing and learn little in the brave new economy’ and who stated “a global fact of life [is that] internships are … a significant source of cheap, flexible white-collar labor and a major steppingstone to affluence and professional success. They grant access to those who can afford them, and block further progress for those who cannot”. Maake-Malatji (2021: 141) says that in South African context are several higher education institutions, “based on their recognition within the national and international spheres, gain leverage for their graduates in the world of work”, contributing to inequality and exclusion for students from an underprivileged institutions. The struggle for resources by underprivileged institutions is prevalent, and says “for black graduates, education is a tool to do away with poverty”.

Stewart et al. (2021: 2) observe that little has changed during the past decade; that “internships have become even more firmly entrenched in the transition from education to work”; and that it “is still not attracting the attention it deserves” as forms of ‘work-based learning’ (p. 5). Stewart et al. (2021: 3) qualify what they mean by the term ‘internship’, or ‘traineeship’ as sometimes called in Europe, “to be any arrangement for the performance of work within a business or organization which is primarily intended to provide experience, skills and/or contacts that will help the worker obtain employment or other work opportunities in the future”. They caution that the definition is far from exact and that “it does not matter whether the internship is undertaken during, after or as part of a formal scheme of education, training or government assistance”. They, however, “distinguish an internship from an apprenticeship, on the basis that the latter seeks in a more structured (if not always formal) way to provide all the skills needed to practise a particular trade or profession”.

Whereas the traditional apprenticeship model “has always been premised on the idea of learning a particular trade or craft, while performing [paid] work to practise what has been learnt and to hone the skills involved”, in recent decades there “has been the steady decoupling of training from paid employment” observe Stewart et al. (2021: 3-4). Furthermore, the prevailing modern form of apprenticeship (and the contemporary ‘learnership’ in South Africa) “typically requires time release from work to attend classes at an educational institution”, “however, on-the-job instruction still remains an integral element of these schemes” explain Stewart et al. (2021: 3). Regardless of what called, “licensing or accreditation schemes often require a period of time to be spent working under the supervision of experienced practitioners” (p. 4).

Several drivers and pressures are causing the disconnecting of training from paid employment, say Stewart et al. (2021: 5). The volatility of global markets on the one hand, and pressure on enterprises to accomplish adequate returns to shareholders on the other, result in reduced long-term investment in training. ‘Grow your own timber’ in-house entry-level training programmes are far less prevalent. It is evident that the costs of training significantly shifted from business to the job seeker, the employee and the state. Often funds for training and education are limited to recovery of Skills Development Levy expenditure.

The pedagogical belief of further and higher education institutions that certain knowledge, and in particular skills, are best acquired through real-life experiences, is contributing to growth of need for internships, alternatively termed ‘work-integrated (or experiential) learning’, opportunities. There is further increasingly a demand for graduates who are ‘work ready’, say Stewart et al. (2021: 5). These two drivers towards, however, are impeded by limited paid-learning opportunities and constraints with regard to state funding made available through Sectoral Education & Training Authorities (SETAs) by means of discretionary grants.

Maake-Malatji, M.I. (2021). The law and regulation of internships in South Africa. . In Stewart, A., Owens, R., O'Higgins, N. & Hewitt, A. (2021). Internships, Employability and the Search for Decent Work Experience, Ch. 8, 130-144. Electronically accessible from https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800885042

Stewart, A. (2021). The nature and prevalence of internships. In Stewart, A., Owens, R., O'Higgins, N. & Hewitt, A. (2021). Internships, Employability and the Search for Decent Work Experience, Ch. 2, 17-33. Electronically accessible from https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800885042

Stewart, A., Owens, R., O'Higgins, N. & Hewitt, A. (2021). Internships: A policy and regulatory challenge. In Stewart, A., Owens, R., O'Higgins, N. & Hewitt, A. (2021). Internships, Employability and the Search for Decent Work Experience, Ch. 1, 2-16. Electronically accessible from https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800885042

A community is required for workplace-based learning (‘it takes a community to offer’)

‘It Takes a Village’ by Jane Cowen-Fletcher (1994) is a colourfully illustrated story that portrays a proverb attributed to West Africa, namely ‘it takes a village to raise a child’.

Yemi's mother asks her to care for her younger brother and the girl is delighted at the prospect of taking on a grown-up task. The three of them set out to the village market [in Benin, West Africa], where Mama will sell mangoes. Yemi soon loses Kokou, but instead of the terrible things she imagines happening to him, the toddler is lovingly cared for by all of the adults he meets-he is fed, given something to drink, played with, and allowed to nap. Yemi discovers that caring neighbours have been watching them both all along.

The proverb ‘it takes a village’ means an entire community of people is needed to interact positively with children for those children to grow up in a safe and healthy environment. The origins of the proverb has been researched, but not pinpointed. It is believed to embody the spirit of several African cultures, for example (Wikipedia):

• In Lunyoro (Bunyoro) there is a proverb that says “Omwana takulila nju emoi,” whose literal translation is “A child does not grow up only in a single home.”
• In Kihaya (Bahaya) there is a saying, “Omwana taba womoi,” which translates as “A child belongs not to one parent or home.”
• Kijita (Wajita) has the proverb, “Omwana ni wa bhone,” meaning regardless of a child's biological parents, its upbringing belongs to the community.
• In Swahili, the proverb “Asiye funzwa na mamae hufunzwa na ulimwengu” means roughly the same: "Whomsoever is not taught by the mother will be taught with the world."

The notion ‘it takes a village’ has subsequently been adopted by several authors, applied to a multitude of scenarios, and other books pubished. The definition of work-integrated learning (WIL) of the Canadian body for Co-operative Education and Work-integrated Learning (CEWIL) cited by Nielsen, Livernoche and Ramji (2022: 139) accurately captures the essence of workplace-based learning (WPBL, as form of WIL). CEWIL defines WIL as “a model and process of curricular experiential education which formally and intentionally integrates a student's academic studies within a workplace or practice setting. WIL experiences include an engaged partnership of at least: an academic institution, a host organization and a student”. The origins of WIL (and cooperative education) emphasised the close collaboration of academic institutions with the relevant community of practice, within the relevant industry that is involved, with regard to the necessary workplace experiences that form part of the curriculum. In addition, workplace mentoring by experienced practitioners, play a significant role in WPBL.

The Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) of the Department of Higher Education and Training (South African Government, 2014), which indicates that the incorporation of work-integrated learning (WIL) into the curriculum is characteristic of vocational and professionally-oriented qualifications. The HEQSF, §35 (p. 17, emphases added) states that where the WIL component “takes the form of workplace-based learning, it is the responsibility of institutions that offer programmes requiring credits for such learning to place students into appropriate workplaces” and add that “such workplace-based learning must be appropriately structured, properly supervised and assessed”.

However, work-integrated learning need not necessary involve actual work. The HEQSF differentiates, in §34 (p. 17), various forms of work-integrated learning (WIL), namely:

• simulated learning [also known as simulated work experiences (SWEs)]
• work-directed theoretical learning [WDTL]
• problem-based learning [PBL]
• project-based learning [PjBL]
• workplace-based learning [WPBL] — Three Council on Higher Education publications (CHE: 2004a, 2004b & 2014) provide criteria with regard to work-based learning (WBL)

The South African Council on Higher Education, as independent statutory body and Quality Council for Higher Education (CHE: n.d.), published (CHE: 2011) a ‘Good Practice Guide’ towards work-integrated learning which deliberated the various modes mentioned above. The CHE (2014, Criterion 15, emphases added) recognises that ‘it takes a village’, by stating that “appropriate arrangements will be needed for placement, mentoring and supervision” and reiterates the “coordination of work-based learning must be done effectively, including adequate infrastructure, effective communication, recording of progress made, monitoring and mentoring”, plus the following:

• Learning agreements or contracts implemented through which the student, the higher education institution, the employer (workplace-based learning provider) and mentor negotiate, approve, adhere to agreed roles and responsibilities, and assess the objectives and outcomes of the learning process
• Regular and effective communication taking place and good working relations are maintained between the institution, students, mentors and employers involved
• System (both at the institution and at the place of workplace-based learning in operation to regularly and systematically monitor and record the progress of each student’s learning experience
• Mentoring system that enables each student to recognise his/her strengths and weaknesses, to develop existing and new abilities, and to gain knowledge of work practices

Nielsen et al. (2022: 139-140) indicate “a range of WIL programs: co-operative education (co-op), internships, entrepreneurships, apprenticeships, service learning, applied research projects, mandatory professional practicum/clinical placement, field placement, and work experience”; and add that “strategic WIL placements in partnership with Indigenous groups also offer opportunities for capacity-building, cultural revitalization, and community development”.

CHE (Council on Higher Education)

Cowen-Fletcher, J. (1994). It Takes a Village. Scholastic Press. [Information about accessible from https://janecowen-fletcher.com/it-takes-a-village]

Council on Higher Education (n.d.) Legislative and policy mandate. Electronically accessible from https://www.che.ac.za/about-us/legislative-and-policy-mandate

Council on Higher Education (2004a). Higher Education Quality Committee. Criteria for Programme Accreditation. Electronically accessible from https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/che2020-c5efd.appspot.com/o/website%2Fyxqlkgy7gwo1.pdf?alt=media&token=c1ea5d6e-2e05-463d-9f2b-bbf92d4b402b

Council on Higher Education (2004b). Higher Education Quality Committee. Criteria for Institutional Audits. Electronically accessible from https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/che2020-c5efd.appspot.com/o/website%2Fjh3xgy9ub11.pdf?alt=media&token=aa1b8117-5414-4e70-a363-50dc924a7d42

Council on Higher Education (2011). Work-Integrated Learning: Good Practice Guide. HE Monitor No. 12, August 2011. Pretoria: IeCommunications. Electronically accessible from https://www.che.ac.za/sites/default/files/publications/Higher_Education_Monitor_12.pdf

Council on Higher Education (2014). Distance Higher Education Programmes in a Digital Era: Programme Accreditation Criteria, pp. 81 – 107. In Distance Higher Education Programmes in a Digital Era: Good Practice Guide. Electronically accessible from https://www.saide.org.za/documents/CHE_-_Distance_Higher_Education.pdf

Nielsen, J., Livernoche, R. & Ramji, K. (2022). The Indigenous Work-integrated Learning Resource Hub: A needs-based approach to addressing barriers and opportunities for Indigenous students. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 23(2), 139-152. Electronically accessible from https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_23_2_139_152.pdf

South African Government (2014), Department of Higher Education and Training, Government Notice No 819. Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework. Government Gazette No. 38116, 17 October 2014. Electronically accessible from https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201410/38116gon819.pdf

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_takes_a_village

The relevance of #DataMesh to work integrated learning

Good data management of various aspects of work integrated learning (WIL) is important and may include, for example:

• Contact details of stakeholders, decision-makers, influencers, key role players and members of the relevant community of practice in general
• Established providers of experiential learning opportunities and mentors at such
• Registered students, including their academic progression
• Actual placements of students, including the provider and mentor details, and the learning agreement of each student
• Capturing of the learning activities of students
• Records of mentoring or supervision, especially if a professional or statutory requirement
• Records of monitoring and progress tracking of students, and of communication that occur
• Records of facilitated reflection on learning (experiences) by students
• Formative assessments and summative evaluation of WIL

Generally, data such as mentioned above, are captured in a range of data bases, such as the institution’s official student administration system, and data bases of academic and administrative staff responsible for WIL modules in a variety of forms. What is deemed needed is integration of the various forms of data, which is where ‘data mesh’ is deemed relevant.

Zhamak Dehghani, while a principal technology consultant at Thoughtworks, coined the term ‘data mesh’ in 2019, say Christ, Visengeriyeva and Harrer (n.d.), who indicate that ‘data mesh’ is primarily an organizational approach, which cannot be bought from a vendor. Yuhanna (2022) remarks that “A data mesh offers the ability to optimise mixed workloads by matching processing engines and data flows with the right use cases. It interfaces to the event-driven architecture, enabling support for edge use cases.”

Dehghani (2019) found that many organisations are planning or building their third generation data and intelligence platform hoping to democratize data in order to provide business insights with the view of automated intelligent decisions. Proprietary enterprise data warehouse and business intelligence platforms, the first generation, mainly rendered tables and reports which only a small group of specialized people could understand with little positive impact on the business. Complex big data ecosystem with a data lake, the second generation, required hyper-specialized data engineers and similarly impacted little on the actual business. Unfortunately, data platforms that are streaming and analysing real-time data, the third generation, with cloud based storage and machine learning platforms, are addressing only some of the gaps of the previous generations. Dehghani (2019) recommends shifting from the centralized paradigm of a data lake (or predecessor ware house) and embracing a paradigm (data mesh) drawing from contemporary “distributed architecture: considering domains as the first class concern, applying platform thinking to create self-serve data infrastructure, and treating data as a product”.

Dehghani (2020) differentiates operational data from analytical data. Operational data has a transactional nature with regard to the applications running the business; whereas analytical data provide an aggregated view of the facts of the business over time. Analyses are often modelled to provide retrospective or future-perspective insight. Often existing technology, architecture and organization design reflect the divergence of these two data planes; integrated yet separate, two levels of existence. The divergence is causing fragility, as well as a need for continuous extract, transform, and load (ETL) activities; and ever growing complexity of labyrinth of data pipeline between the two planes, as illustrated below (Dehghani, 2020, Figure 1: The great divide of data).

The ‘data mesh’ paradigm “recognizes and respects the differences between these two planes: the nature and topology of the data, the differing use cases, individual personas of data consumers, and ultimately their diverse access patterns” say Dehghani (2020). However, she adds, the ‘data mesh’ paradigm entails an inverted model and topology based on domains. ‘Data mesh’ “offers a more holistic and efficient way to organise, process, and access data” says Cynozure (2022), and “is an approach to how teams and logistics are organised”. Dehghani (2020), Cynozure (2022) and Christ et al. (n.d.) specify four underpinning principles:

1. Domain-oriented decentralized data ownership and architecture — Splitting up the business goals into ideas and concepts within certain boundaries which smaller autonomous data teams can work on
2. Data as a product — The different data domains are productised. Yuhanna (2022) indicates that data as a service (DaaS) is also known as data as a product (DaaP), and that it “offers several business benefits, including supporting a common view of business and customer data using industry standard protocols”.
3. Creating self-serve data infrastructure — Dividing the different domains among smaller autonomous teams and making the self-serve data platforms
4. Federated computational governance — Creating a unified governance and helping to come up with ways for data to flow from one team to another

Gavish (2022) derived three key concepts pertaining a ‘data mesh’ to highlight how it differs from traditional data architectures.

• Domain-oriented data owners and pipelines — who are held accountable for providing their data as products, while also facilitating communication between distributed data across different locations. Domains are further tasked with managing ingestion, cleaning, and aggregation.
• Self-serve functionality — allowing users to abstract the technical complexity and focus on their individual data use cases
• Interoperability and standardization of communications — some data (both raw sources and cleaned, transformed, and served data sets) will be valuable to more than one domain. cross-domain collaboration is enabled by standardisation on formatting, governance, discoverability, and metadata fields, among other data features. Each data domain further define and agree on SLAs and quality measures that they will ‘guarantee’ to its consumers.

It appears a ‘mesh’ connecting the various data sources pertaining the WIL of qualifications is necessary.

Christ, J.; Visengeriyeva, L. & Harrer, S. (n.d.) Data mesh architecture from an engineering perspective. Electronically accessible from https://t.co/HCzrguXmrg

Cynozure. (2022). Data mesh as a framework for data-driven value at scale. Hub & Spoken, Episode 127, 7 April 2022. Electronically accessible from https://t.co/x8qnxRPyt1

Dehghani, Z. (2019). How to move beyond a monolithic data lake to a distributed data mesh. Martin Fowler articles. Electronically accessible from https://martinfowler.com/articles/data-monolith-to-mesh.html

Dehghani, Z.. Data mesh principles and logical architecture. Martin Fowler articles. Electronically accessible from https://martinfowler.com/articles/data-mesh-principles.html

Gavish, L. (2022) What is a data mesh — and is it right for me? HackerNoon, 15 April 2022. Electronically accessible from https://t.co/oMiqO99kBg

Yuhanna, N. (2022). Four emerging data integration trends to assess: To accelerate their performance in data integration, companies are evaluating and adopting a range of contributing technologies. Computer Weekly, 8-14 February 2022, 20-23.