If work-integrated learning (WIL) improves students' work self-efficacy (WSE), are students who do not participate in WIL disadvantaged? This study answers this question by examining differences in WSE between final-year criminal justice students at Griffith University (Brisbane, Australia) who elected to undertake WIL and those who did not. Contrary to expectations, WIL students did not report higher WSE upon the completion of a work placement compared to non-WIL students. Further investigations revealed pre-existing differences between the two groups, whereby students who elected to undertake WIL had significantly lower levels of WSE prior to placement than students who chose not to undertake a placement. These students were also significantly younger and less likely to have had prior criminal justice work experience. Findings highlight the importance of offering WIL as an elective to give students with lower levels of WSE the opportunity to develop greater confidence in managing the professional workplace.

This paper examines the relationship between a final year tertiary work placement for criminology students at Griffith University in Brisbane and the development of their work self-efficacy. Using a work self-efficacy instrument developed by Professor Joe Raelin at Northeastern University in Boston, a pilot phase in 2006 and a larger study in 2007 investigated the students’ responses across seven self-efficacy factors of learning, problem-solving, teamwork, sensitivity, politics, pressure, and role expectations. Both studies utilised a pre- and post-test and comparisons between these indicated that they believed their abilities to participate constructively in their professional work contexts significantly improved as a result of their placement experience except in the areas of learning, teamwork and sensitivity. This finding will allow us to continue to refine the processes of work placements in order to ensure the integrity of this method for student learning.

The delivery of work-integrated learning (WIL) courses involves university academic and professional staff in specific duties, many of which are outside of the scope of the traditional categories used by universities to determine equitable workloads for academic and administrative personnel. This paper draws on an investigation in a metropolitan university in Australia and records how it is beginning to arrive at appropriate ways to do this. A survey tool was utilised to identify the specific workload demands on staff who worked with WIL courses. The data provided information that confirmed the complexity of the work and also showed that there was a gap between the reality of the workload and the allocation provided. A number of recommendations have been made as a way forward. Further research is recommended that could include the perspectives of students and organisational supervisors reporting on the level of academic staff member support and supervision.

This article describes an adaptation of action research that can be used specifically for the purposes of reviewing educational courses where the participants move out of the research process after one cycle. The author found a limit to the intentional use of action research in her study of a tertiary course that was being offered within the action learning framework of work placements. The term responsive case study was coined to describe the process of planning, acting, observing, reflecting and formulating new plans but in a context where the researcher is completing this process for implementation with the next group of participating students. In addition to being integral to the current implementation of the course, feedback from reflective journals as well as comments and reflections from participating stakeholders become essential for planning the next iteration.

Higher education is under increasing pressure to re-evaluate the place of practice in its programs and there are increasing demands for workplace-based experiences to be built into undergraduate degrees. The paper reports on an extended responsive case study conducted in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University between 1994 and 2004. The findings point towards a model that can be used to develop courses based around a set of key challenges that learners need to face, criteria for the university's construction of worthwhile activities, and principles of procedure that are required in order to implement them. It is suggested that university curriculum planners should concentrate on a process model of teaching, learning and research rather than on the more traditional models that tend to treat knowledge as a commodity and emphasise its production, transmission and delivery.

This paper considers the concepts of curriculum which underlie existing workplace based learning programs and advocates that clearly articulated and meaningful statements about the nature of the learning that occurs in such programs are couched in an appropriate discourse. It argues that universities, must take the lead in meeting demands that educational institutions be more accountable for the learning of their students by developing curriculum statements that are consistent with an emancipatory model of curriculum. Such statements should specify the frameworks in which content and even assessment can be negotiated with individual students rather than being specified in advance and should demand that students take responsibility for their own learning.

This paper situates the topic of student assessment and the moderation of assessment within a broader context of policy debates about the quality of teaching and learning in universities. The focus and discussion grew out of a research project that aimed to investigate factors related to academic success and failure in a Faculty of Arts. The study, initially, identified a range of student demographic and biographical factors significantly related to academic success and failure. However, there was also evidence of pronounced differences in grading practices between different components (courses, programs, schools) within the institution. The paper explores the implications of such inconsistencies for the institutional mechanisms and processes that have typically been advocated as sufficient safeguards of quality. It concludes that the tendency of governments and other stakeholders to now champion performance indicators, along with the shifting focus towards quality 'outcomes', are likely to increasingly throw the strengths and weaknesses of institutional assessment practices into stark relief.

In 2001–02, a project team at Griffith University undertook Stage 4 of the Griffith Graduate Project1 This project was funded through the University's Quality Enhancement and Strategic Improvement Grants Schemes. . Stage 4 used a survey and focus group discussions to gather graduates' and employers' perceptions of the role of the university, work placements and postgraduation employment in the development of generic skills and abilities. This article will compare findings from Stage 4 with four challenges facing the new graduate commencing employment that were identified by Candy and Crebert ( 1991 Candy, PC and Crebert, RG. (1991). Ivory tower to concrete jungle: the difficult transition from the academy to the workplace as learning environments. Journal of Higher Education, 62(5): pp. 568–592 [Google Scholar] ). The purpose of the article is to compare these findings with other research studies and some of the recent literature, particularly those relating to the development of generic skills and abilities in the three contexts listed above. It is argued that, despite the increasing emphasis in many universities on work‐integrated learning programs, today's graduates face many of the same challenges as they confronted at the beginning of the last decade.

This paper presents findings from Stage 4 of the Griffith Graduate Project. Graduates from three Schools within Griffith University were surveyed to determine their perceptions of the contributions that the learning contexts of university, work placement and post‐graduation employment made to the development of their generic skills. All graduates involved in the project had experienced work placement as a formal part of their undergraduate studies. Supplementary data from focus group discussions held with employers and graduates are also included. Findings showed that while graduates recognized the contribution university had made to their generic skills development, they greatly valued the experience of learning in the workplace during placement and subsequently in employment. The importance of teamwork, being given responsibility, and collaborative learning emerged as the most important factors for effective learning in the three contexts under consideration.

The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia offers a course that provides students with an opportunity to be involved in an experience of professional work. This course, Field Placement, has been designed to provide a structured framework within which students are encouraged, and expected, to develop independence and professional attributes. It provides opportunities for the students to articulate their learning and present a developed personal framework of integrated academic knowledge and practice knowledge. This paper attempts to address the questions raised in Professor H涥ls background paper for the World Association for Cooperative Education (WACE) 2003 conference and takes the position that knowledge development is limited without action but for active knowledge development to occur it is essential to understand and foster the social learning relationships. Particular attention is focused on values that promote greater understanding of how to best create opportunities and relationships that will assist students to walk confidently across the bridge as a professional contributing productively within the community.

Work placements are an accepted part of academic curricula. In order to assess their value it is important to clearly identify what such programs offer that is different from existing courses. It is also necessary to develop assessment instruments that take their unique features into account. This analysis, which must be seen as a work-in-progress, advances a number of propositions about experiential learning and then uses them as a framework to establish criteria for evaluating student work. These criteria emphasise experiential learnings and the way academic concepts are applied in the field as individuals move from students to novice professionals.

Leisure studies graduates seek employment in a highly competitive marketplace. In addition to their degree qualification, graduates need a core of generic skills and attributes that are sought by employers in particular industry sectors. As part of a larger study, graduates from Griffith University’s leisure management degree were surveyed to explore their perceptions of how their generic skills had been developed in three different learning contexts: at university, through work placements, and in immediate post-graduation employment. It is concluded that all three contexts play an important and often complementary role in providing leisure management graduates with a package of skills that enable them to contribute effectively to the workplace and develop their careers. The study findings suggest that particular skills may be best developed in particular contexts and give strong support for work placements in preparing graduates for employment.

Gradual, but not so subtle, changes in Australia's political and welfare cultures have meant that over the past 10 years social workers have been showing a greater interest in private practice as a legitimate aspect of the profession. This paper presents some of the major practical considerations required for a part‐time practice to be successfully initiated and maintained. The author uses her own experience as an example and explores the personal, professional and commercial decisions she has made in such a practice over the past 16 years.