Identity and placement learning: student accounts of the transition back to university following a placement year

Abstract

There has been an increasing emphasis on employability within the higher education curriculum. Supervised work experience, particularly in the form of a placement year, has been an established means of providing experiences which are intended to enhance employability. This study examines a relatively neglected but important aspect of supervised work experience, i.e. the return from the placement organisation to the final year of the degree programme. This transition was examined using a discourse analytic methodology. Recently graduated students (n = 9), whose principal programme of study was psychology, and who had undertaken a placement were interviewed. This interview data was analysed with the aim of identifying relevant linguistic repertoires which gave meaning to the experience of the return from placement. Two repertoires were identified: an ‘acquired powers’ repertoire and a ‘two realms’ repertoire. The first repertoire constructed the experience of placement learning in terms of a range of individual knowledge, skills or values acquired from the placement experience, and which were deployed in particular areas of the final year. The second repertoire constructed a separation between the academic and practical arenas, which was enforced by academic staff, who limited and controlled the opportunities for students to utilise their experiences of placement. These findings are discussed in terms of the shifting social identities of students, following a placement and alienated experiences of education, contingent on the subject positions occupied by students and academic staff.

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