Work Related Learning: A Review of Skill Development and Outcomes

This report provides an overview of the impact of work-related learning (WRL) and work-integrated learning (WIL) on the development of employability skills and career outcomes for business and management graduates. It synthesizes findings from several research articles, including Jackson's study o...Read More

Running head: WORK RELATED LEARNING
Work Related Learning
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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WORK RELATED LEARNING
Jackson, Denise. "Employability skill development in work-integrated learning:
Barriers and best practice." Studies in Higher Education 40, no. 2 (2015): 350-367.
The article examines the effectiveness of work-integrated learning (WIL) in
employability skill development. WIL is instrumental for new graduates to function
effectively in the work environment. In this paper author tries to elucidate the best practices
that can be undertaken under the quota of classroom and placement activities to uplift the
employment skills of the new graduate students. On examining the effective classroom
activities, the article has focused on the effective motivational planning, goal setting and then
subsequent self-reflection on the overall performance and the total achieved outcomes.
Another activity, which gained importance in this article, is placement activities assisting
proper development of the employment skill. At the end, the article concluded that the skill
development in the both classroom and during the placement is crucial for refining the
employment skills of the new graduates who are venturing into the corporate world.
Preparing students as per the industry standards will help to eliminate stress and anxiety
among the students and will align their skills as per the employer's expectations. The findings
also confirm the importance of the mentors and the co-workers in development of the
employment skills while at college and on-job training respectively. The main limitation of
the study is, the framework of the article is majorly based on the reflection of the students but
on the prevailing market trends. The article is helping is designing a rough employment
training plan for the final year student in graduate school.

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WORK RELATED LEARNING
Fallon, Wayne. "Flashpoints in students' work-integrated learning in business:
Implications for curriculum design." Employment Relations Record 12, no. 1 (2012): 66.
The aim of this paper is to ascertain the effect of work-related learning program
(WIL) over the under-graduate students enrolled under the business studies and in their final
semester. The outcome of the study is based on the student responses on the interview
questions. Author while discussing the concept and importance of WID gave a contrasting
viewpoint regarding how WID during early stage of graduate course can hamper the students
overall academic life. At the time of the initiation of the course, the student was not ready for
the job leading to negative effect on academic career and institution. At the end the article
conclude that the WIL Helps students to increase their capacity of critical thinking, helping
them to increase their employment skills. The author also came up with the viewpoint that
students can achieve higher grades when offered an engaged learning platform. The article
also emphasized on the introduction of the pedagogical approaches in the early years of the
developmental programs to felicitate skill development among the students. The main
limitation of the study is on the analysis of the responses drawn against interview question
among the students and thus involves high chances of biasness. The importance of article is it
provides flashpoint of reflective learning and subsequent evaluation.

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WORK RELATED LEARNING
Wilton, Nick. "The impact of work placements on skills development and career
outcomes for business and management graduates." Studies in Higher Education 37, no.
5 (2012): 603-620.
The article examines the affect of the work placements on the employment and soft
skill development among the management graduates and possible career outcomes. For the
graduates who are entering into the competitive labour market a perfect combination of the
sustained work placement at the industrial level and the obtained management degree is
regarded as a significant asset. The work placement, apart from developing soft skills, also
helps in the personal development which further aids in the skill development of the students.
The work placement graduates also have greater first drawn salaries and thus reflecting the
importance of work placement. However, the nature of outcome on the soft skill and
employment development depends on the nature of business disciple under which the student
is enrolled. The main limitation of the study is, it is based on the quantitative data obtained
from the survey questionnaire of two graduates’ schools only. So these articles overlooked
the impact of the work placements and refinement of strategies on other B schools. The
importance of the study lies in the fact that it helped in ascertaining the importance of the
work place training and its role in job life of the students who are perusing their graduation
and post graduation degrees in management.

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WORK RELATED LEARNING
Freudenberg, Brett, Mark Brimble, and Victoria Vyvyan. "The penny drops: can work
integrated learning improve students’ learning?." (2010).
The article here tries to examine the impact of work integrated learning on student academic
learning and how it helps in the overall improvement. The key issue of this article is
extremely relevant in the present Australian higher education. The article discusses the
importance of work ready graduates and how they are successful in transferring skills and
knowledge gathered from the lecture theatre to the workplace. The article provides theoretical
basis lying behind the WIL and how it can motivate the students to indulge in deep learning
and dedicated approach towards professional work. The importance of WIL is based on the
improvement of the academic standards as they can easily grasp the basis of the academic
theories every quickly, helping them to refine their intelligence. WIL also helps in the
transfer of the skills and knowledge among the students at the university as well as in the
workplace. It also motivates students to perform better. The main limitation of this paper is
the small sample size which may lead to biasness. The findings of the articles will however,
help in the development of effect WIL module for the B-school and other graduate schools
and thereby helping students to perform better in their professional life.

5
WORK RELATED LEARNING
Elijido-Ten, Evangeline, and Louise Kloot. "Experiential learning in accounting work-
integrated learning: a three-way partnership." Education+ Training 57, no. 2 (2015):
204-218.
The main purpose of this study is to explore the role of the WIL and its impact on
work readiness of accounting graduates. the article also try to elucidate the principal role
played by the small and large scale enterprise in bestowing experimental learning
opportunities to the students of accounts under the light of higher education framework of
Australia. Article is based on the data obtained from case studies of semi-structured yet in-
dept interviews conducted with the employer representatives and an online survey conducted
with the WIL students. After the analysis of the case study, the article concluded that small to
medium enterprise as well as the large firms bestows standard employment training
opportunities, which enhance the experimental learning capability of the students and
performance at the workplace. the results also confirm that the WIL provides positive
experience over both the employees and the employers. The main limitations of the study are
it is based on the online interviews of the students and hence it can lead to the generation of
fake response of biased results. However, the findings of the article are helpful in framing the
importance of partnership among the university, employers and students in connection to
WIL.

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WORK RELATED LEARNING
References
Elijido-Ten, Evangeline, and Louise Kloot. "Experiential learning in accounting work-
integrated learning: a three-way partnership." Education+ Training 57, no. 2 (2015): 204-
218.
Fallon, Wayne. "Flashpoints in students' work-integrated learning in business: Implications
for curriculum design." Employment Relations Record 12, no. 1 (2012): 66
Freudenberg, Brett, Mark Brimble, and Victoria Vyvyan. "The penny drops: can work
integrated learning improve students’ learning?." (2010).
Jackson, Denise. "Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and
best practice." Studies in Higher Education 40, no. 2 (2015): 350-367.
Wilton, Nick. "The impact of work placements on skills development and career outcomes
for business and management graduates." Studies in Higher Education 37, no. 5 (2012): 603-
620.