Conceptions of Workplace University Education

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Abstract
This article examines how academic staff involved in the workplace supervision of students in vocational courses conceive of the workplace experience. Five conceptions have been identified which range from a view that the placement is about students picking up relevant skills in the workplace, to a view that the workplace experience is about giving students the opportunity to learn, to do and to question, by working collaboratively with the university and the workplace on relevant problems. The article suggests there is a relationship between these conceptions and the quality of student learning resulting from the experience. Where the workplace is seen as a simple picking up of skills there is least evidence of development and satisfaction. Where the experience is seen as an opportunity to help students engage with salient issues by working collaboratively with employers, there is most evidence of development and satisfaction. There is a clear parallel between this study of workplace supervision and the work of Prosser, Trigwell and Taylor [Learning and Instruction, 4, 217–231, 1994] on conceptions and approaches to teaching in the more conventional tertiary teaching setting of the lecture theatre.

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