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This paper seeks to advance research and practice related to the role of employers in all stages of the assessment process of work-based learning (WBL) within a tripartite relationship of higher education institution (HEI), student and employer. It proposes a research-informed quality enhancement framework to develop good practice in engaging employers as partners in assessment. The Enhancement Framework comprises three dimensions, each of which includes elements and questions generated by the experiences of WBL students, HEI staff and employers. The three dimensions of the Enhancement Framework are: (1) ‘premises of assessment’, encompassing issues of learning, inclusion, standards and value; (2) ‘practice’, encompassing stages of assessment made up of course design, assessment task, responsibilities, support, grading and feedback; and (3) ‘communication of assessment’, with the emphasis on role clarity, language and pathways. With its prompt questions the Enhancement Framework may be used as a capacity-building tool for promoting, sustaining, benchmarking and evaluating productive dialogue and critical reflection about assessment between WBL partners. The paper concludes by emphasising the need for professional development as well as policy and research development, so that assessment in WBL can more closely correspond to the potentially transformative nature of the learning experience.

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It is now widely recognised that the creative industries constitute an important and growing global economic sector (Cunningham, 2007). Career development programs for the creative industries sector are an international priority (Guile, 2007) which faces several key challenges. These challenges relate to the unique nature of the creative industries. In the creative industries it is thus of critical importance that tertiary work-integrated learning programs focus on more than just training students to become employees: they must also focus on developing the experience and employability of students who will undertake non-conventional career paths. One challenge for work-integrated learning programs in the creative industries is that there is little professional tradition of internships; many employers are not experienced in work-integrated learning participation, and many academics are not familiar with work-integrated learning. This paper reports on the results of an evaluative research program undertaken one year after the launch of the Queensland University of Technology’s (Brisbane, Australia) Creative Industries Transitions to New Professional Environments work-integrated learning program, focusing particularly on key themes and issues identified in interviews with the program’s industry partners and academic staff.

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As a consequence of changes to anti-discrimination legislation in the UK relating to disabled people, higher education institutions have additional duties, one of which is to devise and publish a Disability Equality Scheme (DES). The first section of the paper argues that this requirement will mean staff spending valuable time in compiling the DES, time which might be used more effectively in other ways especially in promoting inclusive classroom practices. The latter is identified as the major challenge facing those promoting the recruitment and participation of disabled students. For this to happen, there is a need for effective professional development, both at an initial level and on a continuing basis. Issues associated with professional development are explored in the second section of the paper prior to the concluding part which presents a number of suggested exercises which could be used when planning and delivering staff development. The paper ends by considering progress made so far and identifies a challenging and potentially controversial target by which to judge the attainment of effective inclusion.

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It is the contention of this paper that an appropriate 'signature' award, which recognises the growth, status and importance of negotiated work-based learning at undergraduate level, is now needed and proposes a 'BProf', or Professional Bachelor's award. It recognises that negotiated work-based learning has been present in curricula frameworks in a number of UK universities for many years but seeks to define this 'professional education' (Tallantyre, 2008) through an award which denotes the pedagogic approach taken. The current UK debate over the need for employer-demand-led programmes has already caused apprehension over the extent of potential business intervention in higher education. This paper also suggests that this influence is inappropriate and unnecessary when many political concerns can be ameliorated through a negotiated, tripartite approach to the work-based learning of the proposed BProf. Further, it is argued that a BProf would signify an acknowledgement of the development of skills arising from the work-based learning process itself rather than through a pre-determined, content-driven, orientation to programme design. Many of these skills are those that research suggests employers most value. The paper concludes by seeking to define the major elements and principles of the BProf award whilst drawing parallels with those of generic, trans-disciplinary Professional Doctorates.

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There has been a rapid spread of personal information technology and social networking along with increasing demand for flexibility and choice in learning. This is fuelling international research interest in the holistic experience of e-learners. Over the course of a year, the Learner Experience of e-Learning study (LEX) interviewed learners from across the post-16 educational sectors in the UK in order to compile a snapshot of those very personal learning experiences. Through rigorous interview and analysis techniques, the study successfully explored the beliefs and intentions of learners in relation to their use of technology for learning, as well as the strategies and behaviours they displayed towards integrating e-learning with other aspects of their lives. This paper outlines the background to the study and its methodology, provides a critical evaluation of the main findings and concludes by highlighting the key implications for tutors in the planning and practice of e-learning.

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The significance of industrial work placements (i.e. the work-based component of sandwich degrees) on students’ professional development and employability is widely accepted amongst many work-related learning professionals and academics alike. Indeed, the UK government-sponsored report by the Confederation of British Industry validates such claims. However, in recent times, many work-related learning professionals have begun to explore the assumption that work placements not only improve employability skills but also academic performance. This paper considers the view held by practitioners that students undertaking an industrial work placement often graduate with a higher degree classification. The paper builds upon results from more comprehensive longitudinal research from Mandilaras (2004) and Gomez et al. (2004). Using statistical tools such as a regression and a t-test, this paper assesses the results of an institutional study of engineering undergraduates at the University of Leicester, with the aim of exploring whether there is a relationship between placement students and higher final degree results. The analysis offers evidence that suggests a positive association between completing an industrial placement and achieving a higher degree result in the final year of an engineering degree. The paper concludes that the results (i.e. the positive association between industrial placements and academic performance) should be utilised by higher education leaders and academics to inform good practice in curriculum development in higher education; thus recommending that, where plausible, vocational degree programs are embedded with work-related learning components so as to maximise pedagogy and enhance applied learning.

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This paper explores the value of a simulated business world to enhancing students’ employability skills. The Venture Matrix learning environment is seen as an alternative or supplementary model to traditional work-based learning opportunities such as placements, paid and unpaid or voluntary work and aspects of these more traditional models are taken as comparison points from the work-based learning research literature. The Venture Matrix was introduced to a cohort of learners on business and technology courses at higher education level. Learners in all three years of a traditional full-time course were introduced to the Venture Matrix learning environment. A total of 49 survey questionnaire responses were collected from students and 17 students took part in focus group interviews. The student experiences of working and learning within the Venture Matrix interactive trading estate are explored, allowing the student voice to inform our understanding of the value of this approach to enhancing their transferable skills. While the research itself focuses on curriculum enhancement, this paper further explores how this alternative model of engaging students in work-based learning contributes with unique added value to the learning and teaching of employability in higher education. The strengths and weaknesses of the approach are discussed in order to advise further improvement and integration in the curriculum. The relationship of the learning environment to the discovery or exploratory model of learning theory is discussed. The effects of having an experience which is unrealistic on students’ engagement with the subject is explored and finally the strengths of the simulated curriculum-based approach in providing opportunities for interdependent ways of working are discussed, particularly with relationship to the self-reliance and management skills which they develop in learners.

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Providers of tertiary education are involved in the ‘employer engagement’ agenda in many different ways and with a range of expectations from the learner, the employer and the education provider. The education sector has been criticised for its lack of understanding of employers’ needs and for not providing employable graduates or an education experience that meets the requirements of the 21st century marketplace. In order to meet the market need it is essential to first identify that need and a methodology for its fulfilment. This discussion paper explains the work being undertaken to develop a model to ensure that a work-based learning (WBL) curriculum is designed to meet the needs of the context for which it has been developed. This model identifies factors in both the external environment as well as the internal environment that can inform the WBL curriculum and build on previous work by Garnett (2007) and Stewart (1997). The paper explains the development of the model and its application within the context of the University of Wolverhampton, a post-1992 university in the UK Midlands.

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Traditionally, higher education courses with a professional orientation such as town planning not only teach subject-related knowledge and theories but also seek to prepare students for practice. Pedagogies that simulate various aspects of the working environment, and thereby foster applied skills development and collaborative working, are thus frequently found in planning curricula, including project- and problem-based learning, or ‘live’ studios. Somewhat surprisingly though, credit-bearing assessed work experience or work-based learning (WBL) in the form of placements, for example, are comparatively rare, and in the few instances where placements are part of the curriculum, the associated WBL typically carries minimal weighting - if any - towards the final degree classification. In view of newly established requirements for the assessment of professional competence (APC) by the UK’s professional body for town planning, the government’s drive towards greater flexibility and inclusiveness in higher education, and a push to expand university-employer partnerships, it is timely to re-evaluate existing educational practices in the field. This paper presents results from a study into the kinds of learning outcomes currently contributed by long-term placements to initial planning education. Findings suggest that student learning and personal development at the workplace and learning from campus-based modules provide complementary skills and knowledge. Opportunities, barriers and implications of integrated and assessed WBL within town planning education are examined.

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Recent critiques of management and teacher education curricula and teaching pay particular attention to the disconnection between the de-contextualised, formal knowledge and analytical techniques conveyed in university programmes and the messy, ill-structured nature of practice. At the same time, research into professional expertise suggests that its development requires bringing together different forms of knowledge and the integration of formal and non-formal learning with the development of cognitive flexibility. Such complex learning outcomes are unlikely to be achieved through a ‘knowledge transmission’ approach to curriculum design. In this article we argue that in many ways current higher education practices create barriers to developing ways of knowing which can underpin the formation of expertise. Using examples from two practice-focused distance learning courses, we explore the role of distance learning in enabling a dialogue between academic and workplace learning and the use of ‘practice dialogues’ among course participants to enable integration of learning experiences. Finally, we argue that we need to find ways in higher education of enabling students to engage in relevant communities of expertise, rather than drawing them principally into a community of academic discourse which is not well aligned with practice.

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