Career development learning: maximising the contribution of work-integrated learning to the student experience. Final project report June 2009

Career development learning: maximising the contribution of work-integrated learning to the student experience. Final project report June 2009

All Australian universities provide work-integrated learning of some type in their academic programs. Universities Career Services have historically played a significant role in the delivery of work-integrated learning. However, the extent and manner in which career development learning, as a pedagogical framework, has been embedded in the work-integrated learning experiences of students has been unclear. Furthermore, the extent to which Career Services and other university departments which deliver work-integrated learning interact and cooperate with one another in their separate or joint delivery of work-integrated learning varies across the sector. Accordingly, the National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (NAGCAS) secured project funding from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) to investigate career development learning services and strategies that contribute to and enhance the outcomes of work integrated learning in university programs.
This project focused on the career development learning experience of Australian university students and graduates, and the provision of educational services and experiences that enhance and improve career development learning. Within this parameter, work-integrated learning is taken to be an educational vehicle or portal for the direct or indirect provision of services and experiences that contribute to career development learning. In summary, the project aims included:
1. scoping the relationship between career development learning and work-integrated learning in higher education;
2. producing an analysis of how the two could be integrated and synergized; and
3. producing learning resources to support university staff and employers in their delivery of career development learning and work-integrated learning.