Open AccessUncovering WIL practices to enable WIL's expansion in higher education
Author(s) -
Lynnaire Sheridan,
Oriana Milani Price,
Lynnaire Sheridan,
Melinda Plumb,
Renee Curial,
Taryn McDonnell,
Rozalia Pocius
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of university teaching and learning practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.258
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 1449-9789
DOI - 10.53761/1.18.6.05
Subject(s) - employability , government (linguistics) , higher education , work (physics) , best practice , sociology , negotiation , pedagogy , ecology , engineering ethics , political science , public relations , engineering , social science , biology , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , law
The Australian Government is financially incentivising work integrated learning (WIL) to enhance graduate employability. As such, universities are currently expanding WIL pedagogies and practices from their traditional domain of professional degrees, to be incorporate into almost all university degrees. Using Kemmis’ Theory of Practice Architecture, this study investigated the practices of established WIL practitioners in universities and uncovers what can be referred to as a WIL ecology of practice. This ecology comprises of key WIL practices, including: networking and selling, negotiating, collaborating and innovating and legitimising. The findings from this study offer important insights into how higher education institutions may develop a WIL ecology of practice, and critically, achieve WIL funding objectives, which has arguably become ever more important given the challenges COVID-19 has presented to university operational budgets.