Educational approaches, Philosophical perspectives on WIL

The story of going from policy text of WIL to practicing policy of WIE

This can be told as a story and therefore has the beginning of a traditional story.

Once upon a time there was a university that got a national mission to promote work-integrated learning (WIL). This happened as early as in 2002. The mission ignited a series of processes to support a fellow teaching practice of work-integrated education (WIE), which in turn supports students’ WIL (figure 1). The people in this story are the students, the teachers and the leaders of University West.

Stories often include a story line, a red thread. In this story the red thread is the process of development and contextualization of WIL and how in turn the importance of WIE became uncovered underway. The WIL certification of programmes has had a major impact on the WIL teaching practice and uncovered the importance of understanding WIL in both vocational and academic programmes (Piper et al., 2023; Sunnemark et al., 2023). This furthered the need to better understand WIE. There is a traditional way of WIE is mainly based outside of the university (the classroom setting)(Billett, 2024), but in this story´s process it became evident that WIE is wider than that. WIE does also occur at university but depends on the epistemological intention behind WIE.

There is often also a problem to solve or someone to rescue in a story. In this story, the problem is more of an everyday dilemma. The dilemma here concerns the uncovered needs of understanding WIL and WIE, which has led to further focus of unpacking, understanding, implementing and developing our WIE and WIL practices. Each participant in this story should perform their daily practice based on research, ensuring updated and relevant theory to connect with the practice field. This includes keeping a sharp eye on research of WIE and WIL, as the research field is expanding  rapidly (Areskoug Josefsson et al., 2024). An increased excellence in academic teaching practices of WIE is built on both the outlook on current research and teaching experience and development. Educational quality is built on academic teaching (Nygren & Sjöberg, 2023).


Figure 1. Implementing WIE/WIL: Policy and practice levels​

This may be seen as easy, however as a co-creative endeavour WIE is constantly developing and dependent on the involved people in the story. The competence of WIE is built together – both together as university teachers, and also together with practice and with our students. This includes actually creating policy (Ball, 1993). Policy is not simple implemented top-down with a national mission of WIL. Thus, the uniqueness of our story at University West, that we actually create WIE and WIL policy through our actions. This policy practicing is a great opportunity for co-creating educational excellence in WIE and WIL in a never ending story!

Kristina Areskoug Josefsson
Professor in Work-integrated Learning
Faculty of Health Sciences, University West, Sweden

Ulrika Lundh Snis
Professor of informatics and head of CIWIL
University West, Sweden

Sandra Pennbrant
Professor of Nursing
University West, Sweden

Lena Sjöberg
Pro Vice-Chancellor
University West, Sweden

References

Areskoug Josefsson, K., Näverå, E., Wilner, A., & Masterson, D. (2024). A Bibliographic review of Work-Integrated Learning Research. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 25(4), 517-535.

Ball, S. J. (1993). WHAT IS POLICY? TEXTS, TRAJECTORIES AND TOOLBOXES. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 13(2), 10-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/0159630930130203

Billett, S. (2024). Constituting integration in work-integrated education and learning. Studies in Continuing Education, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2024.2363262

Nygren, Å., & Sjöberg, J. (2023). Beyond Teaching and Learning – Rethinking Academic Development in Relation to Quality Enhancement. International Educational Research, 6(2). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.30560/ier.v6n2p10

Piper, L., Dahlquist, K., Sunnemark, F., & Assmo, P. (2023). Rethinking WIL for an academic discipline: the model of Work Integrated Political Studies (WIPS). Cogent Education, 10(1), 2191397. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2191397

Sunnemark, L., Sunnemark, F., Dahlquist, K., Gahnström, E., Assmo, P., & Piper, L. (2023). Bridging theory and practice through Work-Integrated Learning (WIL): critical perspectives on the conceptualisations of WIL at a university in Sweden. Critical Studies in Education, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2023.2294462

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