Placements

Placements Good Practice Guide: After placements

Introduction

The purpose of this Placements Good Practice Guide is to summarise some of the ideas and activities that colleagues may wish to consider when organising placements. The specific focus of this guide is on suggested activities to be undertaken after placements (there are similar guides available for the preparation of placements and during placements). This draws upon and references examples of existing practice in the University of Brighton . Please note that the guide is not intended to be a definitive summary of all placement activity in the University.

This guide includes links to the documents referred to in addition to links to the School / area responsible for the placement.

Good Practice Guide

1. Continuing professional development and reflection on placement learning

In a number of schools students are required to provide evidence of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) following their placement experience. Students are encouraged to reflect on critical /significant incidents that have occurred during their placement learning which can provide evidence for their CPD. Reflection on incidents related to practice learning may take the form of a series of reflective statements which contribute towards a portfolio of evidence or a longer reflective essay.

The University student profile initiative, which provides a common framework for Personal Development Planning, will offer further resources and encouragement for students on all courses to reflect in a systematic way on what they have learned from their experiences of work.

The University of Brighton Career Planning Agreement (CPA) has been developed in order to provide a defining framework that enables courses to ensure students are prepared for their career or studies after university. The framework offers a holistic approach that promotes reflection, self-analysis, research and planning to enable students to achieve a successful transition to life after graduation.

2. Tutor support and records

Colleagues from a number of schools recommend that the visiting tutor completes a report form following their visit to a placement site. Where additional guidelines for visiting tutors have been produced, these help to clarify the visiting tutor's responsibilities both during and after the visit and provide clear time scales regarding the submission of the reports. The visiting tutor's report provides a valuable record of the placement visit including the date of the placement, the placement site and an overview of the content of the placement. Some forms include a series of prompt questions on the form which enable the tutor to report on the general organisation of the placement including the induction period and the level of support the student has received during the placement experience. These records enable any concern that the visiting tutor has about the organisation of a placement to be formally reported to the placement unit /placement co-ordinator and to be held on record to inform future arrangements for placements.

3. Reports from placement provider

It is generally considered good practice for supervisors from the placement provider site to complete a report about a student's performance during the placement that is forwarded to the placement unit/placement co-ordinator at the end of the placement period. These final reports enable placement co-ordinators to monitor students' performance.

In schools where assessment of practice learning forms an integral part of the curriculum and contributes towards the assessment of a module /modules the final report from the placement provider is normally in the form of a summative assessment of placement learning. The placement provider would be required to make a formal judgement on a student's performance and their ability to achieve the learning outcomes of the placement.

4. Debriefing and placement evaluation

Debriefing sessions

Some schools have adopted the practice of holding debriefing sessions for students following placements. These sessions enable students to identify and explore issues related to placement learning and general feedback gathered during the debriefing may be returned to placement sites to inform future placement organisation and development.

Debriefing sessions should enable students to feedback on:

• quality of the information that they received prior to the start of the placement.
• induction during the placement.
• resources and learning opportunities.
• quality of the learning experience.
• level of support they received from the placement provider.
• skills/competencies gained while on placement which help to prepare students for real work life demands upon graduation.
• benefits that placement learning provides.
• employability strengths / trends amongst graduates who have undertaken a placement.
• informed and greater career focus of work experience in their chosen field.

Opportunities for debriefing on an individual basis.

Students may request an individual debriefing session with a member of academic staff following their placement experience. Debriefing meetings with individual students are essential if a student has failed a placement and where there have been issues with a placement provider.

5. Evaluation of placement learning

Evaluation should be used to increase our understanding of the placement experience from the perspective of everyone concerned and enable all parties to implement change that will enhance the quality of learning and teaching. More formal evaluation should enable all parties involved in placement learning to feed into the quality monitoring process and may take the form of:

• Student evaluation forms that provide placement co-ordinators within the University of Brighton and placement providers with valuable feedback about the placement experience from the student's perspective.
• Evaluation forms from placement providers which provide useful feedback to University placement co-ordinators regarding the quality and timing of tutor visits, preparedness of the students, and any other organisational issues related to placement learning.
• Feedback from visiting tutors that provide feedback to placement co-ordinators following their visit to the placement site highlighting any issues that either the University of Brighton or placement provider need to address.

A number of the placement handbooks contain student feedback forms which students are expected to complete and return to the academic placement co-ordinator at the end of the placement. Staff responsible for monitoring the quality of placements at the University of Brighton may find it useful to view student evaluation forms in conjunction with academic tutor reports and evaluation forms that provide feedback from placement providers.