Rethinking regulatory responsibility: equitable participation in work-integrated learning

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ABSTRACT The final report of the Australian Universities Accord consultation process highlighted the impact of work-integrated learning requirements on students’ ability to complete professional qualifications, conceptualising equity in terms of a need to ensure ‘equitable participation’. This article uses the case of social work education to explore regulatory impediments to equitable participation. Professionally accredited social work degrees include some of the lengthiest work-integrated learning requirements in Australia. Prior research has identified deleterious consequences of work-integrated learning requirements for students, attributing responsibility for mandatory requirements to professional accreditation standards. Academic accreditation policy offers a different perspective on responsibility. Interpretive policy analysis of recent advocacy and subsequent policy responses illustrates how different interpretations of responsibility for effecting change can generate roadblocks to implementation. This article situates work-integrated learning in the regulatory context, identifying conflicting policy interpretations as an implementation challenge for the commitment to equitable participation.