Uncovering WIL practices to enable WIL's expansion in higher education

Abstract

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.