RAYNER, PAPAKONSTANTINOU: Perceptions of workplace preparedness
Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 2015, 16(1), 13-24 15
learning? Secondly, as these students more closely approached completion of their studies,
how did they value the placement in terms of their employability and/or workplace
readiness? The findings related to these two questions were then integrated with the
proposed establishment of a work skills development (WSD) program, to better prepare
students for future WIL placements.
METHODOLOGY
This study comprised two parts: (i) an immediate post-placement survey of SSIRPP students
who had undertaken a research-oriented WIL experience, and (ii) a follow-up survey six or
more months after the initial survey. The structure and methodology for the initial survey
was that used and reported by Papakonstantinou et al. (2013). This paper draws on the most
recent data obtained as an extension to that study, in addition to the follow-up volunteerresponse
survey of the same students. The follow-up survey (Table 1) was emailed by the
program coordinator to 45 students, from which 42 (93.3%) responses were obtained. The
very high rate of student responses was likely due to a combination of ongoing
communication between the program coordinator and participants, and the high value that
students placed on the program. Students answered a series of ‘Learning’ and ‘Career’
related questions designated L1-L3 and C1-C4 respectively, using a five-point Likert scale
(Likert, 1932). These questions were designed to investigate the relatedness of student
learning in their degree to their particular placement, and the relatedness of the WIL
experience to their future career aspirations (Figure 1). Students were also invited to make
comments about the program via the following question “Any other thoughts/ideas to add
about your SSIRPP experience?”
TABLE 1: Structure of the follow-up (six months or longer) survey of student perceptions of
their WIL placement.