RAPPORT
Issue 5 (August 2020)
what I think this highlights is that with
academics acting in multiple roles
and support services being stretched
that there is a wider institutional
resource issue that needs to be
addressed… includes training for
academics on how to handle such
situations. (Portfolio 22, CS 1)
Students are likely to be more oriented to
career progression while on placement,
yet are more removed from the usual
university careers support mechanisms
and therefore AAs have found themselves
fielding career advice questions which is
likely an area they have less experience
of in terms of how best to advise students:
I arranged for her to talk with careers
service and possibly undertake some
assertiveness training if that is
available…It indicated to me how
difficult it can be to lower the barriers
that are unconsciously erected
against organisations that are
perceived to only offer stereotypical
job roles. (Portfolio 12, CS2)
This therefore requires AAs being suitably
trained and supported in meeting the
demands of these roles. Support may be
offered in a variety of ways, through
training the AA and through well
developed and effective university
procedures and policies. Universities also
need greater engagement with employers
to help them understand students’
developmental position (Archer &
Davison, 2008). A key focus should be to
provide support for placement supervisors
at all stages of the placement lifecycle,
from planning the work offered to
understanding how the placement work
may fit with student’s assessment.
Where the university is experienced in
supporting placements and has relevant
processes in place AAs are likely to find
supporting placement easier. Even where
policy and procedures are in place the
university needs a commitment to
ensuring these are well disseminated with
appropriate training in place to use them.
Otherwise as the AAs’ focus may get
caught up in navigating ineffective
procedures and systems, students’
academic needs may go unmet. As
placements vary there is also a need for
locally developed guidelines that can flex
in accordance with requirements:
The course leader has a role in
terms of course progression and
bursaries; the placement coordinator
sources the retrieval placement.
(Portfolio 7, CS 3)
University policy outlines several
points of contact during a student's
placement year but due to the
student experiencing some settling in
problems, additional contact via
SKYPE was introduced…we
established that although policies in
relation to such incidents were in
place they were not visible,
discussed or trained to members of
staff who may need to use them.
(Portfolio 22, CS 1)
Providing developmental support
It is likely that AAs will need to assist
students in gaining the most out of their
time on placement as not all students are
eager to take part:
she comes across as lacking
confidence, speaks very quietly and
her body language is extremely
unassertive…we spoke about the
fact that recognising that confidence
is a key area for her to develop.
(Portfolio 12, CS2)
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