Foreword
1This document is a code of practice for placement learning in UK higher education institutions. It is one of a suite of inter-related documents which, taken together, will form an overall Code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education (the Code) for the guidance of higher education institutions subscribing to the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (the QAA).
2The overall Code and its constituent sections are being prepared by the QAA in response both to the Reports of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education and its Scottish Committee (the 'Dearing' and 'Garrick' Reports) and the consequent remodelling of the national arrangements for quality assurance in higher education. The completed Code will identify a comprehensive series of system-wide expectations covering matters relating to the management of academic quality and standards in higher education. In so doing, it will provide an authoritative reference point for institutions as they consciously, actively and systematically assure the academic quality and standards of their programmes, awards and qualifications. The Code will assume that, taking into account nationally agreed principles and practices, each institution has its own systems for independent verification both of its quality and standards and of the effectiveness of its quality assurance systems. In developing the Code, extensive advice is being sought from a range of knowledgeable practitioners.
3Each section of the Code is structured into a series of precepts and accompanying outline guidance. The precepts identify those key matters that the QAA expects an institution to be able to demonstrate it is addressing effectively through its own quality assurance mechanisms. The accompanying outline guidance is provided to assist institutions in maintaining and enhancing the quality of provision for students and other stakeholders. The guidance is not intended to be either prescriptive or exhaustive: its purpose is to offer a framework for quality assurance and control which institutions may wish to use and adapt according to their own needs, traditions, cultures and decision-making processes. Nonetheless, in many institutions the guidance will constitute appropriate good practice.
4To assist users, the precepts are listed, without the associated guidance, in Appendix 1 to the code.
5During the course of its quality assurance reviews, the QAA will consider the extent to which individual institutions are meeting the expectations of the precepts in the available sections of the Code. The QAA will report on how effectively higher education institutions individually are meeting these expectations and are discharging their responsibilities for the academic standards and quality of their programmes and awards. In doing so it will focus on the precepts themselves, and not on the associated guidance: the latter may, however, provide a helpful starting point for discussion. The QAA expects that one year from the date of publication all institutions will be able to demonstrate that they are adhering to the precepts.
Introduction
6This section of the Code provides a set of precepts, with accompanying guidance, on arrangements for placement learning. It is concerned with arrangements made for learning that is a planned and intended part of an academic programme, which typically takes place outside the institution with the support and cooperation of a placement provider.
7An effective placement learning opportunity is one in which the aims and intended learning outcomes are clearly defined and understood by all parties and where the responsibilities of the higher education institution, placement provider and student are made explicit.
8The responsibility for ensuring that a placement provides adequate opportunities for the intended learning outcomes to be achieved rests with the higher education institution.
9Placements serve a variety of purposes. The intended learning outcomes from a placement may be highly specific, for example the development of practical skills and competencies that will be required for practice in professional or other employment; or they may be more general, for example the development of an understanding of the cultural or employment context of an academic discipline. The institution should clearly identify and approve the intended learning outcomes, whether specific or general.
10The types of placements available to students take many forms (for example short, extended; full-time, part-time; paid, unpaid; assessed, non-assessed; formal learning, experiential learning; studying or working abroad). The institution's relationship with the placement provider will also vary with the nature of the placement. This may be, for example, a large scale placement with a single employer; enrolment of students on a programme of study at an overseas university; or a student-negotiated work placement.
11The ways in which institutions discharge their responsibilities to ensure that placements provide appropriate learning opportunities will vary according to the nature of the placements. In all cases these should be clear and well documented. For example, in the case of student-negotiated placements, this might be done by advising students on the terms of letters requesting a placement, and providing a standard document that the placement provider could use to confirm that appropriate opportunities would be available to the student. In cases where a large scale placement is made with a single employer, the institution itself should normally enter into a written agreement (for example a partnership agreement) setting out the respective responsibilities of all parties. Where institutions use an agency to secure placements they will wish to assure themselves that their responsibilities for placement learning are being met by the agency.
12Where the placement provides work experience, an emphasis should be placed on the partnership between the institution and the placement provider. The partnership should be one of mutual benefit that enables an institution and its students to have access to practical learning opportunities and enables a provider to be confident that access to competent and work-ready recruits will continue.
13The QAA will have regard to the precepts of this section of the Code in its reviews of programmes that involve placement learning.
Further guidance will be issued on reviewing the placement learning that forms a part of the programmes to be reviewed by the QAA on behalf of the Department of Health.
Glossary
The vocabulary of placement learning includes many words which are used in different ways by different institutions. This glossary is intended to make clear the usage of terms as they apply to this section of the Code.
Institutional placement staff are people designated by the institution to arrange and/or approve placements and support students during the placement period. This includes individuals who visit students on placement.
Learning outcomes are simply the outcome from a learning process. The intended learning outcomes should be specified in the programme specification. They are statements that predict what learners should have gained as a result of learning. Outcomes can be specific (for example detailing competencies) or more general (for example a broad appreciation of a particular culture or working environment).
Placement learning is a planned period of learning, normally outside the institution at which the student is enrolled, where the learning outcomes are an intended part of a programme of study. It includes those circumstances where students have arranged their own learning opportunity with a placement provider, with the approval of the institution. The code is not intended to cover learning outside an institution that is not a planned part of a programme of study, such as part-time, term-time and vacation work which students have arranged for themselves.
Placement provider includes persons, partnerships, companies, institutions and organisations providing opportunities for placement learning.
Placement supervisor/mentor is a person, designated by the placement provider, who is responsible for supervising the student while on placement.
Precepts and guidance
General principles
1
Where placement learning is an intended part of a programme of study, institutions
should ensure that:
- their responsibilities for placement learning are clearly defined;
- the intended learning outcomes contribute to the overall aims of the programme; and
- any assessment of placement learning is part of a coherent assessment strategy.
Irrespective of what form placement learning takes, institutions will wish to consider the contribution that placement learning makes to the overall aims of the programme and the specific programme outcomes when they:
- design, approve, monitor and review the programme;
- design and implement the assessment strategy for the programme.
These considerations should be reflected in:
- the programme specification;
- the assessment guidelines; and
- the information and guidance for applicants, students and placement providers.
Institutions will wish to consider:
- whether any assessment of placement learning is covered by their arrangements for internal moderation and external examining; and
- whether the standards which are applied to any assessment of placement learning are consistent with available subject benchmarks and other relevant reference points and, where appropriate, fulfil professional or regulatory body requirements.
(See also the QAA Code of practice on assessment of students, and on programme approval, monitoring and review; and the Guidelines for preparing programme specifications.)
Institutional policies and procedures
2
Institutions should have in place policies and procedures to ensure that their
responsibilities for placement learning are met and that learning opportunities
during a placement are appropriate.
In their policies and procedures on placement learning institutions should:
- define their procedures for securing, approving and allocating placements, including information on the consequences for students of a failure to secure or complete a placement;
- define their procedures and criteria for the approval of individual placement opportunities;
- consider health and safety requirements;
- consider the requirements of relevant statutory regulatory, professional or funding bodies; and
- ensure there is clear information available about the allocation of placements where these involve collaborative agreements between institutions, employers and placement providers or students from more than one higher education institution (for example regional or transnational consortia).
The criteria to be used when approving placements should address placement providers' ability to:
- provide learning opportunities that enable the intended learning outcomes to be achieved;
- support students on placement; and
- fulfil their responsibilities under health and safety legislation in the workplace, having regard to the level of skill and experience of placement students.
(See also the QAA Code of practice on students with disabilities.)
Placement providers
3
Institutions should be able to assure themselves that placement providers
know what their responsibilities are during the period of placement learning.
Placement providers should be aware of their responsibilities for:
- the provision of learning opportunities;
- their role, where appropriate, in the assessment of students; and
- the health and safety of students.
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