The educational imperatives for a Work-Integrated Learning philosophy

Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in its broadest sense is often described as an attempt by educators to provide a schooling-to-work pathway to support the employability of graduates. It is a construction by educational practitioners and associating employers. The cooperative arrangements, between these groups, have shaped programs of study at many tertiary education institutions for the best part of the last century. However, the approach sanctions a labour force imperative for education which is not consistent with the broader career-based education views expressed in public policy. In this paper we propose that any understanding of a WIL philosophy incorporates a learner environment for individual action learning and institutional active learning as an initiative that addresses six educational imperatives: workforce readiness; a professional development culture (both individual and workforce related); international relevance; life-long learning, knowledge transference; human and social potential. These imperatives we have derived from published mission statements, public policies, and institutional governance expressions, e.g. Australian government policies (1975 to 2005), OECD reports (2202, 2003) and the international symposia on career development and public policy held in Australia (2006)