- Title
- Career direction or re-direction – The impact of work-integrated learning on exercise & sports science students
- Creator
- Hall, Melinda; Pascoe, Deborah; Charity, Megan
- Date
- 2017
- Type
- Text; Conference proceedings
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/180855
- Identifier
- vital:15811
- Identifier
- ISBN:978-0-473-43432-8
- Abstract
- Exercise and sports science (E&SS) is an umbrella term that encompasses a range of career outcomes including; strength and conditioning, health promotion and exercise rehabilitation. Universities delivering E&SS programs provide work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities to enable students to integrate theoretical knowledge into the workplace and assist students to make decisions about their future careers. Research in other disciplines indicates influential relationships exist between WIL and career choice. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of WIL experiences on the future career choice of E&SS students and to identify the reasons students would or would not remain at the WIL agency for future employment. An online survey was distributed to final year E&SS students at Federation University Australia who were completing their 80-hour WIL placement. The survey explored WIL experiences and the impact on career aspirations (n=20). Chi-squared analysis showed positive WIL experiences significantly influenced a student to pursue a career in the same field (p=0.049) with WIL agencies playing a leading role in providing an inspiring and supportive atmosphere. However, negative experiences did not discourage students from choosing a career in the same field (p=0.093). Reasons for not pursuing employment within the field were lack of interest in the work and lack of full-time employment. These findings suggest that E&SS students should not be deterred when experiencing a negative WIL placement. Rather, students should use all WIL experiences to assist with decisions on subject choice, future WIL placements and, more importantly, future career options.
- Publisher
- University of Waikato, New Zealand
- Relation
- 20th World Council and Assembly on Cooperative Education (WACE) Work Conference; Chiang Mai, Thailand; 5th-8th June, 2017
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- © 2017 World Association for Cooperative Education (WACE)
- Subject
- Work-integrated learning; Career choice; Exercise & sports science; Placement
- Reviewed
- Funder
- 2017
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