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I am leading a placement module in the second year of the Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, and the Sport, Physical Education and Coaching Sciences programmes in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences. The module runs through the entire academic year and students spend a minimum of 120 hours working with a sport or exercise related organisation. For most of the students who take this module and spend time working with one of our partner organisations, this is the first time they are exposed to a professional environment with operational responsibilities.
The journey of these students is fascinating and transformative, and the change of their personalities between the start and the conclusion of the placement is remarkable. My interactions with the students as they progress through their placements, highlight all the areas in which they develop as professionals. Their focus shifts from merely achieving a good mark to successfully completing their “job” responsibilities, which is a significant indicator of their growth and maturity. The theoretical components of the module, which initially seem tedious, such as reflection and self-assessment, become crucial tools for evaluating their experiences and planning their future career paths. The students begin to see their peers not just as classmates but as colleagues, fostering a sense of camaraderie and teamwork. Those who supervise them are no longer just assessors but become mentors and sources of invaluable knowledge and learning, guiding them through their professional journey.
As an academic, it is understandable that I am interested on more than just how effective these placements are for their professional development. I am also interested to see how this experience influences their relationship with the more traditional and theoretical aspect of their degree. Although I do not have any quantitative evidence for the students’ academic performance after being involved in a placement (yet), a common theme in my one-to-one conversations is the strong links that their practical experience offers on the theoretical part of their studies. The word “context” comes up a lot, and they will often comment on how much of what they learn “now makes sense” and how they use it to inform their practice.
The transformation is also obvious on a personal level. When I meet these students in the second half of the academic year, I see more confident, more relaxed, and happier people. They talk to me with clarity and with the demeanour of someone who is enjoying what they are doing. Needless to say, the conversation often turns to what will happen next year; what placement opportunities they will have, and how can they progress further on where they started.
I always believed that experiential learning is an important component of a successful university student, but I had never imagined that the transformation that it elicits is as rapid, powerful, and effective as it is.
G.M.Balanos@bham.ac.uk