Abstract
In order to ease the transition from the world of theuniversity to the world of work, it is of crucialimportance to provide university students withon-the-job skills and pre-professional workexperience. In the article, Finnish SpeechCommunication students' reflections on theirpre-professional practice in working life areinvestigated. The main purpose was to identifycritical factors affecting students' experiences andlearning outcomes of an off-campus practice period. Thestudy is based on reports by 70 students, analyzedqualitatively. The results indicate that whether thepracticum comes up to students' expectations dependson e.g. the following factors: the correspondencebetween the work-tasks and the student's studyprogram, the goal-orientedness of the work, thepossibility to commit oneself to work and to achieveset goals, challenges at work in general and invarious tasks, the supportiveness and attentiveness ofcolleagues and supervisor, a competent initialorientation by the supervisor on the first day, and anoptimal level of independence as well as a balancebetween goal-orientedness, supervision andindependence. For university students, a well-arrangedpracticum is not only an important part ofprofessional education, but at its best also a meansof personal development and growth.
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Valo, M. Experiencing work as a communications professional: Students' reflections on their off-campus work practice. Higher Education 39, 151–179 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003946617377
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003946617377