L1: Start of placement

(L1) Expectation Setting: Day 1

Placement goals (your’s and your student’s), aligned to the placement Position Description (PD), are vital in the planning of setting (in the anticipation of meeting) all parties’ placement expectations.

Explicitly asking your student about their expectations, creates a safe space for a co-created, open and supportive learning and feedback loop. This, in turn, enables the navigation of fit for purpose facilitations of learning ^[1][2][3].

We suggest that you discuss the precise nature of the placement role, ensuring that the tasks undertaken by your student will be appropriate throughout the duration of the placement. A high-level discussion that asks the student to reflect on their current skills, their past experiences, and their specific goals for the placement, is invaluable for expectation setting. This is why this exercise, early in the placement is a key for student success. Students tend to be required (as part of their formal unit learning and assessments) to reflect on and discuss placements duties, specific tasks, and goals to ensure student and host expectations are aligned. To this end, we encourage students to share their objectives for the placement with you on their first day^[4]. 

Expectation Setting Exercise: The Expectation Grid

The following exercise is recommended to be conducted when you and your student first discuss the placement (i.e. Day 1). The plotting of expectations on the grid map facilitates a process wherein you and your student can discuss the capabilities required for a successful placement, including the skills the student brings with them on day 1 to the placement.

It provides a window into student-host expectations, and an indicator of how to achieve alignment of expectations. Once completed grid will provide the ‘sweet spot’ of where you need/want your student to be performing by the end of their placement.

This grid template is also provided in a downloadable form for you so that the contextualised capabilities required for the placement (relating to the technical, professional and employability skill domains) bring to the surface the specifics of ‘learning to work’ and ‘working to learn’ during the placement.

A deeper dive into the particular capabilities that count for the placement may also be helpful during the first learning phase (L1) – please see Performance Review Template Example.

A review of the criterion and star rating system (levels), (see performance evaluation process) are recommended.

About The Grid

• Along the X axis is where you can start to reflect on the Technical Skills: Discipline knowledge and STEM skills (domain 1); Professionalism (domain 2), needed for the placement.
• Along the Y Axis is where you can consider the Employability skills (domain 3) needed for the placement.

Using The Grid

On the blank “Grid” template, two interdependent data points should be added:

• The student self-assesses their current capabilities. We suggest students mark on the grid map their skills at the start of placement ^[5].
• The Host plots the anticipated (and required) performance level expectation for the student towards the end of the placement.

Follow the below steps to compete the grid:

Step 1 – Student Data Action: Plot the position on the grid that best represents where you currently see your combined technical, ethical and employability skills (before your supervisor/host plots their expectations).

Step 2. Host Data Action: Plot a point on the grid that best represents where you expect the student to be performing by the end of the placement.

Use the following prompts to help with placement of the expectations on the grid:

Student Action: on the grid map, plot a point that best represents where you currently sit.

Host Action: on the grid map, select the point that best represents where you expect the student to perform by the end of the placement.

Student prompts to help plot their ‘self-review’: Do you think your employability skills (generic and transferrable skills) are emerging (compared to other students who are soon to graduate from their course), or do you think you are at the proficient level? Do you think your discipline specific knowledge skills (including your technical skills and ethical practices in your field) are the level where you can follow peers when guided, or do you think you can already apply these skills in real world settings?

Host prompts to help plot expected performance levels: For this placement to be a success, do you think that the employability skills (generic and transferrable skills) that the student requires are at a higher level than ‘emerging’? Do you think their discipline specific knowledge skills (including their technical skills and ethical practices) are best positioned for this placement as following instructions from yourself and peers, or do you think they should be able to implement these skills in your workplace with minimal guidance?

The Completed Grid

The completed grid will act as a map of your shared vision, factoring in both host and student your aspirations and the opportunities the placement provides in the 3 domains. The completed grid provides a visual of aligned/mismatched expectations, so that you can suggest where learning may be needed and where student growth via workplace activities, is likely. Ultimately, the grid map is a great way to support your student’s progress, celebrate their development, and set a growth mindset for the experience ahead as your student ‘learns to work’ and ‘works to learn’.

Example: An example of a host/student’s co-created mapping of capabilities has been provided below.

Example of completed Expectations Grid

Student view: The student’s plotted icon on the grid depicts that they currently feel confident with their discipline specific technical skills. They feel that they can perform in the placement without assisted guidance. They acknowledge that they are likely to need to develop and will require support in applying their employability skills, so they can successfully perform in a real-world context.
Host view: The host’s plotted icon on the grid depicts (because it also designates an aspirational moment in the near future) that they have slightly lower expectations of the student’s overall performance in order for the host to be satisfied with the student performance.