Placement Learning and the Code of Practice

This article is a report of a single-site investigation in a post-1992 university which looked at placement learning from a variety of programmes and compared it with the QAA Code of Practice on placement learning. Each of the eight precepts from the Code of Practice is listed separatelyand compared with actual practice. The greatest correlation occurs in thoseprogrammes that have a mandatory placement linked to vocational requirements. Although all the programmes studied meet some of the precepts, none meetall of the precept requirements. This was particularly evident in precepts 2–8 in which rhetoric departed from reality. The university involved in the study is probably very typical in the sector and the article discusses some of the possible reasons for this.