Sharing the load: Understanding the roles of academics and host supervisors in work-integrated learning

Student supervision is a key factor underpinning the success of work-integrated learning programs. Supervisory responsibilities can be shared across a number of stakeholders including university staff and host/workplace supervisors. While there have been attempts to understand the roles played by each of these stakeholders, little research has focused on what each understands about the role of others. University staff and host supervisors (N=57) were interviewed about their own role and that of other stakeholders. Findings reveal that while there is reasonable consensus within each stakeholder group about their own roles, perceptions about the roles of others are mismatched in some fundamental areas. There also appear to be intersecting and complementary roles, which remain largely unexplored and accounted for in research and theory to date. This study is unique in bringing together the perceptions of multiple stakeholders to explore ideas about supervision. Implications for theory, practice and future research are discussed.