Employability and Learning Transfer: What do Students Experience During Their Placements?

This article examines learning transfer as an alternative framework for investigating transitions of students between higher education and the workplace. It highlights some of the shortcomings of the current framework provided by human capital theory and employability concepts and describes the learning transfer model as an alternative that focuses on the transition and continuity of students’ work-placements experiences. Drawing on the findings of an empirical study that gathered qualitative data from interviews, observation and written reflections of undergraduate students during and after their one year work-placement, this paper draws attention to the problems of narrow views of learning transfer and the limitations of human capital theory to explain current professional paths.