Fors Marsh’s Post

New paper from amazing #internship scholars, w/some of the only cross-cultural studies on WBL. Such important insights for countries like the US that lack the history or regulatory structure for vocational ed like France. Plus, Drs. Ramani & McHugh open up the black box of an internship to focus on what matters - supervision, intern autonomy, task clarity - the actual work that the student performs. Research like this helps dispel the myth that simply taking an internship is an unqualified good, but that how they are structured and implemented matters. Plus - culture!

Thanks to Valencia Lagbo for her introductory article on APA internships! During the Fall of 2023, I had a wonderfully unique internship experience with the American Psychological Association in Washington DC. Working with Jessica Durando and the digital communications team as they prepared to launch APA's Instagram platform was a revelation in learning about promoting ethically-based psychoeducation materials online. It also helped me better formulate my paper on "Promoting Psychoeducation and Social Justice on Social Media Platforms By Developing Optimum Digital Strategies and An Ethical Engagement Model." (An excerpt below)... Treating ourselves and other people (clients or not) with dignity and respect is a noble goal. Counselors, therapists, mental health researchers, and coaches are moving into the (relatively) new territory of social media platforms. These professionals can convey a humanistic approach by encouraging respectful online interactions; building and maintaining a strong brand identity/digital strategy that resonates well with the audience; and emphasizing ethical conduct that mitigates any harm. Some **specific considerations to keep in mind as a provider of mental health and social justice products online or on social media platforms are: 1. Do no harm. 2. Clean, concise, and clear brand mission. 3. Keep posted about the ethical guidelines and professional standards of mental health providers. 4. Also keep posted about online regulatory and legal requirements. 5. Engage in various software, platforms, and technology training at your comfort level or hire professionals. 6. Engage with other social media psychoeducation providers/mentors. 7. Engage with your target audience at their level. 8. Keep the content positive, hopeful, and fresh with topics related to the target audience. 9. Be professional, and maintain appropriate boundaries. 9. Be ready to share emergency contact lists with the target audience. **From: PESI/Barker. (2023, November 9). Social media for therapists: how to practically and ethically become an influential clinician online. PESI FREE Training: Social Media for Therapists https://lnkd.in/efVsTZNi Jessica Durando,

INTERESTING READ: Internships can play a vital role for students looking to break into a career, but they aren’t always available for all the students who want them. And even when they are, they may not be high quality. Read more about some of the difficulties that students face in securing quality internships. 

Elevating this research from the Strada Education Foundation, looking at data from the National Survey of College Internships from Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) at UW-Madison. The report highlights issues in access (there are too few great internships, and more obstacles to getting and maintaining them for economically disadvantaged students like our Scholars) and underscores the benefits of internships for long-term career outcomes (students gain exposure to careers and relevant experience they can use to distinguish themselves on the job market). If you can provide internships, do it! If you can make your internships better, do it! If you can support students to better access internships, do it!

My wife and I were sitting side by side when Washington Post reporter Kelsey Ables was asked for examples of unpaid #internships as we watched her interview on the news. Her two examples: #socialworkers and #psychologists. Both of us respectively. Myself as a #firstgeneration #college #student from a poor, #nontraditional background I certainly remember working full-time, caretaking and performing direct #therapy service for youth with #complextrauma backgrounds and psychiatric disorders. Living paycheck to paycheck. And I'm still in #socialwork practice. The data is clear: unpaid internships are not associated with better pay and increased likelihood of professional advancement. We have to do better for both the future of #behavioralhealth and retention of providers. We have to do better because this isn't sustainable for the projected #publichealth needs across communities. _____ For Review: Hora, M., Jang-Tucci, K., & Zhang, J. (2022). Gatekeeping at work: A multi-dimensional analysis of student, institutional, and employer characteristics associated with unpaid internships. Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hunt, W., & Scott, P. (2023). Stepping stones or trapdoors? Paid and unpaid graduate internships in the creative sector. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 44(4), 585-605. Smith, K. N. (2023). Undergraduate Participation in Paid and Unpaid Internships by Income Level. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 52(2), 4.

New data on #internships from the 2023 National Survey of College Internships were released yesterday by our partners at Strada Education Foundation! The report is available here: https://lnkd.in/gdscnQv2 The NSCI survey unpacks the too-often oversimplified experience of an "internship" into more nuanced elements of structure, quality, and access, and was developed at the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) at UW-Madison. Some key findings: * 41% of seniors and 22% of juniors at 4-year institutions, and 13% of students at 2-year institutions had participated in an internship in the past 12 months. Participation rates vary considerably by major and student demographics (esp gender & race/ethnicity) * Most students who did not participate in an internship (6 of 10 non-interns at 4-year institutions) reported that they wanted to, but could not for a range of reasons such as heavy courseloads, lack of opportunities, not selected for desired internship, or needed to work * 27% of four-year student interns report that they mostly engaged in autonomous work w/little supervision, 38% in high skill tasks w/supervision, 25% in low skill tasks, and 10% in mere job shadowing. Overall, these data continue to tell a story of internships & work-based learning that are - contrary to the ongoing, uncritical advocacy of these experiences - in short supply, are unequally accessible, and highly variable with respect to the quality of mentoring and student learning. That said, they can be transformative learning experiences for students - we just need to incorporate principles of experiential learning embodied by the ideal internship across the college curriculum so that ALL students can learn in a hands-on, skills-heavy manner. For a short Q&A on the data The Conversation US see below:

The Commonwealth Foundation is recruiting for its Graduate Internship Programme: Apply Now(Paid Internship £2,000 per month salary) https://lnkd.in/dHtq5rVY The Commonwealth Foundation is recruiting for its Graduate Internship Programme. The organization is seeking four Interns for six-month placements across different areas of the organisation. To be considered, all applicants must have an existing right to work in the United Kingdom and must be able to provide evidence of that right in their application. The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation established by Member States in support of the belief that the Commonwealth is as much an association of peoples as it is of governments. We are the Commonwealth agency for civil society; an organisation dedicated to strengthening people’s participation in all aspects of public dialogue, so they can act together and learn from each other to build democratic societies. #CommonwealthFoundation #Commonwealth #YouthEmpowerment #SustainableDevelopment #CommonwealthYouth #CivilSociety #CommonwealthLeadership #YouthVoices #CommunityDevelopment #CommonwealthValues #EmpoweringYouth #SocialChange #CommonwealthImpact #YouthInclusion #CommonwealthNetwork #YouthEngagement #CommonwealthGrants #CapacityBuilding #CommonwealthPa

Super excited to share this new op-ed about our #internship research at the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) at UW-Madison. Authored by two amazing PhD students in the Dept of Ed Policy Studies at UW-Madison - Kyoungjin Jang-Tucci and Hee Song - this essay addresses two inter-related issues: (1) culture shock faced by under-represented students in the internship workplace, and (2) how faculty advisors and employers can improve the design of their internships to enhance learning and socialization to new professions. Check it out and share! https://lnkd.in/gjT_QSBc

Internship participation has decreased in recent years despite the increasing demand for practical skills. Only 48% of seniors complete internships, according to The National Survey of Student Engagement (2022). This rate varies across institutions, being higher in elite universities; however, at the City College of New York, where most students receive Pell Grants, only 35-40% typically complete internships before graduation. This raises concerns about the accessibility of internships in higher education. This disconnect not only affects graduate employability but also limits the return on investment for educational degrees. Our recent article explores this issue further, providing insights and stats on the gap between internship participation and hiring trends. Read here: https://lnkd.in/d9WMpizy #InternshipEquationReport #DegreeROI #BridgeTheGap

“It does, but it also kind of creates two tiers of internships. Some data has shown that the people who are most offered unpaid internships tend to be people of color and women. So this kind of creates this kind of fracture where you have some people who are being paid and some people who aren't. And unpaid internships also are less often to lead to jobs. They have been shown not to establish interns in the kind of industry in the same way that paid internships do. So it creates this kind of division starting at the very beginning of when you are starting not even your first job, but you're kind of like first step into the working world.” #Equity #PovertyAwareParadigm #materialanalysis #ThisIsAFeministIssue #ThisIsARacialCapitalistIssue #PayInterns