Do work placements improve final year academic performance or do high-calibre students choose to do work placements?

C.M. Jones*, J.P. Green, H.E. Higson

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This study investigates whether the completion of an optional sandwich work placement enhances student performance in final year examinations. Using Propensity Score Matching, our analysis departs from the literature by controlling for self-selection. Previous studies may have overestimated the impact of sandwich work placements on performance because it might be the case that high-calibre students choose to go on placement. Our results, utilising a large student data set, indicate that self-selection is present, but the effects of a placement on student performance still have an impact. This robust finding is found to be of a remarkably similar magnitude across two UK universities.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)976-992
Number of pages17
JournalStudies in Higher Education
Volume42
Issue number6
Early online date9 Oct 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Bibliographical note

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Studies in Higher Education on 09/10/15, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03075079.2015.1073249

Keywords

  • British higher education
  • degree performance
  • work placement
  • self-selection
  • propensity score matching

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