A framework for managing the impacts of work-integrated learning on student quality of life

Although work-integrated learning represents an increasingly prevalent part of the tertiary education landscape, there are limited explorations of student experiences through a wellbeing lens. Wellbeing represents more than an individual’s quality of life; it is an individual’s ability to manage different inputs across intersecting physical, social, cognitive, psychological, environmental and economic factors often from a moment-in-time positioning. In connecting work-integrated learning and wellbeing, this conceptual article introduces work-integrated learning wellbeing (WIL wellbeing) as a construct to identify potential impacts of work-integrated learning on participants’ wellbeing within and beyond learning contexts. The model highlights the importance of recognizing and appreciating student diversity in personal circumstance and experience when undertaking work-integrated learning. Explicitly connecting work-integrated learning and wellbeing emphasizes the importance of nurturing a combination of individual coping strategies, formal policy and informal institutional support, and provides a framework for higher-education institutions to address the impact of work-integrated learning on students.