Internship in the UK: Why it is contested

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Internship in the UK Why it is contested
also a misunderstood process of skill formation
emerging issues from the Creative Finance
Sectors 

• David Guile and Ann Lahiff
• ESRC-funded Research Centre Learning and
  Life-chances in Knowledge Economies Societies
  Institute of Education, University of London
• Research funded by The Commercial Education
  Trust, the London Chamber of Commerce Industry

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Argument

• Internship is demonised as un-paid/unsupervised
  work or work experience
• This demonisation conflates internship with
  un-paid/unsupervised work/work experience
•   Yet, historically, internship has always been a
  process of skill formation
•  
• In light of this, it is important to
• differentiate between internship and
  un-paid/unsupervised work or work experience
• identify models of internship that facilitate
  skill formation
• identify their implication for the UKs skills
  agenda

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Origins of internship

• The English word intern derived from the French
  word interne (see below) which was derived from
  the Late Latin word internus (inward, internal
  domestic) which was in turn derived from the
  Latin word inter (between)
• The earliest definition we could find was
• 1879 American English one working under
  supervision as part of professional training,
  especially doctor in training in a hospital,
  from the French interne assistant doctor,
  literally resident within a school.

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Internship a good or bad idea?

• Bad
• Internships are illegal (IPPR)
• finishing school for the middle classes
  (Williams, 2010)
• form of exploitation (de Grunwald, 2010)
• favour the most well-off members of society
  (Clegg)
• Good
• internships are an important way of young people
  getting into the job market (Willetts, 2011)
• The biggest UK firms are set to increase their
  graduate intake this year, with more positions
  than ever going to people who have already worked
  for the company as interns, research has shown
  (Higher Fliers, 2011)

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Problem with this framing of internship

• National discussion of internship as
• exploitative employer behaviour
• Understandable, at one level, because
• some very bad practice out there
•  
• At another level, what is being lost sight of
  is
• internship is a model of skill formation
• what how people learn from internship varies in
  different sectors according to how they use
  internship
• As a consequence, we cannot see
• how internship does at present could do more so
  in future contribute to UKs skill agenda
•  

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Why is this happening?

• Reporting of internship
• clashes with peoples sense of fair play
• But, there is another hitherto unidentified
  reason why people are vexed
• legacy of the traditional linear model of
  recruitment in peoples minds
• Explore this issue by researching
• internship in Creative Finance Industries

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Internship in the Creative and Finance sectors
whats happening and why?

• Creative and Finance sectors chosen for these
  reasons
•  
• sectors are characterized by very different
  organisational structures , as a result,
  patterns of internship
•   Finance sector (banks, investment
  professional service companies) consists of
• considerable number of multinational companies, a
  relatively small number of Small and Medium Size
  Enterprises (SMEs) and a high preponderance of
  permanent employment.
•   Creative sector consists of
• small number of multinational companies, high
  number of SMEs and a high preponderance of
  contract-based employment.
•   Internship tends to be
• formally organized in the Finance sector and
  informally generated in the Creative sector.

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Researching internship conceptual
methodological issues

• Key questions how to
• conceptualise a process that occurs within the
  work process
• gain access to corporations Small Medium Size
  Enterprises to interview key people
• Conceptualisation
• Use concepts from Socio-cultural theory (object
  of activity, relational activity, mediating
  artifacts, distributed cognition) to guide
  formulation of model of internship
• Access gained via
• intermediaries/brokers (people who work regularly
  with large corporations SMEs), for example,
  University Careers Departments, University
  Students Unions, Sector Skills Councils etc.,
  personal contacts.
• Interviews conducted with
• interns/interns line or project and HR managers
  /ex-interns/sector-specific bodies
  (SSCs)/campaigning bodies (NUS/InternAware etc.)
• Outcome
• ideal typical models of purpose, process
  outcome of internship
• Steering Group comments on emerging issues
  plan dissemination
• (CBI, CIPD, NUS, Creative Skillset, Financial
  Skills Partnership, UKCES etc)

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Traditional Model of Graduate Recruitment
Graduate from University
Employers advertise jobs
Selection, interview and job offer
Full time employment ?learn the ropes
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Traditional Model of Graduate Recruitment 2

• Problem
• model no longer applies in some sectors (Finance)
• model rarely applied in other sectors (Creative)
• Result
• national discussion of internship is skewed
  because contributors think internship is
  favouring some denying other students access to
  employment
• But, internship in Creative Finance sectors is
  
• facilitating access skill formation in
  different ways

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Internship as an integral element of company
recruitment
Apply for internship during second year
successful applications undertake internship in
summer break
Return to complete final year of degree in
knowledge that has/does not have an offer of
employment
Full time employment company-specific knowledge,
skill judgement burgeoning company social
capital
Undertake 6-week internship ?structured by
team ?supported by training, mentor line
manager ?paid
Undertake 6-week internship ?structured by
team ?supported by training, mentor line
manager ?paid
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Internship as an integral element of company
recruitment 2

• Why?
• companies have moved their traditional model of
  post-graduation recruitment into the second year
  of a first degree/first year of MBA/MsC to beat
  off the competition
• enables companies to enculturate successful
  students so they start ahead of curve when they
  join
• students then act as campus champions for
  companies to encourage other students to apply
  for internship

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Internship as strategy to develop vocational
practice social capital
Internship features ?structured by project
goals ?supported via project team interns
agecny ?unpaid/stipend/expenses Internship
outcome ?knowledge, skill judgement ?increased
social capital

• Internship
• ?self-generated (pitch)
• discover internship possibility via
  networks/social media (apply)
• sometimes companies (upper-end of SME scale)
  advertise

Graduate from university
Freelance/contract-based work, or business
start-up
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Internship as strategy to develop vocational
practice social capital 2

• Why?
• SMEs secure contracts, sub-contract receive
  sub-contracts for projects
• access to much of creative sector is about
  graduates pitching for entry position in above
  context
• degrees rarely develop the vocational practice
  needed to contribute immediately to SMEs
  projects
• internships become positions to elaborate
  extend knowledge skill developed in HE but
  supplement it with practical judgement social
  capital (network to gain contract)

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Issues arising from first phase of research

• What are we now doing - asking more employers
  interns about
• how they learn as members of project teams where
  roles are transgressive?
• what types of knowledge, skill judgement
  social capital are they developing?
• why does this K,S,J have to be developed in
  context of work rather than education?
•   Where next for the research?
• identify more models of internship (Enternship)
• identify processes that support learning
  develop a classification of all models
• Identify implications for
• current policies/practices for Key/Employability
  skills in HE
• future direction of Careers Advice pre-HE
  during HE
• inclusion of internship in national polices for
  skill formation 
• Dissemination
• late February/early March
•