Perpetuating Precarity in Theory and in Practice: A Case Study of Work-integrated Learning in the Non-profit Sector in Northern Canada

Abstract

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a process of curricular experiential education within a workplace or practical setting and is believed to give students “the skills and experiences they need to start a well-paying career after they graduate” (Trudeau, 2017). WIL is portrayed as a win-win, yet this research suggests that WIL perpetuates precarity and deepens inequalities between students, between different types of employers, and between geographic regions. Using the Human Development and Capabilities Approach (HDCA), this study investigated how eight diverse non-profit organizations (NPOs) in northern Canada are positioned to support students to develop personal agency through WIL. Most WIL research is urban-centric, focused on for-profit industries and framed within Human Capital Theory (HCT), making this study an outlier. Using a case study approach underpinned by critical and social realism to inform research methods, this study explores the ways in which WIL enables and constrains the development of agency at individual, social, and institutional levels. The role of learning partners, the structure of WIL and the presence of social actors (industry associations, regulatory bodies, and unions) were examined as conversion factors. The research is based on semi-structured interviews with twelve non-profit staff and volunteers, ten faculty and administrators, and institutional document analysis. Content analysis was implemented by organization to identify themes. The research shows inconsistencies in current approaches to WIL. While NPOs are committed to student development, theoretical fragmentation within non-profit contexts combined with constraints in the post-secondary environment compromise student learning. Students and learning partners are poorly prepared and equipped for WIL. Furthermore, the increasingly precarious positioning of NPOs within the labour market threatens their ability to offer students (future) decent work. The institutional and policy environments that undergird WIL do not acknowledge the distinctness of non-profit organizations within a neoliberal economy and this makes invisible other dimensions that affect decent work, such as the regulatory environment, collectivization, and the “contracting regime.” To ensure well-paying jobs, these factors must be addressed. This research also recommends that WIL be evaluated with greater emphasis on social and institutional conversion factors, and that future studies of WIL use HDCA, rather than HCT.