THE EFFECTS OF SUPERVISED WORK EXPERIENCE ON THE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENTOF PSYCHOLOGY UNDERGRADUATES

Supervised work experience (SWE) is a part of many degree courses. The psychological effects of SWE on students are relatively unknown, alth ough considerable claims are made by advocates of SWE. In this researc h the effects of a work placement year, and of students' experiences o f placement work, are investigated with data from 218 UK psychology un dergraduates on three occasions over a 17-month period. There was no e vidence that a placement enhanced students' self-esteem or career deci dedness, but some evidence that it enhanced their self-rated abilities . Perceived work autonomy and social support on placement had a small but significant effect on the dependent variables. The results indicat e that SWE must be carefully designed if it is to enhance students' pe rsonal development.