Lee, Yew-Jin

This chapter describes the landscape of formal internship programmes available in our Singapore education context. Focusing on internship programmes offered by the three main types of institutions that define the Post-Secondary Education Institutional (PSEI) space in Singapore, Universities, Polytechnics, and the Institute of Technical Education, we posit internships as an integral part of the curriculum and a critical element of learning. We begin by tracing the roots of internship in these broad institutional categories to highlight the organisation and nuances of the various internship programmes. We will also attempt to draw connections between the development of internship programmes and the Singapore SkillsFuture initiatives and to suggest some areas for enhancement.

We examine the challenges and emergent nature of learning during undergraduate internships. Much scholarly inquiry on the latter focuses on internship experiences within traditional professional domains such as medicine, teacher education, and other fields. There is less knowledge about undergraduate interns entering more fluid and recent work sectors such as Public Relations and Communication. In this study, a sociomaterial perspective guided the interest in the situated and emergent nature of learning as an intern in such tool-saturated environments. Specifically, we examined how interns learn to participate in such activities, and how they encounter and appropriate sociomaterial resources used for coordinating and performing work practices. Using a case study method, we examined internship experiences of penultimate undergraduates in communication studies (N = 38). From semi-structured interviews, strategies such as scaffolding, networking and negotiating with colleagues, and technological tools as contingent means for coping with workplace challenges were reported during the initial stage of their internship. By making visible knowledge strategies undergraduates interns employ for learning at the workplace, we call to attention the role of and access to technologies, significant others, and workplace culture in the development of professional learning in such dynamic professional settings.