Work placements and professional transition in higher education. Psychosocial approach of the veterinary curriculum

Like many other higher education programs, the policy in veterinary education highlights the work placement as a major tool for discovering the professional world for students. Through a qualitative study based on interviews (n=72), this article shows how the work placements contribute to change their representational project and help them in their professional transition. However, our results show that these work placements also generate bias in representations that prevent students to establish well-informed career strategies. Training engineering may be a tool that promotes the establishment of an educational support throughout the curriculum. Participatory approaches and the creation of an area to mediate the school to work transition could be used.