Fieldwork placement outcomes for international higher education students: A systematic literature review

Fieldwork experiences can be particularly challenging for international, higher education students, as they face language and cultural difficulties, which can affect their academic progress and their fieldwork interactions with supervisors and clients. This review synthesised findings from 27 studies referring to higher education courses that employed fieldwork placements. The aims were to examine the effectiveness of placement support programs and to collate strategies that international students and/or placement supervisors felt might improve placement outcomes. Results identified a large number of activities that could be used to improve placement outcomes. However, due to the lack of comparison or observational data, it is recommended that future studies be better controlled and include longitudinal studies to better identify the effective aspects of support programs. In this way, program and policy-making will be better informed.