From Placement to Partnership: Reframing WIL Practice

Abstract

This editorial introduces a special issue of WIL in Practice focused on partnerships in work-integrated learning (WIL). It reframes WIL from placement-based models toward a partnership-driven ecosystem, where learning is co-created through dynamic, relational engagement among students, educators, industry, and community. Drawing on the contributions within the issue, it highlights partnerships as evolving, negotiated, and shaped by trust, shared purpose, and contextual pressures. The editorial foregrounds the relational labour, ethical considerations, and power dynamics underpinning partnership work, while recognising diverse forms, including cross-institutional and Indigenous-led approaches. Students are positioned as active co-creators within these ecosystems. The editorial argues that strengthening inclusive, values-driven partnerships is essential to WIL’s future, calling for a shift “from placement to partnership” to enhance sustainability, quality, and equity in practice.