Bonnie Amelia Dean

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a popular strategy employed to develop higher education students’ professional identity (Trede 2010; Zegwaard, Campbell, and Pretti 2017) and employability (Jackso...

The growing emphasis on employability within higher education reflects a strategic shift toward developing reflective practitioners equipped for the demands of a dynamic workforce. This study investigates the potential of iterative, structured, critical reflection for enhancing career development learning (CDL) among undergraduate accounting students. Through the integration of intentionally designed reflective writing tasks, this research explores how critical reflection can develop undergraduate accounting students' metacognitive capabilities, self-awareness, and adaptability. Findings suggest that repeated engagement with structured reflection not only supports students’ personal and professional growth but also deepens their understanding of learning behaviours and career trajectories. Notably, the study reveals that students’ career motivations, which are often shaped by familial expectations, work-life balance considerations, and external pressures, can be surfaced and explored through reflective practice. This study demonstrates how reflection is an essential, embedded practice for cultivating reflective professionals.

Higher education plays a key role in cultivating graduate employability, which is essential to meeting multiple individual, community, social and labour market needs. Universities prioritise employability through strategic goals and initiatives designed to foster work-ready graduates equipped with the skills, aptitudes, and knowledge needed to navigate self-determined career pathways. One core approach to delivering on the employability agenda is through work-integrated learning (WIL). Despite institution’s efforts to set targets to increase access to WIL for all students, there is little evidence on how these strategies are implemented, reported, and revised, particularly in resource-depleted environments. This paper illuminates how institutional directives can be enacted when transformative learning is centralised through relational, collegial conversations. It builds on Dean et al.’s (2020) paper to unpack how the WIL Curriculum Classification (WILCC) Framework has been executed through employability champions across the institution, who advocate for meaningful, contextually appropriate change that is co-designed with colleagues. These ‘significant conversations’ are the impetus for transforming students’ learning experiences and career readiness. The paper offers four vignettes to showcase how the WILCC Framework has been implemented and disseminated across local, institutional, cross-campus and international contexts through transformative engagement in relational dialogue. It outlines key recommendations for holding significant conversations to influence change and champion the employability movement.