Problems during the Internship

POSSIBLE ISSUES WITH REGARDS TO COMPLETING INTERNSHIP

Often, there may be some problems and challenges during the internship that presume a conscious approach, ability to notice problems, and solving them.

In a way, some challenges are already coded into the internship or are derived from contradictions between the daily work of internship base and the needs and expectations of trainee:

• Time limitations – sometimes completing aims, achieving learning outcomes, and gaining proficiencies can take time, but unfortunately, the duration of the internship is limited to the volume prescribed by the curriculum. An increase in the amount of time spent can happen due to the learner (slow learner, earlier gaps in study process, psychological obstacles, etc.), supervisor (little teaching experience, tiredness, overloaded with main work, motivational problems, etc.), the educational institution (unclear learning outcomes and/or purposes, not enough cooperation with the traineeship provider) or due to the internship provider (the activity/process being learned happens rarely, there are no additional resources to include the trainee, lack of motivation, etc.).
• Competing demands – the interests of internship base (especially if these are in contrast to the needs of the trainee), administrative interests, research-based interests. In case of different expectations and demands, the internship provider foremostly chooses their main function and the interests and needs of the learner are left behind.
• When supervising, the companies originate from conditions and not from learning outcomes – this makes finding an aim and planning the internship more difficult. On the condition that the choice for traineeship base has been suitable when creating the learning situation, the supervisor must take into account the possibilities of internship provider and propose  corresponding aims, which will assure learning outcomes are achieved.
• A large number of students – this puts extra workload on the internship places, lowers motivation, tires supervisors, which forces the learner to choose not the most suitable companies for completing the traineeship, and this in turn decreases the quality of practical study.
• The inability of internship places to offer a training that is diverse enough – internship places may not be able to offer a multifaceted practical learning – there are definitely learning outcomes that you can achieve in those, but often study remains rather shallow because the company does not use the techniques, procedures, and processes that the learner should acquire in their daily business.
• Not enough resources – lack of suitable internship places, trained supervisors, and additional resources (for example not enough tools, traineeship is unpaid, etc.).
• The internship environment is not study/teaching friendly, everyday work takes place at the same time – completing the daily main functions of the internship place takes its toll on the supervisor’s time and energy resources and often, work is so intense that it is easier to get things done themselves rather than teaching a trainee. Being overloaded with work due to the trainee in turn causes frustration, and this is sometimes taken out on the trainee.
• Lack of supervisors – there are never enough trained and experienced supervisors. At the same time, the opportunity to rearrange your work during the trainee’s stay at the company or finding the time to teach in the expense of reducing daily tasks can help increase the motivation of being a supervisor, etc.
• Insufficient (not fostering development) feedback on the completion of internship. The supervisor(s) neither have the time nor the skills to provide feedback in a manner so the student would understand their strengths and need for development.