Do Work Placement Tests Challenge Student Trainees to Learn?

The study described in this article shows that embedding formative work placement tests in the student's learning process facilitates the student's development while on the work placement. This study measured the development of the student's learning process by determining the extent to which students gained an understanding of their current and desired levels of knowledge, felt challenged to learn, and more deeply explored the specialism of their work placement department. The exchange of knowledge between the student trainee and the work supervisor was measured. The E-Flow Nursing project was used as a case study. In this project, it was agreed that students were to include their test results in their personal activity plans, in line with recommendations from previous research into formative testing in general, which had revealed that formative testing can lead to positive developments in the learning process provided that it is embedded in the learning process. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.