Work Integrated Learning/Practicum at Flinders
Examples of Current Practice
Examples of Current Practice for WEI
Other University wide support for WIL and WEI
Flinders University has many examples of good models of practice for Work Integrated Learning (WIL) and Work Experience in Industry (WEI).
Examples of Current Practice
Aquaculture
This topic is designed to provide students with first-hand experience of the aquaculture industry. It requires a minimum of 100 hours working in the aquaculture industry. Students are required to prepare an outline report on the relevant industry sector before taking up their placement, and a final research report on scientific and technological aspects of the operations of the industry partner. Students are expected to identify any possible changes which would lead to improvements in husbandry practices and/or profitability.
Clinical Audiology
This topic concentrates on the development of clinical skills. The students are initially rostered for at least one half day clinical session per week with audiologists in the Adelaide metropolitan area. These include hospital and community settings, including private practices, where possible. The students work under supervision with clients of different ages. The emphasis at this stage is on the acquisition of skills in obtaining information from clients, examination of the ear and basic testing of hearing. Skills in observation, description and analysis will also be developed.
In their final year, students do two clinical block placements of 4 days per week for 5 weeks. The placements in metropolitan, regional and remote audiology services will be organised by staff.
Clinical Psychology
Students enrolled in the Master of Psychology (Clinical), or the Doctor of Philosophy (Clinical Psychology), programs are placed in three practical settings under the supervision of a registered psychologist or Field Supervisor. Each placement has a duration of about 2.5 days per week for 19 weeks.
A member of the academic staff is appointed to liaise with
the supervisor and the student. The main task of the
University Supervisor is to make two visits (the contract visit
and the end-of-placement visit) to the placement site as part
of the student evaluation process.
Prior to commencement of a Placement, each student is required
to prepare a Curriculum Vitae (CV) which describes their academic
background and work experience. A copy of the CV is made
available to each Field Supervisor at the beginning of the
placement. The CV can assist Field Supervisors in understanding
the student's background and can assist the student in developing
a professional CV by the end of the course.
A “Placement Supervisor Report” is completed by the Field Supervisor at the end of each placement.
Practical experience can be expected to differ between placements. Placements are arranged to ensure that there is a diversity of types of experience over the length of the entire programme. All students gain experience with both adults and children in a variety of settings. An individualised contract is drawn up for each placement, defining the learning objectives, the expectations on all parties and the form of assessment. The terms of the contract are negotiated with the student, Field Supervisor and the University Supervisor. On an annual basis, placement agencies are asked to provide a description of the expected placement activities and facilities.
It is interesting to note that some schools are now asking placement officers from the Teaching Experience Centre of the School of Education to provide more professional background material and a photograph of students before they will commit to accepting a student for a practicum placement.
Cultural Tourism
This topic is designed to provide students with practical experience working in the arts, cultural or equivalent tourism operations. It requires a minimum of 160 hours over a minimum of 4 working weeks. The total duration is determined by the operator providing the experience in consultation with the course coordinator or delegate and will be in the range of 4 weeks. Care is taken to ensure that students experience a different segment of the industry from their first placement and that each student goes to an appropriate placement.
Disability and Community Rehabilitation
Students in the Bachelor of Disability and Community Rehabilitation complete the topic DSRS 3211 Practicum C, which is an 8 week block placement mid-year, during June and July. The placements are selected by the students in consultation with the Topic Coordinator. Over 60% of placements result in offers of employment to the students. Students must have completed a minimum of 40 hours of voluntary work with a disability service provider as a prerequisite for the practicum placement.
The Practicum requires three compulsory attendances at the University, which include a Briefing Session, a De-Briefing Session and Practicum Day Conference.
The Briefing Session held early in Semester 1 (March) reviews the Practicum Manual, preparation, expectations, requirements and closure.
The De-Briefing held within two weeks after the end of the placement, allows students to reflect on the completed Practicum placement and prepare for the Practicum Day Conference in November.
The Day Conference involves the practicum students in 15 minute presentations describing the agency and the nature of their placement as well as the project they completed during the placement. Agency Supervisors and staff are invited to attend the conference.
The First year students are invited and Second Year students are required to attend the conference to gain some information and insights into the requirements and expectations of the block placement during the third year of the degree.
On the day of the Conference, Disability Service Agencies and other agencies that employ the Graduates of the degree are invited to an Exposition of Employment Opportunities for graduates during the lunch hour break of the Conference.
The Exposition is attended by all students and staff which is reported to be informative and useful in terms of establishing and expanding professional networks. The combination of the Conference and Exposition is considered to be a valuable day of information sharing, providing an overview of disability services in South Australia and enabling professional networking.
Ecotourism
This topic is designed to provide students with practical experience working in nature-based or equivalent tourism operations. It requires a minimum of 160 hours over 4 working weeks. The total duration is determined by the operator providing the experience in consultation with the course convener or delegate and is in the range of 4 to 6 weeks. Students are interviewed by a placement panel prior to assignment to ensure that they experience a different segment of the industry from their first placement and that each student goes to an appropriate placement.
Engineering
The topic ENGR3521, Cooperative Work Experience, has been
replaced by ENGR3401 Engineering Practicum and ENGR3509, Professional
Engineering Practice, from 2007.
At Flinders University, the topic coordinator for Engineering
Cooperative Work Experience sends a letter to engineering firms
in South Australia and interstate and overseas requesting details
of placement positions available including the rate of payment
to the student(s) and type of project to be undertaken while
placed with the firm.
Once collated, this information is published for the students
on Flinders Online (FLO).
Engineering students apply to the firm(s) of their choice as
if they were applying for a position of employment and must
indicate their qualifications to undertake whatever project
the firm describes.
Students are often employed by the same firm after graduating.
The vast majority of engineering firms see the Cooperative
Work Experience program as adding value to their organisations.
Medicine Surgery Clinical Performance
The placements consist of five Selectives; two Acute Care, one Ambulatory Care, one Rural and one Undesignated. Two of the five Selectives must include Medicine and Surgery. Students who have undertaken Year 3 in a Rural Clinical School site may elect to undertake an alternative to the Rural Selective. It is highly recommended that they undertake a selective in Mental Health. The emphasis is on learning through participation in the activities of the placement with supporting tutorials, workshops, on-line activities or other learning sessions.
Nursing and Midwifery
The website for Nursing and Midwifery provides exemplars of best practice for providing students and work place agencies with information pertaining to clinical placements.
The School of Nursing and Midwifery uses Dedicated Education
Units (DEUs) as the primary model for clinical placements within
the metropolitan area. A DEU is an existing health care
unit that is further developed through strategic collaboration
between the nurse-clinicians and academics. It is designed
to provide an optimal clinical learning environment for students
of nursing by using well-proven teaching/learning strategies
and drawing on the expertise of both clinicians and academics.
Students from first, second and third years are placed in DEUs
that provide clinical experience over a longer time frame than
the traditional block placement. Students attend one ward/venue
two days per week (Tuesday/Wednesday or Thursday/Friday) throughout
the semester (excluding breaks).
The School currently has more than 30 DEUs in operation covering a diversity of health care agencies across the spectrum including acute medical and surgical settings, public and private settings, community venues and specialty areas (such as operating theatre suites and emergency departments). There is a strong commitment to create and maintain DEUs in areas which provide the highest quality learning opportunities and enhance patient/client care outcomes. However, the total number of places for students available for clinical placements is far less than the number required and placement staff are often forced to compromise.
Typically, the students are 'buddied' and mentored by students
in the higher years allowing more students to be placed in
one ward. The School pays for a staff member of the ward
to be the 'DEU Liaison Nurse' who helps the students when one
of the Academic Staff (Principal Academics) is not available. The
DEU length of time depends on the student’s year, ie:
1st Yr - 2 days per week x 3 weeks each semester
2nd Yr - 2 days per week x 9 weeks each semester
3rd Yr, Semester 1 - 2 days per week x 13 weeks
3rd yr, Semester 2 - 2 days per week x 8 weeks; 3 days per
week for remainder, with one 5-day block towards end of placement
(approx 40 days)
In certain circumstances students are enrolled in block clinical
placements. Block placements are contracted into shorter time
periods than DEUs (4-5 days per week over a 4-5 week period) and
often later in the semester. Lectures are normally completed
by the time block placement begins.
Block placements are not held in DEUs but rather in different
wards/venues with a range of settings available and are usually
made by application or when there are not enough DEUs for all
students.
A typical block placement program where students attend placement
towards the end of semester, would be:
1st Yr - 2 days per week x 3 weeks, or one block of 5 days
2nd Yr - 4 days per week x 4 weeks
3rd Yr, Semester 1 - 5 days per week over a 7-day roster x
5 weeks
3rd Yr, Semester 2 - 5 days per week over a 7-day roster x
8 weeks
Nutrition and Dietetics
The topics and NUTD4004A and B, Professional Practice in Nutrition
and Dietetics 1 and 2 are taught and assessed as a continuum.
Students must enrol in both topics in the same academic year.
In these topics, students develop the professional skills and
attitudes necessary to practice as a dietitian. They extend,
consolidate and apply their knowledge of nutrition and dietetics
through supervised professional practice placements in hospitals
and community health centres. The topics also examine ethical
and professional issues central to practice as competent health
professionals.
Parliamentary Internship
The Parliamentary Internship Program is in its twelfth year of operation. It offers 36 students at Flinders University and Adelaide University an opportunity to become an Intern, working in the South Australian Parliament for one semester. The Program opens with three weeks of formal teaching focusing on parliament - institutions, structures, processes, principles and practices. During this period, the arrangements are finalised for the research program which is the focus of the remainder of the semester. Students work with a Parliamentary Supervisor, usually a Member of Parliament, on the basis of a mutually agreed interest in a policy issue. The formal task is research for a Research Report of 6,000 words on the issue. The topics, over the life of the Program, have encompassed a wide range - fisheries, health, mental health, domestic violence, unemployment, globalisation, reform of Parliament, the status of men, rural media, wine industry, energy, economic development, local government, prostitution law, and many others - and the research has encompassed areas across the State. As well as the formal research project, Interns have a unique opportunity to be involved in the life of Parliament and in the life of Members. Through the Parliamentary Supervisor, the Interns experience the totality of the role of a Member - in the Parliament, in the electorate and in the party. This experience provides an opportunity to assess whether a career in politics - in a range of areas - is attractive. Many past students have made career decisions on the basis of their Internship experience. The formal project of a Research Report is the formal assessment for the Topic. The Reports become part of the public record, and are part of the collection of the Parliamentary Library, after the assessment procedure. The Members of Parliament are also able to use the Reports in their professional activities. Overall, the Internship offers a breadth of contact for the Interns in the "real" political community. It provides an opportunity for a substantive research project, as well as an opportunity to contact various elements of politics, and assess whether there is a career. Further, the Internship provides an opportunity for a broader understanding of the various components of politics - government, parliament and public service - and a working relationship with the public through people and groups related to the research focus.
Practical Legal Training
In order to qualify as a lawyer in Australia, each law graduate must complete a recognised practical qualification. In 2002, the Australasian Professional Legal Education Council (APLEC) published a recommended set of competency standards which all entry level lawyers should meet in order to be eligible to be admitted as a legal practitioner. Upon completion of a recognised and accredited course of Practical Legal Training, potential lawyers must apply to the Supreme Court of the state in which they wish to practise for admission as a legal practitioner. The admission application process is rigorous. Not only does an applicant have to demonstrate completion of all of the academic and practical requirements, but an applicant must also certify to being a ‘fit and proper person’ to be admitted as a legal practitioner.
In Australia, each state and territory has different admission requirements but this is slowly changing as the country attempts to adopt a national profession. This is still not a reality, but we are getting closer. A major step in the creation of a national profession is the fact that each admitting authority has now adopted the APLEC competency standards.
The APLEC National Competencies prescribe a program of academic study incorporating at least 90 hours of workplace training as a minimum for all students who complete PLT at Graduate Diploma level or equivalent. So wherever a student completes Practical Legal Training, there is a work experience Placement involved.
At Flinders University, students complete 225 hours of work experience Placement in the last twelve months of their studies within a topic called Legal Practice Management. They are required to attend a full week (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) of classes covering practice management, time management, trust accounting and placement preparation, held in early February before the start of the official academic year and prior to commencing their practicum placement. Students may commence their Placement any time after that first week of preparation.
Student feedback about Placements is, in the main, extremely positive. Comments like: This was the best part of the whole Practical Legal Training program are common. Students get very excited about working in a real legal team, in a real office with real clients. The challenges and pressures of legal practice are usually met with nervous excitement. Written feedback suggests that for many students, the Placement reinforces their decision to become a lawyer and most can’t wait to be admitted and get started. The transition from student to lawyer is a rite of passage for many, and there is a strong sense of achievement in completing the practicum placement. Quite clearly, students relish the opportunities that the Placement provides and are very grateful to their host supervisors for sharing their time and expertise.
Social Administration and Social Work Field Placements
Field education is a core component of the social work education
process, and has the status of a full academic subject. Persons
responsible for the management of the field education program
must be social workers. The school arranges for a member
of its staff to visit the agency at least once during the placement
to provide liaison between the two organisations, to provide
consultation as required, and to assist in evaluation of the
student’s progress.
Students must spend a minimum of 140 seven hour days (980 hours)
in at least two field placements. Students must undertake
placements in at least two practice settings, and in at least
two fields of practice and be able to practise using a diverse
range of social work interventions.
The placements are over two years, the first placement in
the second semester and the second placement in first
semester the following year.
Generally students are in placement three days a week and are
at Flinders on the other two days.
Students work towards the development of a range of practice skills such as interviewing and communication skills and problem solving and professional behaviours. Students learn about ethics, values and ideology in practice.
The aim of field education is to develop knowledge of and
demonstrate skills in the following areas over two placements.
Students are expected to:
- Initiate, develop and sustain relationships with individuals, families, groups, organisations and communities
- Identify, assess and respond to risk, diversity, rights and responsibility
- Explore and identify the objective and subjective dimensions of issues, needs, resources and concerns
- Establish a process to observe, analyse, synthesise data
- Contract, set goals and monitor service arrangements
- Implement the appropriate and negotiated intervention strategies
- End the planned changed process
- Take responsibility for professional practice
- Take responsibility for administrative functions in the agency
Speech Pathology
This topic assists students to develop their clinical skills in both speech pathology and audiology. Students work with clients presenting with common speech and language disorders. Under guidance and supervision, they assess, diagnose and treat clients. The topic may incorporate some audiology clinics in which assessment of hearing is made.
Teaching Experience. New program introduced in Semester 1, 2006.
The overarching notion was to develop a partnership with schools where the professional experience was seen as an essential element of teacher education and a positive way to create links between university students and staff and professionals in the field. The recognition that in-school learning was the focus of professional experience, rather than mere assessment of the student teacher, creates a very different environment from traditional supervision practices. For pre-service (student) teachers, being welcomed into a school community led to learning and professional growth that could not be simulated in the university setting. The experience allowed them to observe teachers in all aspects of their role, experiment with pedagogical practices and begin to understand how supportive learning environments were established.
The Teaching Experience program for undergraduate students now includes 20 days of School Experience made up of 10 days per semester in the student’s second year and linked to curriculum topics. In the students third year they complete a 4 week placement in a metropolitan or country school. Final year students are required to spend 10 days in a metropolitan or country school placement in school term one (including the first 2 days of the school year) plus a 6 week practicum block in school term 2. Graduate Entry students complete 10 days of school experience in semester one of their first year followed by a 4 week practicum block in semester 2.
Changing the language and terminology of the initial teaching experience was seen as a way of influencing changing attitudes and practices. School experience was different from a teaching practicum, which by necessity, had to be assessed. Supervising teachers are now referred to as teacher mentors and the university supervisor is now a university liaison to reflect the new role of linking university studies with the school experience.
Examples from Unley and Seaview High Schools
The Principal and Assistant Principal of Unley High School are very keen to enhance the Flinders University school experience/practicum program to extend the range of experiences students receive when they attend Unley High, to make the school experience more meaningful and to give our students a much better understanding of the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills across the whole school program.
Unley High School will structure the school experience program for the students for their 10 days per semester in keeping with the general aims of the topics EDUC2302 and EDUC2403. The new Practicum Administrator software will allow the school practicum coordinator to declare 10 placement positions across a range of subject areas each year for students to work with Unley High School students with their Literacy & Numeracy skills and then remain with Unley High for their 4 week Teaching Practicum the following year. This will give students a much more structured program for school experience, a greater understanding of the work of teachers in schools and continuity with their teaching practicum. Students will then be placed at another school for their final practicum, but any students who wish to continue working at Unley High in a voluntary capacity will be able to credit the extra hours towards the Teaching Practicum Elective in their final year. The school senior staff are keen to liaise with the academic staff to integrate the teaching of the Literacy & Numeracy topics with the needs of Unley High School.
A similar program of close cooperation exists between Seaview High School and the School of Education at Flinders University. Now in the second year of operation, first year Flinders University students select Seaview High School for their school experience program. Students meet with senior staff at Seaview High School during the last week of school term 4 and assist with the year 7 to year 8 transition program at the beginning of their second year. Students then have the option to continue working with students at Seaview High School and undertaking their first teaching practicum at the school in third year.
Flinders University and St George College at Thebarton have a Memorandum Of Understanding which facilitates the annual placing of students for school experience and practicum at the college.
Teaching Practicum Elective: Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands
This program is now in its 10th year and was first established by Dr Gordon Baker, a former teaching experience coordinator for the School of Education.
The practicum is jointly funded by Flinders University School
of Education and the Department of Education and Children’s
Services (DECS).
In the past, mostly final year pre-service students and a few
third year pre-service students were involved with the program.
In 2006, for the first time, the program was offered to third
year pre-service students who now have the opportunity to be
placed in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands for
their final practicum.
Nearly half of all Flinders pre-service students who have been
involved with the APY Lands practicum have gone on to be employed
in the Lands and a considerable number of all teachers in the
APY Lands are former Flinders students.
Mr Russ Jackson, the DECS Manager: Curriculum and Induction
Anangu Education Aboriginal Lands, in speaking to our final
year pre-service students recently mentioned that, in the early
days, just about anyone could get a job in the APY Lands. Now
DECS is very selective and the quality of Flinders graduates
has been outstanding.
Significantly, graduates who are now employed in the APY Lands are staying longer than their initial two year appointment.
Also of significance is anecdotal evidence that the quality of learning for Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara students has improved markedly over the past 10 years.
Examples of Current Practice for WEI
The Inspire Peer Mentor Program
Now in its fourth year of operation, the INSPIRE Peer Mentoring program provides student mentors to schools and has demonstrated that ways of working with teachers in both primary and secondary schools to overcome difficulties associated with trainee teacher placements in schools can be achieved.
The INSPIRE Peer Mentoring program, administered by Catherine Koerner from the Careers & Employment Liaison Centre, is a model of university to community engagement within formal and alternative learning environments in low socio-economic areas. The model has been closely integrated with a new teaching practicum elective in the Bachelor of Education program due to feedback from school students, trainee teachers and teaching staff that there can be a greater benefit for Education students to maintain an ongoing relationship with classroom students and teachers over a full semester or year than can be gained through traditional block teaching practicum as the predominant method of teacher-preparation for pre-service teachers.
Previously, a number of education students had volunteered to act as mentors for the Inspire program in their second year (or first year graduate entry). Anecdotal evidence suggested these students were far better prepared for their teaching practicum and they demonstrated a greater awareness of the general operational aspects of a school.
As one secondary principal remarked, the Inspire students “knew what went on in the corridors of the school and their experience was not just restricted to a couple of classrooms.” Another school principal commented on the high level of involvement by his staff with the Peer Mentoring program and praised the program for allowing trainee teachers to become involved in a much wider aspect of the school program than would normally have been possible.
As the Inspire program developed and expanded with more secondary and then some primary and junior primary schools becoming involved, more second year and first year graduate entry students were gaining a school experience that clearly assisted their preparation for the teaching practicum the following year.
The number of schools involved in the INSPIRE Peer Mentor program has increased from four to thirty five in the past two years.
Bachelor of Education students may convert the INSPIRE Peer Mentoring program to a full WIL program by enrolling in the Teaching Practicum Elective topic (EDUC4800)
The WorkReady Internship Program
The WorkReady Internship Program is an especially successful program which provides opportunities for some 450 students each year to undertake a range of projects for business, industry and government with leading companies, law and accounting firms, environmental agencies, government departments, councils and community organisations.
WorkReady is a demonstration of Flinders University’s commitment to fully prepare graduates with the knowledge and skills needed for employment. WorkReady placements operate throughout the year and the placement period is flexible depending on the organisation’s needs and available resources. Projects can be undertaken either in a block period or spread over a number of weeks.
Other University wide support for WIL and WEI
Practicum Preparation Online
The Practicum Preparation: Working to Learn program, developed
by the Staff Development and Training Unit, is a useful online
program to assist students in their preparation for a WIL placement.
This excellent program appears to be currently underused by
academic staff at Flinders University and students may benefit
from a renewed level of promotion of the use of the program
by all faculties and departments with WIL components in their
courses and topics.
Careers and Employment Liaison Centre
The Careers and Employment Liaison Centre provides excellent services for our students to assist with resume writing, interpreting positions descriptions and general work readiness.