Field placement guidelines

As part of the course approval process, ACWA approved Registered Training Organisations and universities commit to implementing a field work placement component that provides a high-quality learning environment and examines the competency and readiness of a student for work within the community sector.

To assure standards for the conduct of field placements, we advise ACWA approved education providers and their students to understand and implement the following to ensure compliance with ACWA standards.

Guidelines

To be considered an appropriate field work placement, by the end of the course, a student must have experienced:

a minimum of 400 hours of field work placement within appropriate welfare or community organisations
at least two separate placements with no single placement being less than 140 hours
diverse placements with different competency functions
diverse placements with different client groups, settings, etc (e.g. placements should not be in the same or very similar setting, field of practice, or method)
quality field placement supervision by suitably qualified and experienced community sector staff
quality field placement monitoring by qualified and experienced educational staff
for each placement, a written report (1,000 word minimum) including a critical reflection and analysis of the placement experience using specific examples (e.g. the welfare skills applied, challenges faced, strategies used, etc.) and linking their field placement experiences to theoretical concepts relevant to welfare practice from their classroom learning