Social Work and Social Science

Thank you for your interest in hosting students at your organisation for the upcoming semester. Providing as much detail about the placement and any other organisation specific requirements assists in the most appropriate allocation of students.

 

Social Work and Human Services Placement Requirements

Semester one is mostly first placement students – usual start is late Feb – early March

Most students undertake their final placement in semester two – usual start end July

Social Work

• 500 hour placements (approx. 68 FTE days)
• Between 3 and 5 days per week
• First and second placements

 Social Science (Human Services) or (Ageing & Disability)

• 280 hour placements (approx. 37 FTE days)
• Usually 2-3 days per week

Some background information about the UniSA approach to allocating students to agencies

• Your EOI assists the Allocations Team in choosing the most suitable student/s for your agency.
• We appreciate your support of our students and the valuable opportunity you provide, hence we prefer to take the time required to make a ‘good match’ rather than a ‘quick match’
• It is helpful if you specify what is important to you rather than asking , for example, for second placement students only. If you advise us that you would like a resilient student who has some life experience then we can review all students to see who might be a good match.
• If you tell us you can offer three placements for example, we will select the most appropriate three students.
• We work on a policy of selecting one student per placement rather than offering competitive interviewing. There are several reasons for this. The timeframe is too short to have students attending multiple interviews, and, they are students attending a placement to learn and practise the skills of the profession.
• Students are developing practice skills and therefore many will not have the experience and knowledge that may be sought through a staff recruitment process. Transferable skills and attributes are useful factors in seeking a good match for your agency
• When you advise us of placement positions available for UniSA students can you please ensure that the number you give us are for UniSA students only. If the same placements are offered to other institutes, please indicate so on the EOI
• Once we have identified suitable students we will send you and the students the details, and ask you to arrange a time to meet with the student.
• It will help our allocation process if you are able to reply to the student’s email and confirm a process for meeting with them. This is encouraged to be within one week of receiving the provisional allocation email.
• Because the allocations process takes place over several months, 5 months when the Christmas period is included, we will send you regular updates just to confirm that we still want the placements and are still allocating students.
• Number of days per week. The more options you tick the more flexibility we have for allocation of students
• Number of days per week. Many students must maintain other paid work (due to the cost of living) whilst also undertaking placement, so many students are not available 5 days per week only. The university is also mindful of student’s health and safety and that undertaking paid work and placement 7 days per week is not authorised. Thus, the more options you tick the more students we are able to consider for allocation to your agency.
• Students are not authorised to transport clients in their personal vehicles

 If there are any changes to your placement offer please notify jus-placementservices@unisa.edu.au at your earliest convenience.

Please provide the details for your agency's key contact/s. These people will be the central point of contact between your agency and UniSA.

Alternate Contact (if applicable)

Please record the following details for each placement your organisation is able to support. If you have more than 2 program areas, please contact jus-placementservices@unisa.edu.au for an alternate form.

Providing as much detail as possible assists in allocating the most suitable student/s to your organisation.

UniSA requires all students to have the following compulsory pre-requisites prior to attending their placement:

• DHS (formerly DCSI) National Criminal History Record Check and Screening Assessment: 
  

  • Working With Children Check (WWCC) - valid 5 years

  • Aged care sector employment - valid 3 years

  • NDIS Worker Check - valid 5 years

• CHC Criminal History Check - valid 1 year

• Safe Environments for Children & Young People (formerly named Child Safe Environments) 7 hour face-to-face training - valid 3 years

Next Steps

You will receive an email confirming your registration.

Once allocations have been made you will be notified with the relevant student details.

If for any reason, you are no longer able to accept a student placement, please notify jus-placementservices@unisa.edu.au at your earliest convenience.

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to register your interest in hosting a student from UniSA.