Quality placements

About the quality placements project

This project will help overcome challenges in the supply and quality of student placements in the community services sector.  

Practical placements are a mandatory component of accredited social work and community services qualifications, and help students build applied and workplace skills, connect theoretical knowledge to real-life problems, and facilitate transition to employment.   

However, employers can find it difficult to accommodate the number of student placements. An insufficient supply of placements is a barrier to coursework completion and constrains the pipeline of new workers to the community services sector.  

The quality of placements can impact students’ job readiness and their willingness to work in the sector. They can also create risks for already stretched organisations, including around service delivery safety and quality.  

TAFEs and universities can also face challenges in identifying and delivering a sufficient supply of quality placements, with resourcing and management of placements differing across institutions.  

We’re consulting peak bodies, community sector organisations, TAFEs, universities and students to identify key administrative, process and capability related barriers to the delivery of high-quality placements to identify solutions that will make things better for community sector organisations, education providers and students.   

Our focus is on the following qualifications: 

• Master of Social Work 
• Bachelor of Social Work 
• Diploma of Community Services 
• Certificate III in Individual Support 

Outputs 

• Insights paper – Supporting high-quality placements in the community services sector
• Best practice guidelines – Hosting student placements: Best practice guidelines for Victorian community sector organisations

Main image: RMIT University (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)