Key Information about Professional Experience Placements
All Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Early Childhood (EC) degrees at the University of New England (UNE) have a requirement for professional experience.
This professional experience is required by the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA) and/or the Australian Children's Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).
Please read the information below to assist you in understanding the requirements for your professional experience placements.
Students are required to meet the following mandatory certificates for all professional experience placements. All students must complete: Please read the mandatory requirements and checks, arranged by state or territory with links to the relevant agencies. These mandatory certificates are then to be submitted InPlace to be verified and checked by the Office for Professional Learning before a placement can begin. The PREXUS myLearn site provides you with everything you need to know about your professional experience. Inside the PREXUS Site you will find InPlace is used to manage all aspects of the professional experience component of all Teacher Education Students at The University of New England. InPlace provides a central hub for students and staff to manage, placement information For Teacher Education Students there are three different possibilities for arranging a placement. All Teacher Education Students must allow the OPL to arrange their placement for their unit. This Standard Application will allow students to specify their preferred locations and/or schools/centres, and dates of availability. Please see the PREXUS myLearn site for further information. A list of schools/centres that have indicated they can place UNE students can be found on the PREXUS myLearn site. For Primary, Secondary, and Special Education students who have conditional registration, and are employed as a teacher, and Early Childhood students who wish to complete their placement at their school/centre of employment. Please note that not all students are eligible for In-Service Placements. For Early Childhood Students it is important to note that some placements are required to be completed outside of your centre of employment. Please use the Professional Experience Placement Guide for assistance when arranging study plans for professional experience and for more information on the unit and Placement requirements. Please review the information about In-service eligibility on the PREXUS myLearn site, under the In-Service Placement. Early Childhood Educations Students may negotiate their own placement with a centres within their area, or who have been offered a placement by a centre, with whom they have developed a professional relationship. Please note - this excludes Early Childhood Education Students who have been offered a placement in the Armidale area (including Walcha, Uralla, and Guyra - all schools within a 70-kilometer radius of Armidale). All placements within the Armidale region are arranged solely by the OPL. See the section on Placement Application (Standard) For further information please see the PREXUS myLearn site, The OPL will do our best to guide you in your preparations, please see the Getting the most out of your Professional Experience page for resources. IMPORTANT! If a teacher education student commences their professional experience placement before submitting a Placement Form or without having received an official Confirmation of Placement email from OPL, the professional experience will be cancelled and they will fail the placement. Any days completed will not count towards your professional experience placement. Before a confirmed placement commences, a teacher education student must contact the supervising teacher to clarify expectations (see the Specific Requirements for the unit), build rapport and complete any paperwork required by the school and the Office for Professional Learning. Remember you are a guest in your Placement School and Classroom, listen, learn, show respect, and be professional. Be thankful you have been given a unique learning opportunity. A Confirmation Package is sent to the Teacher Education Student (TES) and their Supervising Teacher. This contains the Specific Requirements for the placement. The Specific Requirements can also be found in the Professional Experience Placement Guide for each professional experience placement. Teacher education students and supervising teachers should contact the OPL if they have not received this email by one week prior to the scheduled start date of the placement. Teacher Education students (TES) will be expected to travel for placement. This will mean accepting placements up to 110km or 90 minutes from their place of residence. Many students are seeking placement in schools, centres, and agencies, not only other UNE education students but also students from other universities. This makes securing placements across the state competitive. Teacher Education students (TES) must attend all of the allocated days of their placement. All placements are to be completed in a block unless otherwise stated on the Course and Units Catalogue. As a TES you are, in effect, an additional member of the staff of the school/centre and should be committed to working the required number of hours in the school/centre's day to maximise your development as a teacher. You must, therefore, observe the same hours of duty as regular members of the school/centre staff. Many of our Teacher Education students (TES) request placement in Armidale. As such, placement in Armidale is in high demand. If you will be seeking a placement in the Armidale area (Armidale, Uralla, Walcha, Guyra and surrounding schools and centres within a 70 km radius), please DO NOT APPROACH placement schools or Early Childhood Centres yourself within this region. Instead, submit a Placement Application (Standard) via InPlace where we will negotiate the placement on your behalf. This rule applies even if you have had direct confirmation from an Armidale school or Early Childhood centre advising they are willing to accept you for a placement. Students who do not follow this policy and organise their own placements in the Armidale area may find their professional experience cannot be approved. NESA requires professional experience in Teacher Education Degrees to be undertaken in at least two school settings. This means that all placements cannot be completed in one setting alone. Considerations will need to be made to ensure that this rule is met regardless of current employment in a school. The Office for Professional Learning recommends at least three school settings to gain further experience in different settings. Note: For Early Education Students a break of five days is needed. Teacher Education Students are required to attend all scheduled days for the duration of a full school day (at least 8 hours). This may include morning preparation of resources, before and after school duties, and attending staff meetings. The Office for Professional Learning can allow for some deviation from a block placement in special circumstances as long as a school or centre approves this variation. These changes are not automatic and will also need to be approved by the Office for Professional Learning prior to commencing a placement to ensure the academic integrity and learning outcomes of units are not affected The Office for Professional Learning’s policy for the minimum number of days allowed for professional experience placements is three (3) days per week, over consecutive weeks, until all days have been completed. Final Graduate Level placements, however, can no longer be approved by the OPL as part-time. This policy aligns with NESA requirements and without exception, requests for variations with a teaching load less than this, cannot be granted by the Office for Professional Learning. If you wish to complete a placement 3 days a week until you have completed the required number of days, please email the Office for Professional Learning (OPL) through AskUNE outlining your reasons for making this request. PLEASE NOTE: Requests for variations of attendance to an Early Childhood degree placement need to first be approved by the Unit Coordinator. This is because Early Childhood units sometimes include integrated assignments before or after the placement and have specific due dates. If your request is approved, you will then be required to attach the email response to the Placement Form. During the final days of the placement, please ensure the Professional Experience Report, Attendance Register, and claim information (including Tax File Declaration form if required) are scanned and emailed to the Office for Professional Learning (oplreports@une.edu.au). The original copy of the Professional Experience Report is to be given to the teacher education student for their portfolio. It is the TES's responsibility to ensure these documents are submitted to the OPL within two weeks of the final day of the placement. A professional experience placement will not be recorded as complete until the OPL has received and reviewed these documents. You must have a recorded result before you commence your next scheduled placement. Placements, where the Professional Experience Report and Attendance Register are not submitted, may result in a failed result for the professional experience unit. Although the TES is not responsible for emailing this paperwork to the OPL, they should be pro-active in ensuring it is all finalised by the last day of the placement. Specified Placement dates for the Trimester have been scheduled to start on a specific date which allows for the completion of course work prior to beginning a PrEx placement.Co and pre-requisites should also be met before arranging placements. These dates can be found under the Arranging your Placement tile on the PREXUS myLearn site, you can complete the placement at any time within the window. If you are completing the placement outside of these dates, you will be required to apply for a Special Extension of Time. To apply for a Special Extension of Time you will need to fill out a Special Extension of Time (SET) form (PDF, 225.46 KB) and provide a simple statement outlining the reason for the change of the PrEx dates. All Special Extensions of Time forms should be submitted to the queue for Office for Professional Learning via AskUNE by choosing the topic of 'Special Extensions of Time'. The Professional Experience Placement Guide is a guide for professional experience placements and the specific requirements for each professional experience placement. It is important to make sure the following is being met while on your professional experience placement as each unit has different requirements Each course has been broken down into units containing professional experience placements. These will vary from year to year as the courses have evolved at the UNE School of Education. To select the degree you are interested in or you are currently studying, please follow these prompts: If you are currently working in a school as a teacher with Conditional Accreditation, you may be a candidate for an In-Service placement. This means that rather than shadowing a supervising teacher as per a teacher education student, the school principal or their delegate completes an independent report based on teaching over a specified number of days for the required unit for teacher training. Please review the information about in-service eligibility on the PREXUS myLearn site, under the In-Service Placement tile Students who are enrolling in an Early Childhood Education (ECE) degree and are currently employed in an Early Childhood Setting may be able to complete placements in their current place of employment. There are, however, some units where an ECE student will be required to complete placement outside of the centre (including any 'sister' centres) in which they are currently employed. Please use the Professional Experience Placement Guide for assistance when arranging study plans for professional experience and for more information. Please review the information about in-service eligibility on the PREXUS myLearn site, under the In-Service Placement tile Approval for In-Service placement is at the discretion of the Office for Professional Learning and will require certain documentation to be assessed. For more information regarding In-Service placements, please contact the Office for Professional Learning through AskUNE. Conflict of Interest in a professional experience placement is any situation where there could be perceived or actual favouritism or over-familiarity towards a teacher education student undertaking professional experience. Examples of Conflict of Interest include members of the supervisory relationship being linked through family/relative status or close friendships. This includes a family member working at the school/centre or one’s own children attending that school/centre. All potential Conflict of Interest MUST be declared before the placement commences and approval is reliant upon discussions between the Office for Professional Learning and the school/centre. Failure to declare a Conflict of Interest may result in the withdrawal of a Teacher Education Student from their placement. If you still wish to complete the professional experience placement at your selected school/centre, you will need to supply the Office for Professional Learning (OPL) with a letter of support from the school/centre through AskUNE. Where a teacher education student is granted permission to teach at a school/centre where their spouse or children attend, they should not teach, work with or supervise any of these family members under any circumstance. Approval depends on the outcome of discussions between the Office for Professional Learning and your selected school/centre or agency. Professional experience can be demanding, as you are expected to complete the hours of a working teacher, as well as keep up with your other university work, as well as managing all personal commitments. For this reason, it is important to look after yourself while on professional experience placements. If you have any problems or concerns during your placement, feel free to reach out to the OPL through AskUNE or by phone on 02 6773 38 Other services available at UNE include: UNE counselling services. UNE Counselling is a dedicated, professional, and confidential service that may be able to assist you Monday to Friday, 9 am-4 pm. After-hours support is also available through the use of the UNE After Hours Crisis Support Line. Before your final placement, Initial Teacher Education (ITE) students are required to complete and pass the Literacy and Numeracy Tests. In your final placement, you will also be assessed against all of the Graduate Standards and Focus Areas. This placement reflects the apex of your teacher training and by the end of the placement, you should be deemed employable and equipped to enter the teaching profession. For more information please see the Final Placements and the Graduate Teaching Performance Assessment page. Final and graduate placements cannot be completed outside of Australia, without exception. LANTITE - Literacy and Numeracy Tests The New South Wales Education Standards Authority. has introduced Literacy and Numeracy tests for all Initial Teacher Education (ITE) degrees (degrees that enable you to become a teacher in a school). It is a requirement that all Initial Teacher Education students including Bachelor of Education Early Childhood/Primary pass both tests before undertaking their final placement. Early Childhood (EC) students do not require the test to complete their final placement (unless they are studying the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood and Primary)). It is a teacher education student's responsibility to ensure they meet any additional state/territory requirements for their placement. The tests are administered by ACER. PLEASE NOTE: there are four testing windows throughout the year, and the process of registering, taking the test, and receiving grades can take up to ten weeks. Please access the Literacy and Numeracy test page for more information. UNE may allow 50% of placements to be completed in a school overseas with prior approval from the Office for Professional Learning. All other professional experience placements must be completed in Australia. Overseas placements will generally be the earlier placements in any UNE Initial teacher Education degree and placements overseas will only be granted for the number of days in a unit containing professional experience. Extra days that exceed the required number of days for a professional experience unit will not be credited against other units containing professional experience. The final placement must be completed in an Australian school in Australia. An overseas professional experience placement must be in context to a degree being studied for it to be accepted. All placements for Early Childhood degrees must be completed in an ACECQA NQF compliant setting. Any placement centre that does not meet this requirement cannot be accepted for placement, including overseas settings. Information regarding COVID-19 for teacher education students can be found on the OPL Coronavirus Information Page For general UNE information about the ongoing COVID-19 situation, please visit the UNE Coronavirus Information Page. For NSW Government updates and information, please visit the NSW Govt. Coronavirus page. For general information from the World Health Organisation (WHO), visit the WHO Coronavirus page.PREXUS: Professional Experience Nexus
InPlace
Placement Application (Standard)
Placement Application (In-Service)
Placement Application (Early Childhood Nominated)
Travel
Attendance
How to Use the Guide
Primary and Secondary Settings
Early Childhood Centre
UNE’s Code of Professional Conduct, including the requirement to declare any such conflicts of interest, binds supervisors as contracted UNE assessors of professional experience units.Primary and Secondary Education Degrees
Early Childhood Education Degrees
