Social Work and Community Services Placements

Field Education is a core component of our Social Work and Community Services courses.

Students are allocated to placements in a range of human service agencies where they can be supervised by health workers or qualified social workers for social work students.

Student Compliance Documents

Students must achieve compliance through NSW Health to be eligible to proceed to placement. Download the Student Compliance Information below:

Student Placement Package for NSW Health compliance

Field placement hours

All students are required to complete a number of field placement hours over a number of units.

Pre-placement requirements

There are a number of important pre and post-placement requirements students must be aware of. These include a current Working with Children Check, a National History Criminal Check, and compliance with NSW Health. ALL students must meet the following requirements prior to commencing any clinical placement:

Working with Children Check

Evidence of a current Working with Children Check or equivalent valid in the state they will attend placement. This must remain current for the duration of their enrolment in the course.

Further information on applying for a check can be found as follows:

• ACT
• NSW
• QLD
• NT
• SA
• WA

National Criminal History Check

Students must have a National History Criminal check undertaken prior to attending any clinical placement, the check must be accepted in the State or Territory the placement is undertaken. Each state and territory in Australia accepts varying checks depending on the location and type of placement being undertaken, to avoid issues with your placement UNE recommends the following online checks.

• A NSW Police Check OR;
• A Federal Australian Police Check for those students based outside of NSW

NSW Health Compliance

All students must meet compliance with the NSW Health Immunisation and Criminal History Requirements and the Public Health (COVID-19 Vaccination of Health Care Workers) Order 2021.

Obtaining compliance with NSW Health immunisation requirements will ensure that you meet the minimum requirements for interstate health and most private and NGO organisations. As meeting these requirements can take a number of months, students are encouraged to commence this process immediately when entering the course.

Placement organisation

Placements are arranged for students through the Field education office at UNE based in Armidale. Eligible students will be required to complete pre-placement forms at the beginning of the Trimester prior to the one in which they are completing the placement unit of study. It is important students are regularly checking their UNE emails and the Field Education myLearn sites to ensure they do not miss any deadlines.

Students are NOT permitted to arrange their own placements, should you be aware of a potential placement site please advise the field education office.

Further detailed information is available to all BCS students once they enrol in the degree via the Field placements myLearn site and course information handbooks.

If you have any queries at all in regards to this important component of the degree please contact the field education team via Ask UNE or by phone at 6773 3722.

Pre-Requisite Units

Before you can enrol in a Field Education Unit, there are pre-requisite units that must be completed. For detailed information regarding pre-requisite units, please refer to the UNE Course Handbook.