Work health and safety
External educators must conduct a WHS induction within the first few days of the placement
Partnership_
Become an external placement educator
Work with us to build our future workforce
In most health science degrees, students are required to undertake placements with external organisations. By becoming a placement educator, you'll make an invaluable contribution to the development of these future professionals.
About our placements
Our allied health professional degrees require students to complete placements in the authentic workplace environment. The placements are designed to enable students to reach the expected professional competencies through experiencing the real world of work across varied settings.
Students are supervised by staff from sites in the public and private health sector, education, disability and other private and non-government organisations.
Students undertake placements in the following disciplines:
How to become a placement educator
For professionals interested in offering placements, please contact the relevant work integrated learning discipline contact.
Why become a placement educator?
As an educator, you will experience the personal reward of contributing to the growth and development of your future colleagues and thus growing your profession. In return, students bring to placement their enthusiasm, zest for learning and the latest research findings to inform their and your clinical reasoning.
You'll have access to education and workshops, and the University of Sydney library. We also invite some individual placement educators to apply for an honorary clinical title in recongition of their significant contributions.
2020 placement calendars
The 2020 placement calendars are now available for the reference of placement educators. Note that these dates may be subject to change and may not apply to students following a non-standard placement progression:
- diagnostic radiography (pdf, 373kb)
- exercise sport science and exercise physiology (pdf, 144kb)
- occupational therapy (pdf, 112kb)
- physiotherapy (pdf, 77kb)
- rehabilitation counselling (pdf, 471kb)
- speech pathology (pdf, 98kb)
Development and workshops
We provide external educators with interactive opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills in organising, structuring and carrying out high quality student placement experiences. We offer two types of workshops - introductory and intermediate.
Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the educator workshops are currently on hold until further notice. We are working on the development of online options for training.
If you feel you require some development in any of these areas below in the meantime, please contact us to discuss the options with a relevant academic.
Introductory workshops
Introductory workshops are suitable for clinical educators who have:
- not previously supervised a student on placement or
- only supervised a couple of students.
2020 introductory workshops include:
This workshop will include interdisciplinary and individual discipline group sessions.
Key topics covered:
- managing placements and setting up for success
- roles of the external educator
- learning in the workplace and facilitating student learning
- engaging in feedback conversations
- expectations and assessment of learning outcomes (discipline-specific overview).
| Date | Registration |
|---|---|
| 25 June 2020 | Cancelled |
| 1 October 2020 | On hold until further notice |
Intermediate workshops
Intermediate workshops are offered to all educators.
Workshops may cover:
- issues of workplace based education
- changes or new developments in academic program content
- other topics of high demand.
2020 intermediate workshops include:
This workshop is suitable for clinical educators previously provided student placement education and wish to improve their skills in student assessment on placement.
Key topics covered:
- principles and challenges of assessing students on clinical placement
- asessment dilemmas
- overcoming assessment dilemmas by effectively using well designed-assessment tools and procedures
- giving feedback.
| Discipline | Date | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| Occupational therapy | 17 September 2020 | On hold until further notice |
| Physiotherapy | 17 September 2020 | On hold until further notice |
This workshop will explore the management of challenging situations in the context of student placements. It will assist external educators to further develop their educator skills.
Key topics covered include:
- the nature of professionalism
- students with communication difficulties
- students’ theoretical knowledge
- students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- students with mental health issues
- making difficult assessment decisions.
| Date | Registration |
|---|---|
| 3 December 2020 | On hold until further notice |
Library access
All current external educators can apply for borrowing privileges from the University Library (including access to the Library's electronic resources). To apply, please complete the Library application form (pdf, 63.1KB) and send to shs.wil@sydney.edu.au with a copy of your identification and a passport size photo.
Membership can be renewed annually (contingent on your continued education of students on placement), by completion of the form. ID and a photo are not required for renewals.
