Western Student Connections

Pre-placement ActivitiesWork Readiness

Meeting Needs and Expectationshttp://www.wsc.edu.au

NSW Board of Studies

Principles Underpinning Work Placementhttp://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au

(Each ICF)

Pre-placement Activities:Principles Underpinning Work PlacementNSW BOS

Principle 2

The scheduling of the work placement should reflect student readiness and should complement off-the-job learning programs.

Pre-placement ActivitiesPrinciples Underpinning Work PlacementNSW BOS

The scheduling of the work placement should take account of:

– Whether or not students are workplace-ready in terms of the competencies they will need to develop and demonstrate in the workplace

– How the timing of the work placement links to overall course planning

Pre-placement ActivitiesPrinciples Underpinning Work PlacementNSW BOS

– The degree of flexibility available at both the workplace and the school

– How the alignment of both on- and off-the-job competencies can be best achieved.

Pre-placement ActivitiesPrinciples Underpinning Work PlacementNSW BOS

Principle 3 Work placement should be relevant to the VET

courses being undertaken. – The ‘real’ tasks being undertaken in the workplace

should complement the tasks and learning being undertaken by the students in their VET courses at school.

NSW DEC

Workplace Learning PolicyProcedures and Standards

https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/vetinschools/worklearn/worklearnpolicy.html

Workplace Learning PolicyProcedures and StandardsNSW DEC

1.2 Suitable pre-placement activities must be

provided by the school or where relevant, by the TAFE NSW institute or RTO to prepare all students for workplace learning and to optimise the planned workplace learning experience.

Workplace Learning PolicyProcedures and Standards

1.2.1 The scheduling of workplace learning

placements in the implementation of workplace learning programs must take into account individual student needs, the full range of school and TAFE NSW institute activities, the need for student follow-up immediately after placement and should also be sensitive to host employers’ work cycles.

Workplace Learning PolicyProcedures and Standards

1.3.6 Staff organising workplace learning activities

have responsibilities that include: • Ensuring that any special needs of students,

particularly those students with a disability, are appropriately supported in the workplace, in consultation with school, and where relevant, TAFE personnel and parents/carers.

Workplace Learning PolicyProcedures and Standards

• Ensuring that any additional personal information necessary to student well-being and support needs is provided to the host employer or other appropriate supervisor, with the consent of the student and parent/carer, and in keeping with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act.

Workplace Learning PolicyProcedures and Standards

• Ensuring that all students have undertaken preparatory support activity prior to the placement to optimise their safe and effective participation in workplace learning.

Workplace Learning PolicyProcedures and Standards

1.4.7Procedures to address duty of care to ensure the

inclusion of workplace learning as a valid and valued methodology of learning have been developed and must be followed.

• Provision of suitable preparatory support activities for students to optimise their safe and effective participation in workplace learning.

Workplace Learning PolicyProcedures and Standards

1.8DET and TAFE NSW must ensure that students

with special needs are provided with opportunities on the same basis as other students. This includes identifying and liaising with the workplace around adjustments and accommodations that students with disabilities may require.

NSW BOS

Support Document for Students with Special Education Needs

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/voc_ed

Support Document for Students with Special Education Needs

Readiness• The assessment conducted prior to selection of a VET

course combined with observation of the student in the early stages of the course will indicate whether the student is ready for work placement. Indications include:

• Gaining benchmarks for appropriate workplace behaviour, communication and social skills through simulated or in-school work placements

• Travelling independently, which could include the use of the Commonwealth-funded Mobility Allowance for taxis, is a vital prerequisite for successful work placement.

Support Document for Students with Special Education Needs

Selection• Careful selection of a work site will ensure that

the student gains as much as possible from a work placement.

Match the work placement with student need in regard to:– transport arrangements– capacity to provide a supportive environment– available work tasks– social and communication requirements

Support Document for Students with Special Education Needs

Types of Work Placement• A work placement site will better meet a

student’s needs if the student has some regular tasks to be performed on each visit, particularly in the early stages.

• There should be at least THREE different types of regularly available work tasks to be undertaken by the student daily.

Support Document for Students with Special Education Needs

Provision of support during work placement• Initially, some students may require more

support than the workplace is able to provide.

• The establishment of a workplace ‘mentor’, who monitors and assists, may be required.

• VET SUPPORT FUNDING!

Support Document for Students with Special Education Needs

Monitoring progress

• For students with special education needs there may need to be frequent contact between school personnel and the workplace to monitor progress.

NSW DEC

Preparing Students(VEiS intranet site)

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

• Preparatory activities must include emphasis on student safety and well-being

• In the case of HSC VET work placements, a student’s lack of work readiness, usually in spite of substantial efforts by staff, cannot be used to bar a student from attempting a placement.

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Key areas suggested for including in preparatory activities (1):

• Introducing workplace learning: purpose, focus and implications for students

• Student Placement Record, Safety and Emergency Procedures-Student Contact Card and the supply of mandatory guides to employers and to parents/carers

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Key areas suggested for including in preparatory activities (2):

• Work readiness• Understanding host employer expectations • Safe learning while in the workplace: WHS• Student welfare and well-being• WHS online information: http://www.wsc.edu.au/swl.php

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Key areas suggested for including in preparatory activities (3):

• Safely managed travel arrangements• Student responsibilities – a long list• Student conduct in the workplace – Code of

Conduct

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Key areas suggested for including in preparatory activities (4):

• Additional pre-requisites – e.g. White Card, Safe Food Handling

• Dealing with problem situations • Planning for post placement follow up.

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Other areas to consider including (1):• Personal presentation and first impressions• Communicating appropriately in the

workplace• Working with others in the workplace• Quality of work undertaken by the student

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Other areas to consider including (2):• Pre-placement interviews with the host

employer• Generic workplace skills: answering the

phone, taking messages, customer service and employment related skills.

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Developing student work readiness• Work readiness can be viewed as both a process

and a goal that involves developing a student’s workplace-related attitudes, values, knowledge and skills. This enables students to become increasingly aware and confident of their role and responsibilities, usually as entry-level workers in enterprises where customer satisfaction, operational performance, and frequently financial return, are vital.

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Assessing a student’s ‘work readiness’

• Before undertaking placement, teachers need to consider individual student work readiness to ensure the placement benefits both students and employers.

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Work readiness involves students having what employers call the right attitude:– Appropriate personal presentation, being reliable and

punctual– A positive attitude to the work being done and to

spending some days in the workplace– Realistic expectations of the work that an entry-level

student will be able to do– Willingness to learn– Willingness to be supervised, follow instructions and

wear personal protective equipment (PPE) as directed

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

– Capacity to function and communicate appropriately in an adult environment without the support of other students

– Confidence to ask questions to clarify instructions– Completed preparatory activities that include

WHS awareness and practices, acceptable behaviour and student conduct in the workplace (including child protection issues) and the circumstances for using emergency contact procedures.

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

– Organise travel arrangements that they can safely manage to and from the workplace.

– Make arrangements to ensure their attendance for the duration of the work placement

– Understand their individual responsibility for providing and completing relevant paperwork

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

– Understand and demonstrate willingness and capacity to meet employer expectations and priorities

– Have some knowledge of how to serve customers, as appropriate.

– Know how to deal with being really busy in the workplace, and what to do when things appear quieter in the workplace

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

– Understand that for HSC VET students, work placement is a compulsory part of the course and their performance in the workplace provides evidence to their teacher and host employer of their developing competency and progress towards reaching industry standards

– Understand the consequences of unsuccessful work placement.

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Anticipating and preventing student disengagement– Ensure parent/carer and student both sign an

acknowledgement of their respective ‘responsibilities’ regarding mandatory HSC VET work placement

– Notify the student of intention to issue an N determination

– Document conversations, encouragement, warning letters, meetings with parent/carer/executive to demonstrate ‘pressure and support’ for the student

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Anticipating and preventing student disengagement

– Start small with a carefully supervised successful few hours or half day in the workplace, building up to a full day, two days and so on to reach the required hours.

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Host Employer Expectations– How students will dress, behave and learn in their

workplace as well as students having the right attitude

– Employability skills– Respect and courtesy to others– Follow all reasonable instructions from host

employer, workplace supervisor and staff– Show enthusiasm and willingness to learn

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Host Employer Expectations– Show initiative– Do not jeopardise safety of self or others – Respect confidentiality– Value the opportunity to learn from others in the

workplace– Do not do anything to hurt the reputation of the

host workplace or the student’s school (or TAFE NSW institute).

Preparing Students for Workplace Learning

Post Placement Follow-up– Follow up activities are not optional– Seek evaluations or reports from employers and

possibly parents/carers– Provide students with a journal and make it an

assessment task– Decide with students on the follow up activities

well before students start their placement