Accreditation placements

If you’re studying to be a teacher, a professional experience placement (accreditation placement) is a mandatory requirement for registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). 

The structure of the professional experience units can be found in your course guide.

Duration

 80 professional experience days in a bachelor degree and no fewer than 60 professional experience days in a master degree.

Requirements 

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) requires that you must complete no fewer than 80 professional experience days in bachelor degrees and no fewer than 60 professional experience days in master degrees.

During your professional experience placement, you must be supervised and assessed by a fully registered teacher against the Australian Professional Standards.

Pre-service teachers must attend the required number of days specified for each Professional Experience Unit as outlined in the course guide. On-campus students must attend placement on dates outlined by Swinburne and must abide by the Professional Experience policies as outlined in the Professional Experience handbook.

You’re able to access the Professional Experience handbook via Canvas through the Professional Experience Hub.

As a pre-service teacher, it is mandatory for you to have a Working with Children Check done before commencing your placement.

Have any questions?

Contact the education placements team by emailing eduplacements@swinburne.edu.au.

If you’re studying any Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) , you must complete a minimum of 12 weeks of approved experience in an engineering environment before you can graduate. 

This is undertaken as the Professional Experience in Engineering (EAT20008) unit within your course.  Refer to your course guide for more information about specific placement units.

You also have the option of completing a 12-month placement, which will cover the requirements of your accreditation. Eligibility criteria apply.

Want to know more? 

If you have any questions about the Professional Experience in Engineering (EAT20008) unit, please email Yali Li at yalili@swinburne.edu.au.

Duration

Durations vary  from 140 to 1,600 hours depending on your course.

Bachelor degree courses

As part of the Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science, you must complete 140 hours of placement in year three of the course. 

In the Bachelor of Nursing, you must complete a minimum of 800 hours of placement during the course to be eligible for graduation and registration. Students are allocated placements in metro and regional locations to ensure the required skills are attained.

Postgraduate courses

As part of the Master of Counselling, you must undertake 120 client contact hours of placement in the second and third year of your course. 

As part of the Master of Dietetics, you must complete four five-week placement blocks in the second year of your course, totalling 100 days of placement. Students are allocated placements in metro and regional locations. 

As part of the Master of Occupational Therapy, you must complete three blocks of placement during the two-year course, totalling 1000 hours. Students are allocated placements to ensure a range of experiences are obtained.

In the Master of Psychology (Clinical Psychology), you must complete between 60 and 200 days of placement depending on exact course requirements. 

As part of the Master of Physiotherapy you must complete 1000 hours of placements, which includes block placements and Work Integrated Learning. Students are allocated placements in metro and regional locations to ensure the required skills are attained.

Have a question?

If you have any questions around our health accreditation placements, contact the Faculty Health Placement team by emailing healthplacements@swinburne.edu.au.

If you’re studying a Bachelor of Laws, you must complete three 20-day professional accreditation experience placements over the course of your degree. Completion of these placements provides you with credit towards the Professional Experience in Law units.

Requirements

Work experience during a placement must be of a legal nature. There must be legal content to the work. This can be varied in nature but a placement including only non-legal work, such as accounting or reception, at a legal workplace is not sufficient.

Work experience during a placement must be supervised by an employee of the host organisation that is at manager level or above.

A placement can be in industry or the profession, or at any other workplace where legal work is performed.

A placement must be a minimum of 20 days full-time equivalent work.

• This may be in a single block or spread out over an extended period. There is no time limit for completion.
• If a placement does not amount to 20 days full-time equivalent, the remaining days can be made up with another placement. Completion letters indicating the number of completed days from each relevant employer will be required.
• Placements can be for as many days that is suitable for you and the host organisation.
   

Note: Students can obtain credit for more than one placement if the length of their placement exceeds 20 days at their host organisation (commensurate to the total number of days completed) or if you are undertaking an authorised six- or 12-month ‘Professional Experience in Law’ position. 

Have a question? 

If you have any questions, refer to the Law placements FAQs or email profplacements@swinburne.edu.au.