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Hi I'm Sue Hudson and I'm the director
of professional experience here in the School of Education at Southern Cross
University. Professional experience is a really important aspect of your
education degree. It's where you have the opportunity to take what you have
learnt at University and applied in the real world context of a school or early
childhood center. As with any profession there are certain requirements that we
need to adhere to. First of all you need a working with children check for your
state or territory. If you live in northern New South Wales or South East
Queensland, you will require a New South Wales working with children check and a
Queensland blue card. Before you can undertake any volunteer work or
observations or professional experience you must have a working with children
check, You'll find the application form on this professional experience website.
It's really a good idea to apply for you're working with children check
before orientation or during orientation that way you'll be well prepared for any
site visits that you'll need to undertake. Another requirement is that
you'll need to undertake your professional experience as a block that
means that you need to be there all day every day for a number of weeks.
Depending on your program you may have to undertake your professional
experience for four weeks or even possibly up to nine weeks it's really
important that you check the calendar well before so you know the number of
days that you need to undertake as part of your professional experience and the
dates for your professional experience. We release the calendar well before
actually we do it the year before so that you can plan well in advance. By
planning well in advance you can take some time away from your job or if you
have family you can ensure that you have childcare. The other requirements book
special experience will be sent to you via email once you are enrolled in a
professional experience unit the professional experience placements will
be released to you up to two weeks prior before you commence. Once you know your
placement you can go on the school or early childhood centre website and
investigate everything that you need to know about that placement. You can
contact your mentor teacher beforehand and get to know them so that you can
ensure you have a successful placement. Remember be professional be organized
and be prepared well in advance for your placement. Professional experience will
probably be one of the most challenging but one of the most rewarding parts of
studying to be a teacher and it is definitely pays off a more effort you
put in the more you get back from it so I really think that this is one of the
big bits of the four years you have and in my interview to become a teacher that
was what the whole interview revolved around was my professional experience
reports and the feedback that I'd be given from school so I think this is the
time that you really need to put a hundred and ten percent in and and
that's probably what you will get out of it. If you have any queries or questions
about professional experience don't hesitate to contact me. My contact
details are on the professional experience website. Alternately you can
contact the professional experience office by emailing
educationplacements@scu.edu.au Enjoy your professional experience make the most of every moment
and learn as much as you possibly can.
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