Pre-placement tasks

If you’re undertaking a placement in a Victorian school or setting, you’ll need to

• complete the Victorian Working with Children Check (WWCC) .
• If you are undertaking the check for the purposes of paid employment or a paid internship (e.g., under the Nexus program or Permission to Teach), you will require an employee WWCC, not a volunteer WWCC. If your status has changed from volunteer to employee, you can change your WWCC type to reflect this change. Processing of WWCCs can take 3-12 weeks, so apply well before your placement block.
• complete Child Safe Training via the LMS.
• For Primary or Secondary placements, read through the VIT Codes of Conduct and Ethics. For Early Childhood placements, read through the Early Childhood Australia Code of Ethics. 
• The Placement Partnering and Operations team will let you know if there are any mandatory vaccination requirements for your placement setting. Additionally, there are two free online trainings that you should complete before placement. The first is Asthma First Aid for Schools offered by Asthma Australia. The second is the Anaphylaxis e-training offered by the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy. 

If you’re undertaking your placement in a NSW government school or setting, you’ll need to complete the mandatory pre-requisites for pre-service teachers:  

• Completing a NSW Working with Children Check (WWCC) and pre-service teacher registration form.  If you are undertaking the WWCC for the purposes of paid employment or a paid internship (e.g., under the Nexus program), you will require a WWCC for the purpose of paid employment, so select this category in your application. Processing can take weeks, so apply well before your placement block. 
• NSW Child Protection Awareness Training 
• Mandatory Child Protection Training  
• Anaphylaxis e-training 
• Reading and acknowledging the Code of Conduct  
• Understanding vaccination guidelines.  

If your placement is in a NSW non-government school or setting, you’ll need to 

• complete the NSW Working with Children Check (WWCC) 
• If you are undertaking the check for the purposes of paid employment or a paid internship (e.g., under the Nexus program), you will require a WWCC for the purpose of paid employment, so select this category in your application. Processing can take weeks, so apply well before your placement block. 
• complete Child Safe Training via the LMS. 
• Read through the code of conduct and/or ethics of your placement setting. You might need to ask for a copy of these codes.  
• The Placement Partnering and Operations team will let you know if there are any mandatory vaccination requirements for your placement setting. Additionally, there are two free online trainings that you should complete before placement. The first is Asthma First Aid for Schools offered by Asthma Australia. The second is the Anaphylaxis e-training offered by the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy. 

If you have a LAP that requires an adjustment to your placement, inform Placement Partnering and Operations via the Work Based Learning Placement Student Enquiry Form. You will receive a reply advising how to email your LAP to the Coordinator of Placement Partnering and Operations. It is important that you provide your LAP as soon as you enrol in a subject that has placement as a hurdle so that there is time to identify what reasonable adjustments are necessary. Please note that the University will not provide any information about your LAP to schools or mentors without your prior written approval.

Once Placement Partnering and Operations has emailed your placement confirmation, log into InPlace to see the contact information for the Student Placement Coordinator (SPC) at your placement setting. Contact the SPC immediately to organise a pre-placement visit. More information about this visit appears in the Pre-placement visit section of this guide.

You can do this by looking at its website and the My School website (for schools) or the Find Child Care tool on the Starting Blocks website (for early childhood education and care services). For Catholic schools, refer to the Catholic Education website for your state or territory. For independent schools, see the independent schools website in your state or territory.

Read about the placement structure and the general expectations for your placement in the During Placement section of this site. In the weeks before the placement, start planning what you might do in class and gathering resources.

At the end of your placement, the supervising teacher evaluates your performance in a Supervising Teacher Report. Ensure that you understand this process thoroughly by reading the Assessment section of this site.

Include the practical items you may need during placement, such as a Sun Smart hat and sunscreen; snacks and a water bottle; hand sanitiser; personal stationery; a warm jacket in cooler months (for yard duty); a wristwatch.

You should wear neat, semi-formal clothing and comfortable, clean footwear. Avoid denim unless a specific event or excursion requires it. Avoid singlet tops, tops exposing the midriff or chest areas, skin-tight clothing, and footwear such as thongs. Cover tattoos and cover or remove body piercings (except pierced ears). Staff are required to wear a SunSmart hat when on yard duty and at sporting events. You are strongly encouraged to purchase and wear a name badge on placement. Orders can be placed at La Trobe University’s Student uniforms page.