PREPARING STUDENTS FOR WORKPLACE LEARNING
This supporting document highlights the importance of preparing students, suggests topics to
include, provides pointers to ensure quality and emphasises the links between workplace learning
and current initiatives in vocational learning. Work readiness, strategies for supporting disengaged
students and guidelines for ensuring student awareness of OHS are also included.
While there is extensive guidance in this supporting document, most staff are likely to have good
preparation activities and programs in place. Over time, draw on the fully revised guidance below
to review and enhance or upgrade preparatory activities where needed. This is likely to be a work
in progress.
References
Procedures and Standards: Need for pre-placement activities 1.2, 1.3.6
Resources
Employment Related Skills Logbook
Vocational Learning in the relevant KLA booklets, 2005
Pointers

Preparing students for the workplace is an essential component of all quality workplace
learning programs.

Preparatory activities support the safe participation of students in activities not directly
supervised by their school or TAFE NSW institute or by the contracted private or
community registered training organisation (P/C RTO).

Preparation should ensure that students have a focus and purpose to maximise their
learning in the workplace.

Experiential learning engages students and helps reinforce the relevance of what they are
learning through school or at TAFE NSW. There should be whole school commitment to the
critical importance of preparing students to undertake successful experiential workplace
learning, for example, through appropriate resourcing and ease of access to students.

Preparatory activities must include emphasis on student safety and well-being. Young
people are often vulnerable in the workplace as new and young workers due to their lack of
experience and training, and relative maturity levels. Recent studies of adolescent brain
development highlight the likelihood of young people being caught up in the moment,
predisposed to risk taking behaviour and not being able to anticipate the consequences of
their actions.
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
Students with special needs must be appropriately supported before they enter the
workplace. See also the Supporting Document, Supporting Students with Disabilities.

Aiming for student work readiness sets a benchmark for achieving an appropriate level of
student preparation and confidence prior to their starting placement.

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. Guidance about work readiness and advice about how to support disengaged
students is provided below.

Many Regions and individual schools and TAFE NSW institutes have well documented
activities and programs to prepare students, often involving input from Local Community
Partnerships and the local community. You may wish to access some excellent examples
that were locally developed prior to the Workplace Learning Policy 2005, at
https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/directorates/vet_schools/1_vl/worplace/wkpl.htm

The Department has produced a Student Guide to Workplace Learning that many staff
have found useful in preparing students particularly for work experience. Copies have been
provided to schools in 2003 and 2004 and a new edition may be available in 2006. The
current version is available on the School to Work internet site at
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/vetinschools/schooltowork/learning/index_learn.htm
The vision for our students

Preparing students will be enhanced by being mindful of the vision we have for students to:
~ be enterprising and capable citizens, well prepared for creating their own future
pathways
~ take on personal leadership and responsibility for planning and self-managing
their career transitions to construct a fulfilling and productive life
~ develop the skills and confidence to become independent, self-aware,
resourceful and critically alert to the choices and opportunities available as they
move through and beyond school.

This vision is from the Department’s School to Work: Creating Future Pathways program
2005-07. The program includes focus on increasing the capacity of students to be active
self-managers of their plans, directions and decisions. It also focuses on making explicit the
vocational and enterprise learning embedded in all areas of the curriculum.

All four key directions of School to Work: Creating Future Pathways are clearly relevant to
student workplace learning:
Planning Transition Pathways - supporting students to develop confidence in selfmanaging their career and transition planning
Exploring Career Futures - providing students with access to people, opportunities
and a variety of media which assists them to process information about work,
education and training options.
Strengthening Student Outcomes through Vocational Learning - supporting all
teachers in all KLA areas to identify and provide a range of opportunities for
students to make explicit links to vocational and enterprise learning in all curriculum
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areas. This linking and learning can be verified and strengthened through workplace
learning.
Building Networks and Connections - strengthening career, community and
workplace learning opportunities for students through strategic connections,
partnerships and networks.
What activities should be included in preparing students?

Staff are encouraged to draw on their expertise and knowledge of their students to develop
activities that help students get the most out of their opportunities to learn in the workplace.

A good start is to read the following item on Work Readiness and consider how the key
areas may be included in preparatory activities.

A one size fits all approach is not advocated for all students. HSC VET and Work Education
courses contain competencies and modules such as Occupational Health and Safety
(OHS) that ensure these important aspects of preparing students for placement are
embedded in course delivery. These areas can be complemented by including other
relevant topics. However, a different approach is required for students planning work
experience not directly related to Work Education or Work Studies courses and this will be
further affected by whether placements are in a block or arranged throughout the year.

Preparatory activities can include work readiness sessions off site or for part of a day; a
suite of lessons or supervised preparatory work sheets and discussion, depending on the
needs of the students, curriculum delivery, timetabling and resourcing.
Key areas suggested for including in preparatory activities:

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

Work readiness

Understanding host employer expectations

Safe learning while in the workplace: Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)

Student welfare and well-being

Safely managed travel arrangements – see separate supporting document, Student Travel
Arrangements

Student responsibilities

Student conduct in the workplace

Additional pre-requisites

Dealing with problem situations

Planning for post placement follow up. See also supporting document, Post Placement
Follow Up Activities.
Note: Guidance on each of the topics above is provided in this supporting document.
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Other areas to consider including:

Personal presentation and first impressions

Communicating appropriately in the workplace

Working with others in the workplace

Quality of work undertaken by the student

Pre-placement interviews with the host employer

Generic workplace skills: answering the phone, taking messages, customer service and
employment related skills.
Some hints for ensuring top quality workplace learning preparatory activities

Enthusiasm and commitment to preparing students well

Setting aside time to plan, adapt resources and review existing activities

Involving motivating presenters including host employers and ex-students to present their
stories

Using quality resources

Making the workplace preparation directly relevant to needs of students, for example, rural
or remote students

Varying the preparatory activities, for example, engaging speakers, small group discussion,
multi-media resources, lively discussion starters

Having a buzz factor – what will make the activities or the program of activities outstanding
and memorable? (How can food be part of the activities? Think of your own PD
experiences!)

Using adult learning environments, for example, conference facilities

Following up with up a debriefing and evaluating the activities

Deciding how you will know you have been effective in preparing students.
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