Field education

Field education is at the heart of social work and community welfare education. It's also a core component of Australian undergraduate and postgraduate social work and community welfare degrees here at Southern Cross University.

Industry standards

Our field education policies and procedures are underpinned by industry standards outlined here.

Social Work

Practice Standards for field education in social work are established by the AASW (Australian Association of Social Workers). Please refer to AASW website for more information.

Community Welfare

Practice Standards for field education in community welfare are established by ACWA (Australian Community Workers Association). Please refer to the ACWA website for more information.

Field placements and compliance

Field placements are structured learning experiences where a student is placed in an agency or community organisation working on particular tasks under the supervision of a social worker.

As a condition of any type of field placement, you are required to provide evidence of your compliance before participating in any of these activities.

  • Student compliance is a mandatory, legislative and regulatory requirement
  • To be able to attend field placement, you must be compliant
  • You must meet the requirements of both Southern Cross University and the external organisation. This will ensure the safety of yourself and others.

Professional Experience Unit

Having a successful placement is an important step in completing your degree. The Professional Experience Unit (PEU) team in the Faculty of Health is here to support you.

If you require further information or need assistance you can email the Professional Experience Unit or call them on +61 7 5589 3439.


Contact the Faculty of Health

Executive Dean, Faculty of Health

T: +61 2 6620 3557

E: ExecDeanHealth@scu.edu.au

Discipline Heads and Course Coordinators

Contact us

Director of Higher Degree Research

T: +61 2 6659 3688

E: john.hurley@scu.edu.au

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