Professional Placement (Part A) PG (11988.1)

Please note these are the 2027 details for this unit
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Professional Placement (Part A) PG
Available teaching periods Delivery mode Location
View teaching periods Placement
 UC - Canberra, Online
EFTSL Credit points Faculty
0.125 3 Faculty Of Health
Discipline Study level HECS Bands
Counselling Post Graduate Level Band 2 2021 (Commenced Before 1 Jan 2021)
Band 2 2021 (Prof Pathway Social Work- After 1 Jan 2021)
Band 4 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan 2021)
Students will be undertaking a supervised counselling placement in an approved agency. Students will also receive clinical supervision in small online groups.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Apply theoretical knowledge and counselling skills to practice with clients in a counselling agency;
2. Analyse and critique the use of counselling skills and theoretical interventions;
3. Examine placement experiences and provide peer feedback in small clinical supervision groups; and
4. Deconstruct the organisational context of the counselling placement experience, with reference to sociopolitical influences.


Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
2. UC graduates are global citizens - behave ethically and sustainably in their professional and personal lives
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development


Skills development

This unit outline covers both unit numbers 11988 and 11989



Prerequisites

11739 Counselling Theory and Approaches G AND
11740 Core Counselling Skills G AND
11741 Principles of Ethical Conduct in Counselling G AND
11742 Diversity Inclusion Respect G AND
11743 Introduction to Placement and Supervision PG AND
11744 Counselling Skills in Practice PG AND
11745 Loss, Grief and Trauma in Counselling PG

Corequisites

This unit is only available to students enrolled in SCM401 Master of Counselling.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

None.

Assumed knowledge

None.
Availability for enrolment in 2027 is subject to change and may not be confirmed until closer to the teaching start date.
Year Location Teaching period Teaching start date Delivery mode Unit convener
2026 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 1 19 January 2026 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2026 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 2 16 March 2026 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2026 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 3 11 May 2026 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2026 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 4 06 July 2026 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2026 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 5 31 August 2026 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2026 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 6 26 October 2026 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2027 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 1 18 January 2027 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2027 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 2 15 March 2027 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2027 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 3 10 May 2027 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2027 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 4 05 July 2027 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2027 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 5 30 August 2027 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
2027 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 6 25 October 2027 Placement Ms Maxine Rosenfield
The information provided should be used as a guide only. Timetables may not be finalised until week 2 of the teaching period and are subject to change. Search for the unit timetable.

Required texts

There is no set text and no reading list, however, it is recommended that students review all their material from unit 11743, Intro to Placement  

Students have an opportunity to go back to reading lists from previous units and do more focused reading into theories, techniques and the population they will be counselling.  

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

It is the student's responsibility to upload the correct and corresponding assessment item to the correct submission section. Assignments must be submitted in a format accessible to the assessor(s), as stated on the relevant Canvas site. If the unit convener, supervisor and/or marker are unable to access a submission, a standard late penalty of 10% of the total marks possible for the task may be applied per day until the assignment is made accessible. 

Should the unit convenor approve an extension request, it is highly unorthodox that extensions will be granted for more than 5 days (RAP students included). It is important to realise that if an extension is approved and the assessment is submitted late, this will delay the marking process. This can result in an inability to commence following units and hinder your progress through your course. 

Please note a blanket extension request for all assessment in this unit is not acceptable. 

Please note that GenAI is not authorised to be used for assessment prepartion for this unit.

GenAI may be used for assessment preparation by students at UC when:

- authorised by the unit convenor  (or HDR supervisor) as part of a specified assessment task
- used in the way allowed in the assessment instrcutions and unit outline
- appropriately referenced , meaning that students must acknolwedge the use of Gen AI in their assessments in the same way that they must acknowledge all source material.
Any other use of Gen AI to complete an assessment is a breach of academic integrity and could constitute academic misconduct. Unauthorised use of GenAI in assessment work is contract cheating, as defined in University of Canberra (student Conduct) Rules 2023. It is also possible for unauthorised or inappropriate use of AI in student assessments to present as plagiarism, reproduction of another's work, collusion, dishonesty in connection with an assessment, or non-compliance with assessment related instructions - all of which are  academic integrity breaches.

Special assessment requirements

Assignments are graded. In order to pass this unit, all assignments must be submitted and an overall mark of 50% or more must be reached. 

It is the student's responsibility to review all the feedback provided on an assignment before completing the next assignment. 

When you have allocated yourself to a supervision group, this supervisor is your contact person for feedback and support, however they may not mark your assessments as marking is completed by UC Counselling Academics and is allocated depending on workloads.  

To meet accreditation requirements, attendance at fortnightly group supervision is compulsory. Failure to attend can result in failure of the unit. 

Supplementary assessment

Please note there is no option for resubmission or supplementary assessments in this unit.

If a placement  is terminated by the agency or the student does not attain an overall mark of at least 50%, then a remediation plan will be implemented before the student can be considered for a subsequent placement 

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Learner engagement

Please review the Inherent Requirements of the counselling course. 

Inclusion and engagement

Reasonable Adjustment Plans are taken into account for the academic component of your placement. If students require practical adjustments for placement, they must contact InclusionUC to assess their needs and, where appropriate, develop a Placement Support Letter (PSL) outlining the agreed adjustments prior the placement commencing.

Participation requirements

Very important note: Unlike previous tutorials, attendance in the student's chosen group supervision throughout the study block/s is compulsory. These supervision groups are run as ‘closed groups' - students can only attend the group to which they have allocated themselves. *Non-attendance will result in failing the unit unless the reason provided for absence is deemed valid by the placement convenor, in which case the student will be required to attend additional session(s) arranged at the end of the study block.

Supervision sessions are not recorded.

Students must not sign up for a daytime UC supervision group if the group is held on a day that they are attending placement because students cannot take 2.5 hours out of a placement day to attend UC supervision. 

Students are also advised not to sign up for an evening group that is held on a day where they might encounter travel problems that could stop them arriving on time for the start of the group.

Required IT skills

In order to engage in this unit, you are expected to have a reliable computer with the latest operating system. You will also need reliable internet connections and the latest version of Google Chrome (preferred browser) to access UCLearn. You are expected to have access to Microsoft Office applications: including Teams, Word and Excel. In some units, you will be required to download specific software applications to complete the unit content and assessment successfully. 

To complete research, you will need to be able to search the library data bases for relevant journal articles. It is the individual student's responsibility to access appropriate help from the University IT services or the library if they do not have adequate skills. 

In-unit costs

For more information regarding fees, please speak to your Student Success Advisor. 

Work placement, internships or practicums

This unit involves work integrated learning: Placement students must adhere to University policy during WIL activities, including the Student Conduct Rules 2023, the WIL Policy and WIL Procedure, and the Assessment Policy and Assessment Procedure.

This unit has pre-placement requirements (e.g. Working with Vulnerable People registration/ Working with Children Check, police check, immunisation/s). You must complete Pre-Place: Preparation for Work Integrated Learning prior to commencement of your Placement . 

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