Kendra Cox et al. · 2022 · Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work · Open access
INTRODUCTION: Student hardship in social work has become the subject of research in recent years. Social work students face particular challenges because of the financial, social and emotional demands of long, unpaid, clinical placements. APPROACH: This article reports on a literature review conducted prior to a mixed-methods study commenced in 2019. This review informed the development of a survey of social work students and recent graduates and a set of qualitative interviews that will be reported elsewhere. A further review was conducted in July 2021 to inform the analysis. FINDINGS: A recurring theme throughout much of the reviewed social work literature examined for this project has been the intensity of struggle that students face in their study. Across the reviewed literature, students, educators, and researchers suggest interventions to reduce hardship. Gaps remain in our understanding of the intersectional factors of ethnicity, gender and disability and, in particular, the impact on Aotearoa New Zealand students.
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Allen Bartley et al. · 2024 · Social Work Education · Open access
In Aotearoa New Zealand, approximately 3000 people are enrolled in a recognized social work education programme at any one time.A collaboration between researchers at two social work education providers sought to understand the experiences of student financial hardship, and its impact on wellbeing, amongst current social work students and recent graduates.In total, 346 students and recent graduates participated in a survey that gathered information Glossary of te reo Mori terms regarding financial circumstances, caring responsibilities, mental health and social wellbeing.As social work qualifications require a significant component of unpaid field education, this study reflects growing interest in the financial impact of studying for a social work qualification.This article explores some of the findings with particular focus on the impact of financial hardship on mental and social wellbeing.In particular, the study found that nearly one in four respondents reported experiencing moderate or severe financial hardship while studying, and that this had a significant impact on their mental and social wellbeing.In addition, those with caring responsibilities, especially accumulative caring responsibilities for children and others, were more likely to experience financial hardship.These results add weight to the call for greater support for those preparing to enter the social work workforce.
Christine Morley et al. · 2023 · Social Work Education · Open access
While there is growing evidence about the financial burden of completing long, compulsory (mostly unpaid) placements for social work students, this Australian study contemporizes existing research by exploring this issue in the current context (2020–2022), during which time we have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, the related economic problems, and modified ASWEAS standards. The data is drawn from 372 undergraduate and Masters (qualifying) students across four universities in different states and explores their experiences of financial stress associated with current placement arrangements; their sources of income and employment arrangements; and how they navigated balancing paid work around placement, or how they supported themselves if they did not work alongside placement. The study evidences no improvement in the situation facing social work students in Australia despite modest ASWEAS modifications that offered limited flexibility around placement requirements during 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings contribute to an expanding body of research that indicates the current model of field education is unsustainable for both social work students and the profession and confirms that urgent changes are required for the social work profession to consider our student population in its social justice mandate.
Eleesa Johnstone et al. · 2016 · Australian Social Work · Open access
While significant research has been undertaken exploring the pedagogical benefits of undertaking lengthy social work and human services field placements, there has been very little consideration regarding the potential financial stress involved for students. This study has addressed this knowledge gap. Research was conducted in 2014 using quantitative and qualitative methods with students, academic and professional staff from six Queensland Universities. The findings show a significant relationship between unpaid placements and financial hardship creating considerable stress for students and at times a compromised learning experience whilst on placement. The limited flexibility in the requirements of professional bodies and universities for how placements are undertaken has been identified as a key contributor to financial hardship. Addressing the complexities inherent in this issue requires a collaborative effort from multiple stakeholders and should not be regarded as a problem for students to endure and manage.
Hannah Beks et al. · 2024 · BMC Health Services Research · Open access
BACKGROUND: Investing in allied health, dentistry, medical, and nursing undergraduate and postgraduate qualifying education is critical to meet a growing demand on global health care systems. Clinical placements are an integral component of qualifying training and are conventionally unpaid. Widespread economic challenges, attributed to a post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery era and global unrest, have led to growing economic hardship for populations, even in high-income countries like Australia. Allied health, dentistry, medical, and nursing undergraduate and postgraduate students undertaking unpaid clinical placements are not immune from these stressors, which has implications for education providers, ageing populations, the future health care system, and policy-makers. The purpose of this review was to better understand these stressors by scoping the financial implications of unpaid clinical placements for allied health, dentistry, medical, and nursing students in Australian research. METHODS: The Joanna Briggs Institute's scoping review methodology was used. This involved a search of academic databases and an extensive search of grey literature sources. Literature published from 1 January 2014 was included. Citations were independently screened by two reviewers. RESULTS: Thirty-three research studies were included. Most studies focused on allied health students (n = 12), followed by nursing (n = 11), and medical students (n = 5), with an additional five studies focused on multiple disciplines, including dentistry. One study had an interventional component. Findings were grouped around four concepts: reliance on self-reported measures of financial implications, costs of unpaid clinical placements for students, implications of costs for students, and an urgent need for targeted strategies to redress. CONCLUSIONS: The financial implications of unpaid clinical placements for allied health, dentistry, medical, and nursing students in Australia are well-established in research. Impacts are significant for the future of Australia's health workforce and health system. Research findings have been consistent over the past decade in advocating for greater financial support for students undertaking unpaid clinical placements and flexibility of placement models to mitigate the indirect costs of placements. Collaboration between state and federal government, universities, peak professional bodies, and placement host organisations is imperative to implement a suite of strategies to redress the financial burden experienced by students and secure the future of Australia's health workforce.
Eleesa Johnstone et al. · 2016 · Faculty of Health
While significant research has been undertaken exploring the pedagogical benefits of undertaking lengthy social work and human services field placements, there has been very little consideration regarding the potential financial stress involved for students. This study has addressed this knowledge gap. Research was conducted in 2014 using quantitative and qualitative methods with students, academic and professional staff from six Queensland Universities. The findings show a significant relationship between unpaid placements and financial hardship creating considerable stress for students and at times a compromised learning experience whilst on placement. The limited flexibility in the requirements of professional bodies and universities for how placements are undertaken has been identified as a key contributor to financial hardship. Addressing the complexities inherent in this issue requires a collaborative effort from multiple stakeholders and should not be regarded as a problem for students to endure and manage.
Jarrah Manning et al. · 2025 · Nutrition & Dietetics · Open access
AIMS: Unpaid mandatory student placements are common among allied health disciplines. This qualitative study aimed to specifically explore the student dietitian experiences of and perspective on financial stress and food insecurity during unpaid mandatory student placements as well as describe any related impacts on their health and wellbeing. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with student dietitians living in Australia and New Zealand. Participants had self-nominated for interviews from a larger interprofessional mixed method study on student placement poverty. Inductive thematic analysis involving coding, categorisation, theme development and refinement was used to generate themes. RESULTS: A total of 11 interviews were undertaken. Most students were female, studying full-time and living in Queensland, New South Wales and New Zealand. All students had undertaken at least one unpaid placement. Thematic analysis of the student experience of placement generated five key themes and 18 subthemes. The key themes were (1) Overall Wellbeing on Placement, (2) Financial Security, (3) Social Support, (4) Income Sources and (5) Course Structure. Overall, unpaid placements had a significant impact on the ability of students to maintain their overall wellbeing whilst on placement. This included impacts on financial security. There was noted to be substantial cognitive dissonance between high levels of nutrition knowledge and the inability to maintain their own food security. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight that unpaid mandatory student placements (especially those requiring full-time attendance) represent a major challenge for student dietitians, with implications for student physical and mental wellbeing and future diversity within the profession of dietetics.
Keri Moore et al. · 2012 · QUT ePrints (Queensland University of Technology) · Open access
An increasing emphasis on embedding Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in the curriculum has impacted on teaching and learning approaches in Australian higher education institutions (Higher Education Base Funding Review: Final Report, 2011). Yet whilst the benefits and costs of these approaches have been identified (Bradley, Noonan, Nugent, & Scales, 2008; Patrick et al., 2009) insufficient attention has been paid to financial costs experienced by students studying subjects with a Work Integrated Learning component. In 2010 the Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN) responded to this issue by offering three modest student scholarships based on evidence of hardship. Data collected from over 1000 applicants between 2010 and 2012 indicate travel, accommodation, food, clothing, equipment and loss of income are of major concern especially for students on lengthy placements involving relocation. At the same time the Australian Federal Government’s review of base funding has recommended a detailed assessment of the costs of providing student placements across all disciplines - in particular health and education (DEEWR, 2011, p.94). This paper considers costs from the student perspective and highlights major concerns identified through ACEN scholarship applications over a three year period. The implications for ACEN are described and recommendations documented which outline ACEN’s role in ensuring that these issues are given greater consideration across the sector.
Mark Brough et al. · 2015 · Faculty of Health; Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation · Open access
Dual oral therapy was the most common treatment regimen at the start of second-line treatment, and over half of the participants remained on the same treatment during follow-up.
Debra D. Burke & Robert B. Carton · 2013 · Journal of Legal Studies Education · Open access
apprentice, while involuntary apprenticeships were reserved for impoverished children, who were not permitted to apprentice in the skilled trades. 5 In fact, apprenticeship articles represent one of the first types of personal covenants or obligations recognized under the English common law. 6 The system of apprenticeship, which was instituted in European towns during feudal times by local trade guilds, transferred to the colonies, where it became indispensable in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for socializing, educating, and training children to enter trades and professions. 7 Usually after contractual negotiations, colonial parents apprenticed their children between the ages of seven and fourteen to learn a trade and to be educated. 8 Within the next centuries this relationship, characterized either as indentured servitude or as an apprenticeship, was limited to children of limited economic means. 9Apprenticeships persisted in Great Britain but declined in the United States as the availability of public secondary education supplanted apprenticeships for labor force training. 10 Recently, however, the apprenticeship system is reemerging as a promising model for improving job skills, 11 particularly in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. 12Currently, numerous Web sites match prospective interns to prospective positions. 13 While today 5 Id. at 1123.