Professional Practice 1

Professional Practice provides the authentic context for a collaboration of student youth and community work practitioners, their community sector mentors and the university, to understand and enhance youth or community work professional practice. The practical experiences of student youth or community workers in partnerships are also the basis of their critical reflection and theorising on practice, which leads to sustainable improvement and change. Professional Practice is an opportunity for students to participate in a range of specific program or projects that youth or community services offer such as Youth and Community events, sports programs, sports programs and community recreation programs, Community Advocacy networks, Community Centres, National Youth Week, School Holiday Programs, Camps, Youth and Community Conferences or summits and much more. Each student has the opportunity to do one of their placements overseas whilst the other must be in a domestic setting. Undertaking a variety of experiences in line with emerging interests allows a student to reflect on the breadth of the industry and the diverse opportunities available to them as a Youth or Community Worker. Students will need to document their experiences by creating a reflective journal. As each placement is unique, students are required to negotiate their tasks, responsibilities and timelines with their agency supervisor and undertake regular supervision to reflect on their practice.