Community · Student Zone

You deserve a fair go on placement.

If you're counting petrol money to get to placement, you're not alone, and it's not a personal failing. The Student Zone connects social work students at every Australian uni with each other, and with experienced social workers.

Register your interest Your placement, step by step

We're a grassroots, volunteer-run voice for the profession. We're not a regulator, a union or a university, so where a question belongs with one of those, we'll point you to them.

What placement asks of you 1,000 hours

of field education, mostly unpaid. That's roughly six months of full-time work.

Your placement, step by step

Four stages. One guide for each.

Start at the stage you're at. Each one opens a short, plain-English guide.

Placement poverty

Better than it was. Not fixed.

A study of 372 social work students across four universities found:

66%

said placement put a strain on them financially.

41%

of those had to give up or sharply cut paid work.

71%

worked alongside study. Some worked 60 to 80 hours a week across placement and jobs.

The Prac Payment is not a wage

Prac Payment, 2026$338.60 / week

National minimum wage, from 1 July 2026$1,004.90 / week

Sources: Morley et al. (2024), Social Work Education; Department of Education, Commonwealth Prac Payment student guide; ABC News, 2 June 2026.

Read: placement poverty, explained

No social worker works alone

What's coming to the Student Zone

Placement can be isolating. Students in one study said less money and less time meant feeling "withdrawn from social activity". So we're building a space for students at every Australian uni to support each other.

Student Zone page

News, resources and connection for students at every Australian uni.

Open now

Online mentoring

Time with experienced social workers who want to support the next generation.

In development

Peer groups

Groups with students who share your experience, including CALD, LGBTIQA+ and neurodiverse communities.

In development

Private chat

A private online space to talk with your peers.

In development

Good to know

Mentoring is not supervision

Your Fair Go mentor adds to your placement support. They don't replace it.

Placement supervision

Who: Your field educator, arranged through your university
Purpose: Meets accreditation requirements and assesses your learning
Assesses you?: Yes
If something goes wrong: Raise it with your field educator or university liaison

Fair Go mentoring

Who: An experienced social worker from the community
Purpose: Listens, shares experience and encourages you
Assesses you?: No
If something goes wrong: Helps you think it through. Your uni is where you take the concern

Peer mentoring helps: a study of an Australian social work peer mentoring program found benefits for mentors and mentees, and that differences in culture and language can make these relationships harder (Ahn, 2017). That's one reason we're creating groups where students can connect with people who share their experience.

Protect confidentiality. Never share anything that could identify a client, placement agency or colleague, even in private chat.

Know what it's for. Mentors and peers offer support, not counselling or crisis help. In a crisis, see where to get help.

Keep it professional. Every group follows our community guidelines.

Student guides