It is harder to be a student now than ever before. Amidst the fee hikes in 2019, record inflation, and soaring rent, balancing one’s social life, work, and studies is a delicate task — a struggle for even the best of us. However, there are many students who are stretched even further as their degrees require placements which are often full-time and, always, unpaid.
Students working in vocational placements are not considered employees according to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). One of the key criteria of a vocational placement is that it is a requirement of an education or training course. Institutions justify the lack of pay by considering the placement to serve a larger pedagogical purpose in preparing students for working in the industry they are studying in. Placements are essential in nursing, teaching, social work, psychology and the allied health professions.
These placements do in fact play a crucial role in helping students acclimatise with their prospective workplaces, learning skills for when they leave university. However, with rising financial pressures, these placements are increasingly shifting an unfair burden on students, one which takes a significant toll on their wellbeing and lifestyles.
Taking stock
In the 1900s, education students were on bonded scholarships which paid an allowance, and nursing students were also paid an apprentice wage, before nursing became a university degree. Today, students on placement receive no financial support, nor rightful compensation for the work that they do, and also have the burden of eventually paying HECS debt on top of their living costs.
Numerous students shared their experiences on placement with Honi and the consensus was obvious — it is simply too difficult. Though being thrust into a work environment for the first time is never easy, there are structural issues which detract from the educational experience, and take a toll on the student’s wellbeing. The fundamental problem is that placements are merely considered as an educational threshold; they are compulsory parts of degrees.
Professor Christine Morley, Head of the Social Work and Human Services Disciplines at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), spoke to Honi as one of the leading advocates for paid student placements, having conducted extensive research on the issue.
“There seems to be some confusion about learning versus work, and people think if it’s learning then it’s not work, but I learn in my job as a professor all the time and I’m paid, and presumably apprentices are learning what they need to learn in order to do their trade.”
For instance, Social Work students are required to complete 1000 hours on mandatory placements by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). This is not to say that placements are fundamentally problematic — an education student described their placement as, “everything I dreamed it to be” — they are a necessary part of a student’s progress. The problem is that students are not being fairly compensated for the work that they are doing, work which is often complex. That lack of sufficient support is ignorant of the work that they are doing, if not exploitative.
Burnt out
All the education students I spoke to, most of whom are studying at USyd, emphasised the gruelling workload they had to undertake. A third year student studying to be a highschool teacher said that they have had two placements (one for fifteen days across a term, and the most recent twenty days across five weeks), with an upcoming placement for forty five days: the entire school term.
“Everyday I was at the school from 7am–4:30/5pm where I was in charge of 3 classes and had to look after them entirely on my own (with supervision),” they said.
These struggles are particularly intense, because students are often undertaking placements in sectors which are already strained. A nursing student said that they could not work on weekends due to the fatigue, with mornings as early as 4:30, and some placements involving 12 hour shifts.
These student experiences dispel any concerns that paying students would mean they’re merely being paid for observational study — full-time placements necessarily entail intense workloads. The assumption that the kinds of practical learning that placements require is not genuine work is flawed. Students spend hours in their prospective workplaces learning the ropes, and directly contribute to work completed by regular staff. Furthermore, apprenticeships in the trades are already being paid for what is essentially the same process.
“I wouldn’t see that learning and work need to be seen as mutually exclusive, I think that’s a problematic construct,” said Morley. A student teacher said they take up 60% of a full teaching load, involving 2-4 classes per day, with an expectation to partake in staff meetings and attend school events.
Beyond maintaining student welfare, there is public utility to ensuring students do not burn out, so that they learn better on these placements, and have more capacity to sustainably contribute in their respective fields.
“Teaching plans had to be submitted to my supervising teacher usually 24 hours before I had to teach classes, so once I got home I usually was planning and preparing classroom material, which also meant I couldn’t work [paid] after-school hours,” said one student.

An occupational therapy student spoke of their experience at an inpatient rehabilitation ward. They worked 40 hours per week during their holidays, with only thirty minute breaks everyday. On top of these full-time work weeks, they struggled living far from home, with students expected to go on rural placements. “I would need to cook, clean, do my own laundry whilst working full time and not receiving any compensation whilst doing so,” they said.
This student is still waiting for a grant to be accepted for up to $750, covering travel costs and accommodation, but even this, they say, is not enough. Although there were subsidised prices for students on placement, they would pay well over $100 per week for groceries and fuel.
These stressors disproportionately impact students who are in difficult financial situations, and students who are disabled. The third year secondary student said, “With my mental and physical disabilities, working after school or on weekends was impossible due to extreme levels of exhaustion and unfortunately I did not have enough leave at work to even cover one full week of my hours.”
Not only are the costs often prohibitive as the opportunity cost of having to forego work in order to go on these full-time placements is particularly high; many students drop out of their courses altogether due to the financial burden. A third year social work student said the amount of money they would have earned working during the time they were on placement was $30,000.
“As a mature aged student working professionally for the past 7 years, my placement experience consisted of going into debt due to loss of income and day to day expenses, not being able to provide for my family as I used to, adding more pressure on my family to accommodate for my loss of income, and negative experiences with my field educator.”
In response, students have rallied around the Students Against Placement Poverty (SAPP) campaign, which relaunched last month, after having commenced in 2020. Their demands are clear and centred around providing adequate support for students. In an open letter, they’ve focused their key demands on students being compensated for their work, either by being paid directly, or making access to scholarships and bursaries easier. Though the campaign is currently driven by social work students, organisers are looking to involve as many affected students as possible.
Where we are now
The question remains as to why there has been no action. Honi has previously published a feature on the issue in 2016, outlining the same concerns as students now, except with rising inflation and the housing crisis, the situation is more dire. The Coalition has progressively stripped support from tertiary education over the past nine years, introducing Voluntary Student Unionism and Job-ready Graduates Package — they have raised university fees, led us to inflation and stripped institutions of necessary funding. It is unsurprising that students have been, once again, left in the dark.
That being said, the Albanese government is looking into potential reforms with the Universities Accord seeking to reinvigorate the state of higher education. This issue has gained significant traction in mainstream media, and there seems to be a consensus forming that students should be paid for the work that they do on placement. In the Accords interim report, there is explicit mention of providing better support for students on placement “with better incentives and financial support.” A broader focus in the Accords is equity, including “providing remuneration for mandatory work placements.”
There are signs of promise but only the final report will show whether Labor is truly committed to supporting student welfare. So far, the report is non-committal in saying that the Review will look at the potential for “some form of financial support,” but it does provide some more concrete parameters. There is mention of a potential stipend for these students, with “particular urgency for teachers and nurses.” These changes may require amendments to the Fair Work Act, which currently stipulates that since students are not employees they do not need to be paid.
Moving forward
The cleanest solution is for students to be directly compensated for their time on placements at minimum wage, where the government gives extra funding into hosting organisations who can tender this money to students. Though increasing access to bursaries is an option, Morley explains that direct compensation for work is the best solution.
“People can be concerned about a welfare-ist approach, and want to see recognition for unpaid work rather than an increased means-tested allowance at Centrelink, for example,” she said.
Morley emphasised that action needs to be taken directly by the Federal government, saying with regard to university-based bursaries, “Students have talked about the difficulties with eligibility criteria and some of the humiliating and intrusive processes they are subject to access those bursaries.”
Regardless of the solution, an important part of the process will be an assessment of the different needs of industries, and how to support students best. Though many of these placements bear structural similarities, degrees require different hours, and placements impact students differently depending on how the hours are distributed, and the expectations placed onto them. For example, Morley notes that research has shown that though social work students are required to complete 1000 hours of their placements, as little as 400 hours are necessary to meet educational requirements.
Another supplementary solution is, where possible, allowing students who are already working in their respective fields to undertake placements in their existing workplaces. Much of Morley’s findings are derived from research she has conducted involving hundreds of social work students, but these insights look as though they could be transferable to other disciplines too. It isn’t as simple as paying students, and there are other ways to make placements more manageable and sustainable.
“We could reduce hours, we could have work-based placement recognised, and we could do much better at recognition of prior learning.”
The Accords themselves note a potential for new solutions such as Degree-Apprenticeships programs which “combine study with paid employment and work-based learning.” These programs are common in the United Kingdom, and integrate study and work-based learning.
They were introduced in 2015 to fill skill shortages in key industries, now with over 7000 programmes available, including options for students looking at entering a profession such as nursing.
These apprenticeships are a rarity in Australia, but there is one particularly telling case where they have been implemented: AUKUS. The SA Labor government has allocated $450,000 to the University of South Australia to fast-track engineering apprenticeships to prepare students for defence-careers. Honi has previously reported on how AUKUS only reinforces militarism, and the opportunity cost that is lost to spending billions on submarines which will be outdated when they are built, over supporting people where they really need it.
In this case, students who are working full-time, with no pay, who are burnt-out, often struggling to make ends meet, and learning to work in industries which provide an immediate, tangible benefit to society. The government can take action when it feels that it is urgent, and it is imperative that they do. The struggle of students on placement is a symptom of a larger system of austerity that has placed us here in the first place — a world where the cost of living is soaring, where young people feel that they have no hope of ever owning a home. We deserve better.
I would like to personally thank the number of students who shared their stories for this article, and Professor Christine Morley for sharing her expertise.