Bachelor of Education (Birth to 5 Years) Professional Experience
This page is for students undertaking the online Bachelor of Education (Birth to 5 Years) course.
Applying for your Placement
Before applying for your placement, please ensure that you have met all requirements and followed all guidelines for your placement. All documentation must be current and valid until the end of your placement.
We process placement applications through InPlace, the Charles Sturt placement management system. Please log in to InPlace to enter the details of your proposed placement against the required fields and wait for approval of your placement from the Workplace Learning Team.
How to use InPlace to organise your placement [pdf]
You will need to approach appropriate early childhood services to arrange your placement. If needed, you can use a university letter of introduction to initiate contact with the service.
Letter of Introduction for Professional Experience EPT308
Letter of Introduction for Professional Experience EPT326
Applying for a reduction of placement days in EPT326
EPT326 is a 40-day placement unless you have performed the role of Room Leader, Educational Leader, Director, Family Day Care Educator, Diploma Trained Educator (with evidence of programming and planning responsibilities or Early Childhood related role (e.g. TAFE) for an accumulated period of 12 months or more within the last 10 years. Then the placement can be reduced to 20 days upon the completion of an application.
Application process:
As soon as you are enrolled in EPT326, you can begin the process of applying for a 20-day reduction by following these steps:
- Download this form EPT326 Application for Reduction of Placement Days for your service Director or employer to complete. Please ensure they complete all aspects of the form and that their signature is on the bottom in the signature field.
- Log in to InPlace and begin a self-placement application. Where you are asked ‘Are you applying for a reduction of placement days’, ensure you check the ‘yes’ box.
- In the section ‘Please upload a copy of your application for reduction in placement days – Attachment’, you need to upload your completed application form (from Step 1).
- Your application for a placement reduction is then processed, and you will receive an email informing you of the outcome of the application.
- If approved, arrange a 20-day placement with a host service and complete your InPlace self-application with the required details.
- If not approved, arrange a 40-day placement with a host service and complete your InPlace self-application with the required details.
Information regarding embedded placements – EMH302 and EEB427
The recommended course progression is to perform one placement per session across the degree in the following order.
- EMH302: Pedagogy of Relationships –10 embedded days in current workplace.
- EPT308: Extended placement 20 days with 0–2-year-olds.
- EPT326: Extended placement 40 days with 3–5-year-olds can be approved to a reduction of 20 days under criteria.
- EEB427: Leading Early Childhood –10 embedded days in current workplace.
The 10 embedded placement days in EMH302 and EEB427 are designed to be undertaken one day per week across the session and can be performed in your workplace if you work in an early childhood service. You are required to perform your normal duties, under your employed agreement, i.e. remunerated, in ratio, with additional workbook tasks to complete which form part of your subject assessment requirements.
While not recommended, if you need to complete an extended placement (EPT308 or EPT326) in the same session as an embedded placement (EMH302 or EEB427), there are two options for completing your placement requirements:
- Complete EPT308 or EPT326 placement full-time and then complete the 10 days for EMH302 or EEB427 full-time after mid-session break.
- Complete the EPT308 or EPT326 days part-time and the EMH302 or EEB427 part-time on a different day. E.g. EPT308 on Thursdays and Fridays and EMH302 on Tuesdays.