Document Comments

Bulletin Board - Review and Comment

Step 1 of 4: Provide comments and feedback

How to make a comment

1. Use the Protected Document to open a comment box for a specific section, part, heading or clause.

2. Enter your feedback into the comment box and click ‘save comment’.

3. There is an opportunity to leave general comments and feedback on the second page.

4. Complete all three pages – make sure you ‘save and continue’ and ‘finalise submission’ before leaving the bulletin board.

5. You will be emailed a pdf copy of your comments. If you don’t receive this, your comments may not have saved correctly.

 

 

Important Information

The following tips will help to avoid losing your comments or corrupting your entries:

  1. Sessions may time out, so submit multiple responses instead of trying to complete a long document in one session. 

  2. Avoid jumping between web pages/applications while logging comments.

  3. Log comments for one document at a time. Complete and submit all comments for one document before commenting on another.

  4. Use paste as plain text in the comment boxes if you need to copy and paste from another source (e.g. Word, email or other web content). 

  5. You can’t save your progress, so if you need to stop, submit your current set of comments. The system will email you a copy of your comments so you can identify where you were up to and add to them later.

  6. Complete all three stages and ‘finalise submission’ before leaving the bulletin board. 

 

Work-integrated Learning Guidelines - Students with Disability

Section 1 - Purpose

(1) These guidelines:

  1. describe recommended processes and support, as provisioned in various University policy texts, for staff assisting students with disability to arrange work-integrated learning (WIL) that meets inherent requirements and provides the student with reasonable adjustment for disability
  2. describe recommended processes and support for staff assisting students recovering from injury and/or illness to return to WIL that meets inherent requirements
  3. support compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005
  4. support compliance with Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021, in particular standards 2 and 3.3.
Top of Page

Section 2 - Policy

(2) These guidelines support the following policies:

  1. Disability and Work or Study Adjustment Policy
  2. Course and Subject Policy
  3. Assessment Policy
  4. Equal Opportunity Policy
Top of Page

Section 3 - Procedure

(3) These guidelines support the following procedures:

  1. Course and Subject Procedure - Delivery Management
  2. Assessment Flexibility Procedure
  3. Work-integrated Learning Procedure [see draft on bulletin board]
Top of Page

Section 4 - Guidelines

University commitment

(4) Charles Sturt University (the University) is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive study environment that enables students with disability to participate in University life on the same basis as other members of the University community (see the Disability and Work or Study Adjustment Policy and the Equal Opportunity Policy).

Requesting reasonable adjustments

(5) The University will provide reasonable adjustments for students who:

  1. are living with disability or a health condition, or
  2. have ongoing carer responsibility for a person who is living with disability or a long-term health condition
as per the Disability and Work or Study Adjustment Policy and Assessment Policy.

(6) Students who require reasonable adjustment to participate in WIL activities must (as per the Assessment Flexibility Procedure):

  1. be registered with the University's Accessibility and Inclusion Support and have a current study access plan or carer support plan
  2. review and understand the learning objectives and inherent requirements for each placement/subject and identify their needs and adjustments (or consult with the WIL placement coordinator for advice).

(7) Contact information for WIL placement coordinator will normally be provided in the school or faculty WIL placement handbook or in the subject outlines for subjects with WIL components.

Planning reasonable adjustments

WIL placement coordinator actions

(8) When an adjustment is requested for a WIL activity, WIL placement coordinator should:

  1. discuss the learning objectives and inherent requirements of the placement/subject with the student
  2. consult and work collaboratively with an Accessibility and Inclusion Adviser to produce a WIL plan for the student and determine reasonable adjustments for the WIL activity; this will include:
    1. provide the WIL plan to the WPL team with sufficient time to effect the required adjustments
    2. identifying the necessary information to be shared with the industry partner and ensuring student consent is obtained to do so (as per the Work-integrated Learning Procedure)
  3. consider the suitability of available placement agencies
  4. subject to clause 14, communicate to the placement agency the needs of the student and the suggested adjustments required while the student is on placement, and forward the agency a copy of the WIL plan.

Accessibility and Inclusion Adviser actions

(9) Accessibility and Inclusion Advisers should:

  1. discuss with students who are registered with Accessibility and Inclusion Support if a WIL plan or carer support plan for their WIL placement is required, and include the requirements for placement planning in the study access plan
  2. provide advice on and recommend reasonable adjustment and support to the WIL placement coordinator
  3. provide resources which could include specialised equipment or funding for reasonable adjustment
  4. provide input for WIL plans or carer support plans with suggestions for adjustments for what is within delegation (i.e. location specific placements)
  5. consult with students and WIL placement coordinators to discuss and problem solve adjustments that can be put in place
  6. be responsible for finalising the WIL reasonable adjustments with a plan following consultation if consultation is required.

Guidelines for reasonable adjustments

(10) Examples of reasonable adjustments are set out in:

  1. Assessment Flexibility Procedure section 4
  2. Students With Disability - Reasonable Adjustments: Disability Specific

Funding reasonable adjustments

(11) Accessibility and Inclusion Support must be consulted prior to an agreement to pay for educational support or for specialised equipment at a workplace related to reasonable adjustments. Accessibility and Inclusion Adviser can determine if the cost for the student is eligible to be claimed under available funding.

(12) The University will claim for reimbursement of costs for supporting students by following the guidelines set by the relevant government education department.

Maintaining academic integrity

(13) In accordance with the Disability Standards for Education 2005, there is a requirement that reasonable adjustment for WIL will be implemented if it does not compromise the academic integrity of the subject or course:

"In assessing whether an adjustment to the course [...] is reasonable, the provider is entitled to maintain the academic requirements of the course or program, and other requirements or components that are inherent in or essential to its nature." (DSE section 3.4(3)).

Personal and health information and privacy

(14) The University’s Privacy Management Plan allows that, in making reasonable adjustments for WIL for students with disability, it may be necessary to share personal and health information with the placement agency. The University will secure the consent of students and disclose only the information necessary to arrange reasonable adjustment within a workplace. The recommended form for obtaining student consent is the WIL Health and Safety Disclosure Form.

Mandatory reporting of impairment – registered health practitioner students

(15) Under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) (National Law), disability is included in the overarching definition of impairment and, if students in related University courses have a health impairment, conditions may be imposed upon their registration to ensure that they are able to participate in a safe manner.

(16) The National Law sets down specific grounds for mandatory notifications by health practitioners and education providers related to impairments for students such that:

  1. registered health practitioners must make a notification to Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) if, in the course of practising their profession, they form a reasonable belief that a student has an impairment that in the course of the student undertaking clinical training, may place the public at substantial risk of harm (s 141(1)(b))
  2. education providers must notify Ahpra if they reasonably believe that a student enrolled in a program of study provided by the education provider, or a student for whom they have arranged clinical training, has an impairment that, in the course of the student undertaking clinical training as part of the program of study, may place the public at substantial risk of harm (s 143(1)(a)-(b))

(17) Such notification is protected from civil, criminal or administrative liability (s 237).

(18) Faculty of Science and Health has local procedures to guide mandatory reporting.

Return to WIL following approved special consideration

(19) Where special consideration to delay WIL activities or placements due to a short-term disability or condition, or exacerbation of an existing disability or condition, has been approved, the student must provide a signed medical certificate from a registered professional in a relevant health profession giving the dates from which the student is cleared to safely return to the activity or placement.

Refusal of permission to undertake WIL 

(20) The Executive Dean (or their nominee) may refuse a student permission to undertake WIL placements if they fail to meet pre-placement requirements, would pose a risk to themselves or others if they undertook the placement, or cannot meet the required professional standard. See the Assessment - Conduct of Coursework Assessment and Examinations Procedure. 

(21) Students may appeal this decision under the University Student Appeals Policy and University Student Appeals Procedure. 

Summary of legislation

(22) Disability Discrimination Act 1992 protects individuals across Australia from direct and indirect discrimination in many parts of public life, such as employment, education and access to premises.

(23) Disability Standards for Education 2005 clarify obligations for education providers under the Disability Discrimination Act. The Standards require organisations to take reasonable steps to enable students with disability to participate in education and use facilities and services on the same basis as a student without disability.

(24) Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW). The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) has partnered with National Health Practitioner Boards to regulate health professionals and health professional students. Students enrolled in related University courses and undergoing clinical experience in the workplace will be impacted by the National Law.

(25) Under the National Law, disability is included in the overarching definition of impairment, such that impairment is defined as:

"impairment, in relation to a person, means the person has a physical or mental impairment, disability, condition or disorder (including substance abuse or dependence) that detrimentally affects or is likely to detrimentally affect - ...
(b) for a student, the student's capacity to undertake clinical training:

(i) as part of the approved program of study in which the student is enrolled; or
(ii) arranged by an education provider."

(26) Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998  (NSW) (PPIPA) provides information privacy principles for the protection of personal information held by agencies. The University has a Privacy Management Plan in accordance with the requirements of the PPIPA. In the administration and management of WIL placements for students, personal information will be exchanged with the workplaces. This information commonly includes name and contact details. The University recognises that in making reasonable adjustments for WIL activities for students with disability it may be necessary to share further information to support the development of appropriate reasonable adjustments.

(27) Work Health and Safety Act 2011 aims to ensure the health and safety of workers and workplaces through the elimination or minimisation of risks. The ability to meet the health and safety standards of the workplace agency is regarded as an inherent requirement for WIL activities.

Top of Page

Section 5 - Glossary

(28) For the purpose of these guidelines:

  1. Disability – refers to a disorder, malfunction, illness or disease affecting physical, sensory, intellectual, learning, psychiatric or neurological functions. Disability may be temporary or permanent, total or partial, lifelong, acquired or imputed.
  2. Inherent requirements - as defined in the policy library glossary.
  3. Reasonable adjustment - refers to the administrative, environmental or procedural alterations that are required to remove unnecessary barriers to people with disability working or studying effectively and on the same basis as others. Universities have a statutory responsibility to make such adjustments in work and study contexts wherever it is necessary, possible and reasonable to do so. An adjustment is considered reasonable if it takes into account the requirements of the person with disability and balances the interests of all parties affected. An organisation may refuse to introduce an adjustment if it can demonstrate that to do so would cause it unjustifiable hardship (as described in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992).
  4. Work-integrated learning (WIL) – as defined in the Work-integrated Learning Procedure [see draft on bulletin board].
  5. WIL placement coordinator – means University academic staff member(s) responsible for the management of WIL placement.