From placement to workplace: developing work-ready students

At Monash University, there is a growing focus on developing work-ready students, particularly in professionally accredited degrees. In Occupational Therapy (OT), a fourth-year Honours unit, ‘Transition to Practice’ addresses work skills in a number of ways. An opportunity was identified by Monash University Library (MUL) to extend its long-standing relationship with OT for enabling students’ research and learning skill development within the curriculum to also enhance students’ skills for work readiness. We describe a library–faculty initiative to pilot the Work Skill Development (WSD) framework in a workshop designed to support students’ work readiness prior to their final 9-week clinical placement. The WSD framework was effectively applied to unpack the OT Competency Standards, inform a pre- and post-work skills student self-assessment questionnaire, workshop activities and the pedagogical approach taken. Findings suggest that the application of the WSD framework assisted in determining students’ skill gains from OT coursework and student preparedness for final placement. Findings also suggest this OT unit could inform further studies regarding the application of the WSD framework in other professional placement courses.