Programme Information

Fieldwork 1 (Year 1) – 6 June to 01 July

Fieldwork 3 (Year 2) – 19 September to 11 November

Fieldwork 4 (Year 3) – 11 July to 02 September

Fieldwork placements enable students to integrate theory in the context of authentic occupational therapy practice. Fieldwork placements are in settings throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand and selected to meet students individual learning needs. Supervision is supplied by on-site clinicians but support is offered from the fieldwork team.

In this programme, students complete five fieldwork placements across the three years of the programme. Students' learning on placement is guided and facilitated by registered occupational therapists holding a current annual practising certificate.

All fieldwork placements will provide opportunities for students to work in client-centred ways, to develop relationships with a range of professionals and to get feedback on these skills.

The design of the curriculum ensures that students can achieve a minimum of 1042 hours, which is slightly more than the 1000 hours of fieldwork. Students are required to undertake 1,000 fieldwork hours, as stipulated by WFOT as described in the document Minimum Standards for the Education of Occupational Therapists (Revised 2016) and OTBNZ. The slight surplus of hours ensures that students are not disadvantaged by illness or other reasons which would otherwise prevent them from meeting the required 1000 hours.

The inclusion of a specific number of 'study' hours during fieldwork placements ensures students have sufficient time to identify their learning needs relative to the learning opportunities offered in the placement, and be able to engage in the types of learning experiences they need in order to achieve their learning goals related to the placement.

The division of hours across the fieldwork placements is outlined in the table below.

Division of fieldwork hours

Some additional fieldwork related authentic/simulation hours are included within courses throughout the three years. These are an essential component to your accumulated fieldwork hours. Further information will be provided in the courses on the content of these hours. Please see table below.

Class-Based Fieldwork