Occupational therapists play an important role in the lives of individuals and communities enabling participation in occupations of self-care, productivity and leisure. To do this, occupational therapists need to know how humans function, and need the skills to practice competently and safely. You will learn how to analyse and assess occupational performance; apply and evaluate interventions to enable occupational performance; and collaborate and communicate effectively with clients and their families and colleagues.

High achieving Bachelor of Occupational Therapy students can undertake honours in the third and fourth years, provided they meet admission requirements.

Professional experience

You will undertake 1,000 hours of professional practice education as part of your degree. Each semester, starting in Semester 1 of your first year, you will undertake industry placements. These supervised placements are designed to help you apply and contextualise theoretical knowledge gained in your course work, into professional practice.

Work placement

Fieldwork and clinical placements are undertaken throughout the course, working with people across the life-span to help them overcome physical, cognitive or societal barriers to participation.

ACU has strong industry ties with a range of health and community services for placements and significant stakeholder engagement with many health partners. We endeavour to place students in a variety of different locations to give students experience in various settings. Students should expect to benefit by a rural/remote placement during their course. Locations and settings of placements include:

• a range of private hospitals

• community health

• private sector and private practices

• non-government and charitable organisations

• aged care sector

• disability sector

Your placements start in first year:

• Year 1: Semester 1: ½ day placement;

• Year 1: Semester 2: 2-week full-time block (80 hours)

• Year 2: Semester 2: 40 hours simulated placement (one week).

• Year 3: 2 x 5-week blocks. These are scheduled after the end of traditional semesters in the inter-semester break,  so you’ll need to check placement dates before making other commitments.

• Year 4: Semester 1: a 9-week block;

Year 4: Semester 2: 2 weeks (1 day per week for 10 weeks).

As part of your course, you will be placed in a range of organisations to integrate the theory you learn with practical workplace experiences (placements). As part of your enrolment, you must complete the Faculty of Health Sciences pre-placement requirements. To ensure you meet these requirements you need to start as soon as possible. Visit ACU’s Work Integrated Learning (WIL) website to view your Pre-Placement Requirements checklist.