Work placement

Workseed is a web-based app used at Diak where students set their personal learning objectives for each placement/clinical practice and receive assessment from their worklife supervisor and Diak’s placement teacher. Students also record their placement hours on Workseed and carry out self-assessment.

• Follow the instructions given by your supervising teacher to book your work placement. When choosing the placement, think about what types of skills you want to practice, how the placement will help you advance your study plan, and what types of workplaces you already have experience of.
• Contact the workplace organisation: introduce yourself, describe your skills and learning aims and ask about the objectives of the workplace in question. Be prepared to attend an interview before your place is confirmed.
• Read the field-specific instructions on work placements and familiarise yourself with the work placement path and other documents. They can all be found on these pages.
• If your work placement involves working with minors, request a background check via the online service portal of the Legal Register Centre . You can request the check once your place has been confirmed. You will only need to submit the document to the student affairs office once during your studies, but work placement providers may request it separately for each work placement period. The document is valid for 6 months and free of charge.
• Showing the transcript of criminal record: The transcript of criminal record can not be send via Email, but it needs to be shown via Teams or at the study office (only Oulu and Pieksämäki) on its opening times. The transcript of criminal record can be shown via the Teams link on Mondays from 1 to 2 pm. You will wait for your turn in a waiting posses. Please open the camera, show your ID and the transcript of criminal record.

• Determine your personal learning aims with the placement supervisor, taking into account the relevant study modules and the objectives of the workplace.
• Write down your aims on Workseed. If necessary, you can revise your learning aims with the supervising teacher and the placement supervisor during your placement.
• You will also draw up a work placement plan with your supervisor. The plan will help you monitor your progress and ensure that the tasks support your learning and goals.
• Inform your supervisor about any assignments you will have during the placement and how much time you will need for them.
• Sign the confidentiality agreement, if required by the workplace. In any case, pay attention to the confidentiality obligation. It also applies to social media.
• Adhere to the working principles of the workplace organisation and work towards your learning aims. Familiarise yourself with the health and safety rules.

General instructions

• Work towards your learning aims and find your personal way of learning on the job. Work placements are opportunities to both learn and apply what you have already learned.
• You should be fully focused on the work placement in order to make the most of it. This means that you should avoid other work and studies during the work placement, if possible.
• If you retake exams during the work placement, contact your supervisor to organise your work hours accordingly. If you have other course commitments during the work placement, discuss with your supervisor how you can make up for any absences.
• Be active and ask questions. Familiarise yourself with the workplace community, its policies, practices and facilities.
• Complete the learning assignments on time. If your tasks include a learning diary, update it regularly.
• If you feel that you need more orientation and guidance, tell your supervisor about your needs. Be specific about what type of guidance you need.
• Look after yourself and make sure you get enough rest.
• Notify both your supervisor and the supervising teacher if you are absent due to illness or another reason. Your absences will be recorded in the rota according to the normal procedure. In the case of a longer illness, you should also notify your guidance counsellor. Discuss with your supervising teacher how you can make up for the absence.
• Remember: your attitude is important! Stick to the agreed schedules and tasks and be proactive. Even tasks that feel insignificant can be useful experiences.
• If you encounter problems during your work placement or feel that you are not getting enough guidance or that the workplace environment doesn’t support you towards your learning aims, please don’t hesitate to contact your supervising teacher or guidance counsellor. They can get in touch with the placement supervisor and arrange a joint discussion.
• If you need additional support, contact your supervising teacher or the student welfare team.
• Your educational institution has insured you against accidents. If anything happens to you at your placement, submit an accident report to your institution. You can find more detailed information about the insurance on the Student Insurance page.

Working hours

The working hours are 40 hours per week, except in clinical training in social services, which is 38 hours per week.

The average work day is seven hours long. Alternatively, the work day can be eight hours if it is more appropriate from the point of view of your learning and/or the operation of the workplace organisation. In this case, the student can be given shorter days or occasional days off, but please note that you cannot accrue the hours so as to have several days off in a row.

If you participate in camps as part of your work placement, your working hours will correspond flexibly to those of a tenured educator. In this case, you will be entitled to a statutory camp counsellor’s leave. For example, if you have a work placement in the church organisation, the collective agreement for church employees applies, which entitles you to one-day leave for camps lasting over three days.

Medical absence during placement

If you become ill during your work placement, please notify your supervisor and the coordinating teacher. In the case of a longer illness, you should also notify your study guidance counsellor. You can continue to use student health care services during your work placement.

If your illness lasts for a longer period and you need to re-plan your studies, please contact your study guidance counsellor. A long illness may entitle you to an extension of studies, so make sure you keep copies of sick leave certificates until graduation.

The student’s learning aims are taken into account when considering absences. If you have shown good progress towards your learning aims, you may be absent for one day in a 4-week work placement period without having to make up the hours. Correspondingly, two days of absence are permitted in a work placement period of 8–10 weeks.

This also applies to absences due to medical rehabilitation. If you attend prescribed medical rehabilitation, contact your supervising teacher and the workplace in order to arrange the periods of absence.

Ongoing rehabilitation may prevent you from completing a work placement in certain types of workplace environments. If you know that you will be attending rehabilitation, make sure that you check this before the start of the work placement period.

National holidays

National holidays do not reduce the total number of working hours in a work placement period. If you are not able to attend work during a national holiday or if attending would not be beneficial from the point of view of learning, possible alternative arrangements include e.g.

• an extensive work practice assignment or a separate learning assignment to make up for the additional leave,
• a separate learning assignment that benefits the workplace organisation, as agreed with the workplace,
• working eight-hour days or, in exceptional cases such as during night shifts, longer than eight hours per day.

Students can make planned learning visits as agreed in advance. You can utilise other work placement organisations in your town. The visits must support your attainment of the objectives of the work placement period.

The work placement period can be extended if both the student and the workplace wish to do so. The supervising teacher ensures that the extension is logged in the work placement register.

Any substituting hours or assignments must be agreed with the supervising teacher and the workplace supervisor in advance.

In some workplace environments such as local parishes, national holidays can offer learning opportunities that are not available on regular weekdays. In this case, it would not be appropriate to substitute separate assignments for work on national holidays.

Meals during placement

Students are entitled to meal subsidies during work placements at qualifying restaurants by presenting a valid student card or a Kela meal subsidy card. Read more about the meal subsidy.

Some workplaces provide meal vouchers that entitle you to a staff discount in the workplace restaurant. Individual organisations may also have other arrangements in place. You should check the meal policy of your workplace at the start of your work placement period.

• At the end of your last placement day please make sure you have filled in the time sheet and all required information on Workseed correctly.
• Complete the self-assessment on Workseed.
• Mark your Workseed as done.
• The teacher approves the placement by making a course credit in MyDiak.

Is it possible to fail a placement?

In some cases a student may fail the work placement module, for example, if he or she breaches an agreement or the working principles of the workplace organisation.

The student will be given an opportunity to comment before the decision is made. If there is a risk of a student failing the work placement module, the supervisor will contact the teacher, who will then organise an assessment meeting to determine the reasons and justification of the possible fail and discuss what action could be taken to remedy the situation. The meeting will be attended by the supervisor, the student and the teacher.

At the end of the discussion, the participants agree on a target level the student needs to achieve in order to successfully complete the work placement. The target level will be determined based on the competence assessment criteria of the programme stage and the general assessment criteria for a Fail grade in a work placement module. In addition, an assessment schedule will be agreed.

A follow-up assessment discussion will be organised between the student and the supervisor to review how well the student has achieved the objectives. If the student has not achieved the objectives by that stage, he or she will receive a Fail grade for the work placement module. The teacher records the reasons for the Fail grade in a work placement report form, which has to be signed by the student, the supervisor and the teacher. Follow-up measures will be agreed between the teacher and the student on a case-by-case basis.