RMIT Classification: Trusted

Justice and Legal Studies - Higher Education

WORK INTEGRATED LEARNING
Student Placement Evaluation 10
Please take a moment to reflect on your placement experience and provide some detailed information
about your learning. We value your feedback and use the responses you provide to assist us in placing
future RMIT students.

Industry Legal Name: Department of Justice and Community Safety, Youth Justice

Supervisor Name: Isabella Clarke Email: [email protected]

Placement Start Date: 13/09/2021 Finish Date: 26/11/2021

Student Name: Boneesha Kaur Sukhbir Singh Student Number: s3720206

RMIT Course Undergraduate (Bachelor’s
RMIT School/College: DSC - GUSS
Title: Degree)
Program Title: Criminal Justice

Date: 30/10/2021

Strongly Agree Not Disagree Strongly

Agree Sure Disagree
My workplace induction was informative X
During the placement I engaged in meaningful work,
X
tasks and activities
My placement provided me with autonomous work and
X
responsibility
My placement workplace provided me with work that
X
aligned with my skills and interests
I was provided with appropriate supervision and
X
guidance
My supervisor met with me regularly X
Staff took time to explain/show me how to do things X
I was provided with the opportunity to meet the agreed
X
learning objectives
Staff were friendly and made me feel comfortable X
My questions were answered in ways that made sense X
If I had a problem or concern, I could talk to someone
X
about it and resolve it
I was given ongoing, helpful feedback X
The placement was relevant to my studies X
I have a better understanding of the industry as a result
X
of the placement
The placement assisted me to understand the career
X
choices available to me
I learnt new skills on the placement X
My studies properly prepared me for the placement X
I would recommend this placement to future students X
I was able to take on a variety of tasks X
Overall I am satisfied with my placement experience X

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Yes No
I received an offer of employment from the organisation X

Please list the main activities undertaken while on placement, and rate their usefulness in relation to your
chosen career:
Very Not Approx.
Useful Not Sure
Useful Useful % of time
1. Observed care team meetings and wrote minutes X
2. Observed client supervision sessions X
3. Participated in various professional development X
sessions and completed industry related training
4. Facilitated client supervision’s and wrote case notes X
for my own clients
5. Observed court sessions (Magistrate, County and X
Supreme Court)

List five of the most interesting/valuable/surprising aspects of the placement

1. Doing outreach supervision sessions with clients – visiting them in their home, having sessions out in the
public
2. Observing a Supreme Court arraignment (formal plea of guilt) and trial
3. Attending and observing a YSAS Family Supervision session
4. Having a good conversation and getting valuable insights from a work colleague on sex offenders – a topic of
curiosity
5. Having young people assigned to me as clients to supervise and engaging them in a variety of intervention
specific exercises – goal setting, positive psychology, etc.

List five of the least interesting/valuable/surprising aspects of the placement

1. Least interesting - Writing up care team meeting minutes at almost every meeting
2. Least valuable - Inability to gain in-person placement experience with partner agencies
3. Surprising aspect – the overwhelming admin work that is part of the job (writing up court ordered reports
(Pre-Sentence & Bail Reports) and Youth Parole Board reports, catching up on case notes, updating and
uploading documents on CRIS (YJ client database), doing research and contacting new community services
for the client to engage with, etc.
4. Surprising aspect – Short lunch time break of 30 minutes, many of times has been cut short or pushed back
in order to attend to other things
5. Surprising aspect – the vicarious trauma. Knew about it but now experiencing and processing it.

List five skills that you developed during your placement (e.g. oral communications)
1. Honed written communication ability – emails to colleagues and writing formal case notes and meeting
minutes
2. Better collaborative skills – facilitating my own care team meetings and general collaborative work with
colleagues in the Department
3. Better organisation and self- management skills – prioritising tasks and organising work schedule

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4. Honed multi-tasking skills – participating in a meeting whilst writing meeting minutes and notes.
5. Working under pressure

List five skills that you developed during this course and the workshops (e.g., how to write a cover letter)
1. An in-depth guide on how to manage and pass employment interviews (RMIT Creds and Job Interview
assignment)
2. Creating an e-portfolio
3. How to write up a professional resume and cover letter
4. Better understanding on the type of interview questions – scenario, behavioural, strengths vs weaknesses,
etc. (Job Interview assignment)
5. Video taping an introduction of myself and my job aspirations for a potential employer

How valuable did you find the placement experience for preparing you for the workplace? (please provide
examples where possible)
Extremely valuable. I have gained a fair and in-depth understanding of the criminal justice system towards youths,
the common duties and expectations of a case manager, the significant responsibility placed on the role a youth
justice case manager, workplace culture and etiquette as well as knowledge surrounding community and statutory
services that are linked to a young person.
I am very grateful for this placement. The knowledge and skills I developed in this placement can be applied
anywhere and in any role within the criminal justice system.

How did your placement experience compare to your expectations of that role/workplace?
Very different.
My knowledge of Youth Justice originated mainly from the DJCS website and no where else. I have been wanting
to undertake the ‘Youth Justice Systems’ subject as an elective for the past two years, but it has unfortunately for
all this time been unavailable. Hence, my whole understanding of Youth Justice and case management was put to
the test through this placement. The DJCS website was decent in elucidating the Youth Justice sector and the skills
needed to be qualified for the job, however, falls way short on the accuracy of the duties and responsibilities that
come with the role. Undoubtedly, I was shown that theory and words only take up a small percentage of what we
think something is, whilst experiencing it and doing it takes up the rest.
Therefore, my placement experience was extremely eye-opening and sobering towards my expectations of the
role. I believe if I had been able to undertake the YJ Systems elective, my expectations towards Youth Justice and
its case management would have been very different, but nonetheless better informed.

How has your placement influenced your future career plans (if at all)?
It has greatly impacted my career plans. Through my experience at Youth Justice, I realise that statutory work is
not for me. I realise that my passion lies not in working with offenders but with victim/survivors. One of the
reasons being that working with young offenders with varying levels of risks has triggered some past trauma of
mine. I need some time off from offender related work for now to explore the field of community service work
with victims. Additional to this, I feel victim related work will be more healing for me as one of my areas of passion
lies in therapeutic and counselling work, which is sadly not part of the Youth Justice case management role.

What suggestions would you make for improving your particular WIL placement?
- Reduce expectation of an 8-hour work day for placement students – going straight into an 8-hour work
day with only 25 minutes of lunch break is quite unreasonable as well as physically and mentally
exhausting. A 6- or 7-hour work day would enable the student to perform more positively and effectively.
- Have opportunities of gaining diverse industry experience with partner agencies embedded within the
placement schedule – Placement for a day or two with Child Protection, Family Violence Services, Mental
Health Services, etc.
- Allow student to have time out during the week to catch-up on subject content or attend online University
tutorials. This study time out is fair and essential and should not be counted as hours needed to pay back

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to the Department post-placement. The Department must recognise the student’s predicament and adjust
accordingly.

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