TRANSCRIPT: Tales4Teaching ep. 88 – Empowering local communities: the role of industry partnerships in higher education

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Joan: Welcome to Tales4Teaching, a podcast where we explore stories with purpose in higher education. We’ll share expert insights, engaging interviews, and thought-provoking discussions that will inspire your teaching. On behalf of Deakin University I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the unceded lands and waterways on which you are located. I acknowledge the Wadawurrong people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners on which this podcast was recorded, and I pay my respects to Elders past, present and future.

My name is Joan Sutherland and this is Tales4Teaching, brought to you by Deakin Learning Futures.

Hello and welcome to today’s podcast, where we’ll be discussing the exciting development of industry partnerships to support the rollout of Bachelor in Social Work and Occupational Therapy at Warrnambool. Today, I’m thrilled to have Tamara Holmes and Lucinda Watson joining us to share their work on leading these partnerships with industry. Hello, Tamara and Lucinda, welcome. Hello. Thanks for having us. We’re really excited to be here. We love that you are here. It’s always nice to have some excitement in the podcast, so thank you for being here to get us started. Can you both just introduce yourself and your role here at Dakin and your role within the context of this project you think don’t come from our homes and I’m a social work academic. I’ve been at Deakin a couple of years now, full time within the social work team, and I’ll be employed to help set up the program The Bachelor. The rollout for the Bachelor of Social Work, and part of that involved developing industry partnerships with the aim of supporting course design, building field placements, but also networking and creating that professional network that I should work at then and at that way. And we seen that. Yeah. So I’m listening to what’s in. I am an occupational therapy academic based at our wonderful campus. And I was employed similar to Tamara, to support the rollout of the occupational therapy program in Warrnambool and to connect with local organisations to support our roll out bias. So you’re both based in Warrnambool and you’re both employed to create these industry partner partnerships. What made it motivated the development of these partnerships and what are the primary goals of this project? Yeah. Great question. During so particularly with Warrnambool, sorry, with occupational therapy and probably very similar with social work, there’s been a huge demand and increase for the need of occupational therapists in the Warrnambool and southwest region. And so Deakin wanted to bring the opportunity to Warrnambool to support the community needs and to allow locals to stay local and study. So in particular, there was there’s been like the 70% increase in the jobs for occupational therapists in the South West region over the last five years. So we’ve seen a really huge growth. And I know just speaking with local authorities, there’s huge waitlists. And even for people that are needing OT services, it’s pretty frustrating when you’ve got to make 12 months just because of the demand. What an increase needs 70%. That’s unbelievable, isn’t it? Is it the site for social work? It’s very similar. I don’t know the exact stats, but what we there was some great research done through farmer’s Health around that idea of allied health workers growing your own and thinking about the workforce development local to the region, and then people weren’t having to move to regions to them work. So we started working with strong advocates from industry partners, Family Services Organisation to help around the program being delivered locally. So that’s been fantastic in terms of that support being grassroot driven and the primary goal very much is going around, but also having that specific knowledge with regional and rural practice. So going this is what it actually looks like we can visit and do on country experiences in the local area, which adds to their professional development. When social workers and art together in a field and just give it the opportunity to go other places, or is it very specific to south west Victoria? All right. Absolutely. The field education students continued. They both of our program had 1000 hours of practical experience and with social work, two 500 hour placements. So students can either be locally or can go to other areas, which is a great opportunity. Yeah. And similar. We’ve got again, 1000 hours of practice education. We’re a bit different. We embed our practice education in each trimester of our course. And of course, we want students to have the opportunity to see local settings and organisations to be in our city. But we also encourage students to complete a metro placement as well, just to gain experience. Isn’t it great that it is local and it’s regional, and you’re building that capacity within the region, which brings jobs to the region as well? Absolutely. One of our largest partners has about 180 staff, and they only had six social workers. So many of the workers, many of the employees who come to social work or student sorry, the counter social work also have a diploma level qualification and they really wanting to go that need a little work qualification. Yeah. The next question then is how do these industry partnerships contribute to the design and implementation of your programs, and what benefits do they bring to the students? I think that’s a great question. The industry partnership as far unique because what we actually get is that really authentic learning experience. So for example, in social work, some of the agencies come in and I do guest lectures, which means that the students are really hearing what happens on the ground, what are the issues for this community, but also for social work in general, because the issues in a regional community, while there may be some very specific thing, they’re also generic and generalised across that. There’s some universality in terms of the issue. So that the great benefit. It’s also about career pathways, though vulnerable, has this lovely pathway of going, this is what industry looks like. We’re building those networking connections really early on. Two times the year we run the networking information sessions for the courses. We actually had one last night that was very cracking. Not an industry gets to meet the students, get to meet industry. And that pathway and those professional networks are really developed early on yet. And also the opportunity to network and connect with potential bosses opposite in your own workplace. And then you actually get to hear things differently versus a lecture side of things, and you hear things from the ground looking to if you want to add to that. Yeah, sorry. I was just going to add very similar to what Tamara has said, we really want our fellow students to engage with our local clinicians and make those connections and also, you know, complete their placements so they can get an understanding of what it is like to work locally. And I guess an example of a success story recently is we’ve had some Geelong students work with one of our ACOs, so Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations to complete their project placement, which is in their final year of study. So I want to woo students aren’t quite up to that final year yet. But yeah, a fourth-year students completed project placement and it was around developing resources that were helpful to the Acho and also contribute to our Otis learning. So I think it’s just great that our OTA’s can yeah, see what the needs are of our local communities and produce something that’s helpful to them. That must be really rewarding from your perspective to see the design come to fruition. And then those fourth year developing resources that can be so useful and practical. How does that make you feel like being part of the AI and how it was really rewarding. And yeah, being that person that kind of engaged with the Acho and then supported the students, it was so nice just to see the journey unfold, to see the learning that occurred in our students, but also the benefits of the project and organisation. And I guess it really just sets the scene and opens up more opportunities for our for future Otay students, both Geelong students and then our wonderful students when they get to their fourth year as well. And I wonder how you’ve designed it, whether it will be a full loop that students will come back into the mix, that they’ll then be mentors or guides for the next cohort of students to tomorrow. I think that’s the interesting thing to look into and what I’ve grown up with born in that, that way. So I came from a really tiny town called, I have 15 family to go to or finish high school, but then also to go to university and now coming back to the southwest in the thrall at both connections are really important. They part of Bacon’s investment of having us both on thought and then being able to go out to providers and to industry, but also to school. We do some recruitment like we’ve been to. Hey, wouldn’t chat to you 12 students there. We’ve been to Portland, Horsham though, we’ve really been had capacity to go and actually have those face to face and build relationships which are really important in regional every area, but also in regional and rural areas. So that’s been part of the success of those partnerships. And building on what Lucinda said about the communication with that, Josie, having deep, long-term partnerships with Acho is also really created opportunity. So we’re also working on simulations and having resources that are provided by First Nations people who work in Asha Acho to guide students learning. So having that pedagogy of indigenous experts being located as experts rather than clients, and that’s been important to us as well to really promote and amplify those voices. Our first year occupational therapy students this year completed an on country experience. So as part of their learnings about indigenous histories and ways of being, we yeah, completed a local on country experience with uncle Rob Lowe, one of the elders in the southwest community. And yeah, we visited various sites around Warrnambool and heard about the history. So it sounds like you’re building multiple connections, like cultural connections and connections with industry. And then that networking layer, which is that professional layer, which is quite profound, especially past year I went. Building those connections and relationships are more important than ever. Not just regional, as you said tomorrow, but just across the board. So it’s great to hear that there’s work going on in that space as well. And the idea of a campus is a living opportunity. I like that our campus is a meeting space. Our campus is on country and having that really dynamic environment. That means that people are connected to the university not only of students, but as professionals, but also as a community lot going this way. The education space is actually a space for everybody. I love that you put that the university is leaving opportunity. I haven’t quite labelled that as before, and it really is at that sort of living opportunity where we are talking about what does that experience actually look. So my next question then is do you offer online for these programs. And then how do you build that university living opportunity. Yeah. So for occupational therapy, all of our core units uh, completed face to face. Students do complete some electives that they might choose to do online. But the majority of our course is face to face. But this year being our first year of our wonderful cohort, and we’ve got our Geelong cohort as the of being running for a long time now. We do want our both cohorts to feel as one cohort. It’s definitely a theme across all online learning. I think we’re all learning is that connection. Yeah, that’s a great question. So virtual work has. We have full cohort now with the Warrnambool campus starting last year. We have online Warrnambool waterfront and knackery. And this is something we grapple with. What does that experience. But there’s an equity issue isn’t there about that kind of great connection and those ability to. But I think part of a challenge in the online environment is going, how do you create those connections, but also have an embodied experience that one of the things we think about in social work at going when we’re talking. So, for example, in Warrnambool, I have the capacity with a small class thought to go out, thought we thought the some pet classes beautiful with a great campus. So we do that. So then transporting that to the online cohort when I’m a unit share is going right now that we’ve dotted. Please go at thought in your natural environment. Find a leaf, a piece of graph, whatever you can find in your and bring it back. And tell us a little bit about the country you’re on to actually integrating some of those experiences and going the online space is also an opportunity. It’s actually going what does that online space, how do we connect with the physical component of that really important and what that space means to you ideally where you are at that point in time, in that place? That’s beautiful to hear. So moving on from that connection sort of things. So connections and it’s important to have success collaborations with industry. Obviously you’ve got a lot of industry networks coming from the southwest region of Victoria. Can you share an example of a successful collaboration with a local business and how it helped your course design process? So one of the collaborative we have is with Western Region Alcohol and Drug Service. I read, and their CEO had been really quite keen on social workers, so they don’t actually have any social workers in their organisation at the moment. They have drug and alcohol nurses, psychologists, welfare workers, PNP uh lived experience working. So really great network and they really keen to have social work at so at with collaborating in the red have actually come along to our mental health unit on campus but also recorded that for the online student experience and waterfront and had peer workers that talk about those opportunities. But then also we’ve designed a assessment task, a minor assessment task around some of those. Kate, that is from the wonderful region. So that’s been really successful in that. Not only do we have that two day experience of the case study, but there’s actually a four day lived experience of having people in the room who we’re speaking to. So that’s been a really great partnership to develop, taking a bit of a different perspective. Something that’s been really rewarding for me is like tomorrow saying before I’m a local, vulnerable girl. I was born here, grew up here. So going back to my secondary school and talking to the secondary school students and saying, okay, 12 years ago, I was in your shoes. I was a ten student on. Yeah. And then showing them or talking about my journey and hoping to inspire them and yeah, inspire them about the opportunities that are local and available to them. And again, I think it goes back to that loop I was talking about earlier, where you’re giving back something to where you’ve come from, and it’s like when you hear from someone close to where you’re at, there’s more of a profound impact that you can have on people. So it’s really nice to hear. And that is keeping it in the region as well. And you’re creating partnerships with your school, your previous former school, which is great to hear as well. Okay, so we’ve talked about the program itself, the different opportunities around connections, relationships, envisage this, the future of this program. And what are your plans for further enhancing industry partnerships moving forward? Yes. So something that’s exciting that’s coming to our vulnerable campus is our health precinct. So one of our buildings is currently under construction. So we’re having brand new occupational therapy simulation spaces being built at the moment, um, as well as upgraded medical and nursing simulations as well. So that’s due to be finished in the first half of next year. So it’s exciting to see. Yeah, I guess how much money is going into supporting our new programs and. Then. Like Tamara mentioned before, we had our occupational therapy and social work networking event last night, and that was for local clinicians to come and hear about our courses and ways that they can be involved in supporting student placements. And yeah, just seeing the interest from artists and social workers who maybe haven’t had students for a while but are really interested in supporting our Deakin students. A lot going on in that space, and it’s nice to see the investment going back. So then you can enhance the experience when you’re talking about those simulations and the experience there. It really puts people to, again, go back to the place and the point in time giving people access to that. So that’s great. It’s something for me really about professional development and creating that think the shared community identity around being a social worker or being an aunt. So I guess one of the things I’d love to do down here in in my role, of course, coordinator, is really develop that professional network and increase that identity as regional and rural practitioners. So that takes the form. I know a number of students in social work have had information sessions with do that about setting up a social work student group, and I know we’ve chatted about, okay, they’re looking at those events and building on what we do here. So again, virtual work and the student experience as more than just attending classes going, we actually run events. We are involved in activism. We think about what is going to benefit our community and what that looks like. So how our profession, professional identity intersects with our personal way of being. So I guess that’s what I’m excited about and hoping. And again, that enhances the student experience. And thinking about this is not a didactic approach. This is part of embodying who I am and who I want to be at the social worker on it. And also adding to that is around the you’re leading from the front in in the sense collaborating together as well. So although you’ve got individual courses, yeah, it’s the same premise. Right. And as you said, you’ve got the health network together. So you’re doing those things, you’re collaborating, you’re connecting across the industry. So you’re showing those partnerships within different disciplines. And that was really powerful from a student perspective as well, to see that come to fruition. And it enabled again that cross-pollinate to know that the plan work that happens in practice, they’re actually doing it in the student, for example, the thing that did that amazing on country experience and organise that the okay to here I went along to that with the students side. I’ve got a social work academic and we’re hoping that social work students potentially can access that in the future. But we also connect with medicine. We connect with education professionals because it’s a smaller group of academics in multiple. We work with professional staff really closely. So look, there’s so much going on in this space. It’s great to hear the partnerships. And I love the again, going back to that connection and multi-layered connections and shapes that you’re building. My final question to you is if someone wanted to get started on the same sort of initiative around the industry partnerships in their coursework, whe re would they get started or what advice would you have for them? I’ll give it my advice, and I know this is difficult. We have lots of competing in big events in academia, but it’s actually getting out and getting on the ground, going out to agencies, going to events, community events and actually making those quick connections and real relationships, and also having a bit of a plan for thinking about what do we want to achieve here in terms of having authentic learning experiences and creating the type of social workers or artists that are really going to be helpful to the people, communities and organisations that they work with. Yeah, I agree Tamara. I think it’s about being a present, being a presence in the community. And so yeah, I’ve attended like the day events, close the get event, relay for life, like really being active in the community and showing. Yeah that you’re really committed to fostering those relationships with community members of organisations. And then it shows it’s a relationship versus a one you take or you give. It’s actually relationship. So it’s a two way exchange, which I suppose like here as well. Yeah, it’s the way. So now I’d like to say thank you for your time and thank you for sharing your experiences. It’s really insightful and great to hear what you’re doing. Any lasting pearls of wisdom that you’d like to share with our audience? You will just note wonderful campus. It’s just so beautiful. Oh yeah. See, you can get into this are unique in our lives, but we just love working on country and vulnerable with. Yeah, right. We’re hearing that. So thank you for your time and thank you for sharing your experiences. Greatly appreciated. Thank you so much. Joan. Welcome.