Social work in Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) is a regulated profession which requires anyone using the title of Social Worker to be registered with the Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB) (Social Workers Registration Board, 2026). In order to achieve this, one must first successfully complete a recognised social work qualification, demonstrate the 10 core competence standards of the SWRB, and meet the SWRB Fit and Proper Person Policy.
The Education Standards set by SWRB state that all social work degree programmes in ANZ must include a minimum of 900 hours field education hours across 120 – 150 days (Social Workers Registration Board, 2025). In the case of NorthTec, each field education placement is 60 full-time days, the first in year three of the social work degree and the second in the final year (the current BASW qualification is a four year degree).
Tai Tokerau | Northland is a geographical region located in the far north of the north island. This region has one of the lowest median incomes in the country and ranks among the highest area of Aoteaora New Zealand in terms of unemployment rates (Raven et al., 2021). Other contributing factors are high numbers of lower paid work, and a younger generation who often leave the area to pursue training or employment opportunities in other regions of ANZ, including some who relocate to Australia primarily for greater employment opportunities (Atkinson, 2014: 2019).
A challenge for ākonga studying the Bachelor of Applied Social Work (BASW) at NorthTec (as well as other social work degree programmes in ANZ), is balancing existing personal, family, and work obligations alongside the academic requirements to complete field education placement activities (Raven et al., 2021). In the experience of NorthTec, a smaller tertiary education provider located in Northland | Tai Tokerau, there has been an increase in the number of ākonga requesting extended field education placements in order to accommodate them retaining their paid employment alongside completion of field education hours. This often reduces the days on placement from five days per week (considered to be a full-time placement), to three days per week (considered to be a part-time placement). This has implications for NorthTec kaimahi (staff) as well as the agency where the ākonga is placed.
Part-time placements are a good fit for some smaller agencies in the region but are less common than full-time placements. With an increase of ākonga requesting part-time over the past few years, kaimahi in the BASW team are finding it more challenging to secure placement agencies who can/will accommodate this request. This is due in part to the timing of the placement activities, usually between August and mid-November. An extended part-time placement then must traverse the Christmas / New Year period when agencies, as well as NorthTec, have a closure period for the summer break. This break can range from two to four weeks. During this time, the placement is effectively ‘on hold’ until the agency re-opens.
The increasing need for ākonga to retain/maintain paid employment while continuing in field education placement activities within social work degree programmes leads to lower attendance, lower grades, reduced time to commit to study or assessment requirements, exhaustion and related health concerns (Baglow & Gair, 2019; Bexley et al., 2013). The mixed method study by Raven et al. (2021) highlighted the experiences of ākonga at NorthTec. A reported sixty-three per cent of participants were in paid employed. Of this number, twenty four percent worked 5 – 10 hours each week, almost eighteen percent worked 12 – 18 hours per week; fifteen percent worked 20-32 hours each week; and less than two percent worked 40 hours per week (Raven et al., 2021).
Combining this data with the anecdotal experiences of kaiako/kaimahi (tutors/staff) of the BASW programme shows an increasing trend in the demand for part-time field education placements. One initiative that could positively contribute to reduce this demand and the potential financial hardship that comes from completing mandatory field education placements, is the introduction of paid placements for social work students in Aoteaora New Zealand. Social work students studying in Australia can access financial resources while participating in mandatory placement events (Department of Education, 2026). This initiative provides a maximum weekly amount (determined by specific criteria in relation to a student’s financial situation) for Australian domestic students enrolled in either Bachelor or Master’s social work programmes that include mandatory placement events that average or are greater than 30 hours per week (Department of Education, 2026).
In recent years and in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, there has been increasing dialogue on the value and importance of moving to paid placement experiences in social work education. In order for this to be realised, the Government would need to prioritise and fund workforce development sufficiently (Paid Placements Aotearoa, 2024).The current coalition Government, led by the centre-right National Party, has not progressed the topic of paid placements in tertiary education. Aotearoa New Zealand operates on a three yearly political cycle. The current coalition Government came to power in 2023, with the next general election in November 2026. During this term in office, they have changed legislation in order to halt progression of 33 pay equity claims (Radio New Zealand, 2025) and changed the threshold to lodge new claims as a mechanism to stop many of the original 33 claims being resubmitted. This does not bode well, in the opinion of this author, for decisive and meaningful change to progress Government funding of paid social work field education placements.
In this current political climate, this author does not have confidence this will be (or has been) given the attention it deserves. Anecdotally, some Members of Parliament have taken a cautious approach to making any commitment to progress the topic of paid placements within their respective political parties, leaning more towards their own commentary of understanding the situation and need, yet with an unwillingness to escalate to a place where the topic can be more robustly debated in a political arena.
Social work educators at NorthTec are committed to providing high quality social work educational experiences that lead to high quality social work qualified graduates. Social work ākonga expect and deserve the same. Our hapori (communities) demand the same of newly qualified social workers entering the workforce who will potentially be working with people when they are at their most vulnerable. The introduction of paid field education placements would make a tangible and meaningful reduction in the financial hardship experienced by social work ākonga in Aotearoa New Zealand.
References
Atkinson, J., Salmond, C., & Crampton, P. (2014). NZDep2013 Index of Deprivation. Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington. https://www.otago.ac.nz/wellington/ otago069936.pdf
Baglow, L., & Gair, S. (2019). Australian social work students: Balancing tertiary studies, paid work and poverty. Journal of Social Work, 19(2), 276-295. https://doi. org/10.1177/1468017318760776
Bexley, E., Daroesman, S., Arkoudis, S., & James, R. (2013). University student finances in 2012: A study of the financial circumstances of domestic and international students in Australia’s universities. Centre for the Study of Higher Education. http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED558588
Department of Education. (2026, May 13). Commonwealth prac payment for students. Australian Government. https://www.education.gov.au/commonwealth-prac-payment-cpp
Paid Placements Aoteaora. (2024). Campaigning for paid training in healthcare, education, and social work. https://www.paidplacementsaotearoa.org/
Radio New Zealand. (2025, May 6). Government halts all current pay equity claims, makes it harder to lodge new ones. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/560069/government-halts-all-current-pay-equity-claims-makes-it-harder-to-lodge-new-ones
Raven, A., Jakeman, A., Dang, A., Newman, T., Sapwell, C., Vaughan, S., Peters, T., Nathan, P. (2021). Report on material hardship and impacts on ākonga wellbeing and educational outcomes: Bachelor of Applied Social Work (BASW) and Bachelor of Nursing Studies, Tai Tokerau Wānanga, NorthTec, 2021. Whanake: The Pacific Journal of Community Development, 7(1), 6–42.
Social Workers Registration Board. (2026). Rēhitatanga | Registration. https://swrb.govt.nz/registration/
Social Workers Registration Board. (2025). Te pou tūhono | SWRB education standards. https://swrb.govt.nz/education-standards-review-2021-25/