Student teachers worry they may have to defer graduation or go without crucial classroom time if school placements are cut due to the pandemic crisis.
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At Federation University, fourth-year students spend half of second semester in a classroom, which develops essential skills before graduating and getting a job - but right now, the future is uncertain, particularly if schools move to online-only classes.
Ballarat's Hannah Quinlan is studying primary teaching, and is in her fourth year - this semester, she said she would be spending one day a week in a classroom, and was preparing for the six-week stint at the beginning of term three.
She said she hopes she can return to the school where she was learning.
"We just don't know if we are going to be able to complete (the year), we have no idea if we can graduate without completing our placement," she said.
"It's already been three and a bit years, and it's exhausting when you're looking forward to graduating - you can learn all the theory in the tutorials and online classes, but you don't get any feel of what it's actually going to be like until you step inside the classroom, it's completely different."
Term two in Victoria is currently set to go ahead, but the situation may change quickly - an announcement on whether schools will remain open or students will study online is expected to be made later this week.
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Federation University vice-chancellor Professor Helen Bartlett said the university semester had moved online where possible with only essential staff still on campus.
She said the issue of industry placements would be felt across the entire university sector.
"We're all working together to reach a position with the state and federal governments on what might comprise teaching placements (during the crisis) - how can we look at them differently?" she said.
"We're calling on teacher registration bodies and the government to be a bit more flexible, and we're asking that more consideration be given to online teaching experience, and shorter placement periods based on competency, rather than the usual length of time in the classroom.
"We're hoping this will get resolved in the coming weeks."
Clarity was urgently needed to prevent teacher shortages, particularly in rural areas, she said - another issue facing several sectors.
"At the moment we're focusing on getting through this semester, and following the advice, making sure we do everything as well as we can, but everyone's turning their minds to what happens if this goes beyond the period we hoped, and what does that mean for semester two and graduations - we are considering all of those things," she said.
"In the coming little while, we'll be putting plans in place, because the students are worried, we want them to feel that there are clear options and plans.
"They can still get a very meaningful experience online, it's even more challenging for their skills, they have to be a lot more creative and engaging, it's not a secondary experience for them - it's still an important and valuable way to demonstrate competence."
Federation University has also announced it will help students with a financial assistance program of $300 a week for five weeks if they are experiencing hardship, lost their jobs, or do not have access to technology required to study remotely.
The university will also extend the due date for student tuition fees and provide financial relief to students living on campus, according to a media release.
"So many students have lost their jobs, we want to keep them in their study, we don't want to lose them," Professor Bartlett said.
"We want to support them emotionally as well, as mental health is really important at this time, there's a lot of anxiety, so we're working hard on making sure we've got financial and other kinds of support in place for them."
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