Key UC Contact
What We Did
One of our papers in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (BHSc) is HLED 321 Health Education in Practice - Internship. In this paper, third year students majoring in Health Education, Public Health and/or Society and Policy embark upon an internship in a workplace setting. This work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunity is a three-way arrangement between the student, the host organisation and UC. The internship brings learning from the degree to life for students, and benefits organisations by providing a university student who is passionate about the organisation’s work to undertake a project of value to them. Internships take place in a wide variety of organisations locally and nationally, and are wide-ranging in the nature of work involved, from research projects to resource development.
Who Was Involved
Internships take place in a wide range of settings related to health education. For example, health promotion organisations (e.g. Sport Canterbury, Community and Public Health Christchurch, Sparklers, Cancer Society, Family Planning), non-governmental organisations (e.g. Shakti Youth, Endometriosis New Zealand, The Collaborative Trust, Plains FM), clinical health settings (e.g. Nurse Maude and the Christchurch Sexual Health Centre), and primary and secondary schools in the South Island.
Why It Matters
WIL can enhance students’ employability through developing their discipline-specific knowledge and skills and can enhance their preparedness for post-graduate study. WIL builds students’ confidence in tackling real-life workplace tasks, builds their network in their area of interest, and strengthens their cultural competence and citizenship. The internships in HLED 321 provide our students an opportunity to bring key aspects of their learning from the BHSc to life in ways that help them develop a range of critical competencies for their futures; and intensify their passion for working in health education-related fields.
Learn More
Digital artefacts of students’ contributions to online material:
- Plains FM podcast https://plainsfm.org.nz/programmes/Programme-Details.aspx?PID=061e086c-5312-4edb-9c3c-3f58867ba647
- UC Wellbeing hub https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/support/wellbeing-hub/
- For further reading, Ako Aotearoa offers research-informed resources for good practice in WIL: https://ako.ac.nz/knowledge-centre/work-integrated-learning
