OCCT14003 - Transition to Professional Practice

Showing: 2026 HE Term 2
General Information

Unit Synopsis

You will develop and integrate the knowledge, skills and values relevant to working as an occupational therapist in contemporary practice settings, while exploring essential skills for entry to practice, sustaining a healthy career and contributing to the future of the occupational therapy profession. Your focus will be on topics that students preparing to become new graduate occupational therapists need to consider, knowledge of which supports the transition from student to registered professional. Professional supports and resources such as those available from Occupational Therapy Australia are addressed, as well as the legal requirements of professional registration. You will develop your working knowledge of the Australian Occupational Therapy Competency Standards (AOTCS 2018), critically examining how these standards and criteria will be incorporated into your new graduate and early career practice.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 4
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites Pre-requisite:  OCCT13009

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2026

Term 1 - 2027 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Reflective Practice Assignment 25%
2. Portfolio 35%
3. Oral Examination 40%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: SUTE comments
Feedback:
 Some students requested more guidance to understand the requirements of assessment tasks.

Recommendation:
 It is recommended assessment instructions be reviewed for clarity.

Action Taken:
 Each assessment and each accompanying rubric was reviewed for clarity and shared with the CB84 academic team for comment prior to T1 2026.
Source: Unit Coordinator
Feedback:
 The content respects the diversity and flexible learning requirements of the cohort while they undertake full-time practicum, and is seen as useful and relevant to emerging practice.

Recommendation:
 It is recommended that the flexibility in design of the unit continue to be emphasised to students, encouraging their autonomy in working through the content to achieve their learning outcomes.

Action Taken:
 This flexibility and self-directed nature of the unit was emphasised once again, and all lectures freshly recorded to reflect contemporary professional practice topics and issues.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments Report
Feedback:
 Review assessment task descriptions and rubrics to support student understanding of task requirements.

Recommendation:
 It is recommended that each assessment task and accompanying rubric be reviewed for 2027.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinator reflection
Feedback:
 Each assessment will be reviewed to determine which elements of each assessment might need to be reviewed for increased security around artificial intelligence requirements.

Recommendation:
 It is recommended that each assessment task be reviewed for security with artificial intelligence, and changes implemented before T1 2027.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Source: CB84 formal Peer Review process
Feedback:
 The CB84 Peer Review process for OCCT14003 recommended that student engagement in this DST unit would be enhanced by introducing a mandatory pass/fail component for interaction and learning arising from the set Module activities via Moodle.

Recommendation:
 It is recommended that within the review of assessments, the introduction of a mandatory pass/fail component for learning arising from the set Moodle tasks across modules is considered.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Interpret the contemporary contextual factors in Australia influencing the provision of occupational therapy services.
  2. Justify a plan for reflective practice and for ongoing learning, support and mentoring following graduation.
  3. Appraise the relevant legal, ethical and professional reasoning principles applicable to professional practice situations for a new graduate and early career occupational therapist.
  4. Construct a professional portfolio focusing on professional identity and mentoring skills which will demonstrate the imminent transition from student occupational therapist to a registered, employed occupational therapist.
All four learning outcomes and associated content and assessments map to specific criteria across the four Standards (Professionalism, Knowledge and Learning, Occupational Therapy Process & Practice, Communication) within the Australian Occupational Therapy Competency Standards 2018 (AOTCS 2018). 
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Reflective Practice Assignment •
2 - Portfolio • •
3 - Oral Examination • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice • • •
9 - Social Innovation •
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10