Teaching professional experience, universally shortened to prac, is the supervised classroom placement every Australian initial teacher education student must complete before applying for teacher registration. Across short observation days and longer block placements, you plan and teach real lessons, gather evidence against the national teaching standards, and produce the written records your university expects to see.
Key takeaways
- Professional experience, or prac, is the supervised placement component of initial teacher education in Australia, building evidence against the seven Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST).
- AITSL sets the national standards; your mentor and university assess how well you meet them on placement.
- Lesson plans, a reflective journal, a professional experience report and an evidence portfolio are the main written outputs a placement produces.
- A Working With Children Check and other compliance documents must be valid before your first day in a classroom.
- An “at risk” notification partway through a placement is a checkpoint, not an automatic fail, and it comes with a formal support process.
What professional experience actually involves
Professional experience is the practical, in-school component of an initial teacher education (ITE) program, sitting alongside your coursework rather than replacing it. It is the education-specific form of what universities call work-integrated learning, covered in the work-integrated learning placement guide if you want the wider picture. Most programs mix short early observation days with longer block placements later in the degree, and the exact structure differs between providers, so check your course handbook for the requirement that applies to you.
Before you start, most providers require a valid Working With Children Check, called different things in different states, such as the Blue Card in Queensland, plus a police check. Your placement office typically allocates the school, and once placed you will work with a mentor or supervising teacher day to day, while a university-based supervisor visits periodically.
AITSL, the APST standards and what “meeting the standard” means
The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) is the national body behind the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST), which describe what teachers should know, do and value at four career stages, from Graduate through to Lead, organised under three domains: Professional Knowledge, Professional Practice and Professional Engagement. Your placement exists to generate evidence that you meet the standards at the Graduate career stage.
We mention AITSL and the APST only because they are the framework your placement is assessed against, not because our writers hold teacher registration. Our writers and editors are experienced academics, some with education qualifications, and none claim to be, or act as, a registered or practising teacher, they simply help you write clearly about evidence you have already generated in your own classroom.
The table below maps each standard to the evidence a mentor typically looks for on placement.
| Standard | Focus | Evidence on prac |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Know students and how they learn | Understanding learners’ backgrounds, development and diverse needs | Differentiated tasks in lesson plans, notes on student needs discussed with your mentor |
| 2. Know the content and how to teach it | Curriculum knowledge and subject-specific strategies | Lesson plans linked to the curriculum, resources adapted to the topic and year level |
| 3. Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning | Clear goals, lesson structure and varied strategies | A sequence of plans showing clear learning intentions and logical progression |
| 4. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments | Managing behaviour and classroom climate | Behaviour management notes and observations of how you handled transitions |
| 5. Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning | Using assessment to check understanding | Marked work samples, feedback given to students, notes on resulting changes to your teaching |
| 6. Engage in professional learning | Reflecting on your own practice | Reflective journal entries and records of feedback conversations |
| 7. Engage professionally with colleagues, parents and the community | Working within the profession and school community | Staff meeting notes, parent-teacher interaction observed, mentor sign-off comments |
Every lesson should point back to at least one standard, which makes your journal and final report faster to write.
Working with your mentor or supervising teacher
Your mentor, sometimes called your supervising or associate teacher, is who you learn the most from during placement. They model classroom routines, hand over teaching responsibility gradually, and give day-to-day feedback an occasional university visit cannot replicate. A university-based supervisor usually also observes at least once and signs off on your final report.
Treat feedback as information, not judgement, and keep a running note of what you are told after each lesson, since these notes become the evidence base for your reflective journal later. Most placements mix informal, in-the-moment feedback with a scheduled professional conversation partway through and at the end of the block. If the relationship feels difficult, raise it early with your placement coordinator, a mismatch in style is common and usually solvable, and most universities would rather resolve it in week two than discover it in week five.
The teaching and feedback cycle on placement
A single day of prac can feel unpredictable, but the underlying rhythm repeats through the whole placement: plan a lesson against the curriculum and the standards, teach it, gather feedback from your mentor, reflect on what the evidence shows, then adjust the next lesson. Treating placement as this ongoing loop, rather than a series of one-off performances, is what mentors are actually looking for.
Each turn of that cycle leaves a paper trail: the plan becomes evidence, the feedback becomes a journal note, and the adjustment becomes the improvement your final report describes, so write each stage down as it happens rather than reconstructing it before a deadline.
Planning lessons that meet the standard
A prac lesson plan is more detailed than the outline an experienced teacher might use, because it doubles as evidence for your mentor and the standards. A solid plan states a clear learning intention linked to the curriculum outcome, success criteria, and a sequence of activities with rough timing. Differentiation deserves its own line, not an afterthought: note how the lesson stretches early finishers and supports those needing more scaffolding, since Standard 1 evidence largely comes from this detail. Build in a short formative check, a question set or a quick show of hands, so you have something concrete to say about what students learned, feeding Standard 5.
Expect plans to be marked up and handed back for revision early in a block, that is normal supervision, not a sign you are behind. What eats real time is the paperwork around the teaching, not the teaching itself, and if planning and a full-time timetable are squeezing out your coursework, our assignment help writers can take that overload off your plate, keeping other deadlines from slipping while you focus on the classroom.
The written components of professional experience
Placement is assessed as much on paper as in the classroom. Three documents do most of the work: a reflective journal you keep throughout, a formal professional experience report your mentor and supervisor complete, and an evidence portfolio tying your artefacts back to the standards.
The reflective journal
Your reflective journal turns a day’s teaching into evidence of professional growth. A strong entry names a specific moment, describes what actually happened rather than how you felt in general terms, links it to a standard, and closes with one concrete change for next time. A simple model, such as “what happened, so what, now what”, keeps entries focused instead of drifting into a diary. See the guide to writing a placement reflective journal for a full walkthrough of structure and common mistakes. When placement fatigue makes it hard to find the right words, our editors can tighten the structure and language of a draft you have already written, without changing what you observed.
Example: a strong reflection on a lesson
“Today’s Year 4 fractions lesson met its learning intention for most of the class, but not all of it. The hands-on fraction wall activity worked well while students built physical models, and understanding was visible as they compared pieces. Engagement dropped the moment we moved to writing the fractions as symbols on the board, and four students who had been on task went quiet. Reading my mentor’s notes afterward, I realised I had moved from concrete to abstract too quickly, without a bridging step. Next lesson, I will keep the physical models on desks while introducing the symbols, so students can check the abstract form against the concrete one before it stands alone.”
This entry works because it names a standard-linked decision, describes what was observed rather than how the writer felt, and closes with one concrete adjustment.
The professional experience report
The professional experience report is usually completed by your mentor, often alongside your university supervisor, and formally records how you performed against the Graduate career stage standards. Some programs also ask for a self-assessment referencing specific evidence, effectively making the case for your own report before your mentor finalises theirs. Treating this as genuine academic writing, with clear structure and standard-by-standard evidence, beats a rushed end-of-block formality. The guide to writing a placement report covers the structure in detail, and our report writing help service can help organise scattered notes into a clear, evidence-linked document.
The evidence portfolio
Many providers also expect a portfolio, sometimes housed in an online system, collecting artefacts that back your report: lesson plans, work samples, observation notes, feedback records and any professional learning completed during the block. Build it as you go, sorting a folder of loose documents into a standards-mapped portfolio the week before submission is one of the more stressful parts of placement, and far easier when each artefact is filed against its standard on the day it is created.
When a placement goes off track
Most placements finish without drama, but it helps to know the process if yours does not. Providers typically issue a formal “at risk” notification partway through a block if a mentor has concerns, setting out specific areas for improvement and a timeframe to address them, a checkpoint built into the system, not an automatic fail, and it usually comes with extra support rather than an immediate end.
An unsatisfactory final result can lead to a second attempt, a placement extension, a new placement, or in serious cases a review of your continued enrolment, depending on your provider’s policy. You generally have the right to procedural fairness, including a clear explanation and a chance to respond, and most universities offer an internal appeal if the process was not followed correctly. The guide to failing a placement in Australia covers the process, evidence and appeal options in far more depth than we can here. Keep every piece of documentation, your notes, feedback records and correspondence, it is the evidence you or a support person would need if you respond formally.
Finishing placement with a strong paper trail
Prac is judged in the classroom, but assessed through what you write about it. Treat your lesson plans, journal entries and portfolio artefacts as one continuous record rather than separate chores, and the reporting becomes far less daunting, because most of the thinking is already on the page.
Frequently asked questions
What is professional experience, or “prac”, in an Australian teaching degree?
Professional experience, commonly called prac, is the supervised in-school placement component of an initial teacher education program, where you plan and teach real lessons under a mentor’s guidance. It sits alongside your coursework and generates the practical evidence your degree, and future registration, depend on.
How many days of professional experience do I need to complete?
How many days you need depends on your program and pathway, since undergraduate and graduate-entry degrees structure placement differently within national requirements. Check your course handbook or placement office for the exact number.
What are the APST standards I am assessed against on placement?
The APST standards are the seven Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, developed by AITSL and organised under Professional Knowledge, Professional Practice and Professional Engagement. Your placement generates evidence that you can meet these standards at the Graduate career stage.
What does a mentor or supervising teacher actually assess?
A mentor or supervising teacher assesses how you plan, teach and reflect against the standards, alongside your professionalism and classroom relationships. They give ongoing feedback plus at least one formal professional conversation, then contribute to your final report.
What should go in a teaching prac reflective journal?
A teaching prac reflective journal should record specific lessons or moments, what you observed, how that links to a standard, and one concrete change for next time. Vague, feelings-only entries are far less convincing than ones anchored in what students actually did.
What happens if I am at risk of failing my placement?
Being at risk of failing your placement means your mentor has raised specific concerns partway through the block, and you will normally receive a formal notice, a support plan and a timeframe to improve. It is a documented checkpoint, not an automatic fail.
Do I need a Working With Children Check before I start prac?
Yes, a valid Working With Children Check, or your state’s equivalent screening, is required before your first classroom day on almost every ITE program. Confirm the requirement and processing time with your placement office early, since some checks take weeks to issue.
Can someone help me write my reflective journal or professional experience report?
Yes, our writers and editors can help you structure and polish a reflective journal, professional experience report or portfolio commentary based on teaching you have already done. We work from your own classroom evidence and never claim to have completed the placement or the teaching for you.