Professional practice, learning through engagement in the community (service learning) or other models of learning in practice, what is it? You can experience all this at the DIP.
Learning models in practice are of many different sorts: professional practice during studies, field teaching, professional practice outside of studies, an element of the implementation plan, course, service learning, but all of them have in common learning on real challenges and work processes of the future profession.
e.g. Professional practice during studies: most often it is part of the study program, one of the courses, with increasing or decreasing workload. Contracts are made with mentors, and the elements are: implementation plan of professional practice with goals, content, educational outcomes; implementation plan for professional practice implementation that accompanies the implementation plan, student’s professional practice diary, certificate of completed professional practice.
We draw a professional practice contract with all participants of professional practice or other forms of learning. All participants can continue to volunteer after completing their obligations. Below is a sample contract on professional practice.
CONTRACT_ON_PROFESSIONAL_PRACTICE_7.10
Anyone interested can contact our e-mail address: [email protected] or [email protected], or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/istrazinvanieipotpora/
The holder of the course/professional internship must provide the student, and us, as the professional internship service provider, with:
- The implementation plan of professional practice with the following elements: content, goals and educational outcomes, number of hours, method of evaluation and method of reporting
- referral, agreement with the DIP.
Professional practice for students can be paid or unpaid, (most often), and mentors in the organization, or the organization that provides this educational service, can also be paid.
On “professional practice”, we held workshops for employers at the Faculty of Philosophy, 2022: More on What is professional practice 2022, within the ESF Perpetum Agile project.
Field teaching or some of the elements of the course have the same elements, but to a lesser extent.
In contrast to professional practice, the elements of high-quality socially useful learning or community-based learning or service learning are:
- Integrated learning: The community-based learning component has clearly articulated goals of knowledge, skills, or values that derive from the broader goals of the classroom and school/study. Life skills learned outside the classroom are reintegrated into classroom learning.
- Quality service: Responds to real community needs, as recognized by the community itself. Student-friendly and well-organized, designed to achieve significant benefits for the students and the community alike.
- Collaboration: A component of community service learning is collaboration between as many partners as possible: students, community organizations staff, school administrators, teachers, and service recipients. All partners benefit from this component and contribute to its planning.
- Student activism: Pupils/students actively participate in reflection processes, evaluations and ceremonies for finding solutions to challenges; they take on roles that match their maturity and level of commitment.
- Civic responsibility: Promotes students’ responsibility to care for others and contribute to the community. By participating in this component, students gain better understanding of ways in which they can impact their community.
- Reflection, reflection: Reflection establishes connections between the experiences of student activities and the academic curriculum. Reflection occurs before, during and after the service experience.
- Evaluation: All partners are involved in the evaluation of the plan and implementation of socially useful learning or challenges, they try to measure the progress towards learning goals and services provided.
- Celebration/festivities of acquired solutions.
One of the goals of our activity is to enable the acquisition of professional and personal competences for future experts and people who work with groups that need support and care. That is why we cooperate with many institutions, and organizations.
More about vocational training in Croatia: e.g. https://mzo.gov.hr/UserDocsImages//dokumenti/Obrazovanje/VisokoObrazovanje/RazvojVisokogObrazovanje//Prezentacija%20-%20Participation%20universities%20and%20high%20schools%20in%20activities% 20cross-border%20cooperation.pdf
Which students or trainees can come to us to study or undergo practice? In principle, any, because our activity is full of challenges. For now, we cooperate with a large number of institutions, and if you are a student or attendee of one that is not on the list, and you would like to gain experience with us, contact us at [email protected]
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The University of Rijeka – Society for Research and Support (DIP) is registered in the University of Rijeka Professional Base Register https://uniri.hr/sveuciliste-i-drustvo/sveucilisne-baze/, which means that students can attend professional practice at our association.
Professional practice can be done at the DIP by students of various studies, because the DIP is an association that encompasses various areas of work and expertise in its field of activity, from financial operations to psychology or medicine. We plan the work and involvement of students with each faculty, course holder or professional internship, in accordance with the implementation plan. We include all the students in training, thus developing the skills they need in order to work with our primary target group, regardless of which study they come from (to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the subject of study). We inform them about our activities and offer different challenges and/or tasks or volunteer positions. Our mentors monitor and support each student individually, but we also organize group support meetings.
Professional practice can be done by learning through participation in our programs:
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Polytechnic in Rijeka: cooperation on programs of socially useful learning (creating a student’s final thesis on the topic of creating an application for the needs of administrative management of various activities and tasks, creating tasks for students in various studies)
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Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation, Zagreb, inclusion of students in field classes, professional practice, inclusion in conferences and professional gatherings, inclusion in research, recommendations, etc.
Our cooperation on the implementation of professional practice has been extended to other European countries, so we have signed agreements on cooperation on the implementation of professional practice with these institutions of higher education:
3.2. Netherlands – Dutch school Horizon College – The accreditation applies to the vocational programs: https://www.horizoncollege.nl
- Social worker (level 4)
- Personal care provider to specific target groups (level 4).
Likewise, participants of various therapeutic schools can undergo the necessary professional practice with us:
- Amygdala Center: school of propaedeutics of psychotherapy / agreement on the implementation of professional practice for participants – https://amigdalacentar.hr/seminars/propedeutika-psihoterapije/
We also held training workshops for mentors and employers, on the importance of professional practice and the role of mentors/students in implementation, within the Perpetum Agile project; https://torpedo.media/novosti-rijeka/studentska-praksa-u-fokusu-radionice-odrzane-na-filozofskom-fakultetu
Our multi-year cooperation with the University of Rijeka began when the DIP was founded, and students participate in the work through several learning models and work methods, in order to acquire professional competences and competences for personal development. From 2014 to September 2022, over 500 students participated in various forms of learning through our work:
- Professional practice and/or practical work: different compulsory courses at different studies that are an integral part of the students’ obligations, from 100 to 40 or more hours, for example Practical work 1. and 2. from the study of pedagogy
- “Service learning” – learning through commitment in the community or socially useful learning; student projects that, together with mentors from the organization, carry out actions or longer-term learning projects in the community, several projects, for example “DIP GREEN” https://dip.hr/en/dip-green-2/ .
- Courses from various study programs:
a) Students and the community 1 and 2
b) Research methodology in culture; Family pedagogy, Families and children at risk, Family relations, Family and prevention of antisocial behavior, etc.
c) ERASMUS+ mobility programs for foreign students enrolling in courses at the University of Rijeka, from different countries, from Spain, Poland, Ukraine, etc.
d) YUFE programs, e.g. from Cyprus, https://dip.hr/yufe-activities-virtual-campus-yufe-i-sotiria/
- preparation of professional, undergraduate, graduate or other theses:
a) with topics from the field of activity
b) challenges that solve real problems in the field of activity
5. field work for individual courses (visits and presentations)
6. student volunteers, in various volunteer positions
7. cooperation with student associations on various projects: e.g.
– Biotechnology Student Association http://www.usbri.uniri.hr – Christmas Decorations of Good Wishes project, https://www.rijeka.hr/zapocela-dvodnevna-humanitarna-akcija-kuglice-dobrih-zelja/
- Association of psychology students, Psirius, humanitarian Christmas party for the DIP
- Association of students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering – humanitarian concert for the DIP, and others.
