Speech Pathology

Go rural for a whole semester

Our semester-long option gives University of Newcastle students a taste of life, study and work in the rural communities of Tamworth, Port Macquarie or Coffs Harbour, with both paediatric and adult SPTH4080 placement options. When you’re not on placement, you’ll continue to complete your normal course work from your rural location.

Our students have access to close academic support, interprofessional and community engagement activities, and more.

Paediatric and adult clinical placements

You can complete paediatric and adult clinical placements (meeting SPTH4080 requirements) in a range of practice settings including public health (Hunter New England Health), private practice, non-government organisations and the disability sector.

Whether it’s inland rural or coastal rural that you’re keen for, our adult placements are offered in a range of locations including Armidale, Bellingen, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Taree and Wingham. There’s even more choice when it comes to paediatric placements, so see if you can imagine yourself learning in Armidale, Forster, Glen Innes, Gunnedah, Inverell, Kempsey, Moree, Muswellbrook, Narrabri, Port Macquarie, Quirindi, Tamworth, Taree or Tuncurry.

Community engaged learning

Did you know you can complete all your SPTH4090 hours with us as well? We offer two-week blocks in Armidale Coffs Harbour, Moree, Port Macquarie and Tamworth where you can spend time with a variety of community organisations and meet the required hours for SPTH4090. And best of all, you don’t need to be enrolled in SPTH4090 to participate—you can complete these hours in any year of your program. The organisations you will spend time with depends on the geographic location, but the experiences are spread across paediatric and adult settings.

It’s a great way to get all your hours and have lots of fun! We got to go sightseeing and volunteered in places that we probably wouldn't have thought of otherwise.” (Coffs Harbour student)

Funding support

You may be entitled to a scholarship or grant to assist your studies, such as Health Education and Training scholarships or the University of Newcastle’s Betty Josephine Fyffe Rural Health Scholarships. To find out more, talk with your university on application.

How to apply

Semester placements: Email uondrh-placements@newcastle.edu.au so we can help you with the process and find out which placement options could work best for you.

Multi-week placements: For University of Newcastle students, nominate your preferences for placement locations through “SONIA” once it is opened by the SPTH4080 coordinator. (Note: each university has its own placement system management, so if you are studying at another university, please consult your university for the correct process.)

Once you have been allocated to one of our speech pathology placements, you will need to register with us via our placement portal to access community and accommodation support.