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Fieldwork Placement Assignment Process

Key Information for Fieldwork

Unless communicating with a fieldwork site after being matched to that site, students are prohibited from contacting any Canadian fieldwork sites or clinicians to arrange observation opportunities or to solicit a fieldwork placement. Any such arrangements will not be honoured. The Director of Clinical Education, the Fieldwork Course Instructors, and the Fieldwork Administrators are responsible for liaising with all fieldwork facilities. This rule (that applies to students in all Canadian OT programs) is put in place so that our fieldwork sites are not inundated with individual student requests and applies to any local, provincial, or national fieldwork site. Students are also prohibited from contacting other Canadian university fieldwork coordinators regarding out-of-catchment placements. 

Students who wish to engage in a student-initiated LEAP placement must first contact the department’s LEAP coordinator and follow the specified processes prior to initiating any contact or discussions with the intended site. 

Students must be prepared to travel to any fieldwork facility within the Toronto catchment area to attend their placement. The University of Toronto catchment area includes facilities in areas outside of Toronto, such as Brampton, Mississauga, York Region, and Whitby. 

To enable students to receive a variety of placement opportunities and to allow all students to have fair access to all facilities, students will only be allowed to do one placement within the same facility/site (e.g. one placement at UHN – Toronto Rehab; one placement at Trillium – Credit Valley Hospital). For the purposes of this policy, organizations that have multiple campuses may be considered separate, as advised by your fieldwork instructor. Students who list a site where they were previously assigned as a preference will have that preference removed and risk being matched to an unfilled offer. This rule does not apply to the Introductory Fieldwork Experience placements. In other words, students are allowed to have a second placement at the same facility where they had their Introductory Fieldwork placement. 

Fieldwork Placement Assignment Process

Prior to each fieldwork course, the fieldwork instructor arranges a mandatory student meeting to discuss course-specific objectives, information, and placement offerings, as well as to review general fieldwork policies and procedures. This meeting may be online or in person and if a student has a conflict, they need to contact the fieldwork instructor to make alternative arrangements. 

Student assignment of placements (often called “the fieldwork match”) is carried out through a software-assisted process involving student preferences, program requirements, fieldwork-related accommodations, and previously approved student special consideration requests. Efforts are made to place students in their preferred practice areas and/or geographical areas, however students should anticipate that this will not be possible for all fieldwork courses. The Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy will place students in specific facilities/areas of therapy to meet individual students’ learning needs and provide students with an appropriate balance of fieldwork education experiences. Students must be prepared to attend placement at any fieldwork organization within the University of Toronto catchment area including: 

  • Toronto (downtown and all suburbs) 

  • Peel Region (Brampton, Mississauga) 

  • Parts of Durham Region (Ajax, Whitby, Pickering) 

  • York Region (Aurora, Central York Region, Maple, Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Southwest York Region, Southeast York Region, Stouffville, Thornhill, Vaughan) 

Students who wish to complete Fieldwork 2, 3, or 4 out of the University of Toronto catchment area must attend to all announcements for possible opportunities. See Placement Opportunities Outside the University of Toronto Catchment Area for further information. 

Please review the summary of the typical fieldwork course procedure and timeline. For courses Fieldwork 1 through 4, students will be asked to review fieldwork offers that are shared on Quercus and/or InPlace. After review, students communicate their fieldwork preferences via InPlace, by following the applicable instructions. Any information the students would like to be considered (e.g., access to a vehicle, experience with children, etc.) during placement matching should be completed in the same timeframe by completing the My details section on InPlace, as per InPlace instruction sheet.  

Students must complete and submit a Request for Special Consideration Form for any unique and serious family or personal situations that may affect participation in fieldwork. These requests will be reviewed by the fieldwork instructor and possibly the graduate coordinator to ensure the ability to support the concern. Students who are registered with Accessibility Services and have a disability and/or medical concern that may affect fieldwork performance, will be asked to submit a Letter of Accommodations to the fieldwork instructor(s) by a specified date, so that accommodations can be supported during the placement assignment process.

Please note that for the Introductory Fieldwork Experience no preferences will be submitted. 

Students who are interested in an out-of-catchment placements (national or international) will be instructed regarding submission of preferences and participation in the placement match if their placement has not been finalized (e.g. Placement Agreement signed and permission to proceed given by the fieldwork course instructor, LEAP placement lead, NOSM lead, or International lead. If, by four to six weeks prior to the beginning of placement, the out-of-catchment placement has not been finalized, the student will be required to stay in the University of Toronto catchment area and will be matched to an unfilled placement. 

After the placement matching process is completed, an announcement to students will be made, and students will locate the placement to which they have been assigned on InPlace. No exchange of placements between students is allowed. Students who have not received a preference may have the opportunity to consider an unfilled offer, if applicable. 

Once the placement list is finalized, information regarding the student placement assignment will be emailed by the university to the participating facilities. After this email is sent, students are required to write an introductory letter to the placement facility by the date specified by the fieldwork Instructor.

If a placement is cancelled after a student has selected it, the student will be notified by a fieldwork team member, and another placement will be assigned. 

Conflict of Interest Considerations (Perceived, potential, and actual conflicts of interest)

The Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy (OS&OT), in alignment with principles and practices across the Rehabilitation Sciences Sector, asks students to thoughtfully consider perceived and potential conflicts of interest when ranking placement offers for each fieldwork-based course.

Fair and safe teaching and learning environments are based in student-preceptor relationships that are free from pre-existing personal or professional relationships. These may include but are not limited to:

  • Personal relationships:
    • A family member or close personal contact works with (or is) the preceptor
    • The student or a close personal contact previously received services from the fieldwork site or unit
    • The student has established close friendships within the fieldwork site
  • Professional relationships:
    • The student has previously volunteered, worked, or collaborated on research in the assigned unit or site

Our shared goal is to avoid actual conflicts of interest, where teaching, supervision, or evaluation could be consciously or unconsciously influenced by a prior relationship.

Disclosure of Prior Relationships

Students who have had any prior relationship with a site or unit within a site are requested to disclose this to a member of the fieldwork team (e.g., faculty or administrative staff).

A prior relationship with a fieldwork site does not automatically preclude a student from ranking or being assigned to a placement. Where relevant, the course instructor will discuss the nature of the relationship with the student and, if appropriate, may identify safeguards to ensure a fair and educationally sound teaching and learning experience.

As previously highlighted in the fieldwork manual, students may not contact sites or clinicians who currently provide occupational therapy services to arrange their own placement. Student-initiated LEAP placements that are role-emerging, and aim to introduce occupational therapy to a site, may offer appropriate opportunities to contact a site, when following the specific LEAP guidelines. Conflict of interest principles continue to apply to students who are exploring a student-initiated LEAP placement. Students are encouraged to discuss potential or perceived conflicts of interest with the LEAP coordinator early in the process.

All final placement decisions are made by the fieldwork team.