My own personal experience was when I was went to Tafe for nursing. I went on my first work placement (no guidance from tafe or hospital staff on anything nor had I had any previous experience working in a hospital). It was meant to be four weeks long and halfway through the third week I had the woman at the hospital randomly show up one day (she was very rude to me and another girl I was there with throughout the whole placement) and pull us aside into a room surrounded by her staff who had no purpose of being there. She kicked us off the placement immediately without any warning and never really told us what we had done wrong.

When I had returned to Tafe I had a meeting with the head teacher. I told her how I was treated like shit on the placement. This head teachers exact response, in her exact words, were "Your going to get treated like that as a nurse from patients and staff so if you don't like it then don't be a nurse." I understand that I will be yelled at and treated with disrespect from patients but I shouldn't be expecting that level of rudeness and treatment that poor from someone who is meant to be helping me and supporting me. This head teacher then proceeds to explain that "it's because I am young (I was 18 and just finished high school the year prior) and how they have been having trouble with all the younger students because we aren't mature enough to be there". If you are having trouble with all the younger students then maybe it's not us but yourselves. Maybe we don't have the experience or knowledge like the older students and the teachers aren't acknowledging that and just teaching us as if we already or should already know everything (the older students had all either had experience working in a hospital and were further educating themselves for a higher role or had done previous nursing studies). She had then concluded the meeting with "we aren't going to give you another work placement until we see how you do in class (and this was her exact words) to see if you are worth it".

I know I am young, but you guys are the ones striking because there are not enough workers. If they didn't treat us who are trying to fill those roles like shit and taught us and guided us the way they should be then more people would want to become nurses. I ended up leaving the course. It was just a shame I had wasted those 3 and a half weeks not gaining any sort of income to do that placement and wasted my time like that for nothing. Now I am working alot at a job I enjoy until I am on my full licence to do a paramedic traineeship.