Internships, Apprenticeships and Voluntary Work

Over the past decade, Adelaide Law School researchers have undertaken world-leading research on work performed at the boundaries of three social and economic spheres: employment, education and training, and volunteering.

Teacher showing machine to student

This has resulted in, among other things:

  • A groundbreaking report commissioned by the Fair Work Ombudsman on the nature and regulation of work experience in Australia
  • the first national survey on the prevalence of unpaid work experience, commissioned by the federal Department of Employment
  • a comparative study of the regulation of internships for the International Labour Organization (ILO)
  • a collection of essays that brings together established and emerging scholars from around the world to discuss the use, benefits and regulation of internships
  • a report presenting the findings from empirical research into the regulation of work experience by Australian universities
  • journal articles and book chapters on subjects that include the performance of unpaid work by temporary migrants, the prevalence of unlawful work experience, the use of educational standards to regulate university-based internships and placements, and the protection of work experience participants against discrimination or harassment. and
  • technical assistance to the ILO with the development of new international labour standards on apprenticeships.