Supporting Occupational Therapy students in Practice Settings
Work Based Learning Team
Faculty of Health & Wellbeing, UCLan
Support spanning academic and practice settings
Academic Advisor
Continuous support across academic and practice settings to help students develop in their journey to becoming a graduate Occupational Therapist
The Academic Advisor offers support in helping students to develop as a graduate Occupational Therapist. Their role is to offer continuous support throughout a programme to challenge students to maximise success in both academic and practice settings. They can also offer pastoral support when there are circumstances that may affect a student’s capacity to perform to the best of their ability.The Academic Advisor may also signpost the student to the University student support services.
Students may contact their Academic Advisor during practice based learning (in clinical settings), and the best way to arrange appointments is through Starfish. Meetings with Academic Advisors will generally be at the University and should be arranged on days when students are not rostered to be on placement.
Visiting Tutors
Supporting students and Practice Educators in developing Graduate Occupational Therapists
Visiting Tutors are members of the Occupational Therapy course team. For each placement the student is allocated a visiting tutor who will make contact with the student and practice educator during the placement. The visiting tutor will arrange to formally meet to discuss the progress of the placement usually around the mid-point of the placement. This contact will usually be a face-to-face visit at the placement site. Telephone and Skype contact may also used particularly for elective placements for students based some distance from campus.
The Visiting Tutor works to support student and their practice educators within the practice setting. Reviewing the progress made by the student and working with the student and practice educator to develop the placement learning agreement, any action plans put in place and in completing the assessment process for the placement.
Occupational Therapy Practice Placement Lead
Overall monitoring of students practice placement experience and performance across the programme
The Occupational Therapy Practice Placement Lead works closely with the Work Based Learning Team to ensure that students are provided with a broad range of experiences of Occupational Therapy and meet the practice placement requirements of the regulator (The Health and Care Professions Council) and Royal College of Occupational Therapists (professional body). The Occupational Therapy Practice Placement Lead maintains an overarching monitoring role of practice placements in terms of supporting both students and practice educators. They will take a lead in supporting the student cohort with regard to placement support, planning and delivery. They also take a lead role in delivering initial and ongoing training for practice educators.
Course Leader
Overall monitoring of student experience and performance across the programme
TheCourse Leader has overall responsibility for the coordination andintegration of content within and between modules. The Course Leader will offer support when it is deemed necessary for a student to suspend their studies, and make decisions regarding the student’sfitness to resume study following time away. It is not normally theCourse Leader’s roleto support studentsduring practice based learning, unless there are serious circumstances either raised by a student or where concerns have been raised about a student’s conduct or performance. Any situations which have been reported to the Academic Advisor, Occupational Therapy Practice Placement Lead or visiting tutor may also be reported to the Course Leader to ensure that the correct processes are followed in terms of offering longer term support. Highlighted section needs to changed
Support focussed within practice settings
Practice Educator
Supporting students in the practice setting to maximise learning opportunities and develop core standards of proficiency as set out by the HCPC
Practice Educators are qualified practitioners who have undertaken further professional development to enable them to facilitate learning in practice and who assess a student’s achievements at intervals throughout a placement. Practice Educators are responsible for ensuring that students have an induction to the placement area within the first 48 hours, and will work with students to develop a set of agreed learning objectiveswithin the first week so that suitable learning opportunities can be arranged.
Students may also be allocated associate practice educators who will support learning in practice when the lead practice educator is not available. Students also work with other members of the placement team, which could include other professions.This provides opportunity to develop a greater understanding of inter professional working relationships and practices.
If a student has any concerns on placement the first point of contact should normally be thePractice Educator, who will work with the student to develop an action plan to support achievement of learning objectives. In some circumstances or where aPractice Educator has concerns about a student’s conduct or performance they will liaise with the Visiting Tutor and in some instances the Practice Education Facilitator for the placement to facilitate development of an action plan.
On-site Supervisor
Supporting students on Contemporary Placementsproviding day-to-day support in the practice setting
For a Contemporary Placement where there is not an Occupational Therapist based in the setting an on-site supervisor is appointed to provided day-to-day support to the student/s in the setting. This on site supervisor will work closely with the Practice Educator completing long-arm supervision (who is an Occupational Therapist) either from another practice setting or from the University to support students within the placement. The practice educator and on-site supervisor (alongside the visiting tutor) work closely together to provide a clear and robust supervision framework and support to the student/s on these placements.
P.E.F.
Supporting Clinical Educators and students in the practice setting in the delivery of the highest quality learning environment.
Practice Education Facilitators (P.E.F.s) are responsible for ensuring the provision of high quality multiprofessional learning environments within a defined Trust or PCT and associated private and voluntary sector organisations.
In order to ensure that high quality learning experiences are provided P.E.F.’s often work with our students in providing Trust Inductions, facilitating learning events within Trusts and in delivering listening events, all of which contribute to P.E.F.s being able to monitor and ensure quality learning experiences for students in practice settings.
As part of their role, P.E.F.s also provide support for students and practice educators in decisions relating to student experience, including the achievement of learning outcomes, competence and fitness for practice and will be involved in providing best practice advice in a clinical setting for clinical educators. P.E.F.s may therefore be involved in supportingPractice Educators or in supporting studentswho do not feel they are getting the support they need.
If students are concerned about anything within the practice setting and do not feel able to approach a Practice Educator or Manager within the clinical area, they should contact the named P.E.F. who will be able to work with students and Practice Educators to draw up an action plan to address concerns and facilitate success in the learning environment.
Where any concerns have been raised or any incidents have occurred involving students P.E.F.’s will be informed and will inform the Work Based Learning Team to ensure the overall monitoring of quality within a clinical area. Where incidents have involved a student, Academic Advisors and Visiting Tutorswill be informed by the Work Based Learning team to ensure support can be offered and overall monitoring of competence and fitness to practice can occur.