Role valorisation of students in the workplace:

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Role valorisation of students in the workplace

• The transformative impact of workplace-embedded
  speech pathology student units on the core
  business of both partner agencies and the
  university program

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Authors

• Paul McCormack, Flinders University
• Stacie Attrill, Flinders University
• Chris Brebner, Flinders University
• Ann Walter, Disability SA
• Susan Horton, Christie Downs Schools
• Jo Bakewell, St. Patricks Special School
• Diana Bleby, Catholic Education Office, SA

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Student workplace learning for allied health
professions in Australia

• Currently in deep crisis around through a chronic
  shortage of student placements
• It isnt funded by Federal or State governments
  yet graduate-entry competency is required by
  professional associations and registration boards
• Increasing service delivery pressures on workers
  in the Health and Education sectors is reflected
  in reductions in offers for student placements

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South Australia Speech Pathology at Flinders
University

• 2 programs producing entry-level speech
  pathologists into the workforce
• 4 year Bachelor of Speech Pathology
• 2 year graduate entry Master of Speech Pathology

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Clinical education program for both programs

• 4 workplace learning placements (years 3 4 for
  Bachelors years 1 2 for Masters)
• Placement 1 1 day per week, 15 weeks
• Placement 2 2 days per week 15 weeks
• Placement 3 4 days per week 8-10 weeks (block)
• Placement 4 4 days per week 8-10 weeks (block)

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Traditional model for workplace learning in
Flinders Speech Pathology program

• Placement 1 is internal to the university to
  develop basic professional skills of students
• Placement 2 either internal or placed with public
  agency
• Block Placements 3 4 with public agencies
• Placements are typically solo or at best in pairs

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Problem perception 1

• University clinics have not been perceived as
  authentic workplace experiences either by the
  students or by clinicians in the field
• Even though they are real client services they
  are perceived as driven by student learning needs
  and are thus second best for clients
• Students are learning the professional skills and
  therefore cannot provide the same level of
  service as a qualified speech pathologist
• Continues the community discourse of universities
  being out of touch and ivory towers when it
  comes to the real world

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Problem perception 2

• Agencies and health workers often perceive
  student placements as extra work and a burden,
  especially at times when resources are stretched
  to breaking point
• Agencies, health workers and students often
  perceive the students contribution to services
  as marginal and not core business. Hence, when
  there are difficulties, offers of student
  workplace learning experiences are often the
  first to go

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Problem perception 3

• Workplace learning is a drain on resources
• The meta-discourse of who should pay for this
  expensive exercise?
• This leads to cyclical patterns of behaviour on
  both sides begging places, demanding places,
  refusing, ignoring, demanding payment, creating a
  guilt-trip

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Problem perception 4

• Universities, even health professional programs,
  have traditionally viewed workplace learning as
  marginal and not central to university learning
• the tail wagging the dog (a Flinders staff
  comment)
• we have to provide a university education and
  not just be a TAFE course

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The challenge shifting from the margins to the
centre of business

• How to change agency, workforce, student and
  university perceptions of students workplace
  learning

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Social Role Valorisation (SRV) theory

• a strategic framework adopted by Flinders speech
  pathology to change attitudes and practices
  around students in the workplace
• Valorisation has its roots in the Latin valere
  meaning to value or give something worth

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SRV has its origins in the disability field

• The concept grew out of the Normalisation
  literature (Wolfensburger)
• The enabling and establishment of valued social
  roles is a strategy for empowering people who
  have been traditionally devalued and marginalised
  in society such as the disabled.

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Social Role Valorisation extended

• More recently SRV has been applied to other
  groups who have been given marginalised positions
  in society (Williams, 2004).
• ethnic, socio-economic and religious groups

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FROM PROBLEM TO ASSET Role Valorisation of
student learning in the workplace

• Flinders Speech Pathology consciously created a
  process of student work role valorisation the
  work that students do movING from the devalued
  margins to become highly visible, highly sought
  after and central to the business of the
  respective agencies.
• The university program adopting a market place
  perspective without losing its educational goals.
  The partner agency, workers and clients must want
  to have the student unit as part of its core
  business plan

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Establishing a working partnership

• student units doing innovative service delivery
  and demonstrating a high capacity to meet the
  respective agencies core needs that couldnt be
  met as well otherwise.
• Providing a critical mass for extended and
  diversified service delivery for the agency
• the work of many student units receive higher
  ratings by clients and other stakeholders than
  services provided solely by speech pathology
  staff

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Student learning

• A unit of 4-6 students provides an excellent
  learning environment for students. Peer learning
  and cooperation is encouraged and the small
  number of students to be supervised is manageable
  for the clinical educator / student unit manager.

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Student Unit Structure

• 4-6 students on any one placement period
• 1 clinical educator who also manages the student
  units client services
• a strong clinical educator and team player with
  the university
• An expert and service innovator around a
  particular client group
• a manager and team player within the agency

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Student Unit Work

• While maintaining workplace learning goals for
  students, the university program negotiates with
  a highly flexible attitude
• The partner determines the type of work the
  student unit will do to meet the agencies core
  business
• The partner agency along with the university
  select the unit manager
• The university program maintains control of the
  educational goals

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Student Unit Resources

• The arrangement varies from unit to unit. All
  parties contribute to resourcing but most of the
  staffing finance comes from the partner agency
  when the work is identified as their core
  business
• Usually a MOU is in place defining duration,
  roles and responsibilities

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History of Student Units

• 2002 the first student unit started in DECS
  (State) primary school at Christie Downs
• the student unit provides speech pathology
  services within the special school but also the
  ordinary primary school screening, assessments,
  interventions, resource development, teacher and
  parent education programs
• types of service delivery individual, small
  group, large group, within classroom, teacher
  consultation, parent education
• The service extends for 40 weeks of the year (4
  terms)
• This is a unique speech pathology service within
  the SA State School system
• Outstanding satisfaction ratings from the
  principal, teachers, parents, children and from
  speech pathology students

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History of Student Units

• 2003 student unit in St. Patricks Special
  School (Catholic) attached to an already existing
  speech pathology position
• 2004 student unit with Brain Injury Options
  Coordination (BIOC). This unit provides community
  based speech pathology services for head injured
  clients and established a new service in SA (a
  political strategy by the agency to bring about
  radical change)

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History of Student Units

• Today
• There are currently 13 student units with plans
  for 5 more in 2009
• Rehabilitation services, early intervention,
  acute hospital, early childhood, secondary
  schooling, voice disorders, fluency disorders

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Challenges

• Remaining essentially flexible and focused on the
  core business of the respective agencies
• core business can change quickly and thus the
  need for particular student unit work
• Acute hospitals ( occasions of service)
• Community Health priorities (fluency)

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Challenges

• Interdependence of the partnerships sharing of
  ideologies and strategies crossing professional
  boundaries
• The need for constant communication and
  fine-tuning the time required to maintain these
  partnerships
• Making them true partnerships service delivery,
  teaching and research
• Documentation of outcomes

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The Future?

• A seamless boundary between academic and
  workplace learning experiences (which is the dog
  and which is the tail?)
• A seamless boundary between the university and
  the partner agencies a network of learning,
  service and research
• From urban to rural and remote settings
• Multi-professional student delivery of services