Mrs Gretel Evans1,2, A/Prof Jacqueline Raymond1, Dr Kate Thomson1, A/Prof Merrolee Penman2,3
1Western Sydney Local Health District, Westmead, Australia, 2The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 3Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Biography:
Gretel is a clinical educator, senior occupational therapist and accredited hand therapist in NSW public health where she has worked for 25 years. She is also a researcher, and PhD candidate with the University of Sydney. Gretel has a professional interest in supporting learners in the workplace, as well as coaching and mentoring clinicians to grow as clinical educators. Her PhD research focuses on how allied health clinicians develop and enact expertise in student supervision.
Abstract:
Allied health clinicians engage regularly in student supervision, providing an important and expected contribution to the development of the future health workforce. Despite this, understandings of clinical educator expertise and associated developmental trajectories is superficial. The characteristics of ‘good’ clinical educators have been suggested, however, a complete picture of ‘expertise’ in this domain requires more thorough investigation. Using phenomenographic methods, this study sought to identify the qualitatively different ways that allied health clinical educators understand and approach student supervision. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eighteen clinicians across seven disciplines, who were nominated by academic peers as ‘expert’ educators. Transcripts were analysed to identify critical differences in conceptualisation, as well as the structural relationships within and between ways of understanding. Four different ways of conceptualising expertise in student supervision were identified. These were (i) Teaching; (ii) Management; (iii) Facilitation and (iv) Alliance. These conceptions form a nested hierarchy, with ‘Alliance’ being the most complex understanding, where student supervision is conceptualised as partnering with and empowering students to become lifelong, agentic learners. In view of this, these findings provide an opportunity to shape how allied health professions understand student supervision expertise by highlighting differences in understanding, and challenge our professions to develop clinical educators beyond basic competency. Further, this knowledge can inform the design of educator development programmes by providing evidence of a developmental pathway for clinical educator expertise.