Occupational Therapy Practice Education Collaborative - Queensland

Setting up for a student placement

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  2. Resources & Publications
  3. Clinical educator's resource kit
  4. Setting up and sustaining a positive student clinical placement
  1. Access clinical education training and resources
  2. Brainstorm the learning opportunities your facility can offer students
  3. Ensure management and staff are aware, informed and in support of providing a student placement
  1. Preparation of the clinical education environment
  2. Structure a graded student learning program and establish placement learning expectations
  3. Make Friends with the SPEF-R

6. Make Friends with the SPEF-R

Assessment on placement for students, is by way of the Student Placement Evaluation Form - Revised Package (SPEF-R) with the primary emphasis on providing constructive, objective and detailed feedback. The SPEF-R is provided by the Universities to every occupational therapy supervising clinical educator.

It is important that you are familiar with the marking requirements and expectations of the SPEF-R handbook prior to the student’s arrival. The SPEF-R will also help you to structure and grade the learning program and the placement expectations of the student placement.

Please refer to Part Four: The Feedback Process and Evaluation, for more information about the SPEF-R.

How will I gather evidence upon which to base student evaluation?

Gathering evidence and recording observations is paramount to providing detailed and specific feedback.

Think about how you will record your observations of the student’s performance so as to be able to provide timely and responsive feedback. Waiting until assessment time and relying on your memory will more than likely result in feedback that is generalised with diffi culty drawing on specifi c examples. For this purpose, consider having a notebook dedicated to regularly documenting your observations and any planned feedback for the student.

Sample Observation Record:

Date

Activity/Task

Observation:

Performance/Behaviour

Planned Feedback:

What went well? What could have been done differently? Desired behaviour?

 

 

 

 

The feedback and evaluation process will be discussed in more detail in Part Four.

If you now feel confident that all of the above is taken care of, then it would seem that you are ready for the arrival of the student!

Let’s just take a minute to check that you have addressed all the steps towards good preparation.

You may like to complete Worksheet 2.2: Student placement preparation checklist