CPD: practice-based learning: part 3

As the CSP’s practice-based learning campaign gathers momentum, it’s clear that members are committed to creating new opportunities for practice-based learning. The process of thinking critically and creatively about what’s offered to students, and how, is generating questions about what makes a ‘good quality’ placement.  

 

This article will explore how the CSP’s quality assurance and enhancement processes ensure that members benefit from investments in practice-based learning. The aim is to help the profession develop to meet changing patient, population and service needs. 

The CSP has always taken its role as an educational body that validates degree courses very seriously – our responsibilities in this area date back to the establishment of the Royal Charter in 1920. We believe our processes are robust and effective. All programmes must demonstrate that they have responded to four elements: CSP learning and development principles, expectations of pre-registration programmes (as set out in the 2010 CSP quality assurance processes), the graduate attributes outlined in the physiotherapy framework, and the CSP code.

 

Given that students must spend at least 1,000 hours in practice settings, it’s clear that appropriate practice-based learning is crucial. If students are to be autonomous practitioners after completing their studies, they need to gain experience in a range of clinical settings. Changes in how health services are commissioned and delivered mean there are many new providers. There is an expectation that they will offer opportunities for students. Some great examples are happening in parts of London, where new and existing providers are working closely together. One university offers students part-time placements lasting one year – tapping into settings where most physios are work on a part-time basis and where taking students on block placements might be awkward.

 

The responsibility for developing physiotherapy education has shifted in recent years. When I (Gwyn) was a student, the curriculum seemed fairly prescriptive. Students had at least two placements in three core areas, supervised by a senior clinician in that specialty. While the curriculum is, thankfully, more flexible now, the question remains: how can students gain the experiences they need to meet the demands of practice – today and tomorrow?

 

Physiotherapists fought hard to gain the status and autonomy that enabled the profession to spread its wings. As we evolve, we work in healthcare settings with a wider range of client groups and hold new occupational roles. Students need exposure to as wide a range of these experiences as possible. 

 

That’s why flexibility is vital: it isn’t about ‘cramming more in’ – it’s about making the most of what’s on offer. This echoes what managers say they are looking for: graduates who think, and learn, quickly. They don’t expect recent graduates to know everything, but they need them to be grounded in the basics and to be able to find out what they don’t know, and to ask questions. An outcomes-based approach recognises that these qualities are the student’s end point – how they get there depends on the student’s journey.  

 

So this approach creates space to look beyond the label attached to a placement, and prompts a fundamental shift – from having to teach students everything about ‘my speciality’ to creating opportunities for students to develop values, behaviours, knowledge and skills that suit the setting. 

The CSP used to have more than 20 guidance papers on practice-based learning. These have been consolidated into the resources mentioned above, and are also contained in the CSP’s practice education guidance and resources on welcoming disabled students.

 

These should be read by every member and will help to debunk the myth ‘that someone in the CSP says do it this way’! Our approach is as follows:  there is no obstacle that can’t be resolved with some creativity and problem solving. After all, physios are renowned for being ‘doers and fixers’, aren’t we?

 

Though the guidance isn’t prescriptive, we do encourage members to think critically and creatively about:

 

When the CSP accredits a higher education institute or re-accredits it, we dig around and ask lots of questions.