Taking a student for the first time

Taking a student for the first time

‘The most important thing you bring into the job of being a clinical educator is yourself… the move into being a clinical educator marks the start of a steep learning curve… marked by anxiety, self-doubt and self-focus as new clinical educators seek to ‘survive’ their early experiences.' (McAllister & Lincoln, 2004, p.163-164).

Quite often the transition from ‘new graduate’ to ‘clinical educator’ occurs within the first two years of practice. First time supervisors can feel apprehensive that they do not know enough yet themselves to start teaching others. There is a useful Occupational Therapy Practice Education Collaborative-Queensland link, ‘Getting started in student supervision’, that points out that your knowledge and skills have probably developed a lot more than you realise. It can be reassuring to know that your professional growth has reached a point where you are now capable of expanding your role (Pereira, 2008).

Bay and Courtney (2013, p.362) suggest that consolidation of some key areas is essential for beginning clinical educators:

• a good understanding of your workplace’s values, expectations and services;
• demonstrated self-management, management in the workplace and profession-specific skills; and
• commitment and engagement in professional development and being a reflective practitioner.

It might also be important to ensure you have support from your workplace (with allowance for time spent in the educator role), from other clinical educators, and from the university seeking the placement.

McAllister and Lincoln (2004) suggest a number of strategies that can be helpful to beginning clinical educators:

• introductory workshops specifically for new clinical educators
• targeted selection of students (‘average’ students will be less likely to stress or challenge the beginning clinical educator)
• sharing the responsibility for the placement with an experienced clinical educator
• having a clinical education mentor
• additional support from the university and the provision of clinical education resources
• active reflective practice about the clinical educator role (e.g. through keeping a journal, critical incident reflection)
• engagement in a network or community of clinical educators

It is important to remember that to be an effective clinical educator you do not have to be an expert in every aspect of your practice. What you do need to be able to do is model problem-solving and critical thinking about how to approach those aspects.