Good Practice in Australian Physiotherapy Education

Physiotherapy students are allocated to one of the three general Clinical Schools of the Faculty on entry into year one of the physiotherapy course. Each Clinical School has an Associate Clinical Dean of Physiotherapy who is responsible for approximately 120 or one third of the undergraduate students. With the exception of 12 weeks of elective units and eight weeks in paediatric and gerontological physiotherapy all students spend their clinical education periods in their own Clinical Schools. This provides students with a university clinical base. Here they are well known by clinical and administrative staff, are supported by the infrastructure of the Clinical School and are familiar with the site environments and their requirements. In the Clinical School each student spends the equivalent of a week in each of the first two years, 18 weeks in year three and 12 weeks in year four.
An overview of the content and management of the clinical education components of the course is the responsibility of the Clinical Education Committee. The whole course is developed in conjunction with the clinicians who participate in discipline specific working groups. Course outcome, assessment, content and supporting teaching materials such as problem based learning triggers, manuals and multimedia are planned, developed and completed in these groups. The academic program is integrated within the clinical education program with appropriate teaching sessions occurring at the clinical sites. The clinicians have responsibility for continuous clinical assessment and the discipline specific and final clinical exams. Assessment reliability is established within the working groups.
The Associate Clinical Deans, with the support of their staff, the School of Physiotherapy's Clinical Coordinator and the undergraduate administrative team manage the clinical program. Junior clinical staff have management and content responsibility for the clinical education program in years one and two. They also act as mentors for students in years three and four. Senior clinicians oversee the clinical education program in these latter years.
An Associate Clinical Dean of Physiotherapy is a member of the School's Planning and Resources Committee and participates in senior academic staff selection. The Head of School participates in selection of Associate Clinical Deans. Clinical staff with significant educational responsibility are Fellows of the School of Physiotherapy and have full access to all University resources. In addition the University School of Physiotherapy runs general and site-specific inservice programs related to clinical education and in the specialist discipline areas. Clinical staff from the Clinical School teach elements of the academic program within the University.
The contained nature of the distribution of the students within the Clinical Schools enables the program's support by the International Student Support Program of the Faculty. As well as dedicated computers, telephone, fax and email the clinical education program is supported by 'Plexus' - an electronic data source for student timetables, assessment forms, information on clinical sites and clinical staff. It also includes notes on supervision and experiential learning for the clinicians.