Physiotherapy students’ perceptions of the dual role of the clinical educator as mentor and assessor: Influence on the teaching–learning relationship

South African Journal of Physiotherapy

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Physiotherapy students’ perceptions of the dual role of the clinical educator as mentor and assessor: Influence on the teaching–learning relationship
 
Creator Meyer, Ilse S. Louw, Alwyn Ernstzen, Dawn
 
Subject Clinical Education Dual role of Clinical Educator; Clinical Education; Teaching-Learning relationship; Perceptions
Description Background: Clinical education is widely considered to be the cornerstone of health care professionals’ education. Clinical educators (CEs) fulfil many roles and act as both mentors and assessors in the learning process of students’ undergraduate health care professions education. However, changing from being a mentor to being an assessor may present particular challenges for both the CE and the students.Objective: To explore students’ perceptions of how the dual role of a CE as mentor and assessor influenced the teaching–learning (T-L) relationship.Method: A qualitative descriptive study, involving seven individual semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions, was conducted with students in the Division of Physiotherapy, Stellenbosch University. A contextualised interpretive content analysis was used to analyse the data. By following an iterative process, themes were identified and categories were reviewed and refined.Results: Challenges were experienced when CEs had to act and change as both mentors and assessors to the needs of the students. This influenced the T-L relationship and consequently impacted the learning of students. The expectations of students and CEs were often not fulfilled. Contradictions were disclosed regarding the dual role of CEs.Conclusion: The findings of the study, grounded in the perceptions and experiences of students on the dual role of the CE, are highlighted. It is important to consider the challenges that the students face in order to minimise any negative effects these challenges could have on students’ learning processes.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Fund for Innovation and Research into Learning and Teaching (FIRLT)
Date 2017-07-27
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Qualitative
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajp.v73i1.349
 
Source South African Journal of Physiotherapy; Vol 73, No 1 (2017); 8 pages 2410-8219 0379-6175
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/349/459 https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/349/458 https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/349/460 https://sajp.co.za/index.php/sajp/article/view/349/453
 
Coverage Western Cape N/A Diverse students
Rights Copyright (c) 2017 Ilse S. Meyer, Alwyn Louw, Dawn Ernstzen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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