Perceptions of the Ideal Clinical Educator in Physiotherapy Education

Abstract

Summary There is evidence from nursing and other health disciplines that discrepant perceptions of roles and behaviours in clinical education may have an adverse effect on student learning. In this study the degree of matching of the perceptions of clinical educators, academic tutors and students as to what constitutes an ideal clinical educator in physiotherapy was investigated. Twenty-one clinical educators, 14 academic tutors and 96 students from a bachelor of physiotherapy honours course were asked to select and rank six characteristics, from a choice of 12, which they considered to be most descriptive of a good or ideal clinical educator. Using an extended chi-square test and the Kendall coefficient of concordance to analyse the data, the results were found to be significant in terms of the level of agreement within each group (P < 0.0005). The results were not found to be significant in terms of the agreement between the groups. The implications of the findings are discussed with respect to the effect of conflicting aims and opinions on the quality of clinical education and students' learning outcomes. There is evidence from nursing and other health disciplines that discrepant perceptions of roles and behaviours in clinical education may have an adverse effect on student learning. In this study the degree of matching of the perceptions of clinical educators, academic tutors and students as to what constitutes an ideal clinical educator in physiotherapy was investigated. Twenty-one clinical educators, 14 academic tutors and 96 students from a bachelor of physiotherapy honours course were asked to select and rank six characteristics, from a choice of 12, which they considered to be most descriptive of a good or ideal clinical educator. Using an extended chi-square test and the Kendall coefficient of concordance to analyse the data, the results were found to be significant in terms of the level of agreement within each group (P < 0.0005). The results were not found to be significant in terms of the agreement between the groups. The implications of the findings are discussed with respect to the effect of conflicting aims and opinions on the quality of clinical education and students' learning outcomes.