Learning Outcomes / Agreements

MSc Occupational Therapy

Each practice placement has a set of specific Learning Outcomes, these form part of the learning agreement the student completed during the placement. The learning outcomes are developmental in nature framing the student’s development through the whole of their practice placement experience. Students are responsible for the development of the full learning agreement for each placement with support from their practice educator, the occupational therapy course team and on-site supervisor (if appropriate).

Placement 1

Placement 1 is a 6 week placement embedded within H14300 module Theory and Practice of Occupational Therapy (1) therefore this placement shares the aim of introducing students to the profession.
The placements overarching aims are:

  • Introduce students to the Occupational Therapy profession within the setting
  • Support students to begin to build own professional identity

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the placement students will be able to:

  • Explain and appraise the underpinning philosophy and theoretical frameworks used in the setting.
  • Discuss the concept of occupation and its relationship with health and wellbeing within the setting
  • Explore the relationships between the person, environment and occupation when discussing the clients journey through the placement setting and associated services
  • Describe the role of multi-professional team members involved in the clients care and give examples of effective team working.

In addition, students will identify personal learning objectives (max. 4) for the placement these will be agreed by the practice educator and visiting tutor.

Placement 2

Placement 2 is a 6 week placement embedded within H14302 module, Theory and Practice of Occupational Therapy (2) therefore this placement shares the aim of students continuing to develop their professional, identity therapeutic skills and exploring further the therapeutic use of self within the therapeutic relationship.
The placements overarching aims are for students to:

  • Take responsibility for developing own professional identity
  • Critically explore the therapeutic use of self within the therapeutic relationship
  • Critically explore and appraise contemporary areas of practice

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the placement students will be able to:

  • Explain and critically appraise the underpinning philosophy and theoretical frameworks used in the setting
  • Discuss and critically reflect on their own professional reasoning and core practice skills they use in relation to individuals that they work with
  • Evaluate the role and effectiveness of multi-professional team members involved in the client’s care

In addition, students will identify personal learning objectives (max. 4) for the placement these will be agreed by the practice educator and visiting tutor.

Placement 3

Placement 3 is an 8 week placement embedded within H14304, Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Occupational Therapy. This placement may be a contemporary placement. The main aim of this placement is around the students critical reflection upon their practice experiences and studies to date in relation to leadership, service provision and needs.
The placements overarching aims are for students to:

  • Critically reflect upon own practice experiences and studies to date in relation to leadership, service provision and needs.
  • Explore the concepts of intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship in practice and their own employability
  • Critically reflect upon future opportunities for contemporary therapy services within the complexity of current health and social care provision.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the placement students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the policy frameworks surrounding the placement and appraise their impact on occupational therapy practice in the setting.
  • Demonstrate excellent communication skills and team working skills
  • Evaluate the role and effectiveness of multi-professional team members involved in the client’s care

In addition, students will identify personal learning objectives (max. 4) for the placement these will be agreed by the practice educator and visiting tutor.

Placement 4

Placement 4 is a 10 week placement and is embedded within H14305 Evaluation in practice). An aim of this placement is to consider the principles of research, service evaluation and audit as related to contemporary occupational therapy practice. This is the final placement and as such should facilitate students by the end of the placement to be demonstrating the competencies of a new graduate. Placement 4 can be an elective placement (which may or may not be a contemporary placement).
The placements overarching aim are for students to:

  • Understand and critically reflect upon the broad principles of research and audit, and how these are being applied in within the practice setting.
  • Explore the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of evidence and the impact it generates in practice
  • Evaluate the role and effectiveness of multi-professional team members involved in the client’s care
  • Demonstrate safe and effective occupational practice holding a caseload.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the placement students will be able to:

  • Critically reflect and discuss the evidence base for practice within the placement setting
  • Appraise an aspect of service delivery/organization within the setting and suggest and justify enhancements that could develop occupational therapy provision for service users.
  • Meet the practice competencies required to be eligible for HCPC registration as an Occupational Therapist.
  • Demonstrate effective self-management skills taking responsibility for their own practice

In addition, students will identify personal learning objectives (max. 4) for the placement these will be agreed by the practice educator and visiting tutor.

Learning agreements

Preparation for placement will be timetabled within each module that the placement is embedded in. Preparation time will include online and face to face mandatory training, as well as general information about how to prepare for placements and how to get the most out of the placement experience. Part of this preparation will be helping students to draft the learning agreement for the placement ready to discuss it with the practice educator. Students will be supported at the end of their placements through debriefing within modules to transfer their learning to the next placement – this reflection will form part of the learning agreement for the next placement.

Once on placement the learning agreement should be agreed by the end of the second week of the placement.
The learning agreement has several purposes:

• Encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning
• Encourages students to evaluate and reflect on their learning
• Encourages learning partnerships between the practice educator and student
• Provides ongoing structure and focus for the placement, so that practice educators and student(s) are aiming for the same goals.

In order for the learning agreement to have maximum impact on the learning process, it needs to be reviewed on a weekly basis within the formal supervision session. During the supervision meeting progress should be recorded and any further learning actions agreed and recorded, This means that the learning agreement is a document that records the student development and progress

The initial agreed learning agreement should be emailed to the visiting lecturer by the end of the second week of placement, by the student, in order for the visiting lecturer to be able to provide feedback on the structure and content of the agreement.
The links for each learning agreement templates are below (they can also be found on their related module pages):

Learning Agreement Placement 1
Learning Agreement Placement 2
Learning Agreement Placement 3
Learning Agreement Placement 4

Each learning agreement is divided into several sections:

Objective

The initial part of this is pre-populated with the generic placement learning objectives. The student will then include a maximum of four additional personal learning outcomes. These should be written in the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timed) format. A useful prefix to help the students write these objectives is “By the end of the placement I will be able to…” Support will be provided to students prior to the placement in placement preparation workshops.
Where appropriate more learning objectives may be added during the placement, with the learning agreement viewed as a working document reflected in the production on progressive learning outcomes.

How will objective be achieved?

In this section the actions that are going to be undertaken in order to achieve the learning outcomes are recorded. Information about the resources that are available to help students achieve their objectives, and any strategies that they may use to reach their goals should be recorded.

How will objective be evaluated?

This section contains information about how the objective will be evaluated – how the educator and the student will know if/when it has been achieved.
Methods of evaluation might include:
• Feedback from the clinical/practice educator
• Feedback from other members of the MDT
• Feedback from patients/Service users
• Self-evaluation and reflection

Suggested time frame for achieving objective

This section contains information about the time scale by which the objective will be achieved. It may be that an objective will need the full length of the placement before it is achieved, but some objectives may be able to be achieved earlier in the placement. It is suggested that a balance of objectives in terms of time frame (some shorter than others) ensures that the learning agreement is dynamic and developmental.

Outcome

This section should record whether the objective has been achieved during the placement. Some objectives may relate to areas of the formal assessment, and therefore must be achieved in order to pass that section of the placement. Other objectives may relate to areas of development that could continue to be developed on further placements. These should be entered into the section at the bottom of the form (Areas for further development on future placements). Outcomes should make reference to the evaluation criteria used for measuring achievement of the objective, and objectives that have not been achieved should be analysed by the student and educator to determine why they have not been achieved. This section should be signed and dated as each outcome is achieved.