Allied Health Professions Accreditation Standards for Work Integrated Learning: A Document Analysis

Merrolee Penman (), Jacqueline Raymond, Annora Kumar, Renae Y. R. Liang, Karen Sundar and Yvonne Thomas
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Merrolee Penman: Curtin School of Allied Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
Jacqueline Raymond: School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Annora Kumar: Medical School, Health and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
Renae Y. R. Liang: School of Medicine, The University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia
Karen Sundar: Curtin Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia
Yvonne Thomas: School of Occupational Therapy, Otago Polytechnic, Te Pūkenga, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 15, 1-19

Abstract: A key role of allied health (AH) professional regulatory and professional bodies is to ensure that AH education programs provide work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities for students. The requirements are outlined via the respective profession’s educational accreditation standards. Although a significant component of the AH professional degrees, researchers have not explored how standards specific to WIL are developed, nor how WIL might be conceptualised through the standards. This study explored how WIL is conceptualised through comparing the WIL education standards across Australian AH professions. Using a non-experimental explanatory mixed-methods research design, a document analysis of Australian education program accreditation standards (and associated documents) for 15 AH professions was undertaken. Data analysis included inductive textual and thematic analyses to compare AH professionals’ conceptualisation of WIL. This study found a high degree of variation in how AH professions describe WIL. While there was a common requirement for students to demonstrate competency in WIL, requirements for WIL quantity, assessment and supervision varied. Four key themes were identified regarding the contribution of WIL to curriculum and student learning: (1) the relationship between WIL and the program curriculum; (2) WIL as a learning process; (3) learning from diverse WIL contexts; and (4) developing competence through WIL. Overall, the diversity in the standards reflected differing understandings of what WIL is. Thus, in the absence of frameworks for designing accreditation standards, the risk is that some AH professions will continue to perpetuate the myth that the primary purpose of WIL is to provide a bridge between theory and practice.

Keywords: allied health; work integrated learning; health professions education; clinical placements; accreditation standards (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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