What should school teachers take care for their students before they have clinical training?

Background: The study aimed to examine instructors’ views regarding the roles of clinical training and OT school teachers, focusing on differences from the teachers’ views. Methods: A qualitative study involving... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
The study aimed to examine instructors’ views regarding the roles of clinical training and OT school teachers, focusing on differences from the teachers’ views.

Methods:
A qualitative study involving focus-group interviews was conducted. The subjects were twelve occupational therapists classified into two groups based on their career (seven and five people with experience of less than 10 years (Junior Experts) and 10 to 20 years (Senior Experts), respectively). The subjects were interviewed regarding the roles of instructors and teachers. This study was conducted with the approval of the affiliations and collaborators in terms of research ethics.

Results:
Junior Experts expected the school teachers to play the following roles: evaluation/understanding and experience of treatment techniques, learning the therapeutic importance of work activities, teachers’ understanding of students, and information exchange between teachers and training instructors. Senior Experts hoped to learn to improve their approaches to clinical training and problem-solving skills.

Conclusion:
Instructors expected teachers to play different roles depending on experiences. Junior Experts placed an importance of the acquisition of basic knowledge and skills, and hoped to receive useful information for advising their students. On the other hand, Senior Experts paid attention to the students’ skills, and did not expect much from the teachers.

Application into practice:
It is important for the teachers to share specific information and collaborate with instructors, Junior Experts in particular.