STATEMENT: AOTI Calls on Members to Support Student Practice Education

All members of the profession have a role to play in supporting practice education during the COVID-19 pandemic

Practice education is an integral part of all pre-registration Occupational Therapy programmes in Ireland and is a vital element of student professional development. All Occupational Therapy students in Ireland are required to complete 1000 hours of practice education. This learning experience allows them to translate theory into practice and develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for competent practice as a newly qualified occupational therapist.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption to student placements. At the start of the pandemic many placements were cancelled and since then the pandemic has continued to present many challenges. A lot of effort has gone into adapting the delivery of practice education in order to sustain this vital learning activity.

AOTI acknowledges the great efforts of the staff and practice education teams at the National University of Ireland Galway, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork and University of Limerick to continue student practice education during the pandemic. We also acknowledge the work done by practitioners to sustain or resume student placements.

Notwithstanding this, it continues to be a challenge to secure enough student placements as the pandemic continues. We call on all members of the profession to play their part in supporting practice education at this difficult time. Even though many challenges still exist in practice settings, we all can play our part in sustaining this core aspect of our profession by doing one or more of the following:

  • Offer to take a student(s) on placement
  • Contact university practice education teams to see how you can support the delivery of practice education during the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Look out for calls from individual universities when they are short of student placement and share these with colleagues
  • Retweet or share calls for placements on social media
  • Discuss in your department or service what you could do to support student practice education and share your thoughts with university practice education teams

You can contact the practice education teams in each of the universities below:

National University of Ireland Galway

Trinity College Dublin

University College Cork

University of Limerick

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