The practice educator will:

• adhere to policies relating to equal opportunities and anti discriminatory practice and indicate the ways in which these apply to students
• carry out a risk assessment on each new student on their arrival as detailed in the handbook and take steps to ensure student safety in the practice environment, including the community
• work with the university practice liaison tutor to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities
• provide relevant induction material for students arriving on placement
• take steps to ensure that the rights of patients, clients and service users are respected and that they are aware of the contribution that students are making to their care management
• provide a range of relevant learning opportunities for students to enable them to meet their learning needs and module requirements
• inform the university immediately if any issues of concern about the student arise during the placement
• ensure that written records of student progress during the placement are kept, including details pertaining to any concerns about professional conduct or suitability
• commit to keeping up to date with current information about the Occupational Therapy courses and student supervision at Sheffield Hallam University
• have a commitment to becoming APPLE accredited with support from the university

This document contains Placement Learning Expectations for Clinical Staff, Students, the University and Lecturers, and Patients and Carers, which have been agreed with our placement providers

The student will:

• contact the placement educator and send full CV at least one month before placement commences
• attend the compulsory placement preparation sessions including moving and handling session
• complete any preliminary reading required before placement
• formulate some placement learning objectives before the placement and be prepared to discuss these and develop them further in supervision with the practice educator
• comply with the current Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for Occupational Therapists
• respect organisational rules and responsibilities with regards to health and safety including any issues related to their own health/illness
• be aware of their general presentation (physical appearance as well as projected positive image)
• behave in a professional manner, with a client-centred, non-judgemental, responsible attitude.
• contact university if any serious concerns arise from placement
• keep the university informed of time off for sickness in accordance with procedures outlined in the practice education handbook
• give written feedback to the placement provider at end of placement

Students must attend their allocated placement for the whole day/shift on all dates assigned to them by their placement provider

The student must attend their placement in order to meet professional requirements. The Student Working Hours document explains the current expectations for student attendance on Placement.

Please also read the advice on the Working Time Directive, available on the SHU policies page. This gives important information about the total number of hours a student may work in a week.

Guidance on Absence Reporting can be found on the Student Information page on this website.

If you wish to gain any further information regarding a student who is absent, you are welcome to contact the Practice Placement Administration Team.  Information can only be given in line with current GDPR regulations.

Faculty Placement Allocation Process

The Occupational Therapy Placement Allocation Process diagram shows how the Faculty Process is applied to allocating placements to Occupational Therapy students.

Placements are audited to check that they will offer students the placement learning opportunities they need to meet the approved Learning Outcomes for their course - further information can be found on the Quality Assurance page of this website.

To find out about the Learning Outcomes, Placement Preparation, Assessment of Practice and Attendance requirements for your student's Occupational Therapy Course, please follow this link to the Student Information page and choose from the following

• Information about your course - BSc
• Information about your course - MSc
• Information about your course - BSc PBL

Collaborative Learning and Working in Practice

• A Guide to Supporting Collaborative Learning and working in Practice
• Collaborative Learning Descriptors

Whilst there is no HCPC requirement for practice educators to be accredited, we encourage this as good practice as it improves the experience of the student and the educator and is an important part of the quality assurance of placement learning.

APPLE (Accreditation of Practice Placement Educator's Scheme) is now a BAOT (British Association of Occupational Therapists) member only benefit. If you are a BAOT member you will find information about the course here https://www.cot.co.uk/accreditation-practice-placement-educators-apple/apple-scheme.

We are currently working with our colleagues in Derby and Northampton Universities to develop a local database and accreditation process for non-BAOT members. We hope to bring you information regarding this as soon as possible.

Whether you are a BAOT member or not, in order to book onto a PPE preparation course (previously known as APPLE Course), please contact Paul Benson at p.c.benson@shu.ac.uk (Tel: 0114 225 5395). If you have any queries about PPE preparation and accreditation, including the experiential route, please contact your link tutor or Jude Mitchell at judith.mitchell@shu.ac.uk.

Practice Placement Educators Accreditation Course (APPLE)
and Local Practice Educator Training (LPET)

This free course aims to explore the challenges and consequences, both personally and professionally, of supervising Occupational Therapy students in the practice placement setting. The course is designed incorporating student-centred and distance learning with two study days. the aim is to introduce the course participant to the concept of student education within the practice placement setting. Aspects of teaching and learning theories and assessment procedures will be explored through guided discussion and practical workshops. The course is open both to participants who are BAOT / COT members wishing to work towards APPLE accreditation and those who are not members of their professional body, but are wishing to be trained practice educators. The courses run alongside each other and the requirements and expectations of these two groups are the same; however, the assessment and documentations will differ, as outlined in the APPLE and LPET Course Document.

Colleagues completing the LPET route will only be given acknowledgement of having completed the training; there is no national recognition or transferability as these are member benefits associated with the APPLE programme.

Participants of the APPLE or LPET courses need to attend and actively participate on both days of a 2 day taught programme. The programme is delivered jointly by the University of Derby and Sheffield Hallam University and is an integral part of each respective course. Application to book a place on the 2 day taught programme needs to be sent to the university hosting it as each administers the programme in-house. Programme dates and contact details are given below.

To book a place on the 2 day taught programme, when it is hosted by Sheffield Hallam University, please e-mail ahptraining@shu.ac.uk for a booking form. If you wish to attend the 2 day taught prgramme when it is hosted by the University of Derby, please contact their Occupational Therapy Placements Team at OT-Placements@derby.ac.uk. And when it is adminstered by the University of Lincoln, please contact their administrator Emily Pullan. Please note that each host university is responsible for adminstering the programme when it is being delivered at their site.

There are pre-course requirements and it is recommended that you read the APPLE and LPET Course Document (page 4 of 9) to ensure that you (and possibly your line manager) are aware of these before applying to attend the initial 2 day taught programme.

During the 2 day taught programme the practice educator accreditation process the will be covered in more detail by the course facilitators. Before attending the taught programme it is recommended that you read through the APPLE and LPET Course Document. If you have any queries about the taught programme or the accreditation process, please contact the respective administrator of the host university, and they will contact a member of their occupational therapy academic team to get in touch with you.

• BAOT members will become APPLE accredited.
• Non BAOT members will become LPET accredited.
• Refer to the College of Occupational Therapists publication guidance on Accreditation of Practice Placement Educator's Scheme (APPLE)

Have you been an accredited practice educator and your accreditation has lapsed?

If you have been an accredited practice educator and your accreditation has lapsed and you wish to be re-accredited, it may not be necessary for you to attend the APPLE and LPET Experiential Workshop. If you have continued to work with students on placement within a year of your application to attend the workshop, please contact Jude Mitchell (see her e-mail address above). Jude will advise you on the best course of action to obtain re-accreditation. If it is recommended that you attend the workshop, then please contact Paul Benson at ahptraining@shu.ac.uk for a booking form.

PRACTICE EDUCATOR UPDATE ROADSHOW 2019

In conjunction with

• University Hospitals of Derby & Burton NHS Foundation Trust
• Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and
• Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust

We are delivering three, combined, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, Practice Educator Update Sessions in 2019. Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists from the relevant Trust can book a place. Each session is a half-day programme and will run for three hours.

The update sessions do not constitute reaccreditation for Occupational Therapists but, would meet requirements for the biannual updates Practice Educators should complete to stay current in their practice. However, if any Occupational Therapists require reaccreditation then it will be possible to complete these with them at the end of the session.

Please note that there will be two sessions at Chesterfield Royal Hospital to permit applicants greater flexibility as to which session they would prefer to attend.

To book on to one of the Practice Educator Updates shown above, please contact Paul Benson at ahptraining@shu.ac.uk for a booking form. It is important that a place on an update session is formally booked via a booking form. Thank you.

It is important to keep updated as a practice educator, whilst APPLE accreditation require revalidating every five years, health education commissioners require more regular updates. Here at SHU we encourage our PPEs to complete an update annually.

The annual update forms partof the biannual audit process and as such it is important to pass the date of your update to your placement co-ordinator / the person who completes the audit for your area. At SHU we provide update opportunities in arange of ways.

Updates

The following Core areas must be included in all Practice Educator updates:

• HCPC professional standards, including new SCPE
• Overview of the students' university programme
• Assessment process that occurs in practice
• Process to follow when a student is failing to progress
• How to access placement information websites for key information and SHU contacts
• How to access placement information websites for key information about support available to Mentors/Practice Educators/Supervisors in their role in supporting the students
• Where SHU placement learning policies are housed on the SHU placement learning websites
• Processes for escalation of concerns, and the essential need for the placement provider to communicate with the university about any incidents or accidents or concerns

Many Trusts offer PPE meetings anywhere between twice yearly and quarterly, these meetings allow a two way discussion between educators and the link tutor around placement learning. Often the link tutor will update educators on aspects of the curriculum, issues arising from the evaluation process or update on general issues arising such as supporting students with learning contracts. If you are unsure if your Trust already offers these, or would like to arrange something, please contact your link tutor.

The halfway visit to see your student is usually an opportunity to update the PPE on any aspects of the course; if you have any specific queries regarding this, please let your link tutor know.

Health and social care continuing professional development

There are links to a large number of policies and procedures on this website, but here you will see the links to some key processes for easy access.

As always, if you have any concerns, your link tutor will be a key point of contact for information and support. They will be able to help you by talking through your specific situation.

What to do if you have concerns about a student

• Failure to Progress Form Your IT Firewall may stop this document opening - if this occurs, you may find it helpful to download the document to your desktop so that it can be security-screened before opening.
• Processes and ideas to support failing students: Occupational Therapy Educator Update - Sheffield Hallam University and Derby University
• Guidance for managing a student who is not progressing

Please refer Practice Educator and Student Practice Learning Handbook for further guidance:

• Student withdrawal from placement due to ill-health or other valid causes p24-25
• Student failing during Practice Learning p26-31

• Any student involved in an incident or accident (or near miss) on placement is required to report the event to the University as soon as possible.
• Guidance on what to do if you need to report an incident or accident that affects the student, or any concern the student has about the placement learning experience, can be found on the SHU Policies section of this Placement Information website.
• If the student is asked to provide a statement while on placement, please follow the Guidance for Students Reporting Concerns/Complaints on Placement.

• Writing Learning Objectives Placement_Preparation
• Guidance on Gaining Service User, Carer or Relative Feedback
• Helping OT Students Learn on Clinical Placement Your IT Firewall may stop this document opening - if this occurs, you may find it helpful to download the document to your desktop so that it can be security-screened before opening.

• BSc MSc and Practice Based Learning BSc Practice Educator and Student Practice Placement Handbook

OT and Physiotherapy Practice Educator Conference - 25 June 2019

This year's Practice Educator Conference was held on 25 June 2019. We are pleased to share presentations from the event with you, to support you in your continuing professional development.

• Conference Timetable
• The Changing Context For Student Education
• Supporting Students who are Struggling on Placement
• Role Emerging Placements
• Non-NHS Placements
• If it wasn't for my Placement Educator

OT Practice Educator Conference - 21 June 2018

We are pleased to share presentations from the 2018 Practice Educator Conference with you, to support you in your continuing professional development.

• Promoting the Future of Our Profession
• Practice Viewed Through the Lens of the Student
• Resilience and the Healthcare Student
• Supporting International Students on Placement
• Integrated Care Curriculum
• Degree Level Apprenticeships
• Demystifying Technology

Thank you for supporting our OT students.